What is your dream modified Elan ?

[freddy22112211]

I've often wondered about a rotary engine - smaller, lighter(!), smoother and spins up fast.
Gordon

[ardee_selby]

I've often wondered about a rotary engine - smoother and spins up fast. Gordon

I thought it had been done, but my memory was wrong...it was a Mazda rotary engine in an ex-Climax Elite (per Club Lotus "Newspaper" circa '79)

Cheers - Richard

[cliveyboy]

What is all this talk of putting a Zetec in to make it more reliable.
The twincam is a great engine and if fuel injected with a mapped ignition system , I cant see much difference over a Zetec other than horsepower.
My list of things to aim for are.
Twin cam with fuel injection, Fully mapped ignition,
Leather interior and axminster carpet for comfort.
Electric motors on headlights.
Rotoflex conversion.
All perfectly straight forward and do able.

As for a Zetec powered Type 14 Elite. Howard Emmes? did this a few years ago and quite impressive it was.There was even a convertible option.

Clive

[elansprint71]

As this thread has already been derailed....

Much as Porsches leave me pretty cold, I rather think that this one is a really good idea.

http://www.autofarm.co.uk/projects/about_recreations

Fire away, chaps, fire away...

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

What is all this talk of putting a Zetec in to make it more reliable.
The twincam is a great engine and if fuel injected with a mapped ignition system , I cant see much difference over a Zetec other than horsepower.
My list of things to aim for are.
Twin cam with fuel injection, Fully mapped ignition,
Leather interior and axminster carpet for comfort.
Electric motors on headlights.
Rotoflex conversion.
All perfectly straight forward and do able.

As for a Zetec powered Type 14 Elite. Howard Emmes? did this a few years ago and quite impressive it was.There was even a convertible option.

Clive

Hi Clive,

yes I did have a big sniff around his prototype that he displayed at Donington some years ago.
I liked the idea but found that the proportions of his car just didn't match those of the original.
Also he had made too many compromises in order to incorporate a Spyder frame.
The engine could have been moved much further back int the engine bay, improving the weight distribution & avoiding that horrible hump in the bonnet.
At the time I thought the price to be too high, but today's prices for original Elites or even Elans throws another light on that.

Anyway this thread was, I think, started for fun; or even, dare I say, as a wind up!
Something our friend does not shy away from most of the time.
Considering some of the replies I think he did a bloomin' good job at winding up some of the members & so far I've enjoyed his "bit of fun"

Cheers
John

[Robbie693]

E Types do get their fair share of mods though... In the USA, the V12 of the S3 has often been replaced with good old Ford V8 muscle

Mark

What a hideous, not to say sacrilegious, idea!

Robbie

[cabc26b]

My two peso's

Having had feet in both the the elan and the long-hood Porsche camps, i have found the UK trend of back dating a Porsche interesting. The fascination here for early 911 mods is to make a long-hood R-gruppe car : SWB, R or long hood ST, RS, RSR recreation and we are now seeing 934 recreations using 930's as the starting point . The theme is to stick to a preparation manual from Porsche that advised the privateer on the proper way to prepare an early car for rally or track work - you get extra credit for using the esoteric factory racing parts from the period - slide throttle or high butterfly MFI systems , dual plug conversions etc earn high marks - The money spend is huge on some of these endeavors.

Back on topic - In my view I would ( and did ) use the same logic in building a modified elan and applied the r-group or upfixen logic - use the period race kit ( or reproduction kit) and mix it in to a standard car in a manner that allows you a path back to stock - In the end i ended up with the automotive equivalent of a big bore express rifle - really cool , but overkill on all but the most dangerous game - On the other-hand a completely stock on the button elan is like 30 caliber hi-velocity rifle. In the right hands , it is the most versatile weapon you can take out in the field, you can carry and shoot it all day and it won't beat you up or cost a lot of money to enjoy -


George

PS - agree that swapping a v12 for a v8 in an e-type is sacrilegious , on the other hand the V12 e-types were delivered new to the dealer network here as non-op cars. As they came off the trucks you had to push them into the service department -

[garyeanderson]

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/show ... p?t=337376

When the value of anything drops to near zero then you can do pretty much as you choose. Lots of good English made 4 cylinder cars have been played with to some degree, some more than others. Probably the main one is cost and then comes the question of "will it fit?". So which swap would you like to do?

http://www.coupersclassiccars.com/sprit ... ration.htm
"This Sprite will have a 3.8L Jaguar engine! Yes a 6 cylinder Jag engine! It fits without much body modification, but there will be some strengthening of unibody and improvements to the brakes and suspension. Crazy eh!

Many have said that this sprite would never handle!

What do they know!

This little car, now that it has been sorted not only goes but also turns. The engine is mounted behind the front wheels which splits the 1800 lbs total weight 55% front and 45% rear, which is not bad. Throw in a tank full of gas, driver and a passenger and it is around 50/50! "They" don't know everything!"


"Just seen one done today with a 94 Nissan Twin Cam and 5 speed from a Skyline, Car weighs 1200Lb and the motor is pushing 250Hp".


"Re: v8 in Austin Healey
Not a Sprite, but here's my dad's Austin Healey that he shoe-horned a 426 Stage III Max Wedge into in the late 60's. It ran the 1/4 mile in the 9's. He reluctantly sold it to some rich kid in Portland OR and then lost track of it. The last he heard of it was the kid street raced it around the Portland OR area. Sure wish I knew what happened to it."



Those that wine about the slaughter of nice original cars ought to buy a few and restore them to save and enjoy. There are some not so nice cars that can go either way. Back to stock or parted and then have your way with it and do what you like.

In the U.S. the Elan has survived well because the twin cam had a value (as a race motor) and many folks thought they were fun. Its nice that the engine bay didn't hold any of the larger engines of the day or things might have been different.

I still think my plan to bring 26/4597 down to 500 kg as a street Elan with the 2L Alloy block and Lotus Twin Cam head is a good one. The Alloy block and a new shell seat will get it close to 1200 lbs and the rest will be a lot harder to accomplish. the first phase is on hold and so is the second. I guess I'll just enjoy them all the way they are for now.

p.s. - I like the Healey
It looks to me like a good use of that Austin Healey, but I always liked Chrysler 426, Wedge or Hemi. Oh, II forgot about those awful Cobras and Tigers

[elj221c]

The one I have!

The dream part is getting it back on the road!

[billwill]

It might be fun to convert a basket case Lotus into a hybrid Electric/Petrol car to show the Lotus firm the direction they should be going.

Lightweight sporty hybrids.

Dunno how one would even start on such a project though.

[freddy22112211]

Not Elan but a good read:
http://www.britishv8.org/Other/RichardNorman.htm
Gordon

[Spyder fan]

Anyway this thread was, I think, started for fun; or even, dare I say, as a wind up!
Something our friend does not shy away from most of the time.
Considering some of the replies I think he did a bloomin' good job at winding up some of the members & so far I've enjoyed his "bit of fun"

Cheers
John

I don't always intend my topics to be wind ups or even just for fun, sometimes I'm genuinely interested in how people feel about certain things, thats not to say I respect other people's opinions, just that I respect other peoples right to actually have an opinion.

This is Free Parking, therefore nothing really is off topic here and I never mind when people veer off subject, sometimes the discussions that result from wandering off the topic make the best reading and are the most thought provoking.

Keep the replies and input coming, I might get around to commenting on some of the replies just to liven things up a little.

PS: elj221c: I like your reply, a non working Elan needs to be modified into working order

[trw99]

Oh I say Alan, you have gone and modified your avatar!

Tim

[Spyder fan]

As this thread has already been derailed....

Much as Porsches leave me pretty cold, I rather think that this one is a really good idea.

http://www.autofarm.co.uk/projects/about_recreations

Fire away, chaps, fire away...

Pete,
Porkers are 2 a penny round these parts (Royal Tunbridge Wells, Bankers Dormitory Town), I share your feelings regarding Stuttgart's finest, but if I had to have one then the Autofarm 911 would be top of my list. I have extensively driven Jeremy Clarkson's least favourite Porsche 'The Coxster', I have also had a good old go in the 'Gayman' as well as many and sundry 911's of various vintage, they all leave me feeling 'So What'. They just appear to be a target for other motorists hate and bad road manners and I never feel special driving one.

Take any Elan out on the road and you get treated like royalty in contrast.

I wonder what would happen if I de-badged the +2 and put P O R S C H E on the boot lid, would that count as a modification?

[Spyder fan]

Oh I say Alan, you have gone and modified your avatar!

Tim

Tim,
You're the first to notice after 2 weeks Have you deciphered the wording on the family crest yet? This was designed for me by Richard (ardee selby)

Thomas Family Crest.jpg (33.99 KiB) Viewed 1160 times