About that engine...

[Lotus 50]

My own preference is to keep the major components as original as possible. For me this includes the TC and the rubber donuts which were there for reasons. On the other hand someone put a Bosch coil and a Ford Pinto voltage regulator in my car decades ago and I see no need to replace them. It's not a concurs car and these items don't change the experience.

Preference. Put in any motor you want if it makes you happy.

[Bigbaldybloke]

Thanks Spyder Fan for giving a ball park indication of the costs of going for a zetec. I?m not planning to but it?s good to have a fallback plan if disaster happens. As I said if my engine failed big style I?d hope the head would still be salvageable so going down the cross flow tall block would probably be my first option, but it would be out with the spreadsheet and cost out three options, rebuild twink on an original block I locate somewhere, build it on a cross flow block or go zetec. The spreadsheet would cover the costs and I?d have to somehow add a score for increased power and torque, drivability, originality and the affect on resale value if I ever sold it. I?m sure it would end up like most statistics, I could make it come up with any decision I wanted, but at least I could justify it to myself!

[The Veg]

Interesting discussion! Thanks guys for the entertainment.

Being in USA and not having deep pockets, I really have no idea what I'd do if my Twink were to break beyond being saved. I would think that other engines (perhaps the aforementioned Toyota) would be easier options over here. There are many others too that would seem interesting at first glance, but whether they'd fit well in the space available is a good question, since modern engines often seem a bit chunkier in their designs.

The electric option is fun to think about too, given all the advances being made there and how little weight the motor would have to move.

But unless the Twink breaks hard -and it think it's unlikely, given that it was rebuilt not too many miles ago- this is all academic for me, just another fun bit of 'what if' to ponder.

[elan66]

interesting thread,there are more cars being finished and driven with zetecs now so more people with an opinion based on driving them.
Crossflows,yes you can get 140 odd bhp but thirsty and often short lived,and the zetec with decent cams and webers sounds more authentic,and will do starship mileage if cared for,and often or not if uncared for
I love the Plus2 primarily for the handling and looks,just wanted more poke to keep it in line with the elans power weight ratio,but it's a personal thing.My Zetec plus2 is still all LOtus except for the engine.
the one thing i would bet money on for those that say the "twink"is the biggest part of the car is if you had 2 cars,1 with a "twink"that handled like an MG,and a 2nd car with a zetec that handles like a Lotus,which one most would pick.
Zetec plus2's do however perform 2 purposes;they put plus2's back on the road and arguably give the plus2 a new audience,Secondly let's not forget how many plus2's were "butchered"to put the much more worthy and common elan's back on the road
P

[billwill]

Hmm, I suspect that the engines from 'butchered' Plus 2s went into hot rods or race cars rather than for mending Elan 2 seaters. Pseudo Lotus Cortinas etc.

[pauljones]

I spend a bit of time recently looking at the previous posts on this.
So my small minded conclusion has this.
A twink can be rebuilt to QED420 spec for about ?6500(currently) by Paul Exon. This will give you a tall block and depending on exhaust and inlet factors say 150hp and 140 lbs/ft torque. Increased revs towards 7500rpm. Maybe a little more.
This is what i gather from looking at the archives.

[MarkDa]

My first thought about an electric elan was that it wouldn't be that light because of the batteries.
But thinks a bit harder - maybe by ditching all mechanical driveline and putting a pair of motors at rear one could come out at same weight and front/rear balance.
An interesting thought!!
One things for sure it wouldn't sound like an elan!
But the acceleration would be 'electric' - sorry couldn't resist.
Would Chapman be considering this for a fun runabout if he was around now?

[billwill]

A simpler conversion though would be to put just ONE of those Tesla electric motors up front to replace the Twink. Those motors are huge.

[MarkDa]

And they,ll be fairly heavy without fuel and starter battery probably balance out at rear.
We'll need space for batteries - they will have to go in engine bay
Steering angle will set differential motor speeds
Simples really when do we go into production?

[el-saturn]

i have a set of drawings for an electro sprint s5: it's all designed as modular as possible: the bottom (semi tub) is a singular component made in gfrp or cfrp using various resins injected as we made the Z1 or sauber c9 as a prepreg and honeycomb. the next "layer" is the energy absorbing upper bodywork without a moving screen etc... 4 wheel drive using MODERN wheel hub motors and a bit of electonics - the bottom looks much like an elan AND very light ------------ as is the rest. i should sell these drawings to a chinese!! sandy

[elj221c]

Mods section, maybe?

Electric cars in Lotus general discussion?

Really!

[pauljones]

Not a bad development of a conversation considering it started out as a zetec conversion topic.