Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Dave, I've not had first hand experience on this one; only from my readings. I'm just as anxious as everyone else here to see if its feasible. Keep us posted.

Greg Z.

I seem to remember you also need a spacer (available from QED) between the top of the water pump housing and the cylinder head to compensate for the taller block.

Something else I'll point out that nobody's mentioned yet - it does make a difference what car you're intending this for; it's not that big a deal to build a tall block Twincam, but I've heard that if you have an early Elan (Series 1 - 2) that you would need to modify the engine mounts to drop the engine in the chassis. Otherwise the cam cover pokes out through the bonnet! But here in the US Dave Bean Eng. has parts available to create a short block long stroke engine, using the 1500 block with the XFlow crank, TC rods & special short deck pistons. This avoids having to use the longer timing chain & timing cover spacer with the TC front cover, and the engine is easier to fit into the early car - since only the internals are bigger!
Dave
lotus026