alaric wrote:Hi. The poll is difficult to respond to for me, because looking at the pictures my view was it's a standard lotus chassis, with a zetec engine popped into the engine bay in place of the original twinc. The engine exhaust ports look open to the elements and the car is outside, so it's possible / likely the engine is shot and will need a major rebuild. The bodywork and interior don't look in great codition, even in the photos taken in the wet.
So, I may see going back to the original twinc on the grounds that the zetec is knackered and not fitted as the most cost effective way ahead. On the other hand, I am quite keen on the idea of converting to a zetec engine for my own car in the future - next time the twinc needs a rebuild.
So are you trying to guage how many are in favour of conversion to a zetec, or are you trying to judge how to proceed with this specific car?
All the best.
Sean.
Sean,
I'm mostly wondering hypothetically how to proceed with this particular car. This isn't meant to be a zetec versus twincam thread; although of course I expect a few to be suspcious of this as I am so openly in favour of zetec conversions.
As I said previously this project isn't for the faint hearted, but I was rather tickled by the bare face cheek of the seller who just wedged a zetec into the engine bay and then goes on to describe it as having a zetec 2.0 modification but then lists a few insignificant items to get it working, such as actually mounting the engine!
I think that someone was restoring this car and that it has become an abandoned project, the quality of the paint in the engine bay and the new looking bonnet catches give a clue, it may well be a lot better than the photos show, and perhaps has been sitting outside in all weathers unloved for a year or so.
Hypothetically I would lean towards selling the chassis and Lotus bits and going the Spyder route for a full zetec conversion, I doubt the supplied zetec is in a good enough state to use, but they are not exactly expensive to buy secondhand or even new in a crate. Alternatively keep the Lotus bits and mate a zetec to the existing running gear and Lotus chassis, it's certainly been done before with good results.
regards