Engine Alternatives

[hotrod100]

As a lotus die hard fan I personally wouldnt consider putting a non-lotus engine in an Esprit. Mines an 84 Turbo, this is purely for emotional and value reasons as everything practical about me says any other engine would be better for maintenance, repairs, cost, fuel and reliability but not power or the legacy of Lotus. Whats got me thinking is a flyer thats just come through about a group developing a renault v6 conversion for excels and hopefully esprits. What experiences or stories of conversions are out there because with the transaxle setup there must be some severe limitations on space. If I were to go down this route theres certainly some interesting modern units like the ford v8 crate engines and a similar corvette engine. Any radical thoughts?

[machii]

I saw a V8 Rover in an S2 Esprit, didn't like it..
My verdict keep it a Lotus, it's not a Kit car!

[benfell100]

Don't know how big that Ford block is and how high it would sit in a low down car like the Esprit, the 910 is a 'slant' 4 for obvious reasons. Also it costs about $16000 US (about £10000) which I think is a lot . You can pick up a new 910 for less than 5k sterling

[southenddc]

Did i dream it or did i once read someone had replaced the lotus engine with a Ford Zetec engine...it was on a G car?!?!

[dr.hess]

A Lexus V8 is 300 HP bone stock and 27 inches cubed. A little shorter (~1-2") if you can ditch the AC compressor. Who needs a turbo?

Dr.Hess

[kylie]

dr.hess said:

A Lexus V8 is 300 HP bone stock and 27 inches cubed. A little shorter (~1-2") if you can ditch the AC compressor. Who needs a turbo? Dr.Hess

My man bought one of these Lexus v8 engines for his 1932 Roadster, they are incredible, all alloy and got loads of potential to get massive horse power out of them. He's hoping to get 450hp out of it. Many boat jetsprinters get over 1000hp out of them and a friend who has a F40 race car has used one as its more reliable and pumps out more Hp than stock F40 engines. I discussed this possible transplant for when my car eventually dies, but am like others here am pretty loyal to Lotus and will try and keep her going for as long as its in my hands. Would be nice though.

[techspy]

There is a G car in the USA with a Ford Taurus SHO engine in it. The guy did all the work himself and used the same transmission. He said it was really amazing. I do remember that the intake plumbing didn't fit too well, and actually extended into the trunk area. He has since sold it to a guy in Charlotte NC that works for a tire company. I am going to try to locate the guy when I get back so I can take a look at it. The old website is http://hometown.aol.com/shotus/auto/index.htm, but it is offline now. I am trying to locate a cached copy of it. If I do I am going to post it on my website. I think an engine swap would be an interesting project, but only if it was my second Esprit that basicaly was a salvage and needed a lot of work anyway.

John
94 S4
http://24.25.100.254/