Would an in-line 5 cyl engine fit in an Elise?

[Tacoboy]

Could you easily replace the in-line 4 cyl engine that come in the Elise with a 5 cyl in-line engine?

[shangani]

Was the 5 cylinder a transverse or longitudinal mount? It would probably be to wide for a transverse mount in the elise.

Why bother though - the 1.8 audi engine is an existing conversion and makes 250 bhp standard, 320 odd with a new turbo and a few bits and 370 if converted to 1.9l. More torque than you could ever want.

[900T-R]

shangani said:

Why bother though - the 1.8 audi engine

Is - as the Rover and Toyota ones already in there - not a very engaging sounding one, either. And the soundtrack - not the performance in se, although more of it isn't a bad thing - is the single weak link in the Lotus' armour as a driving experience IMO.

A warbling Volvo T5 engine in there... hmmmmmm... though in fairness I wouldn't bother, either.

[bogie]

anything is possible I guess if you have enough money to throw at it....I wouldnt use the word 'easily' though to describe any of the engine conversions that we have now, let alone doing a new one with a 5cyl. ...yes physically a Honda/Audi/Ford engine fits...but theres been months if not years of development work gone into making them relatively straightforward for installers to do.

Sometimes its not fitting the engine thats the problem, its finding a gearbox etc that will work in the Elise application.......

[iccees]

I'm sure you'd get one in if you took the seats out first

[Tacoboy]

Just seems if you had a 5 cyl motor in the 2.5 to 2.7 liter range,
you could have some great performance without turbo or supercharging.
Or even better with a turbocharged 2.7L.

[bogie]

it would be heavy though ...and youd have to have a new rear subframe etc like the Lotus Esthi - which had an Audi 2.7V6 bi-turbo in there

A supercharged 4 pot or even a 2.3 duratec with 270bhp-300bhp is more than enough and available as a turnkey conversion

[scuffham]

Tacoboy said:

Could you easily replace the in-line 4 cyl engine that come in the Elise with a 5 cyl in-line engine?

No.

unles you can come up with an inline 5 pot that's the same lenght as the 4 pot, then it simply will not fit in (transverley).

[Tacoboy]

What about a VW VR6?

[bogie]

nope - nothing other than a 4cyl will fit

[bjc388]

Tacoboy said:

What about a VW VR6?

Whilst the VR6 may be compact for a v6, you should see the size and weight of the thing compared to a 4 cylinder engine. That's ignoring all the ancillaries and gearbox that need to go with it as well.

It'll work when converting a VW because there's physically enough space in the engine bay of a Golf or Corrado .... the Elise engine bay looks titchy by comparison. I'd hate to think what the wiring will be like even if it did fit!!

[GTRene]

theyve done a Elise VR6 in Germany! a few years ago I saw it for sale, but it had no TUV aproval, so it was more for trackdays I guess...but it has bin done, I saved the info for 1 year...don't have it anymore though, but I remembered it had 230ps...
GTRene

[bjc388]

Good luck to those chaps then ... the fact that there was only one that was then put up for sale probably sums up how easy and viable it was ...

[GTRene]

yep, it maybe did...I found a link to a forum back in 2004, that was linked to ebay the VR6 Elise but ofcorse it was not there anymore...so many quistions stays unanswered, also came acros that fast S1 Exige with the duratec engine and I believe around 274ps?

www.teamnitron.co.uk/


GTRene

[bjc388]

Interesting find GT .... looks like the engine install is a lot further back in the car ... it's taken up the whole boot space ... more rear engined than mid-engined?

[GTRene]

I think it just looks that way, and the S1 Exige did not come with a boot if I remembered correctly and was very very noisy this picture is a bit better maybe.

Look also at that long roofscoop that realy catches some air...and the short air-intake, I bet great sounds

GTRene

>> Edited by GTRene on Monday 17th April 22:16

[bjc388]

GT

I've just read the blurb from the link ... that sounds like 1 very quick Lotus

[bogie]

thats Guy from Nitrons Exige - yep 275bhp ish ...and yes it does take up the whole boot

there was an Elise with an Alfa Romeo V6 in it around a few years back ...bet that sounded nice

..thing is with all these is that the rear subframe and rear of the car have to be altered so its not straightforward and have never been offered to paying customers.....

[GTRene]

yep, also a Ultima GTR with a Alfa V6, here the thread with that Alfa and others

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=15&t=238461
and here a picture

and the link to that story;
www.pistonheads.com/lotus/elise/Default.asp?storyId=4763
GTRene