Jay Leno on the Elan FEB 2

PostPost by: CBUEB1771 » Wed Feb 04, 2009 3:47 am

Frank Howard wrote:
What? First of all, Lotus did not develop the DFV race engine.

A 6-speed transmission for an Elan? Where can I get one?



I just had an enjoyable time watching the video myself. I was impressed by how correct it is, for the most part. Now the DFV... Frank, you are strictly correct, but the connection between Lotus and the DFV is hardly remote. Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth both worked for Lotus when the Twin Cam was developed and before going off to start Cosworth. I am sure some thinking carried over. The 49 was the first car to use the DFV and Graham Hill did a lot of test driving to help produce a useable power curve as opposed to the rather binary delivery produced with the original cams. Now to a six speed 'box for the Elan... Quaife had been doing a sequential six speed in a Ford T9 case. This has been replaced by a new Quaife box with proprietary casings and internals but similar external dimensions. With Mr. Leno's resources it may very well be that he had discussions with Quaife about a six speed for his Elan. Lastly... No comments about 220 hp for the white Elan? My local engine builder / dyno man is making me dream about a road worthy 2.2 liter Twin Cam based on a Jennings Nikasil block. He thinks 200 hp is possible but that would be the limit for an eight valve Twin Cam head. Dream on.
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PostPost by: steveww » Wed Feb 04, 2009 10:22 am

As has already been pointed out Quaife have been doing six speed boxes to Ford Type 9 dimensions for some time. It would not take too much work to fit one to an Elan.

IIRC The Cosworh DFV is basically two BDA in a V. The BDA was built up on the 711M Ford block, so there is basic historical line from the Lotus twinc to the DFV.

The white Elan may be receiving a BDA type engine in which case 220bhp is realistic.
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PostPost by: reb53 » Wed Feb 04, 2009 10:43 am

At the risk of being nominated pedant of the week, the DFV, having gear driven cams, was more like a couple of FVA Formula 2 engines in a V.

Excellent video.
Have I been pronouncing the name of my car wrong all these years? :)
( Even allowing for my god-awful Antipodean accent).

Ralph.
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PostPost by: garyeanderson » Wed Feb 04, 2009 11:27 am

http://www.race-cars.com/utility/coswrthr.htm#FVA

FVA 1966 1598cc 218 Bhp. Formula 2, first Cosworth four-valve narrow angle head, 5 main 116E block, gear drive cams, won every championship 1967-71

In 1967 Ford was making one hell of a hot rod...

http://www.lotus-cortina.com/photos/wil ... dbolz2.htm

Another
http://www.cosworth.com/downloads/fva_1969_spec.pdf


Keith Duckworth came into his own on this FVA, the real problem was the gear lash stack up and chattering on 5 gears pairs in sequential order was a huge. It wasn't until Keith figured out how to minimize this with a torsion bar coupled gear on the front of the crankshaft that allowed the gear train, thus the engine live through a race. Whether this was first solved in the DFV or the FVA I can't say but it happened and the DFV went on to glory and brought Cosworth and Ford along.
photos from the following link (with additional photos and specs)
http://www.race-cars.com/engsales/coswo ... 3898ss.htm

Image
Image

ps - It was Walter Hayes at Ford of England and Colin at Lotus that helped get Cosworth the contract for the DFV for something like 100,000 gbp and it was speced out that there would be two engines, the development done on the 116e block for about 1/4 of that money and the rest went into the V8 DFV.

Gary
Last edited by garyeanderson on Wed Feb 04, 2009 5:05 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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PostPost by: gjz30075 » Wed Feb 04, 2009 12:12 pm

Frank, you sure know how to throw water on a good time. But yeah, I spotted those inconsistencies, also. Did you see the fit of the LH headlight bucket? It was driving me nuts; I wanted to get in there and fix it!

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PostPost by: GrUmPyBoDgEr » Wed Feb 04, 2009 12:34 pm

Why is everybody nitty picking about a few small mistakes having been made in an entertaining video clip.

Yes we do have the specialists on this forum & anything written or spoken by someone who seems to have a very broad interest in interesting cars can always be found to have holes in it.

It seems that the questions about 6 speed g/boxes has been answered, although there is the possibility to add the Caterham 6 speed if that is not the same as the Quaiffe.

The great attachments added by Gary show fully the engine derivatives from Cosworth.

There does exist a bit of "English folk lore", which goes as follows:-

FVA = Four Valve Anglia

DFV = Double Four Valve

And here's a bit of additional "German Folk lore":-
The History books mention that Alex von Falkenhausen, the then head of BMW engine development described the FVA as agricultural compared to his very complex (Apfelbeck) 4 valve F2 engine. However his team eventually decided to copy the FVA design & came up with their M12 (2 Litre F2) engine which then went on to be the engine to beat at 315 bhp

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PostPost by: Carlos A » Wed Feb 04, 2009 4:24 pm

Jay Leno is not a Lotus Elan expert but an entertainer who happens to love Elans, enjoy them, drive them, and understand their historic importance. There are some inconsistencies, yes, but the important thing is the attention that a video like this brings to the model. This is a program that is produced for the WEB with only one camera, with no special lighting, no sound filtering (noticed the wind noise?), without a research team.... The program usually involves Mr. Leno, one of his mechanics, maybe a special guest, the camera man, an assistant, and the webmaster? and that is about it. Is done cheaply; with a very simple editing, and no much technical attention? In the spirit of the Internet, so to speak. It is supposed to create a virtual experience of a person who is invited to the garage to take a look of a very cool car, talk a bit about its characteristics and history and then go for a ride. So, it is sort of informal and some little mistakes are expected. My point is that this is one of the most famous car collections of the world (in great part because of his owner celebrity and charisma, but also because of the fine quality of the cars Mr. Leno owns) and a significant spot for an Elan is very much appreciated. Jay Leno drives his Elan very often, being one of his favorites; this is the second video in which the blue Elan is featured.

Best,

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PostPost by: steveww » Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:09 pm

Carlos A wrote: Jay Leno drives his Elan very often, being one of his favorites; this is the second video in which the blue Elan is featured.

Best,

Carlos A


I love the video and used to read Jay's column in one of the UK classic mags regularly. I don't care if there were a few minor mistakes.

So where is the other video then? I would really like to see that one as well.
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PostPost by: Carlos A » Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:50 pm

Steve:

The first video with the Elan is about Cilajet Products. Not as exiting but still....


http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/vid ... vid=749281
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PostPost by: TurbineHeli » Tue Oct 31, 2017 2:27 pm

Hi, where can one find a link to each of his Elan restore episodes?

Thanks
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PostPost by: Fred Talmadge » Tue Oct 31, 2017 8:41 pm

TurbineHeli wrote:Hi, where can one find a link to each of his Elan restore episodes?

Thanks


Go here https://www.youtube.com/user/JayLenosGarage

Then click on the magnifying glass and enter Lotus.
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PostPost by: Billmack » Tue Nov 21, 2017 5:50 pm

Yeesh. I think I will avoid posting .
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PostPost by: nunomauricio » Tue Nov 21, 2017 9:50 pm

Fred Talmadge wrote:
TurbineHeli wrote:Hi, where can one find a link to each of his Elan restore episodes?

Thanks


Go here https://www.youtube.com/user/JayLenosGarage

Then click on the magnifying glass and enter Lotus.
Jay Leno have a dream garage, fantastic, thanks for the link.
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PostPost by: JonB » Tue Dec 12, 2017 12:06 pm

That exhaust sounds lovely!
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