Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Alan,

Thank you for posting that. It looks like a really useful kit. There is a guy near me who is a reputable fabricator, so I guess he could adjust something like this to fit quite easily.

I think I have seen this elsewhere actually, so I need to go and do some more searches, but it would be good to know some key distances between chassis and engine so that I dont have to fit the body to work out the engine position. I will need a bespoke prop, so i guess forward/back location is not as critical as if I had to marry up to a standard box and prop. Im mainly worried about the cam cover height, as that seems the most obvious place to get it wrong!

Thanks agains,

Phil

Phil,
The Zetec needs to go quite a bit further forward than the LTC, hence the 2 stage modification to the Spyder vacuum tank, one half moon cut out for the crank pulley and relieving of the trailing edge for the sump.

On my +2 the back of the cam cover is quite close to the bulkhead.

With a standard Spyder chassis you would stand half a chance with mounts that fit first time, all you would need to do would be to modify the vacuum tank, Spyder chassis built in the last 8 years will accept an MT75 without further mods.

Keeping the Lotus chassis is fine, but there's a much bigger element of research needed and there will be trial and error with dimensions to make the Zetec fit into body and chassis.

Alan,

Thanks, i thought that might be the reality. I have the half moon modification made now and the guy who did it for me made it quite large but put in a lot of reinforcement and used thick steel for that purpose. As well as welding the vertical platedown to the base, he then put small fillets front to back across the base of the half moon and welded the curved section to these as well as around the perimeter. So in essence the altered section is a series of 4 little box sections or cubes. Unfortunately, he didn't take a photo, or else I could just show you what I mean!

The upshot is that I have one of the more generous sized cutouts ive seen in vertical and horizontal planes and the chassis looks as if it will not have lost any stiffness.

I just need my family to go away for a few days and then I can build up the rolling chassis and test fittheengine/gearbox.....

Thanks,

Phil

I am not scared of modding Elan's! I have a Sprint FHC on ECU & Throttle bodies.

I always liked the Spyder Zetec idea, so when an unfinished project came up I persuaded my mother that she wanted it (She likes Elan's but could use something a little more modern these days)

we have a rolling chassis with engine in that spyder built a good many years ago. We spent a while (waaaayyyy longer than it should have been) getting the body fit and painted.

It should then, have been an assembly job for my father and I, but fate had other idea's, so I'm subbing it out early next year to get it completed.... Once it is I'll post again.

Jason

I have recently acquired a Plus 2 with a full Spyder/Zetec conversion and am wondering how many there are in the USA. I am not aware of any though I know of several folks beginning the process of building one. So, who has one in the US?

I am attaching a photo too.

Also, I have a loud, grating exhaust with the Spyder supplied muffler (silencer) and I was wondering if anyone has a melodious sounding exhaust system whose muffler can be used to make mine sound better, It currently sounds a bit like the fart cans on the hopped up Honda Civics I hear, and drones at 2,800-3,500 RPM just where one spends hours on the Interstate highway. I will try to find something but it would be nice to know something that is proven to work.

Ross Robbins wrote:I am attaching a photo too.

Also, I have a loud, grating exhaust with the Spyder supplied muffler (silencer) and I was wondering if anyone has a melodious sounding exhaust system whose muffler can be used to make mine sound better, It currently sounds a bit like the fart cans on the hopped up Honda Civics I hear, and drones at 2,800-3,500 RPM just where one spends hours on the Interstate highway. I will try to find something but it would be nice to know something that is proven to work.

Ross,

First off, she's a beaut!

I had a similar issue with my elan years ago. I took it to a muffler shop specialist (not a chain). We tried several iterations and settled on a conventional non performance muffler made by Walker. It sounded good, but without a harmonic drone. It's now time to replace it, and I will probably go with something similar.

Best wishes to you and Ann this new year.

Regards,
Dan

Hello Alan, Having just recently joined this site I found your request for others who have done the Zetec conversion. I finished mine on a 71 +2 18 months ago. What a ride! Just love the car .Did the conversion without any welding or cutting of the original chassis. Adapted to the stock Lotus 4 speed(big mistake, which I will live with for now) To help with the gearing I have 14 inch Accura Mag wheels adapted to the pin drive .Machined the centres to accept the centre knock off/on nut. Have 195R70-14 rear and 185R60-14 on the front..With the 4 throttle body injected stock motor can easly red line at 7000(cut off) in 4th gear. She's a bit busy,RPM wise but is OK for just local trips .My ECU is made here in Canada by SDS in Calgary.42mmTB's are VW aftermarket units. Have CV joints (again a VW unit) out board and Dough Nuts in board at the rear.
Wish I could have found your request way back in 2015,better late than never I guess ?
Thanks, Mantisman

Hi Mantisman,
Thanks for joining up to the discussion, great to hear about your car and the brief description of how you have achieved the conversion. I think there are a few people on here who would love to see how you mounted the engine to the frame and all the other challenges you had to overcome. Sounds a great car and we would all love to see some photos of the finished project and any technical details you can share for others who are into their projects and maybe scratching their heads as to how to go forward when they get stuck on details.

Here are my cars at a show in Eastbourne this weekend (South Coast England ). The +2 completed 2007 and the Kermit stripy thing finished 2011. Both get used quite a bit.

I would be curious how you got away without modifying the front crossmember/vacuum tank? I can see using the original chassis engine mounts and standard engine mounts with a simple adapter on the engine side. Why are you disappointed with the 2002E? Lack of a fifth gear? Inquiring minds want to know.

Great description,

I too would like to know your issue with the 4 speed. Im actually looking forward to putting my zetec in (1800 silvertop) with the 4 box. Im currently running a 3.54 diff with the Miller driveshafts, i personaly find the gearing quite good as it is. 1st is done with in a flash but 2nd and 3rd are absolutely bang on the money for playing around with. I do find 4th is a little high for anything apart from cruising at low revs, most probably a result of the diff swap ( 3.99 origonaly fitted i think). But this was the reason why i did it,less fuel used. The consequences are if i want to pass traffic i generally have to drop to 3rd. There are worse choices in life to make.
So im looking forward to the swap for a bit more torque and im guessing i wont have to change down so often, this will probably make 2nd and 3rd blisteringly quick.
Oh well, such is life.

Paul

Hello to all, I am pleasantly surprised at the response over the Zetec/+2 conversion. Would be nice if I could figure out how to get more pictures on this site? Car does need an overdrive,3000RPM for 120Km is too busy for our roads ,Canada is one "H" of a big place. Even the back road corners are miles apart!
I used the original engine mounts with a wedge shape aluminium adaptor to the chassis. The front lower belt drive pulley just clears the cross member to slip the belt over(very close, tight fit) G/Box rubber mount is Jeep CJ
cheap and perfect fit. Head lights are opened/closed with a 12volt linear actuator off a wheel chair, travel is controlled using magnetic proximity switches and relays. Cut approx. one inch wedge out of the oil pan to keep the sump at the same plain as the cross member. The bottom is now flat and parallel to the cross member, shortened the oil pickup the appropriate amount. Mounted the body directly to the rear points (in the trunk)
and moving forward have hard rubber wedges progressively thicker to a maximum of half an inch at the steering rack mounting points, this gives about half inch clearance to the hood over the cam belt cover.
As the exhaust was too close to the clutch slave cylinder for my liking I have adapted a release bearing assy. that goes over the drive spigot shaft(Ford F150 ) used the original splined clutch plate centre and adapted this to the Zetec diaphragm clutch plate. Another mistake was the light weight alli. flywheel (Cosworth) Throttle response is so fast that one has to be careful on take off to avoid the "Kangaroo Hop" that one gets with the two rubber couplings on the side shafts. Having just adapted a T5 (Ford Mustang ) to a 4.2 Jag engine for the Lister that I am building I am very sure this gearbox will with a bit of modification to the shift lever position ,fit into the Elan. A project for a later date. Good luck to those doing the conversion, it is much more than worthwhile.
Thanks for your interest, Ed. (Mantisman )

Nice car and nice location.

I certainly understand your roads, worked in Med Hat on and off for last 20years. Out of Calgary and head east. Turn left in 4hours.

Further to my post regarding a better design of manifold I will be bringing the following items to Castle Combe for inspection.
New design Zetec manifold and link pipe, all crafted from stainless steel, guaranteed and made by Spyder.

These items can only be fitted to cars with hydraulic clutch MT75 gearbox that have the starter motor on the inlet side of the engine. Or if you are using a 4 speed Lotus box that "should be okay" as it's narrower than an MT75 so no grinding (see below)

A certain amount of fettling is required which involves slightly relieving the top of the passenger foot well (easy) and grinding the casing of the MT75 gearbox to clear the link pipe (laborious).





Grinding required of MT75 casing


Increased ground clearance all round


Lowest part at the front is the sump,

Nice pipe you got there Alan, ripe for a zetec/4speed. Go on, how much?

?563.40 complete with link pipe and clamps (vat included), or ?454.80 inc vat for the manifold only.

These have been fabricated taking into account the problems I had fitting the original mild steel pattern that was based on Grumpy Bodgers design.

This is substantially cheaper than I paid for my prototype.....