Plus 2 engines

[Chrispy]

Why the hell are people talking of fitting non standard engines into the poor old Elan? It is what it is, a 1960s classic
And should be cherished for what it is. I love mine just as it is, and have tried to Keep it as original as possible. If I wanted an MX5 or Honda In would buy one.

Not everyone can afford to rebuild or replace a grenaded Twincam...

[Bud English]

...and if I wanted an original, unmolested +2, I'd still have one. That's the beauty of ownership. You can have yours the way you want it and so can everyone else. Take heart, the more of us that modify ours, the more yours should be worth. To each his own.

[CBUEB1771]

I have heard that the Ford Pinto engine is the same block as the Twincam except for the deck height. I'm not even sure what -deck height- means but Wiki has info on the Pinto engine with performance variants.

Totally different engines! The twin cam was based on the Kent engine, originally pre-crossflow, then cross-flow, designed in the UK with pushrods, capacity went from 1300 cc to 1600cc. The pinto engine is a larger US designed engine, 1600-2000cc SOHC & I was told when I worked at the Ford engine test labs in the UK that it started off as a diesel design so it was much heavier

Yes and no, for the first two years of production the Pinto was available with either the 1600 Kent or the two liter OHC.

[Slowtus]

Why the hell are people talking of fitting non standard engines into the poor old Elan? It is what it is, a 1960s classic
And should be cherished for what it is. I love mine just as it is, and have tried to Keep it as original as possible. If I wanted an MX5 or Honda In would buy one.

I had a 1960s classic and I thought it a little slow so I stuffed this in...

Cherished it even more after that

[2cams70]

It ain't speed it's character. Best fun is had in a car with a sweet sounding revvy engine with good handling and low traction limits. You quickly get bored with a certain level of acceleration and speed and want more!! High traction limits just mean when you have an accident or make a mistake it's likely to be really serious!

[Slowtus]

'kay, my tongue was a bit in cheek there but to Chrispy's point - finding the bits and paying for the resurrection of a smithereened Twin Cam can be a long and expensive process so if you can find an alternative that works - fine by me, as long as it retains SOME of the character of the original.

My 1960s "classic" (1966 Cortina GT) had a Twin Cam in it when I bought it - the previous owner had stuffed a 1.8 Fiat Twin Cam in it, giving a bit more hp than the Lotus Cortinas I had owned and it had a 5 speed.

Just didn't quite have the 'bite' so I finally went with, again, a similar engine, 4 cylinders, twin cam, high revving and decent sounding, oh and 6 speeds....and there is no way on God's green earth that I could have obtained a Lotus Twin Cam for what I paid for the F20C I installed.

If I ever get back into this era of Lotus (and it will be a Plus 2 if I do) ideally the car will be needing a new drivetrain and I will oblige by sourcing a Japanese drivetrain with 'adequate' power and inherent reliability.

And a 5/6 speed 'box

[2cams70]

Yes I agree - Having experienced an S2000 the Honda F20C and its mating slick 6 speed transmission is a fantastic piece of kit. Honda in general have a well deserved reputation for producing consistently excellent engines. In this day of ever tightening emission and fuel consumption standards the F20C was probably one of the last naturally aspirated screamer engines in a production road car.

[kwhittle]

I don't think people are interested in swapping the TC. It's the correct engine for the car.

My question was when the Plus 2 was being designed/developed other engines were being considered by the Lotus team of engineers.
So were any alternative engines ever fitted into prototype Plus2 ??
Kevin

[Slowtus]

Not to take away from the OP's original question...which appears to have been answered as fully as people are aware but as mentioned by Crispy, the cost of fettling a decent Twin Cam keeps going up (okay, much better than 'decent' )

lotus-parts-f33/186-bhp-zero-miles-steel-twin-cam-for-sale-t43945.html

So, what to do when rebuilding just the engine far exceeds the value of the complete car?

Apologies OP - owe you a beer.

[prezoom]

In my case, my Plus2 came with a destroyed engine. Only salvageable parts were the cam cover, Burton cartridge water pump, and the pan. A $500 plus $300 for shipping for an 11k mileage 2L Zetec, about $300 for a flywheel and clutch parts, $200 for a Dunnell Engineering intake manifold and a couple of hundred for enough mandrel bends for the exhaust manifold and a bunch of my time still didn't add up to a new engine block for a twin cam, not including all the other needed parts, think another cylinder head, etc. All told, a little over $2k for an engine with bucket load of torque.

[Slowtus]

In my case, my Plus2 came with a destroyed engine. Only salvageable parts were the cam cover, Burton cartridge water pump, and the pan. A $500 plus $300 for shipping for an 11k mileage 2L Zetec, about $300 for a flywheel and clutch parts, $200 for a Dunnell Engineering intake manifold and a couple of hundred for enough mandrel bends for the exhaust manifold and a bunch of my time still didn't add up to a new engine block for a twin cam, not including all the other needed parts, think another cylinder head, etc. All told, a little over $2k for an engine with bucket load of torque.

My luggage is in repose.