Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

A popular fitment into RWD Fords is the Vauxhall XE engine. Head was designed by Cosworth and unlike the Ford Zetec was designed more for performance rather than to emissions criteria. Kits exist to adapt it into an Escort so it shouldn't be too hard to fit into an Elan. Plenty of tuning bits are available for it and it's very well respected. Check out the QED website as they cover this engine as well as the Ford Lotus.
In Australia this engine was only ever fitted to early 1990's Holden Calibras with manual transmissions but I believe it was a much more common fitment in Europe - not sure about GM in other markets.
The YB Cosworth is a bit of a truck engine in my opinion. Being Pinto based it's very heavy and will spoil the handling. The Kent based Ford engines were much better than the Pinto based ones.

Knowing nothing about the Vauxhall XE I was looking around on the ?net. This site seemed to have a nice overview. Not sure what gearbox they mate to...

http://westfield-world.com/xeinstall.html

Cheers!

Stu

PS. I went with a built TC mated to an MT75. Although my engine has not been accurately dyno?d yet, the builder called the other day to say a similar unit was producing ~190 hp, but I don?t know what they were using as a redline. Bottom end used all the trick stuff for high RPM, but as Rohan says this is probably way overkill for road use. Having the extra torque in the Plus 2 is marvellous though. General spec is a ~1950 cc bored tall block with Weber 45?s and big bore exhaust. Still sorting a few things, but generally very happy.

On the turbosport.co.uk web site, in the technical section there is a continuing thread on the XE engine. The section also includes threads on all of the Ford engines and the Honda 2000 unit. The driveline thread has information on installations of transmissions to various engines, including the needed adapters to make it happen.

Thank you to all of those who have tried to help. Interesting results. I have decided now not to go down that rout as i is not viable. I am instead thinking of either a vauxhall redtop (Someone mentioned it earlier, it's basically a BDA and, having driven a westfield with one, it's an amazing engine.) or I'll go for the traditional Zetec.
Best regards, Peter

Thank you Rob Walker for the PM, I am sorry I haven't replied but my PM doesn't work properly.
Best regards, Peter