Other Cars (British & British-Inspired)

Wayne Collins of Waterford Connecticut sent me a very nice little note via snail mail, asking if I know of any other Lotus Esprit engine swaps.

I don't... but I thought perhaps you guys might be able to help Wayne.

Here's exactly what Wayne wrote:

Quote:

My reason for writing to you is to find out if you have seen any others like mine around. Should you have any information to pass along like a web site, magazine, or even a couple of good car shows to attend, that would be great.

And here's a very preliminary look at Wayne's very nifty Lotus Esprit with Chevy 4.3L V6 (five photos)

Way back when I was a teenager and Mario Andretti was driving in F1 for lotus, there was talk of an Esprit running a detuned Cosworth DFV. I never saw it and I have never seen any pictures.

So I know I am waaay late to the part on this, but better late than never right?

I was at Lotus Ltd's 30th annual Lotus Owners Gathering in Gettysburg, PA in Oct. 2010 and met a couple from Maryland that had a Buick 215 V8 powered series 1 Esprit. They had bought the car fairly recently with the conversion already done and just fixed up all the small problems.

I remember he said he was aware of this forum but I don't recall whether he was a registered member.

I have some pics of the car I can post once I dig them up.

Hey Curtis, any idea what transmission Wayne used?
Looks like a Chevy bell housing.
Adapted to the Citroen box?

Cheers
Fred

If it is an automatic,maybe GM TH325 or TH425(Toronado,Eldorado).

It looks like an auto belhousing on it Jim.
But the wheels are in the wrong spot for the 325/425 trans.
It also seems to have a clutch slave bolted on in an odd spot.
I'm curious because I'm thinking of putting the Rover engine into my 78 S2
The car is rare enough (03/78 production S2 press release car with 240 horse LeMans engine and pre production turbo trim) that returning it to stock at a later date needs to be an option.
I know the swap sounds crazy but the car gets driven a lot. And when the engine was last rebuilt in 1988 it cost $38,000.00
so I'd rather wrap it and the trans up and put them away for now, before something bad happens.
I was thinking Audi for the trans axle but you've got a pretty good eye for adaptations. Any ideas?
Cheers
Fred

The Audi is popular in GT 40's. They use a steel midplate to increase torque capacity similar to Toyota. GM TH 325,425 can flip the diff and mount the other way around for better weight distribution. Also Chrysler(Dodge Intrepid) used longitudinal transaxles in recent cars and I recall an article on the web describing which ones were stronger. Subaru transaxle, you can get a plate(Australia?) to disable the AWD function and believe it or not Mendeola VW type transaxle can handle high horsepower. Would need to adapt to your motor.

I saw this Audi 4.2 V8 swap thread a few months ago that I thought was cool and is like a how-to manual on doing the swap: [www.motorgeek.com]



Videos on this page: [www.motorgeek.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2011 06:06PM by HealeyRick.

As promised, here are the pics of the S1 Esprit with the 215 V8:

Some would say,not as visually pleasing. Don't know if engine bay width is adequate, but Toyota series II, MR2 Turbo t-axle,(LSD) std, is a pretty stout piece. I'm mating one to a Stage II Buick V6, into 914 and or 77' Celica GT Liftback. Good Luck, roverman.