Plus 2 Elan KSP 75F

[sam919]

I am looking to get in contact with the owners of this car. I carried out a nut and bolt restoration on this car about ten years ago and sold it to a freind of a freind who said he was going to keep it as he loved it so much.....he didn't which i was quite un-chuffed about but there we go. I had to sell it to make room for the race car i bought, and motoring wise i was going down another route i.e. racing.

I have a load of photos from the re-build, and history of it all, every time i cast my eye on them sitting on the bookshelf i can 't resist having a look, it was great project for myself, i bought it when i was 20 from a freind and the re-build started. It was in good condition but i fancied another color, which resulted in Saturn Silver which is a lotus color but not for the elan. Now and again i type in 'plus two elan' into ebay and prepare myself for it being listed.....then where would i store it....as i probably couldn't resist buying it! All my freinds couldn't believe i sold the car when i told them back in the day, they thought i was joking.

So if anyone knows if this car, as above i have a load of history for it, i can either send it all to them......or buy the car back!!....it an emotional subject!

[Southy19791]

Hi,

Just chanced on this posting looking for something else - if you get in touch you will laugh. I met the previous owner to myself and bought the car about 2 1/2 years ago - he passed me a load of info and I think you met him? He hated selling it and seemed to love it dearly. I am based in Singapore with the car 'living' in Devon with my folks. Going through a spruce up currently and in great hands - my father had an Elan in the 60's. Must confess i miss driving it.....but it gets s good run in.

Happy to catch up and exchange details. Whats best?

Regards

Rich

[Skyedriver]

There's an Elan +2 for sale at the moment but it has no engine/gearbox.
The correct engine, a twink, will be expensive to source and fit,they weren't really all that powerful anyway (105bhp?).
I know this will be considered sacrilege, but has anyone on here experience of fitting something else, I'm thinking Zetec/Duratec along with a suitable bearbox, possibly ex-Caterham or rally Escort??
I've heard of the Spyderchassis/Zetec combination but this has the original chassis.
(I'm old school and would need to be lead by the hand with the spec of these modern engines and gearboxes).
I assume I can run the above engines on carbs, otherwise the tank and a lot of other items would require replacement.
Thanks in advance

[MG Ant]

Keep the injection and use external FI pump and swirl-pot and cheapest Facet pump to fill the swirl-pot....

[Lotobear]

Skyedriver said:

There's an Elan +2 for sale at the moment but it has no engine/gearbox.
The correct engine, a twink, will be expensive to source and fit,they weren't really all that powerful anyway (105bhp?).
I know this will be considered sacrilege, but has anyone on here experience of fitting something else, I'm thinking Zetec/Duratec along with a suitable bearbox, possibly ex-Caterham or rally Escort??
I've heard of the Spyderchassis/Zetec combination but this has the original chassis.
(I'm old school and would need to be lead by the hand with the spec of these modern engines and gearboxes).
I assume I can run the above engines on carbs, otherwise the tank and a lot of other items would require replacement.
Thanks in advance

A well built and tuned twink is a lovely engine but as you say they are hard to find and expensive to rebuild. Mine was mildy tuned (cams, valves and porting) and well set up and had 144bhp and it was plenty in the Plus 2 and suited the car really well - it's a period gem of an engine and to me the heart and soul of an Elan or Plus 2. A Zetec conversion is a resto mod in reality and while they go very well (my friend has a baby Elan with a 185bhp Zetec and a 4 speed 2000E box with tall first gear, and it's an utter hoot) for me they lack the character and drama of a TC and to my mind spoil the car. In that case I think you would be better with a modern Lotus which could be bought for less money than embarking on a full Spyder Zetec conversion (which you correctly recognise is not possible on an original folded steel chassis).

The Duratec conversion has been done on a baby Elan but it's very complex as the exhaust and inlets are on opposite sides of the engine to the Zetec adn there are issues with exhaust routing.

I'm not a purist by the way (my Plus 2 had many unseen mods) however I just think a Zetec conversion is no longer an Elan....all in my opinion of course!

[Skyedriver]

Lotobear said:

A well built and tuned twink is a lovely engine but as you say they are hard to find and expensive to rebuild. Mine was mildy tuned (cams, valves and porting) and well set up and had 144bhp and it was plenty in the Plus 2 and suited the car really well - it's a period gem of an engine and to me the heart and soul of an Elan or Plus 2. A Zetec conversion is a resto mod in reality and while they go very well (my friend has a baby Elan with a 185bhp Zetec and a 4 speed 2000E box with tall first gear, and it's an utter hoot) for me they lack the character and drama of a TC and to my mind spoil the car. In that case I think you would be better with a modern Lotus which could be bought for less money than embarking on a full Spyder Zetec conversion (which you correctly recognise is not possible on an original folded steel chassis).

The Duratec conversion has been done on a baby Elan but it's very complex as the exhaust and inlets are on opposite sides of the engine to the Zetec adn there are issues with exhaust routing.

I'm not a purist by the way (my Plus 2 had many unseen mods) however I just think a Zetec conversion is no longer an Elan....all in my opinion of course!

Thanks Lotobear.
Always fancied a +2, even after my Elan S4 and Excel experiences, should have bought a +2 when they were sensible money, they seem to have doubled in (the asking) price over the last two years.
The one currently on offer needs an engine and box but otherwise is usable although I'd be looking at paint and suspension.brake refresh over time. Of course while you change the engine there's all the periphery that you do while there's space to do it, like hoses, brake and fuel lines, etc (no power steering lines on an Elan) and costs escalate quickly. Had a headgasket go on a Chimaera a couple of year ago, a simple job but by the time both heads were off and skimmed and rebuilt, and while the engine was out a weeping core plug replaced, power steering hoses replaced, tired radiator and all hoses replaced the bill came to over £3000. This +2 whilst initially cheap may turn into a money pit and cost the same as a decent original car. Time to think carefully. I'd rather be driving a decent car now than spending the next two years in the garage with bleeding knuckles, muck in my eye and a puzzled "how the heck will I get this to work" look on my ugly old face.

[CTE]

I`ve recently got excited over a +2S as they should be a fantastic ownership proposition, and as a result I took the opportunity to test drive one at the weekend. So old but highly rated Lotus chassis, lightweight so relatively low power not an issue, more or less Triumph Herald steering and front suspension (simple and very good) so I was expecting good things. How disappointed I was...gutless, dead steering, pedals offset to the right and their positioning made it nearly impossible to heal and toe which wrecked the gearchange...oh yes and the car wandered around at the front. I identified a loose ish wheel bearing and also thought some modern rubber would help matters, but dead steering and unable to make a decent gearchange...is this normal. Shame as the car was basically in very good condition??

[Lotobear]

CTE said:

I`ve recently got excited over a +2S as they should be a fantastic ownership proposition, and as a result I took the opportunity to test drive one at the weekend. So old but highly rated Lotus chassis, lightweight so relatively low power not an issue, more or less Triumph Herald steering and front suspension (simple and very good) so I was expecting good things. How disappointed I was...gutless, dead steering, pedals offset to the right and their positioning made it nearly impossible to heal and toe which wrecked the gearchange...oh yes and the car wandered around at the front. I identified a loose ish wheel bearing and also thought some modern rubber would help matters, but dead steering and unable to make a decent gearchange...is this normal. Shame as the car was basically in very good condition??

...you've clearly driven a poor example as the steering in a properly set up Plus 2 is simply delightful, for feel and delicacy I would even place it above my Evora. Possibly causes are incorrect toe, bad rack mounts (soft rubber), perished rubber in the steering knuckle joint, bad suspension bushes, rod ends or a combination of all.

I've personally never felt any need to heel and toe in a Lotus Elan or any road car for that matter, the gearchange (esp 4 speed) does not require it in order to make smooth changes. The 5 speed is more challenging but still not bad if properly built.

Unfortunately there are many of these cars around which look good on the outside but which have been neglected mechanically due to lack of diligence or simple ignorance of the owners. They require regular attention and are super sensitive to any wear or misadjustment of chassis and steering components.

A properly set up Lotus TC even in standard form should be a nice torquey and willing unit so your perception of 'gutlessness' may be simply down to your own expectations.

All that said, the are a 50+ year old car and can't be expected to drive or perform in a similar manner to a modern sports car.

[CTE]

Thanks for your reply and pleased/reassured to hear your comments.

Regarding the gutless thing, I own a 150hp Elise which I guess is similar weight so whilst I would expect less performance, I would expect the Elan to still feel sprightly...it sounds like a lot of work has been done to the car in question, but not very well...

[Lotobear]

A Plus 2 weighs something around 900kg so not as light as you might think.

My twin cam made 144bhp (tweaked - headwork and cams) and my Plus 2 went very well indeed, certainly quicker than a 'regular' MX5 and much sweeter handling and steering. But it's the manner of delivery and sense of occasion, coming on cam, the noise etc., that for me made driving it an event, not the ultimate performance which by modern standards is definately compromised.

But you can't really compare one with an Elise. I've said it on here before I actually preferred the driving experience to my Evora because you could drive it at 9/10's most of the time without being anti social or people even noticing.

[CTE]

Ah yes I totally get where you are coming from and there are definitely many different forms of pleasure!