Lotus 900 series engine into?

[geeman237]

The Lotus 900 series engine had a pretty long life and was continually improved over the years. However, I am not well informed if it has been used by many for resto-mod builds etc. So, besides the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus and Jensen Healey, does anyone know of any other cars that people have transplanted the Lotus engine into?

I'm sure cost may be a big factor and there are much more readily available engines around today like Zetec and MX5 swaps etc. But I do wonder if a TR7 with a Lotus engine would be an interesting project.

[braddo]

Haven't they always been costly to build? With almost no aftermarket to heat them up?

With ford duratecs and even rover k-series being easily tuneable options i dont think anyone would consider the Lotus engine unless they had one lying around.

[healeyneil]

I put one into an Austin Healey Sprite some years ago. Went well !
2 litre version with 45 Dellorto’s and the Maxi based 5 speed gearbox

[Sebring440]

geeman237 said:

besides the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus and Jensen Healey, does anyone know of any other cars that people have transplanted the Lotus engine into?

Other cars? The Sunbeam and Jensen-Healey were certainly not "transplanted".

Indeed, Jensen developed the engine for Lotus, through actually fitting it to a production car.

[Mark A S]

There was a Mk 1 Escort for sale a little while ago, maize yellow I think in Hampshire, with a 2.2 911 Lotus engine fitted. Seems an add choice for an Escort with so many other more suitable engines around.

Actually, parts supply is still very good for them, especially if you belong to a club, like the SLOC.

There a nice torquey lump, don’t mind a few revs too with the right set up etc. The 2.2 is quite happy to churn out 200 ish BHP all day long reliably if screwed together well and serviced regularly, like older engines TBH.

[droopsnoot]

The similarity with the Vauxhall slant-four has made it a popular transfer into various Viva HBs and HCs - I'm aware of at least one Sportshatch and a yellow HC saloon with one.

[aeropilot]

Sebring440 said:

Indeed, Jensen developed the engine for Lotus, through actually fitting it to a production car.

That's implying that Jensen had some imput into the engine development, which wasn't the case at all.
Rather, Lotus had to address issues with their initial design, as a result of it being first used in the Jensen before any Lotus, which was obviously beneficial to Lotus in some regard, although, detrimental in others, as the engine developed an early reputation that stigmatised the engine for the rest of its life, despite Lotus substantially re-developing it as a result of the early problems in the Jensen.
That's why they were happy when Des O'Dell approached Mike Kimberley for the Sunbeam project, as that resulted in someone else giving them further development money for changes that they were to adopt for their own cars, and they had spare capacity for engines, after the Jensen production had ended.

The problem with fitting the 900 series into anything else, is that its physically quite a large lump......it barely fits inside the Sunbeam engine bay, which still needed body mods to accommodate it...and is thus a PITA to work on when in-situ.

[aeropilot]

healeyneil said:

I put one into an Austin Healey Sprite some years ago. Went well !
2 litre version with 45 Dellorto’s and the Maxi based 5 speed gearbox

How on earth did you manage to adapt a fwd Maxi gearbox onto the back of a 900 engine, to drive the rear wheels....!!

[aeropilot]

droopsnoot said:

The similarity with the Vauxhall slant-four has made it a popular transfer into various Viva HBs and HCs - I'm aware of at least one Sportshatch and a yellow HC saloon with one.

Lotus's own engine development vehicles back in the late 60's was a Viva HB GT and a Victor FD fitted with the original test engines, after Lotus found out out the similarities with its engine to the new Vauxhall slant 4 at the '67 Earls Court Motor Show.
I think Lotus even fitted one into a Bedford CF van at one point...!

[Watcher of the skies]

geeman237 said:

The Lotus 900 series engine had a pretty long life and was continually improved over the years. However, I am not well informed if it has been used by many for resto-mod builds etc. So, besides the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus and Jensen Healey, does anyone know of any other cars that people have transplanted the Lotus engine into?

I'm sure cost may be a big factor and there are much more readily available engines around today like Zetec and MX5 swaps etc. But I do wonder if a TR7 with a Lotus engine would be an interesting project.

The usual 4 cylinder upgrade for the TR7 is the Sprint engine.

[healeyneil]

aeropilot said:

How on earth did you manage to adapt a fwd Maxi gearbox onto the back of a 900 engine, to drive the rear wheels....!!

Not me ! Lotus used the gear sets from the Maxi in their own casing for the early Elite/ Eclat models before it gained the great Toyota gearbox.
It had a reputation for being fragile, but in the lightweight Sprite shell I reckoned it was ok

[aeropilot]

healeyneil said:

aeropilot said:

How on earth did you manage to adapt a fwd Maxi gearbox onto the back of a 900 engine, to drive the rear wheels....!!

Not me ! Lotus used the gear sets from the Maxi in their own casing for the early Elite/ Eclat models before it gained the great Toyota gearbox.

Aah......OK, just the gearsets used not the gearbox itself.

I knew the early Elites' etc used a Lotus box, but didn't know it used Maxi gears inside it...!!
With them no longer having access to the Ford parts bins by that time, they were no doubt having to scratch around and use what they could get from where ever they could get it from.
At least Des made sure that they fitted the ZF into the Sunbeam, much to the Chrysler accountants dismay.

[Panamax]

aeropilot said:

Lotus had to address issues with their initial design, as a result of it being first used in the Jensen before any Lotus, which was obviously beneficial to Lotus in some regard, although, detrimental in others, as the engine developed an early reputation that stigmatised the engine for the rest of its life, despite Lotus substantially re-developing it as a result of the early problems in the Jensen.

Yup, that early engine destroyed the Jensen car company under a flood of warranty claims in USA and elsewhere. So much was right about the Jensen Healey, but unfortunately the engine wasn't. By the time Lotus had properly developed the engine into a 2.2 it had both sensible reliability and sufficient torque for better driveability.

As regards "transplants", I imagine more have been transplanted "out" than "in".

[Yertis]

healeyneil said:

Not me ! Lotus used the gear sets from the Maxi in their own casing for the early Elite/ Eclat models before it gained the great Toyota gearbox.

I have a W58 in my TR6 – once warmed up it's lovely. Also nice being able to wang through the gears without worrying that I'm about to break it, like I was the Triumph boxes beforehand. I miss the overdrive though.

[aeropilot]

Panamax said:

Yup, that early engine destroyed the Jensen car company under a flood of warranty claims in USA and elsewhere. So much was right about the Jensen Healey, but unfortunately the engine wasn't. By the time Lotus had properly developed the engine into a 2.2 it had both sensible reliability and sufficient torque for better driveability.

And if it hadn't been for the Sunbeam-Lotus project which allowed them to develop the 2.2 911 version for the Sunbeam, it might have been years before Lotus had the funds to have done it fully themselves.

[healeyneil]

aeropilot said:

Aah......OK, just the gearsets used not the gearbox itself.

I knew the early Elites' etc used a Lotus box, but didn't know it used Maxi gears inside it...!!
With them no longer having access to the Ford parts bins by that time, they were no doubt having to scratch around and use what they could get from where ever they could get it from.
At least Des made sure that they fitted the ZF into the Sunbeam, much to the Chrysler accountants dismay.

I think the Maxi was something like 1st mass production car with a 5 speed gearbox maybe ?

[Mark A S]

aeropilot said:

The problem with fitting the 900 series into anything else, is that its physically quite a large lump......it barely fits inside the Sunbeam engine bay, which still needed body mods to accommodate it...and is thus a PITA to work on when in-situ.

It helps if you remove the standard air box and servo

[aeropilot]

healeyneil said:

aeropilot said:

Aah......OK, just the gearsets used not the gearbox itself.

I knew the early Elites' etc used a Lotus box, but didn't know it used Maxi gears inside it...!!
With them no longer having access to the Ford parts bins by that time, they were no doubt having to scratch around and use what they could get from where ever they could get it from.
At least Des made sure that they fitted the ZF into the Sunbeam, much to the Chrysler accountants dismay.

I think the Maxi was something like 1st mass production car with a 5 speed gearbox maybe ?

First British made, mass produced 5-speed gearbox I believe, as Alfa and other Italian makes were using 5-speeds beforehand?

[geeman237]

healeyneil said:

I put one into an Austin Healey Sprite some years ago. Went well !
2 litre version with 45 Dellorto’s and the Maxi based 5 speed gearbox

Impressive!

Any photos you can post of the engine bay?

[Panamax]

Regarding physical shape & size of the engine I think Lotus had originally hoped to add the "other half" and produce a V8.