S
Sean S
Guest
Hello all,
I signed up for this board because I needed to ask V6 experts about a possible engine swap I would like to do.
I have recently purchased an older Lotus Esprit which has a 2.2L 205hp 4cyl Lotus motor. For sure it is a high strung performance motor, and it also comes with legendary Lotus non-reliability and astronomical rebuild costs.
Because I cannot really afford to rebuild the motor (which is fine now), I would like to swap in an American made V6.
I have done V8 conversions before to front engined vehicles so I am familiar with the adapter plate/linkage/etc bit.
A V8 motor would actually fit, but it would be extremely tight, and even in aluminum block would destroy the weight balance of the car.
Sooooo....
I think what I am after is an aluminum block V6.
The original 4 is of course completely aluminum, but I think I could get away with the 6cyl as long as it was also an AL block.
This is what the motor needs to do.....
First, as I said.... the block, heads, and as much as possible of the rest of it has to be AL.
Secondly, the engine must be able to be mounted non-transversely (as in not "sideways") in the car, and preferably could be set up so it was symetric from left to right (as you would imagine any classic American car to be)
Third, the engine should be able to make 250-275hp. Supercharging is fine, but no turbo's (too hard to plumb one in this car). The engine would need to be able to handle a 7k redline as the rest of the geartrain of the Lotus is meant for this limit.
If this required a special build (change of stroke...etc), that would be OK.
I should mention that HP is far more important than torque in this rare case as the car only weighs 2300lbs and is really designed more for hi-rev/hi-speed curvy places rather than dragging, not to mention that an extra-torquey motor could destroy some rather expensive driveline parts in a big hurry.
I would like to find the engine used first, and test the fit before doing any custom HP related work to it though, because it doesn't make sense to build an engine that won't fit
Ok, so.... this leads me to needing to know what cars might have an engine that would be capable of these requirements (even if not in stock form), and where would be a good place to look for them (the tow yard next door to me gets totalled cars in daily), and what mod's you would do (and maybe the price?).
Please forgive me for popping in for my first time with this rather lengthy question, and for asking for detailed answers.
I moderate other boards, so I know that "strangers" don't always get much attention paid to them.
The best I can do is to say that it took me awhile to get here and if I can get this swap in, that hopefully I could be a helpful participant down the line.
Many Many Thanks!
Sean
Los Angeles
I signed up for this board because I needed to ask V6 experts about a possible engine swap I would like to do.
I have recently purchased an older Lotus Esprit which has a 2.2L 205hp 4cyl Lotus motor. For sure it is a high strung performance motor, and it also comes with legendary Lotus non-reliability and astronomical rebuild costs.
Because I cannot really afford to rebuild the motor (which is fine now), I would like to swap in an American made V6.
I have done V8 conversions before to front engined vehicles so I am familiar with the adapter plate/linkage/etc bit.
A V8 motor would actually fit, but it would be extremely tight, and even in aluminum block would destroy the weight balance of the car.
Sooooo....
I think what I am after is an aluminum block V6.
The original 4 is of course completely aluminum, but I think I could get away with the 6cyl as long as it was also an AL block.
This is what the motor needs to do.....
First, as I said.... the block, heads, and as much as possible of the rest of it has to be AL.
Secondly, the engine must be able to be mounted non-transversely (as in not "sideways") in the car, and preferably could be set up so it was symetric from left to right (as you would imagine any classic American car to be)
Third, the engine should be able to make 250-275hp. Supercharging is fine, but no turbo's (too hard to plumb one in this car). The engine would need to be able to handle a 7k redline as the rest of the geartrain of the Lotus is meant for this limit.
If this required a special build (change of stroke...etc), that would be OK.
I should mention that HP is far more important than torque in this rare case as the car only weighs 2300lbs and is really designed more for hi-rev/hi-speed curvy places rather than dragging, not to mention that an extra-torquey motor could destroy some rather expensive driveline parts in a big hurry.
I would like to find the engine used first, and test the fit before doing any custom HP related work to it though, because it doesn't make sense to build an engine that won't fit
Ok, so.... this leads me to needing to know what cars might have an engine that would be capable of these requirements (even if not in stock form), and where would be a good place to look for them (the tow yard next door to me gets totalled cars in daily), and what mod's you would do (and maybe the price?).
Please forgive me for popping in for my first time with this rather lengthy question, and for asking for detailed answers.
I moderate other boards, so I know that "strangers" don't always get much attention paid to them.
The best I can do is to say that it took me awhile to get here and if I can get this swap in, that hopefully I could be a helpful participant down the line.
Many Many Thanks!
Sean
Los Angeles
