Swap Ideas for 86 Esprit.

Been browsing the new boards but never remembered to register since the old one.

So I have a lead on a 86 turbo lotus esprit, new suspension, brakes, most of the interior but the motor needs a good going through. Basically its a roller with a possibly good motor. It has the HC turbo and a bit of other stuff I could sell on the egay.

Its going to be a dirt cheap by my standards. Does anybody know something more modern in terms of powerplant that would fit in this thing easily. I have seen a audi V8 or two which is way more then I was thinking of doing. I have a F20c but that would definitive mean upgrading the transaxle. There is a bunch of space back there. I really want a honda/toyota motor but have not seen anything done.

can you go lateral engine placement? If so, some sort of decent FWD set-up would work well, ala MR2 turbo.

SRT-4 would be a good start, or a K20 with a turbo.

Cool car for a swap!

The good Dr Hess will have more info than me, but from my limited knowledge of these cars I'd recommend against reusing the OE transaxle. IIRC it's a Peugeot unit that's not overly strong and is pricey to fix.

If you already have the F20C, why not stick a Porsche 915 transaxle on that?

keep in mind how heavy those suckers are. I never understood why they got such a little 4 cylinder. I used to autocross a '91. I've never driven something so laggy.

On the cheap, say... L67?

Jensenman wrote: IIRC it's a Peugeot unit that's not overly strong and is pricey to fix.

really? I thought I remembered Renault?

Crate motors have gotten pretty affordable. Plus it would sound cool. IIRC the last round of the Espirits were LS powered.

Not LS powered, Lotus V8 powered.

This one has the renault from the SE box in it if I am looking at it right. I really really want to do a K20a2 swap which would put me in the right power range to keep the stock box with some pad upgrades and some better fluid, along with stripping out all the extra weight would make for a fun little car.

I figure about 5K in the budget for the swap.

Mental, the last round of the Esprit were Lotus V8 powered.

That one has the Citroen transaxle. Can't handle a whole lot of power stock, but they have been put behind V8's by some of the GT40 kit and kit-less guys. The problem with the Citroen boxes is that the ring and pinion gears go bad on you and they are becoming Unobtainium. There's a guy in the Netherlands that has cornered the world's market on them. Fortunately, he's a good guy and he works hard to keep all the Citroen boxes on the road. In the 1989 MY, US cars got the Renault box, which can handle a little more power but it is still not a rock crusher and depends a lot on "magic oil" to keep it together.

A Lexus V8 would be really cool. I've heard of a race car in Oz with one. There's one with a Ford V6 SHO out there, as well as several of those Rover V8's, a SBF or two and some others, I'm sure. Besides the Lexus V8, I think a 3SGTE with a few mild upgrades would be way cool. It even leans in the same direction as the 910.

You could just keep the 910 in it. It is a pretty tough motor and that one should do about 220 HP or so. Fix the trapazoidal timing belt by upgrading to a rounded one, dump the spring loaded tensioner and megasquirt it. That would solve most of the issues right there. In the last version of the 910, 300 HP at the wheels is common with basically a good tuneup.

To tell if you have a Citroen or Renault box, look at the rear brakes. If they're inboard, it's the Citroen.

Lexus V8 would be awesome! See http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/factory-upgrade/

I'd second the Lexus motor idea. You want something you can shut the lid and forget about in that car.

How light can you reasonably get with those Dr. Hess? I bet they're not as far under 3000lb's as you'd want. In other words, don't forget to bring the torque.

They are a bit portly. The G cars (up to 87) may be a bit lighter than a Stevens (88 up), but the 86 is probably going to be pretty close. Adding more lightness to a Lotus is a real challenge. The weight specs are online somewhere, but I'd guesstimate that car weighs around 2800 lbs as it sits there. Gut the interior, no spare, no AC, no heater and maybe remove one gas tank and use a lightweight battery and you might get it to 2400 but it would be a challenge. Series 1 cars were considerably lighter. And more fragile.

I've actually measured a VVT-i CoP 1uzfe and an Esprit engine bay. It'd be close. Real close. If you don't use the 1uzfe's AC compressor and came up with a 1 piece bell housing instead of an adapter plate, it just might fit.

That's less than I thought. The one I drove felt like 3200-3300lbs stock.

Ah, a Citroen box. At least I had the right country.
The reason I suggested the 915 box/F20C was for budget reasons, from the recent thread with Andy's budget supercar idea it seems the Porsche box is sorta pricey used but not completely out of sight, like $1500-$2500 and it's plenty capable of handling the F20C's power.

http://www.911pcar.com/Porsche_Parts/porsche_parts_transmissions.htm

I likes that 1UZ-FE swap idea too. The 915 should be able to handle that as well.

Wasn't there a thread on an Audi V8 powered one using an Audi V8 6-speed transaxle? Might be worth a google search for.

Otherwise, I'd look at 914-style or 911 mid-engined style swaps along with GT40 and Lambo replicas as they are in a similar boat as you and have quite a bit of documented solutions that could be made to work in your case.

Here you go. Should keep you out of trouble for a while. Course You could buy a nice late model vette for the cost.

http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9648&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&sid=56e8bbbd823e19510fca38d0e73957e7

I'm gonna need to go ahead and sit here at the desk until things "calm down" a little.

here's a 97 Espirit for $12k.

http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/cto/920293075.html

I like the idea of putting a FWD transverse setup in there. I know there is a transves LSx motor in the latest Monte Carlos and such. Is there a manual box that fits it?

I saw that one, but I like the older body style.

I have the flu real bad so bear with me.

So here is the deal, finally got to drive it and made a offer. 7500$ accepted pending title, plus a two extra garret tubro 30's that he had with no miles.

Its a HCI car but does not have the decals. The motor transmission and turbo are stock, the belts were changed ~2K miles ago. but in 99. The car has KONI suspension with adjusters all the way around and there was a recent mileage wise corner balance on the car. It has a new clutch/tires/lines (braided) headlight update. It for some reason has the really ugly front bumper that came on some of them. The car has original paint that will buff out fine. some parts have been painted poorly to make them stand out. It also has unknown vented roaters and pads but new fluids and braided lines.

The interior seats are brand new the rest is terrible. Since I am pulling it all out for a cage it does not matter and ripping everything out. Unfortunately the owner is keeping the recaros that he had in the car for a dune buggy build so I will have to find something else modern that fits and will need something with a modern safety date.

The cats that are in the car are destroyed he ran the car the last 1000 miles without the air pump system which failed so its off to the shop to build a new one that fits. had to buy it without smog but with what I had planned I doubt that it will see the street.

So the short list of stuff I have to sell off the car. Complete interior panels. New seats, glass. Complete running motor with decent compression. All factory suspension components. Extra Turbos. Motor assemblies for the lights. All tools and kit Aircon complete. Aftermarket exhaust.

Things I need outside of the swap Cage (home) Cats (shop) Paint restoration cleaning (Shop ~Free) Title/Reg. Powdercoat wheels gold. Complete Strip of car. Paint rear valance and strip off stupid color additions by PO.

Will post pictures later this week if it shows up. I don;t have any lace to park it right now.

subbing for pics

One quick picture. Still not finalized yet but will be tomorrow or Monday I hope. Its not a true replacement for the GT3 but I will not feel bad about throwing this one on the track and bumping something.

I have been doing a lot of research on the motor that is in it I think that I can de-tune to about 190-200hp and be safe with new rods and a quick check of the crank for track use, the rebuild would cost about 3K I think if I did everything and it needed minimal machining. That would give me time to plan out the swap.

This one allegedly was rebuilt at 50K which makes a good bit on sense because it would not be running if it had not and the compression would be shot.

[img]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-12/1117199/Lotus.jpg[/img]

Looks nice.

Regarding the swap, what's your budget? I'd suggest a G50 trans with an LSx is front of it (the higher the nuber the better). You can get them with aluminum blocks/heads and they weigh less than that Lexus motor and they're smaller to top it off. You can bolt in (well, aside from all the fabricating you have to do in any case) factory reliable 400+ HP.