Lotus Elite V8 - eh?

A friend of my mother's mentioned to her that they're about to move house and need to get shut of an unfinished project. Initially I heard it was a 1973 Lotus Elan and pricked up my ears accordingly. My mother has just phoned again to say she's spoken to them and that it's an _Elite_ and N reg ('74?) at which point I lost interest somewhat. What puzzles me is that she's sure they said it's a V8, which don't sound right to me! Unless someone has replaced the expensive to fix Lotus engine with a Rover V8. Do they fit?

Further garbled details, any of which could be wrong are that the car is in the Manchester area with nettles growing all around it and that they're thinking of asking 500 quid or so. I suggested they stick it on Ebay, where an Elite with 6 months MOT is currently struggling at 800 quid to reach its reserve.

If anyone's daft enough to want to know more, I can probably find out.

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke
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In message , Willy Eckerslyke writes

Yes, I've heard of Rover V8s fitted to Elites. Don't know what the low-revving Rover engine in an Elise does for top speed though!

Reply to
Chris Morriss

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Chris Morriss saying something like:

Might be fun getting there, though.

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

Rover V8s fit anything . Just a thought, though. Lotus were developing their own V8 for years before it ever saw the light of day. Lotus personnel used to run about in all sort of test vehicles as a matter of course and plenty of them escaped. Might this just be a factory testbed with an early Lotus V8? Worth a little bit of research?

David Betts ( snipped-for-privacy@motorsport.org.uk) The Classic Car Gallery:

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Reply to
David Betts

Yes such a thing exists as a conversion mainly because the Lotus 907 engine particularly in its early days was cr** hence a few were fitted ith the more reliable but gutless in standard form Rover v8 but more likely your mate has just mistaken the 907 slant 4 for a v8

Reply to
Neadhyl Wroller

Sounds possible. Messages are being relayed through two sets of mothers so it's not that easy to get any facts. Not without appearing too keen, anyway!

The V8 prototype theory had me intrigued until I realised that that would make it even more of a d-i-y nightmare than a standard Elite.

If I hear any more I'll keep you posted, but I doubt if it's worth trying to save.

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

Lotus own v8 was part of Chapmans plan from the birth of the 900series engines Vauxhall had planned the slant 4 engines as half a V8 for the Cresta/Ventora replacement, and Lotus intended to follow suit but as the Vauxhall slant 4 engine was rough as nails and generally nbg it got shelved and with it Chapman's alloy 4 cam V8 at some point in the late 80s after a change of ownership the plans for the Lotus V8 were dusted off hence the alloy V8 in the top end Espirit. But the elite was well gone by then

Reply to
Neadhyl Wroller

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