Spyder's Plus 2 Zetec conversion is perhaps not quite as pretty as 'baby Elan, but it's more affordable and practical
'Running throttles bodies and ECU but otherwise standard, this thin pumps out 170bhp without a problem. It's not for me to try to second-guess Colin Chapman but I'd like to think he'd approve'
A tired Plus 2 can cost as little as £1000 - 1500, selling off the original engine, gearbox and suspension will raise around £800, and an entire DIY build of a Sharpe - handling, reliable 170bhp two-plus-two sports car with professionally repainted bodywork can be completed for under £10,000. It's genius! If you not a DIYer, then Spyder will build one to your own spec from about £15,000.
But that's the Plus 2, the baby Elan, as the original is often known, is more valuable and donor cars are harder to come by. But it's also smaller and therefore lighter than the Plus 2, giving even greater effect to the power of the new engine. When you consider that even the most powerful of all the Elans pushed out a maximum of 130bhp, you begin to realise why an extra 35% or more of power feels so damned good.
On the road, the baby Elan is a bundle of laughs. It's cutesy small, but clever design means that is doesn't feel cramped. Door windows, for example, are electrically operated, hung on piano wires to save not just weight but crucial elbow space too. This car' standard inside, right down to the unnecessarily large steering wheel and the crackly stereo. The choke pull is still in place but there's no need to pull it - the Zetec engine runs on Jenvey throttle bodies (like sidedraft carburettor bodies stripped of their float and jets) and is controlled by an aftermarket Emerald ECU, programmed specifically. A flick of the ignition key and its starts instantly. The clutch couldn't be described as light but it's no thigh-buster, and the custom-built remote gearlever linkage is precise and mechanical in feel as it snicks forward into first.
Lotus used hefty rubber 'doughnut' joints in the driveshafts of the Elans to allow for the movement of the rear suspension, which lent the transmission an elastic feel as the joints wound up and unwound on every unsubtle getaway or gearchange. The Spyder conversion uses a Ford Scorpio limited-slip differential, Sierra hubs and purpose-made driveshafts with CV joints, and that unwelcome elasticity has gone for ever.
Typically for a modern 16-valve engine, there's not a lot of low-down torque, so first impressions are that the Spyder Elan isn't such as big deal. It's making a load of noise. It's pulling cleanly, without a cough or a splutter but it just doesn't feel as fast as it should. Through the gears you go, and the Spyder Elan is so very easy, so little hassle, even though the suspension is jigging hard over every little imperfection.
The real appeal of the Spyder Elan appears later, almost by mistake.