21st Century Elan
The Elan Plus 2 has timless looks and wonderful handling, but an outdated, temperamental drivetrain. Wouldn't it be great to build one with modern running gear? That's exactly what Spyder Engineering Does
IT'S AN ALLURING IDEA. A car with classic looks, a body that won't go rusty and modern under-pinnings. You get all the cachet of driving a classic car with none of the drawbacks. Modern performance, economy and reliability clothed in a stylish 60s package.
The appeal isn't lost on Spyder Engineering of Peterborough (01733 203986) which specialises in building just such a car. The driving force behind the conversion is Spyder's Andy Widnall, who's developed a complete chassis and drivetrain package to enable Lotus owners to build a car that retains all the character of the original but lose the unreliability and out dated performance.
Spyder's replacement chassis is similar to the original item: a steel backbone unit which all the mechanical components are mounted on. But it's updated. The four-wheel disc brakes used are modern Ford components which are cheap, widely available and highly effective.
Power comes from Ford's ubiquitous Zetec 16-valve twin-cam and the five speed box is an MT75 from the Granada. The big, old Ford also supplies the differential - handy, because Scorpio versions all had limited slip diffs (LSDs).
Spyder builds all it's cars with jenvey throttle bodies and emerald ECUs and can provide anything from a few spare parts to a complete car. One of the best things about the conversion is that you can sell all the original Lotus parts to pay off some of the cost of the conversion.
Over the next few issues we'll follow the build of one of these cars. This month we concentrate on fitting the rolling chassis. In the next issue we'll go into detail on how Spyder adapt the Ford Zetec for RWD use vital information for anyone considering using one of these engines in any car.