engine swap

[RACER D12]

I dont see why you would need to swap the engine. Just turbo the stock one. How ever if you must swap I second the SR20DET...hope you picked out a casket

[lotus_man]

As I own a series 1 Elise (120Bhp), and have driven a 111R (Series 2 Toyota engined Elise) I'll stick my oar in. I wouldn't go for a turbo motor, the relativelly poor throttle response dulls what is a light weight, responsive car. Your best bet is one of-

Rework to 1.8 K series. A solid 190 is acheivable with little effort, upwards of 210 going towards the race motor route.

Fit a K Series Evo motor. 1.8 block stroked to 2 litres with 250+ Bhp.

Buy the 111R, it's pretty quick as it stands. Don't like the way the cams change over so sharply, but it's a fine motor and suits the car.

Fit a Civic type R motor. Not driven it, but I know several people who have gone down this route and they all seem quite happy with it.

But from my experience the best way of getting your Elise to go faster is to work on the guy behind the wheel. In the hands of an expert it's amazing how fast even a standard S1 can be. I've been taking mine on the track for a couple of years and haven't felt the need to upgarde anything yet, it's quite fast enough to have fun.

[jmrev]

Originally Posted by RACER D12

I dont see why you would need to swap the engine. Just turbo the stock one. How ever if you must swap I second the SR20DET...hope you picked out a casket

the 2zz-ge engine is sensitive to turbo; but there is nothing wrong with it, why even swap it, i say the 2zz is a better engine than any honda engine, why? if you drive a dc2 in a low rpm the acceleration is weak compared to the 2zz.

[OneFastMiata]

Originally Posted by De1337eD

i know that the lotus elise was made to be light but i want to engine swap with a new more powerfull engine. does any one recomend anything? i just need to know what can fit and what would be best. thanks for your input

-Michael Stone-

I recommend you drive a US spec elise before you start trying to "make it better'. Its a bit frustrating to see posts from people who probably have never even driven one wanting more power or more torque or more whatever.....

It's all so very silly.

[yung_mr2]

i wanted to do a mr2 swap..but i want to do a lexus swap into my mr2..i was wondering if any engine experts are here to help me to see if i can swap a sc300 engine into my mr2..is there any modification that i need to do when i swap the motor?

[M3_Junkie]

you guys are crazy insane for wanting more power in an Elise. They are allready god damn fast.

I have seen a JR Supercharged K20 in one bofore (honda motor from RSX/Civic SI), it was crazy.

[feenix z]

i think anything more than the U.S. spec elise would be overkill. in many ways the car is on par if not better than a ferrari 360. Lets face facts, many of us, myself included, dont have the experience to take on a 300 bhp feather-weight. besides, it's been said a million times over: "It's all about the handling"

[bigbob67890]

A year ago my brother swapped his Elise engine out for a 1228 wrhp Ruf 911 turbo s engine and it cost 4X more than the Elise, but it rolls like no other. He also had to get a new transmission among a lot of other thing including fiberglass body duplicate. Now the car still handles better than any other car and runs high 8 quarter miles easily and 0-60 in 2.3 sec. it is one sick car! and 100% street legal.

By the way the first series Elise was tuned to put a Audi 2.7tt V6 in it is called the "Esthi" it runs about 400hpb. just google "lotus Esthi" to see pics of it.

[brokenantimatter]

First off, apart from driving my friend’s 2001 Elise on very rare occasions, my only experience and knowledge off Lotus cars come from wrecking a solid frame 1964 Elan(?) into a light pole in high school.

I do however have an adamant knowledge of rotary and SHO engines and their applications.

I have seen a V6 SHO Engine in a hardtop 1996 Lotus Elise and a RX-7 engine in a 2001 Lotus.

A high-powered SHO engine can push between 400-900hp and they are fairly lightweight.
I am not sure about the tuner abilities of a RX-7 Engine.

Car and Driver (October or November? 2005) showed in the Fastest 4cylinder races a Lotus that had an engine swap and it was pushing 400hp.

[Erik13]

If you own an Elise why dont you just buy another 2zz from ebay or a junkyard and build a 2.0L turbo motor. Its much cheaper to just build an engine than to transplant another motor never meant for the car. 2.0L turbo could make 400-500 hp. That would be deadly fast.

[hiddenxartxryu]

Interesting subject. I think the 3sgte would be a fun swap, but in all honesty, The motor in it is awesome. A Decent turbo kit and work, and your looking at 250 hp easily, and ANYONE who has owned one knows anythign more than 250 = closed casket funeral. I drove my freinds who put a 22re in this thing once his old motor locked up. Talk about Id10t. If anyonee knows of a SINGLE swap for my 85 Esprit turbo lemme know. I need some insite. *new to esprit*

[kevinthenerd]

Originally Posted by bigbob67890

A year ago my brother swapped his Elise engine out for a 1228 wrhp Ruf 911 turbo s engine and it cost 4X more than the Elise, but it rolls like no other. He also had to get a new transmission among a lot of other thing including fiberglass body duplicate. Now the car still handles better than any other car and runs high 8 quarter miles easily and 0-60 in 2.3 sec. it is one sick car! and 100% street legal.

By the way the first series Elise was tuned to put a Audi 2.7tt V6 in it is called the "Esthi" it runs about 400hpb. just google "lotus Esthi" to see pics of it.

2.3 0-60? That's quite a bit faster than an Ultima GTR. Combined with the handling, I'm curious what kind of lap times that would produce.

[speedneed]

k20 from rsx-s supercharged with m62 gives you close to 300 hp.i'll be doing it soon to my 05 elise, unless someone wants to buy 05 rsx-s drivetrain first...

[ShAdOwFoX_2k7]

Why not just go for a 13B Renesis engine found in the Rx8? Its lightweight, small and has mass potential. Rotary engines ftw!

[kevinthenerd]

Originally Posted by yung_mr2

i wanted to do a mr2 swap..but i want to do a lexus swap into my mr2..i was wondering if any engine experts are here to help me to see if i can swap a sc300 engine into my mr2..is there any modification that i need to do when i swap the motor?

They used to race the MR2 with the SC430 engine. That's a nice engine... splayed mains and the whole nine yards... very good power to weight

Edit: A friend of mine tells me you can get those 1UZ-FE engines cheap. Generally speaking, though, the 3SGTE is widely considered one of the best 4-cylinder engines out there. I think you'd be wasting your time unless you're going to build the hell out of whatever you're swapping in. Dollars per horsepower, your best bet for the short term is to work with your existing engine. Getting 300 out of that thing shouldn't be all that hard, even on stock internals. The ceiling for those things is somewhere around 800 horsepower, but it's not very usable power I'd imagine.