A buddy of mine introduced me to a local shop owner yesterday. The shop is does work on mostly high end imports... Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, Lotus, Lexus, etc. They do general repairs but they also do performance and custom fab work, as well as used car sales. The owner was a real cool guy, and had some pretty cool projects.

In addition to the vast amount of Porsches and Mercedes at the shop theres always some random classics thrown in. I drive by this place on my ride home all the time, and over the years Ive seen a lot of classic muscle... mostly Mopars... most notably a gorgeous Panther pink Cuda, and Sublime green challenger.

Currently hes got a nice Datsun 240, and some older Lotus (I dont know the model) Apparently he is seriously considering a complete LNF drivetrain swap into one of these two cars. The Datsun would be awesome, but I guess hes leaning towards the Lotus because from what he was saying the stock motor that is in that car is getting EXTREMELY expensive to maintain... parts are no longer being made etc. etc.

Anyways, this lotus is supposedly 1800lbs!! I cant imagine what an LNF would be like in that! I sent him a bunch of info last night on the LNF, aftermarket support, and other specs. I also found 3 good engines for sale, 2 with trans, 1 that is G85.

Im bringing my car by the shop today so he can take measurements of my engine. Im hoping this will actually happen... an LNF in an 1800lb car would be pretty epic IMHO! Ill keep you guys posted if there is any progress made

 

that would be crazy...i know the lotus is a super small car, but only 1800lb??
thats extremely light!

 

1800? Seems a bit optimistic but could be accurate. I mean I had a 91 Civic Si hatch that was gutted with a 10 point cage and weighed more than that..like 1900 and some change was her weight.

 

If it's the Lotus Elise S1, that one is only about 1600lbs curb weight. Very possible that it could weigh 1800lbs with a full LNF swap.

 

If its the Lotus Elise, then yea. Its 1800lbs amazingly.

Damn, beat me to the punch. Lol

 

ANYTHING in n 1800lb car is epic! hope that goes through dude!

buy an aerial atom lsj and make it lnf! woosh!

 

lsx>lnf =p

 

I was at the DDMWorks open house and they had a few old Triumph TR6's show up with LE5 swaps and they were pretty cool...

people dont realize how light some cars are... my buddies Turbocharged B16 CRX with heavy stainless steel charge piping and a big beefy tubular front bumper only weighed 1950 with a half a tank of gas.

 

lsj? and no, lsj is no way better then the lnf..

 

the lsj has better chances to produce higher numbers once you start tearing into the motor zzp was able to get close to 900whp out of a lsj and i think 600 something whp on the lnf our fuel system is our limitation

 

lsx is a ls based v8 motor

but lotus with lnf equals awesome im surpised that the cost would go up being that it is a toyota motor but the cams are crazy on them

 

n00b alert!

I still want an LS4 swap

 

My dad use to race old Lotus's back in England in the 70s. Car use to weight as much as the tires did. All aluminum body with crazy suspension. Definitely don't makem like they used to that's for sure. Makes me want to go and get a Super seven from one of the aftermarket companies and build my own.

 

Yeah, Ill have to find out what model the Lotus is. If I make it up to the shop today to show him my car, Ill try to get some pics.

 

in for videos/pics and performance numbers if he actually does it!

 

^^^ This.

 

lotus actually already uses a ecotec turbo motor in the europa S so the idea isn't that far fetched

 

But why would you need 900whp in an 1800lb car?

Hes not looking to extract every bit of power out of the motor, hes looking for a good motor to make this car a fast driver. A 900whp LSJ is not going to be nearly as drivable as an LNF with some bolt ons and a tune... and the LNF with somewhere in the mid 300whp range will be PLENTY in this car.

 

Prob wont be 1800lbs with the LNF motor and tranny in it. It should be more.. Still would be really awesome to see something like that. This motor is awesome.

 

Yeah, the car is 1800lbs stock, Im sure itll pick up a little with this swap. I wouldnt expect it to be a whole lot though.

 

exactly. the SS TC weighs about 2,900 lbs and "only" 260 hp stock and it's pretty fast. 300-400 whp in an ~ 1,800 lbs will be more than enough

 

Its gonna be like driving a formula 1/indy car lol

 

Wouldn't it be easier to just swap a engine/drivetrain from a solistice/sky redline?

 

He wasnt even aware of those, he had been asking about the Cobalt SS so I actually mentioned the other platforms the LNF is used in. I think the lotus is mid engine though, so the cobalt LNF might work better... Also, there seems to be a lot less Solstice/Sky powertrains for sale... apparently those owners dont wreck as much as Cobalt SS owners

 

Old light weight Lotus's include the Elan, Super Seven, and Europa (not the new Europa S). No US imported Lotus has been less than 2000 pounds in a long time, but, all three of these were, and are relatively cheap if you can find them. I had already looked at a yellow 73 Eurupa and solstice LNF drivetrain myself, but, I really don't need an extra project right now.