Lotus Elan S3: Engine

The engine is in, and it's a squeeze. It just needs a bit of touch-up paint and the radiator, and it's done.



On the left side, the generator and exhaust system are tight fits, and the exhaust needs to be hard up against the engine block in order for it all to fit. Be sure to trial fit this before gluing the header in.



Here is the oil filter and "distributor", with the fuel pump barely visible behind, all lurking below the carbs. (A bit of touch-up paint is needed, then it's done).



The Twin Cam is a converted Cortina pushrod engine, and the old cam is still in the side of the block running oil and fuel pumps as well as the distributor. This was not a problem in the original engine which had the carb and exhaust on the same side (as in Tamiya's Seven), but I well recall the challenges in changing points and setting timing on Elans since the distributor is essentially buried under the carbs.



The distributor is simply a piece of brass tube with four wires stuck in it, and pushed into a hole drilled in the block. There is no coil wire, but if you don't tell anyone, I won't either.





And now the problem: The instructions didn't actually say to put the carbs on now ... because they won't fit through the chassis, and need to be put on once the chassis is in the car. This is not really a problem as I was planning to exhibit the chassis separately, and steal a chassis out of a glue-bomb curbside Elan (also from Gunze Sangyo) for the body; but be aware of this step if you plan on assembling chassis to body.



This photo compares the backbone chassis from Monogram's Esprit 300, with the newer turbocharged twin-cam four that Lotus developed with Vauxhall. This mid-engine chassis was developed from the Europa, and was further modified to take the rear-mounted Peugeot/Renault/Volvo 2.7 litre V6 in the Delorean. The Delorean, by the way, was a real piece of crap, with lots of flaws that should have been sorted out in the pre-production stage; I remember a colleague commenting at the time that perhaps they would have fixed all the issues if Delorean had actually managed to allegedly complete the alleged drug deal he was allegedly pursuing (yes, I am watching over my shoulder for lawyers). But I digress.



Overall it is a lovely little kit of a lovely little car! Stay tuned as I move on to paint. BRG with a yellow stripe, I think.