1977 caterham twin cam to zetec?

[trough doctor]

I recently purchased a 1977 caterham with dry sumped lotus twin cam 4spd, live axle with lsd, minilte magnesium wheels. will be picking up car in mid september.

 

What is a dry sumped lotus twin cam worth?

is a zetec swap possible in this car? will it fit under the hood?

How much work is it? what will it cost?

Will this devalue the car?

[BrunnyS1]

Guess it's worth what you paid for it ....???

[trough doctor]

I am not asking what the car is worth. I want to get an idea what the engine is worth?

Will I be able to fund the zetec swap by selling off the lotus twin cam engine?

[MHKflyer52]

Trough doctor,

 

I do not know what the cost would be in Canada but here in Southern Calif. (Just north of LA) a good friend of mine just spent just under $7000 US dollars to rebuild a Lotus twin cam (1558 cc "big valve" Lotus-Ford Twin Cam) for his Europe which had been stored for about 12yrs due to a bad head gasket and should be the same engine you have in your 7 less the dry sump setup.

Now you have to remember that the engine you have is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it as they will most likely want to freshen it up and want the entire dry sump setup with the engine before installing it into a car for use so unless you find someone looking for that specific engine setup it might not be worth the change and besides why would you want to get rid of it as your 7 is worth more with the twin cam that is dry sumped than with the Zetec if it is the original engine that came with the car.

Another consideration is will the transmission that is in the car mate to the Zetec engine or are you also planning to replace that at the same time as that will also cause you to most likely have to make a new drive shaft to fit your car plus the transmission and differential.

All of this is possible but is it worth the cost or time, only if you really want to tackle it and just have to have it is it really worth it but that is just my belief. If it were me I would just drive the car the way your acquired it and have fun with it and there are parts out there that will make the engine you have produce more HP if that is really what your after but they will also shorten the life of the engine so it is something you just have to weigh for yourself and use the information that others provide as a guide so in the end it is all about what you want and can justify to yourself and no one else so have fun and keep all of us informed as to the outcome.

:driving:

[DeanG]

A running Twink (English slang) with a Webber head with dry sump, carburetors... should be worth a couple thousand.

 

Don't expect to get big horsepower out of a Twink without spending cubic dollars. I have heard of 190 - 220 out of full race engines. For that you throw everything away except the castings. Even then the engine is only good for 20 hours or so. A hot street engine may go as high as 140 hp. If I could up the power of my Twink from 100 up to 120 hp for a thousand I would be very happy. (I spent over $4,000 US to freshen the bottom end of mine and that was 20 years ago).

 

I would keep the Twink. If I wanted a different engine I would buy a different car. You could be going down a path of different engine, transmission, differential, fuel pump, plumbing, ECU, wiring...

 

Good Luck

[TheDingo8MyBaby]

One thing to consider is the value of a numbers matching twincam caterham. That may make you think twice about selling the motor...

[trough doctor]

Cant confirm at this point if #s are matching. as far as I know the car was purchased as a kit in england and assembled in Canada. the donor car was lotus cortina with twin cam. car is registered as 1966 lotus( the donor car). will be able to find out more once car is in my possession.

 

Thanks for the input everyone. will most likely keep car in current spec. If I need more power sounds like best option is to sell and look for different car.

 

the car comes with dual weber 45's as well. will these give me any extra power? or are they over kill?

 

what about a color change? not very fond of this red. was thinking black fiberglass and polished aluminum? or possibly all black with gold accents( jps color scheme)?

will one of these choices hurt the value of the car?.

 

I know what you are thinking, sounds like Iam not that happy with the car.

Trying to find a left hand drive caterham in canada is next to impossible!

in the past 3 yrs of looking this is the second lhd cat i have come across, the other was 2000 and something that was listed for around $40,000 cnd. Besides my new car was only an hours drive from my home. It will take a little more effort to get car close to what i like, but thats half the fun!

[MHKflyer52]

I have not seen a 7 with the Black and Gold of the John Player Special scheme and that would look sharp I belive but it would also require a lot of care as black shows every little chip and I do not know of a 7 that dose not have some especially on the rear fenders. Still it would look sharp I do belive.

[DeanG]

45's are a bit big but not outrageous. Most if not all came from the factory with a pair of 40DCOE18's. If properly set up the 45's should be fine.

 

When you get it take some time to go over the car giving it a good cleaning and spanner check. Change the fluids and get some driving in. You will have plenty of winter to think about what you would like to do to the car and to do it. A Caterham will reward you with better reliability for driving it. Sitting doesn't help any car.

 

Oh, if you change your mind about the engine I'll be happy to take the whole engine & transmission set up off your hands for $500

[Ian7]

I've got $501 for the engine alone.... :-)

[trough doctor]

hey Dean, if you can come up $502.00 american I will include delivery. Should'nt cost much to ship to Virginia

[Croc]

what about a color change? not very fond of this red. was thinking black fiberglass and polished aluminum? or possibly all black with gold accents( jps color scheme)?

 

 

I think the black and ali or the JPS color scheme will both look very nice. To give you an idea here are are JPS Seven pics for a body wrap approach - very smart idea - you can remove it and change your mind for later:

http://www.nogripracing.com/details.php?filenr=7924

 

Here is the same image plus some other racing livery examples (for ideas):

http://www.artsonika.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=27&func=select&id=10

 

There was also a car pic posted on blatchat at one point by one of the members who adopted the JPS color scheme - I looked but cannot find it sorry.

 

There are a few members out there with black and ali color schemes - see Bruce's car in the below link (scroll down to the pics):

http://www.usa7s.com/vb/showthread.php?t=5092&page=4

 

Much nicer than the current faded red scheme you have now!

Edited August 25, 2010 by Croc

[DeanG]

I like the polished front bicycle fenders in the picture but it has too much contrast with the black. Maybe black cherry or something of similar darkness. Of course I want to see a harlequin Se7en. So my tastes are suspect.

[sparecr]

I maybe late to chime in here, but I looked at the option of doing the exact same thing on my 78 Caterham. I good TC with a weber head and carbs I feel should sell for 6-9K to the right buyer. Heck I have seen good Weber heads go for 3-4K alone. But all in all I choose to keep my TC. If I want a Zetec car I felt I should sell what I had and buy a done car. (Part of the restorer/preservationist in me). The TC takes more care than the Zetec, you have a slower car, but it is pure 7. Nothing like popping off the hood and showing that Lotus motor. Plus I run weber 45's on my car and talk about conversation pieces. Yes it can run a tad rich, you mayget a back fire, but...

 

Your car being a 1977 the TC is probally orginal to the car as it seems most US cars came that way. So the motor is part of its history. It more than likely came with Dellrotos (sorry about the spelling). But 45's and 40's are common swaps. 40's are a better fit, but like I said above 45's work well and I can get 30 mpg out of mine. Heck we run 45's on a couple of Climax engines at work.

 

As far as color it is up to you, but a JPS color scheme I think would look wrong on a 7. For a painted car go bright--Blue, Red, Mustard Yellow. You need to be seen by other cars. My car is polished and I have two sets of glass one BRG on one Bugatti Blue. I have been running the Blue because everyone seems to have a green car.