by Droopsnoot backup » Fri Oct 28, 2005 9:59 pm
A few thoughts:
On the engine transplant, I think sticking the Lotus twin-cam is quite a job but not impossible. Most I have seen use something like the Getrag five-speed box, though as this will fit onto the standard single cam engine it implies the reverse, i.e. the twin-cam will fit the standard gearbox. Only thing is that the standard gearbox is rubbish and can hardly take the power of the standard single cam engine - there's a reason that the racing cars used more solid gearboxes like the ZF. It's not a quick weekend job, I'm pretty sure.
The running gear uses the same body mountings as far as I know. One key thing that I didn't know until recently is that the rear upper trailing arms are longer on the small-engined cars (because the diff body is smaller) so you need to get these arms from the donor car. The front subframe is possibly stronger, but it will have stronger springs and dampers, so again get this from the donor. Better still IMO, renovate the donor car if at all possible.
Dash isn't so bad, as long as you do the complete job. Rememer that on the strip speedo dash you have switches in the base of the speedo surround which will have nowhere to go when you put the seven dial dash in place. Magnums, Firenzas, Viva GLS etc. have a centre console and associated wiring for these. The HPF light switch is on a bracket because it doesn't have a console. You might need some wiring changes for some of the stuff like the clock (which won't work anyway in a seven-dial dash) and the voltmeter. I did this in an old 1800 Firenza which had the twin-dial dash, and it's not a bad job if you're handy with wires. Paul's correct though - there are some metal mounting panels in the dash surround that might need modification. I thought the ashtray mount would unbolt from the same screws used to secure the warning light panel, but it's a long time since I've checked.
The mounting plates on the front panel are different for the rectangular lamps as opposed to the twin round lamps. You could probably modify them *I think*, but you might need to add some metal to get the mounts in the right place. It's a while since I've seen one.
At the recent Billing show you could have got answers to most of these. Brian Burkinshaw was in his twin-cam Sportshatch which would have covered some of it, and I'm sure there were plenty of cars where you could have compared front panels for the light information.