Newbie elite (the plant pot)

[ray-spyer]

I'm a bit of a lotus fanboy. I've had a Lotus Elise (modified) for the last eight years and unfortunately as my family has grown the Lotus has become a bit unusable due to the two seats. so I've taken the plunge and I bought a project car which happens to be a 78 lotus elite 501. it was very cheap a Facebook marketplace moment. The car is in a bit of a sorry state. unfortunately it's been off the road since 1988. It's pretty much fully disassembled boxes upon boxes and most bits require work. On the plus side it has a galvanized chassis and looks like someone has attempted to start the restoration. Unfortunately the engine has been lost apparently mislaid at an engine rebuilders. Seeing at this car isn't the most pristine example I think I would like to change one or two bits and maybe an engine swap. So this is my question I understand someone has done the Jaguar AJ 30 swap to an Excel does anyone know of a build page or any information about this? Also the car is bur***s number plate as it's been off the road so long I'm sure no one knows any info I tried to chase the build information through lotus they wanted to sell me a lotus prominence certificate which was a bit overpriced if you ask me. I don't really fancy a keyring or whatever rubbish you get with it. I just want a certificate and a build sheet. Thank you for your help in advance guys I will keep you posted try not to laugh at me too much . My wife's has given the car the nickname the plant pot so kind of need to get this thing done.

[Pete Boole]

Welcome to the forum . Sounds like a great project! I'm in the process of doing a restomod on an Elite 502 - 1974. Slow progress, but all my own doing! There are lots of engine alternatives that can be made to fit - I fitted a tuned, naturally aspirated Chevy LS1 to my Excel a few years ago. If you have a galvanised chassis that's a great place to start - it will have integral brackets for the Series 2 Getrag gearbox - good box, if a bit expensive now.

What gearbox would you use with the Jaguar/Ford engine - the one fitted to the V6 originally?

Let us know how you get on!

Pete

[bash]

Ive put a rover v8 in my excel which has a very similar chassis and on pistonheads there is a guy who fitted a lexus v8. Ive seen pictures of an Excel built for hillclimbing with a jaguar v6 and manual box. At the end of the day lots of stuff will fit but its down to how good you are with the spanners and what your aims are.
Heres a link to my build thread.
viewtopic.php?t=8397


Bash

[MetBlue]

they wanted to sell me a lotus prominence certificate which was a bit overpriced

If you contact Andy Graham ( Lotus Archivist) he will likely do you just the certificate and summary page for around £70. This was the way it used to be in the good old days before Lotus marketing got hold of the idea of putting it in a fancy box and selling for a small fortune.
Last contact I had with him was mid 2023 with him saying "I still offer the original paper only type direct for £65, but it only provides information about their car, there is no additional searches into how many are made or any of the other accessories, Matt Windle letter, posh paper etc."
I can PM you his email address if you'd like it.
Tony