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Why hasnt anyone put an ls1 in a Lotus 7 Yet?

Old 09-10-2008, 11:23 PM
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Default Why hasnt anyone put an ls1 in a Lotus 7 Yet?

Just thought it would be a great swap.. especially seeing these cars running around

http://www.angelfire.com/biz6/stalkerv6/kitcar.html

I am sure an Ls1 would prob be even lighter than the supercharged 3800 and there seems to be room to spare on the sides where the ls1 would be a little wider, plenty of room in front of the engine and above the engine. The headers should be pretty straight forward although that steering shaft looks pretty close to that block

An F20C or busa motor would prob be the best to keep the weight down but I'de rather take the 100lb heavier ls1 and keep all the power.

Last edited by sciff5; 09-10-2008 at 11:44 PM.
Old 09-11-2008, 12:08 AM
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I know there was somebody that did an LS1 swapped 7 variant of some sort might of been a caterham even. He had a video of him driving around showing off his gauge package which was a carputer with an LCD screen which showed the guages in HPtuners pretty neat setup. Try doing a search.
Old 09-11-2008, 01:28 PM
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There's a guy on here with a 7 Replica with an LS1 in it. Tight fit, VERY traction limited, but a runner none-the-less.

Edit: His username is 99C5Vert, and his car has been apart for some chassis strengthening. Not sure if it's back together again, yet.

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Old 09-11-2008, 08:36 PM
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Another one on locostusa forums thats doing a badass LS1 powered 7. They're around, they just dont come on here very much.
Old 09-12-2008, 03:55 PM
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Originally Posted by themachasy
Another one on locostusa forums thats doing a badass LS1 powered 7. They're around, they just dont come on here very much.
It looks like the 1600lb 3800 powered car I linked to is on the porky side for these cars. If I were to go with a bike engine they get down to under 1000 lbs which is pretty sick.

It seems like though after doing more research that there is no budget kit for these. All the kit cars are 30K+ and anyone spending less than that are building their entire chassis from scratch and designing their own suspension (pretty intense stuff there!)

So far I havent found an engine solution either that just bolts right in. I was thinking a bike engine with a sequential tranny and 1000lbs with a 225-255 super sticky tire would break my neck around the corners. Sounds fun!
Old 09-12-2008, 08:52 PM
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Originally Posted by sciff5
It looks like the 1600lb 3800 powered car I linked to is on the porky side for these cars. If I were to go with a bike engine they get down to under 1000 lbs which is pretty sick.

It seems like though after doing more research that there is no budget kit for these. All the kit cars are 30K+ and anyone spending less than that are building their entire chassis from scratch and designing their own suspension (pretty intense stuff there!)

So far I havent found an engine solution either that just bolts right in. I was thinking a bike engine with a sequential tranny and 1000lbs with a 225-255 super sticky tire would break my neck around the corners. Sounds fun!
I don't love the bike engined cars because its not easy to drive. Neighbor of mine had a kawasaki bike powered lotus 7 and it was a b!tch to drive because of the tiny bike clutch. I think an LS1 with reasonable gears would work well. And yeah, you sorta have to weld up the chassis yourself and use some suspension from another car. I lurk tons on locostusa and plan on building an lsx powered one as soon as I scoop up a welder.
1500lbs with a 400whp cammed lsx should do the trick nicely.
Old 09-12-2008, 09:36 PM
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Originally Posted by themachasy
I don't love the bike engined cars because its not easy to drive. Neighbor of mine had a kawasaki bike powered lotus 7 and it was a b!tch to drive because of the tiny bike clutch. I think an LS1 with reasonable gears would work well. And yeah, you sorta have to weld up the chassis yourself and use some suspension from another car. I lurk tons on locostusa and plan on building an lsx powered one as soon as I scoop up a welder.
1500lbs with a 400whp cammed lsx should do the trick nicely.
I know my limits and getting the ls1 in the rx7 was hard enough. After gaining this experience I could probably do most kit cars/planes out there but fabricating my own chassis.. ehh I dont think so. Hell I wont even take a chance trying to do my own cage.


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