907 full engine rebuild

[Daniel]

I'm whipping the motor out of my S2 this Christmas with the intention of replacing the exhaust manifold, cam belt and clutch and with the engine having covered 90K with no apparent work being carried out and a slight drop in compression on one cylinder, my thoughts have turned to a full strip down and rebuild.

Lakeside are currently preparing options and costs for me as I've heard good things about them and I want the work to be carried out by a reputable specialist.

Recommendations on any others welcomed.

Does anyone have any experience on what the likely costs are on the full rebuild of a 907 engine?

[Barrykearley]

Have a chat with Dave @CHANGES

[frix]

Hi Daniel, 

well worth having a word with mike at Lotusbits, hes just rebuilt mine, he really knows what hes doing. For a standard rebuild i think he charges about £3500, i had a few tweaks done on mine so it came to a bit more. 

paul

Edited December 7, 2016 by frix

[jonwat]

Worth reading Lotusespritworld's engine rebuild article. 

[Rolls]

On 08/12/2016 at 06:44, frix said:

well worth having a word with mike at Lotusbits, hes just rebuilt mine, he really knows what hes doing. For a standard rebuild i think he charges about £350

Would you mind breaking the quote down. My quote has come in at £9500 from Mike including carbs, manifold and basic upgrades. Keen to use him given his reputation but can't justify the coin.

[silverfrost]

Holy cow Roland,  shipping your engine to the UK and back upon completion would cost an absolute fortune surely ? 

I would probably say imo in your quote Mike has included new tubular ss manifold, the new cnc inlet manifold and one of his trick engines, I think of memory the 2.5 upgrade comes in at 6500 ?  But Mike offers so many options that can be done on the lotus engine its hard to tell. 

[frix]

Hi Rolland,

What basic upgrades have you gone for? 

If you have gone for one of Mikes manifolds then thats £1200, then i would of thought a carb rebuild is around £500 plus VAT. 

I was lucky enough to go out in his Excel not so long ago, Wow just Wow! Amazing, fast, very fast, it pushes you in the seat fast, it has all the upgrades including the 2.5 modification and an ecu for the timing. 

I had my engine and gearbox rebuilt by Mike and in a couple of weeks they go back in, very excited. 

 

[Rolls]

Mike has been very helpful. I would love to use him. 

The cam bucket cost below is wrong (unless you want titanium Antonio?). Should be £300. Can't modify from my iPad.

Add shipping and tax. Adds up. I have stated above £9,500 which i should have mentioned included shipping. My bad.

In my mind I can't justify the cost though. Happy to spend coin on the resto, but $18k landed for a low powered 4 cylinder is high IMO.  My 356 engine was almost half this cost. My much more complicated 6 cylinder Carrera was 75%. What's the voodoo with these engines. Am I missing something?

[davetoff]

Hi Roland,

I'm in the process of rebuilding my 910 engine which is similar to the 907, with the difference to the cylinder head valves and dry sump. Both more expensive on the 910 engine because the exhaust valves and oil pump are difficult to get hold of. The spend at the moment is around £2500 for parts and I'll probably have to spend another £2000 for machining on the head and block and the additional parts for the head. I've already rebuilt the carbs myself, an easy job, well worth doing yourself for around £100 for the rebuild kit plus a bit more if you want to get the castings vapour blasted. The rebuild includes forged pistons and HTD pulley, light weight flywheel etc but no SS exhaust, light weight steel cam buckets or polishing and porting. So all in all the main expense comes from buying parts? Hope this helps a little?

Cheers

David

[Daniel]

Thanks David. Very helpful

Where did you source your parts?

[davetoff]

The usual suspects.....most from Lotusbits and SJ's but also Kemp....

Fixings from Margnor and Co-ord Sport, carb kits from Dellorto

If you want any further information then I'll be happy to help where I can. I'm still in the process of rebuilding so don't know all the answers!

D