View single post by Judson Manning
 Posted: 04-18-2007 01:52 am
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Judson Manning



Joined: 03-14-2005
Location: Atlanta, Georgia USA
Posts: 406
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Lotus did a number of what I would call Joint-Ventures back in the 80s (anyone remember the Isuzu Impulse with Suspension by Lotus? how about a little Corvette named ZR1???).  Keep in mind that Lotus was/is primarily an Engineering company.

The story goes that Lotus did some engineering work for Toyota, and in exchange, they got to raid the Toyota parts bin (i.e. W58 trans and tail-lights for the Esprit).

The 5-speed you speak of went into the early Eclat/Elite and I'm attaching a pic of it.  Lotus built this box and my understanding is that it was fairly prototypical.  The extremely rare Elite 2.2 received the Getrag 265 5-speed used in the early BMW M3 (don't even think about it, the bellhousings are impossible to find).

The W58 was the most logical next step in 907/912 RWD applications.  Despite the M3 connection, the Getrag 265 is not a very good box.  For the complete story try http://www.metricmechanic.com; they build a much superior version of the 265 called "The Ultimate Transmission". 

If I had $5,000.00 to spend, an Elite 2.2 bellhousing and an ultimate 265 would be my choice for a 2.2 powered JH.  For less than 1/2 of that I've got a bullet-proof W58 that more than proved itself in competition.

 

Attachment: Elite.Eclat.5sp.jpg (Downloaded 159 times)