Hi Erik:
Some questions for you. "If you could get your hands on an Elan Plus2 5
speed, condition unknown" Would you buy it? What price would you pay?
Were these trannies as nice as the Elan 4 speeds with respect to shifting
or gear ratios?
Regarding the chapman-era archives, has anyone indexed them (broadly) for
content with respect to the archive numbers (i.e. 9702, 9703, through
9805)? I'm particularly interested in any information on the Alfa 5
speed swap. If no one has posted a crossref I'll record my search
results and post to the list later.
I've poked into the Alfa swap a little and here's what I've found. The
Alfa 105/115 transmission (from '69 to '74 GTVs) is suitable. Measures
about 22" overall, of which 7'' is bell housing which presumably we'd
remove, leaving 15" of gear box. The output spider connects to a
Rotoflex, so that would have to be machined off and a flange welded on to
hook up with a drive-shaft (whose length probably would need to be
modified). The Alfa mounting uses a large circular ring, which can be
removed and hence a new cross mounting would be needed for an Elan. I'm
told this would provide an 0.8 overdrive with the other gears similar to
the Plus 2 5 speed. This swap has been done with satisfying results by
one person I've talked to, so its possible. Apparently the shift lever
ends up within .25 inches of the Elan location. Makes for much less
buzzy car on the Interstate at 3200 rpm/70mph.
Makes me even more curious, it does.
Look forward to your response. BTW how did your Elan leak-down test
fare? Hopefully nothing expensive!
Best regards, Ray in Cincy.
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