Ran into something odd this weekend and was wondering if anyone else encountered this.
A few months back, I dropped the 4.9 out of my 87 base model to put in the Lotus I am building, and got rid of the car.
I missed driving it, so I pulled the 4.5 from my old Allante and put it on my old cradle.
I put it into my wifes old 87 SE 4cyl car this past Sunday, but could not get the strut bolts to come through the holes.
On closer examination, the bolt pattern on the strut mounting plate is not the same on the two cars. On my old 87, the bolts are almost equally spaced, but on the wifes 87, two bolts are close and one is farther apart.
Now I am looking to get some new struts and top plates, but I am not sure what to ask for.
Any thoughts???

Thanks,
Gene

quote Originally posted by scrabblegod: Ran into something odd this weekend and was wondering if anyone else encountered this. A few months back, I dropped the 4.9 out of my 87 base model to put in the Lotus I am building, and got rid of the car. I missed driving it, so I pulled the 4.5 from my old Allante and put it on my old cradle. I put it into my wifes old 87 SE 4cyl car this past Sunday, but could not get the strut bolts to come through the holes. On closer examination, the bolt pattern on the strut mounting plate is not the same on the two cars. On my old 87, the bolts are almost equally spaced, but on the wifes 87, two bolts are close and one is farther apart. Now I am looking to get some new struts and top plates, but I am not sure what to ask for. Any thoughts??? Thanks, Gene

They should be identical? All 87s are exactly the same. Stupid question, but have you tried rotating it? I seem to recall I had this problem when I changed out my own struts... but I just rotated it slightly and it went back into place.


That's kind of blastemy to be putting a 4.9 into a Lotus. Colin Chapman would be totally offended. I hope this isn't going into an Esprit...

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Todd,
2006 Pontiac Solstice
2004 Volkswagen Beetle Convt. (Wife's)
2002 Ford Crown Victoria LX
1987 Pontiac Fiero SE / V6
1981 EZ-GO Xi875-A "Miami Dolphins" Medical Cart
1973 Volkswagen Type-2 Transporter
1973 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme 350

quote Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]: They should be identical? All 87s are exactly the same. Stupid question, but have you tried rotating it? I seem to recall I had this problem when I changed out my own struts... but I just rotated it slightly and it went back into place. That's kind of blastemy to be putting a 4.9 into a Lotus. Colin Chapman would be totally offended. I hope this isn't going into an Esprit...

I pulled the struts and checked, and they are not the same. Weirdest thing I have seen in a while.

Actually, I am building a Lotus Seven clone from scratch. It should come in at ~1400 lbs. A car as heavy as an Esprit, would require a much larger engine

Gene

compress the springs to rotate the upper spring plates to line up properly. look at it carefully.

quote Originally posted by rourke_87_T-Top: I'm curious about your swap, what transmission are you using ?

My old 4.9 Fiero used the 4t60e, but i killed that trans. This one is using the F7 from the Allante. It is a strange one, as it is electric shifted like the 4t60e, but it has a modulator and a throttle pressure cable like the 440t or whatever came before the 4t60e.

Gene

I have always wanted to do a Lotus Super 7! I now require pics of your idea. I had to wipe up the drool on the keyboard just reading your idea. The Caterham is a great car also. Just love the thought of sitting that low with a super light car. Corners, here I come!
The Lotus:


The Caterham:

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The reason I was asking what transmission you are using, https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/099262.html I researched 4t60 swaps but this is such an odd tranny still gathering info but haven't had much feedback.