Lotus 900 Series Engines
It is said that when Vauxhall unveiled its new slant-four engine at the 1966 Earls Court Motor Show its bore centers were exactly the same as those proposed by Lotus for their new all-alloy engine. Lotus boss Colin Chapman immediately negotiated a deal with Vauxhall to buy some of their cast-iron blocks so that development of Lotus’ own aluminum 907 engine could be sped up.
The design became the basis for the Lotus 2.0 and 2.2 engines used in a wide variety of sports cars, but the basic block was cast in aluminium alloy instead of iron, which made it considerably lighter. The Lotus engine also used a different cylinder head of light alloy, featuring double overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder. The engines were so close in design that, with a few modifications, the Lotus head can be fitted to the Vauxhall block; engines with Lotus heads were used in Vauxhall's dealer team race and rally programmes until the late 1970s.
Read more about this topic: Slant Four
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