I was surprised at the lack of performance from the twin Webered X flow engine which was fitted to the car when I bought it. Having driven a very grunty though standard fuel injected 2 litre Zetec, & before that a well modded 2.1 pinto engined Dutton Phaeton for the last 19 years certainly contributed to this.

The X flow also used fuel up at a disgraceful rate, so the decision to fit an efficient modern injected engine was a real no brainer. Initially I’d wanted to fit a 1800 ‘K’ series but lack of supply at sensible money meant that a Ford ZETEC was chosen. These are tough, plentiful and cheap - scrap Mondeo’s £0-50!!

The engine in my Dutton uses the standard Ford plenum and ECU, but for the Lotus I wanted the ’70s look, so 45mm throttle bodies with ram-pipes were the obvious choice, these look and sound similar to Weber’s. In combination with a programmable Emerald ECU to take care of fuel and ignition. NB:- The must have water rail is from Retro Ford – very neat though check the supplied temp sender is correct, mine wasn’t! The S/S exhaust manifold is a standard Westfield part – fits’ perfect though!