Original '60s racing engine?

[John Fitzpatrick]

Original \'60s racing engine?

I have an Ford 289 engine/transaxle that was removed from a Lotus 40 in 1968. I don’t know whether Lotus got their engines direct from Ford or from a third party, but I’m curious if it might have originally been a GT-40 spare.

What makes me think it might have been is the following:
The intake manifold is an aluminum FoMoCo for Weber 48 IDAs and the exhaust is a bundle of snakes tubular. The inside of the bell housing has “GT-40” cast lettering, the clutch is a twin plate Sheffield, the Shelby mods, such as brazing the oil pickup tube into the pump, had been done, and the transaxle is a ZF 5DS 25 with a combination speedo drive/oil pump.
Counting against it is that the Webers have extended length velocity stacks and the block is not a 4 bolt main HP unit. I can post a couple of photos, if that would help.
Thanks,
John

 

[Ron McCall]

Re: Original \'60s racing engine?

Please post pictures!
Thanks

 

[DON SILAWSKY]

Re: Original \'60s racing engine?

Check the block and heads for casting numbers and post those too, and also whether the block has 2-bolt main bearing caps or 4-bolt. The casting numbers will be the key information, but sometimes they are hard to read. A contrasting color crayon lightly rubbed over the numbers will help. Mk I GT40s raced for a pretty long time (1964 into the early 1970s), so a number of different Ford small block motors are considered "original" for them, depending on the year(s) the car raced. I have also sent you a PM.

 

[BenL]

Re: Original \'60s racing engine?

A quick web search turned up a website for Lotus 30s and 40s.
Lotus30.com - PinksStampsRacing.com Default Page

The website says:

The original engine was supplied by Ford Advanced Vehicles and was a 4.7 litre (289 cu In) cast iron Ford V8. These engines, Number 1019, was modified by Lotus to produce 350-360 BHP @ 6500 RPM Engine Number 1019 is the Ford GT40 block 4-bolt main cast in 1967 and built by Mathwall.

From the way the website is constructed, I can't tell if this engine was used by all Lotus 30s/40s or just the car that is the subject of the website.

 

[John Fitzpatrick]

Re: Original \'60s racing engine?

Here are a few photos of the engine/transaxle and a bit more history.


The engine was in a Lotus 40 (“a 30 with 10 more mistakes.”) owned by Kitchner Race Developments in England. He removed it and installed it in a Lotus 47GT which he then sold to a driver in the States, who wrecked it.

The car sat in a salvage yard (!) in Kansas City for three years. When I bought it in 1972, there was standing water in the cylinder bores, and pretty much everything that could rust and/or seize had. Sadly, the block was not salvageable according to the engine rebuilder. Keep in mind, this was in 1972, and who knew the engine or even the block had any potential worth as a vintage motor back then? In retrospect, I should have hung on to it, but being young, and poor, and in a hurry, I didn’t.

Fortunately, the Webers cleaned up, and the ZF was unharmed, so the builder blueprinted a 289 block he had laying around and we put it back together. It’s not been run since the rebuild, but I don’t think it has value for a “numbers matching” level restoration. My intention was to get the 47 restored and keep the motor with it. That car can be seen at http://home.swbell.net/toy264/

 

[Rick]

Are the Banjo holes in the carbs expoxied closed (filled)?? It's hard to define.

 

[John Fitzpatrick]

Yes, they're blocked off and the fuel line connects where the filter element would normally be. Never could figure why that modification was made.
And I've learned since this was posted that the engine more probably came from a F 5000 car rather than a Lotus 40.
John