What Engine

[Guest nav001]

Hi there,

I am hoping to build a lightweight RH and I am still trying to decide what engine to use. The car will be mostly used for autotesting(torque) but will be using it for some trackdays(topend) also.

Any suggestions on what engine could be used to give a good balance and that will fit.

 

Also has anyone fitted a BMW 4-pot engine into a lightweight chassis or will they just not fit?

 

 

Thanks in advance

 

Nav001

[Guest salty_monk]

BMW engine is liable to be too tall to fit....

 

I suggest you use a Zetech, 16v Vauxhall or even a trusty old Pinto...

 

If you're loaded the S2000 VTEC engine would be good... it's the only one that spins the right way of these.

 

Have you thought about bike engines?? Fireblade, Blackbird, Hyabusa etc?

 

Dan

[Guest nav001]

Thanks Dan

Not loaded I'm afraid so the VTec is out!!

 

I've thought about bike engines but for the Autotests I will need to get from first to reverse in a split second and vice-versa and I don't think it would work well with a bike engine and electric box.

 

Thought about just using the good ol' pinto and will prob end up doing that!!!!

 

Thanks again

 

Nav001

[Guest salty_monk]

Pinto's have plenty of torque.... Top end's not bad either. Very simple to get 100 BHP at the wheels.

 

Zetec is lighter but will cost you a good £1500 or more to fit over the costs on the Pinto when all said & done due to the throttle bodies, engine management, new pedal box, flywheel, starter clutch etc required...

 

For Autotesting the Bike reverse is not a good idea, I forgot about that! Even the electric reverses are pretty slow & awful.

 

Dan

[Guest elwe]

You can get proper reversing boxes that will fit between the bike engine and the diff to give you all 5/6 gears in forwards, or reverse!

[Guest docter fox]

whatever car engine you go for it'll be good enough for autotesting as long as it's not very highly tuned, do you intend to have it on the road aswell?

[Guest nav001]

I won't be putting it on the road as there is no SVA test here in Ireland.

 

I don't want a very highly tuned engine or a very high reving one so the bike idea is out I reckon.

 

Will see how things go I guess...

 

Thanks for the advice guys

 

Nav001

[Guest ScotMac]

I like the duratec 2.0 a lot. It is square (bore vs stroke), very light (all aluminum head and block), and is put in a lot of ford/mazda cars, so can be got from wrecking yards (scrappy's?) fairly easily. Even w/ that light weight, it will go to around 200bhp fairly easily.

 

Only problem is that you will need to switch to a ITB (individual throttle body) setup to get the hp. Commercial itb setups run around 1000-5000gbp's!! ie, the "loaded" thing comes into play again. However, a megasquirt II setup w/ bike carbs will only set u back a few hundred pounds, and should give you similar results to the commercial itb's...tho will require a substantial amount of more tinkering!!

 

Hope that helps. Cheers, -sm