Can I Reduce My Tax & Insurance And Raise My Mpg

[Guest Guy]

My insurance is about £170 (1,500 miles), TAX is about £185 and I get 18MPG (that's about £350 for 1000 miles), total is £700 a year running costs.

 

My engine is a 2.4l V6 with 130HP (when new!!!). If I changed to a 750cc Motorcycle engine would I save lots of money?

 

Also, the car weigs 650KG, that's at the SVA with a full tank of fuel and me in it, I recon that the engine/gearbox weigh 300KG so by changing to a Motorcycle engine I could shed about 200 KG, that's a third of the weight of the car

[agent_zed]

Hi,

i guess you will be under 1.4ltr so you will only pay £125 (well it used to be) saving £60 a year. I guess any weight loss will be benificial but you will find aerodynamics a big factor in this style of car. Ive heard it said the Caterham has a drag coeffiient of 0.7 which is pretty big.

 

If you fit too small an engine i think you will end up having to cane the poor thing and using more fuel than you would think. Have you considered a modern small engine like a k-series 1.4 16v (103bhp) or a newish ford unit which should be easier to mate up to everything.

 

I have a 1.6 carbed pinto and worked out i was gettting 40mpg in my 2b which is heavier than your car.

 

If you go the bike route you will have to change the prop shaft, fit a reverse (unless you are very careful not to get into the wrong place) buy the bike engine, fabricate completly new engine mounts, new exhaust system. I also think you have to change the spring on the clutch for most bike engines as they arent strong enough for pushing a car.

 

just a few things to think about

 

hth

[Guest richardw1984]

why a 750? why not just get the power from a bigger engine but still in the cheaper bracket? ZZR1100 or R1 engine?

[Snapperpaul]

The smaller V6 engines were known for having the fuel consumption of a 2.9 V6 and the power of a 2.0L couple that with the big flat front you are trying to push through the air and thats where your problem lies.

Certainly the bike engine power and weight saving will help a lot but you will need torque to help with the aerodynamic problems

[Guest salty_monk]

It'll take you a long time to offset the money you'll spend in the conversion but it should cut your cost. I wouldn't expect to see a huge change in MPG though depending on how much you need to thrash it to get it going.

 

A cheaper option to increase MPG with your engine could be to change the rear axle ratio, the V6 should have enough torque to cope....

 

Dan

[Guest scotlad]

I used to get around 30mpg max in my fireblade MK Indy- 893cc with around 130hp. Mucho fast 1/4 mile 13.3- 13.6. Pig to live with though as did 7k rpm at 70mph with a 3.62 lsd and was a bad for vibration also. Any trip requiring going near a motorway was a nightmare though it was brilliant for trackdays.

 

Tax was only £100 a year as it was a 93' engine and under 1000cc :-)

 

 

Edit to say that i'm building a zetec 2b now as i wanted something a bit 'nicer' to live with!!!!

[Guest piddy]

I have a friend with a Honda 750 motorcycle and he only gets 18 miles to the gallon,so maybe not so economical as you might think.

[Guest Guy]

Well I took it out for a run on the weekend and the noise it makes is great, I probebly won't save much mony fitting a MC enging so I'll stick with what I've got