Posts Tagged ‘Engine swap’

Porsche lacking pressure

Monday, November 29th, 2010

This 928 should have been the 2010 Race car for Mark Hammersley of AA Silencers.  The car belongs to Kev Leaper of Practical Performance Car magazine and driving honours where to be shared out over the 40 minute races in CSCC Future Classics. Unfortuantely on it’s first outing at Brands Hatch the engine failed. On inspection it is suspected the failure was due to low oil pressure, a common problem on 928’s. As a result the engine needs a rebuild along with a full dry sump kit added to solve our future oil pressure. The engine will probably be converted from mechanical to electronic fuel injection while we’re at it.

Moggy 2000- nearing completion

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

DSCF1686The Morris minor having a zetec engine fitted is close to completion. Cooling systems, fuel system, exhaust, gearbox mounts, chassis mods to fit the starter and many other small jobs are all hugely time consuming but progress is slowly being made. There’s a few more small jobs then the car needs switching over to negative earth and the ECU needs fitting and programming. We can finally start looking forward to the maiden voyage!

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Moggy 2000 update

Friday, March 12th, 2010

It might not look like much has happened on the moggy but there’s hours of work happened to get the zetec engine to fit. It’s now been mated to the type 9 gearbox and all of the associated clutch issues dealt with. Engine and gearbox mounts have been made and some more chassis work done to accomodate the final assembly. The radiator just fits into the front panel so now we have lots more fianl dressing of the engine bay and then the endless task of wiring and piping. Next on the build list is the prop and exhaust manifold!

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MGZS T16

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

We’ve worked closely with this customer for some time and his skills and ideas have become ever more adventurous. When faced with the usual K series headgasket failure he was easily talked into a T16 engine conversion. He has tackled a lot of the work himself including wiring and hydraulic installations  but the mechanical engineering side has been left to us. The process is fairly simple- line up the driveshafts, get the engine as low as possible and make some  mounts. Then all you have to worry about is  the fact that none of the driveshafts are the right length and nothing else on the car fit’s the engine. It’s during a project like this you realise how many things there are connected to an engine. We’re currently working on new front suspension location points to give better traction and make the most of the new engine position. Development of cars like this is never ending but the owners enthusiasm seems endless so we’ve plenty to work with. 

DSCF1611 The rear wing is nothing to do with us by the way!

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Moggy 2000

Monday, February 1st, 2010

If you have an old classic and love the character but get tired of the gasping little engine you have 2 options. Modify the engine which may cost a lot to return a little or modfiy the car the take a better engine. I favour plan B as did our customer when he brought in his Morris Minor. Various options were discussed but a Ford Zetec 2.0l from a Mondeo was the power plant of choice.  Rear wheel drive conversions with this engine are well documented and it’s a nice tractable and readily available engine so all we had to do was work out how to make it fit!

There were a few small problems such as the steering rack being in the way and the engine bay not being long enough but as each challenge develops so do the solutions. It’s lovely watching a project like this grow. There’s still a long way to go but here’s a few snaps of the story so far.

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Flying Pig

Monday, February 1st, 2010

This is something you’ll either get or will just not understand at all. The challenge was to find something truely different. In the car world just about evrything has been done and it’s hard to create a new idea without spending a fortune. We decided the craziest track car you could possibly use was a Reliant Robin, so we got one and turbo chraged it to see what would happen. It was good but not fast enough and still suffered from a lack of wheels, so we did the only sensible thing. We got a Honda VFR750 engine and designed a ful space frame chassis and cagearound the robin chassis. This incorporated such things as coil overs all round, subaru imprezza vented discs, hydraulically self loading suspension to counter body dive and roll and so many other little touches it’d take all day to list. Plans are to make a few people smile at tack days and shows this year. There’s still a lot to do but here’s some pictures of the build so far.

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Cheap classic

Monday, January 25th, 2010

It’s amazing that a car built in such relatively low numbers and with such striking styling should still be so cheap. The Scimitar was such a departure for Reliant and has carried it’s age well thanks to the fibreglass body. There may be nothing groundbreaking about the mechincals but thanks to some very strong parts being carfully borrowed from other manufacturers they are tough and pretty reliable as classics go. This car was bought for only a few hundred pounds but since then we’ve done some serious work done. Cosmetically it’s had a full respray, new carpets, the seats have been leathered and the headlining replaced to match. On the mechanical side of things it’s  had a rare South African motorcraft 3.4L engine fitted. We’ve added some custom stainless exhaust manifolds and a full stainless system. It took 6 exhaust boxes in total to quieten everything down! It’s had lot’s of other bit’s a bobs like a dose of waxoyl and a full brake strip and reseal. Parts aren’t available for ars this age so everything had a clean up and new seals. In the end the master cylinder was modified to take one from a transit. I’m sure there wll be more improving to be done soon.

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