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Upgrading a VX to a K engine?


andyl

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I have just bought a 1998 Classic VX with a Vauxhall 1.6L engine. I happen to have a new re-conditioned K engine (1600cc, dry-sumped standard MG spec dyno-ed at 140bhp).

 

I was thinking of replacing the Vauxhall engine with the MG/Rover. I understand I will need:-

 

1) Bellhousing/Dry sump como

2) Engine mounts

3) Exhaust.

 

Caterham cannot confirm if the engine will foul the pedal box etc. and the bonnet will be different.

 

Has anybody gone through this conversion yet, if so can I please have their advice?

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Caterham sell various engine mounts dependent on the engine, however that are saying that they don't know about the combination of my chassis and engine as they never sold the K engine in that VX chassis. I'm pretty sure it should fit but I just wondered if any club member has already done it. I could even offer up the engine and fabricate my own engine mountings, however my choice would be always to use off the shelf parts if they work?

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To give you all the information here is Caterham's take on it:

Hello Andy

The 1.6 classic is a live axle chassis and the K-series is a Dedion. We did not fit the k-series into the L/A chassis so cannot confirm if there with be any issues e.g fouling on the pedal box or the exhaust hitting outer chassis tubes. Both the engine harness and main looms will be different with the engine harness being no longer available for the k-series. The engine mounts will be different, not sure whether you will have the correct positioning in the chassis for the K-series mounts. The exhaust system will be different, also the bonnet. These should be the major issues covered.

Regards

Tony

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I'm pretty sure that if your lower chassis rails have four holes for engine mounts, then it'll fit.

There surely will be a need for bespoke parts though.

How about finding a club member with a K-car and then do a bit of industrial espionage?

 

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Tune the VX lump with a head, cam and mapped ignition and you'll have as much power as you'll want to put through that axle (cue loads of people saying 'I put a zillion bhp through mine for 40 years and never had a problem' - mine blew up on my first airfield day with the stock engine on a low miles car though, so fair to say 140bhp is risky for a component designed for about a 100 less)

If you're going to put that much work in (and you'll probably only find out how much when you actually try it, for example I think you'll need another tank as well for the injection pump to work as it should) then do it with a De Dion chassis which will give you the option of upgrading further in the future.

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They did offer a live axle starter kit around then for a k so it's probably doable.
I'm surprised by that, any more details, please?

It was on a basic starter kit sheet I got years ago, somewhere in my collection of old tat I still have it, not saying that anyone did buy one but it was there for a time.

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Personally, I think it is the wrong base car to modify in this way. Despite having the engine the conversion costs will soon mount up and you will probably end up with a car worth less than it is now which will be hard to sell so triple whammy!

The vauxhall enhancements are worth pursuing - cam, headwork etc. The rear axle can be made more robust, something you’d need to do with the K power increase. I think Rakeway and Jigsaw are the search words relating to marina axle upgrades.

Regards

Ian 

 

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First of all Caterham did offer a 1.4 K series with the live axle chassis in LHD form.

If you go injection you can use a Carb fuel tank and an external fuel pump even without swirl pot, the only catch could be that on low fuel the pump "might " pull a bit too much air.

You could look into a 1.8ltr engine or maybe a 2.0 ltr 8V engine ? if the Ital axle has all the mods it should be ok. then you could keep the exhaust and engine mounts

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TomB, unfortunately these K engines do not seem to command a decent price, my K series came from one of my race cars had just been fully rebuilt £1900 labour, has a brand new head, and a dry sump with the magic purple pump. It's MSA sealed and is standard MG1600 running at 140 bhp, one of my rivals has done 7 seasons with this type of engine so they are rugged as they are not really tuned. But alas not worth much.

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Paul_W, If I uprate the VX then thats the same to the rear axle? I'm sure a properly setup axle would take 140bhp, in fact it's the torque that kills gearboxes and axles? I don't think I need another tank the engine was raced with just a high pressure fuel pump (we didn't even need a lift pump) feeding into the injection system on the head.

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