thats the k series through and through mate not much you can do unless your ready to shell out £££££'s

 

ohh

i know the k series aint the best for power but wouldnt go a miss for a bit more, it lacks torque aswel!

but thankyou anyway

 

The 1.4 k produces a lot of power for its size at high rpm's, but suffers at the low end.

 

As posted above really.

The K-series is a cracking engine giving a good power output from a lightweight engine but the main bulk of it doesn't really kick in until over 2900rpm.

The 1.4 is a good little engine to have in a 200/25 but in the bigger bodied 400/45 it will feel sluggish especially at low revs.

Bte cheapest modifications are to change the exhaust and air filter to performance onces but it still wont benefit you at low rpm. Generally the mods only help the engine at the higher rpm.

So you're a bit stuck. Reducing the vehicle weight would help, empty the boot of any clutter, check the tyre pressures are ok and go on a diet. :_poke:

 

HI

I put an inducton kit on mine, it has helped a bit, I was lucky and got it cheap. this as a little more, as would a new exhaust system. THe best thing to change in the throttle body, I put a 56mm on mine, thoug it dosn't add much in the line of power at low end, it offer a much fasster throttle responce. So you get to the higher revs without haveing to constantly hammer the accelerator.

The thing is, though a ZS 180 would be lovely, as you pointed out the insurance it blatantly stupid, not to mention road tax these days.

For the 3k insurance you can get a race tuned lotus k-sereis engine fitted, that puts out nearly 200 bhp. And you still wouldn't be paying the silly road tax. I pay £120 a year tax, and if I got a 180 i'd probably be looking at tripling that. so I see it as haveing about £300 extra a year to spend on my 414, not to mention cheaper insurance, less ligkly to get stolen.

 

HI
For the 3k insurance you can get a race tuned lotus k-sereis engine fitted, that puts out nearly 200 bhp.

If that's the 1.8 VHPD engine I wouldn't bother, it's a fragile and rough engine, not the kind I would want to put into a daily driver. Plus spending 3k on a car doesn't make much sense.

If you're after low down grunt and don't want the expensive runing costs the only worthwhile option is to buy a diesel instead. :broon:

 

Replace your throttle body with a 52mm one as mentioned (£100 ish) and then get an enclosed induction kit, such as a K&N CIS Apollo (£150) or a Pipercross Viper (£180 ish). I'm biased towards the the K&N kit myself (as I own one!) but not sure if it'll fit the 1.4 K series.....

After that, if you still want a slight bit more power cat-back exhaust. The price of that will obviously vary hugely depending on brand, style, etc.

 

I have the piper enclosed induction kit, I comes good at above 3k revs, but does offer a little something low down, but not much.

If you can get one I's say get a custom exhaust setup, a most of the off the shelf back boxes are to chavvy sounding for me. so I'm going to get a custom job tailored to the note I want. I may even go for a full exhaust system as mine is the original parts and are starting to deteriorate.

 

To be honest, if you want low down torque and can't afford to buy and run a V6, look out for a 1.8 K series Rover 45 or ZS120.
Tuning the 1.4 is like peeing in a bucket with a hole in it - not worth bothering with.

The VVC version of the 1.8 does have more low down torque but doesn't come in a Rover 45 or ZS bodyshell, so you are either looking for a ZR160 / Rover 25 GTI / Rover 200vi / BRM, or an engine swap into your current car.

 

I cant see a problem myself with it. I pull a caravan on the back of my car and to be honest we have had the same van from 1991 and its been on the back of Metro's and 100's and a 1.4 400 and it never felt lacking at all.

I supposes it depends on how you drive it etc.

If you have come from an older style engine, like Fords or Vauxhall's old range to the K its a totally diffrent kettle of fish. As said the power is all up the top end but also diffrent car makers play with gear ratio's etc and so it depends on what your used to as to if the car feels slow or slugish or not.

 

Come on guys, remember that he was asking for extra power or more importantly TORQUE below 3000rpm. An aftermarket exhaust isn't going to achieve that.

 

erm, turbo it!

Drew

 

what and add a shead load of turbo lag to it its a 1.4 lol get a grip m8

 

Getting a lightnened flywheel may help

The flywheel is there to keeping the crankshaft spinning, and the heavy flywheel lets your car rev nicely at 1000rpm or w/e

if you get it lightened, it would have to rev slightly quicker, but it would rev up much qucker, so althought the torque wouldnt increase too much, it will get up to 4000 revs much quicker.

Thats why you see most proper race cars, if you ever see them go through the paddock, they splutter and stall, and at low revs are generally crap (ticking over etc) But that is with extreme lightening and all remapping to perform at higher revs.

But lightening it will get you up to revs quicker, and in turn increase your acceleration

 

sorry about the double post.

a lighter fly wheel wouldn't make a diffrence what so ever, all it will do is rev the tits off the engine and lack topend power. the k-series is ment to be powerful above 2,900 rpm thats the way it will always be unless you want to damage your engine. the only engine in the rover/MG range worth modifying is the t series(think thats the diesel one) and the kv6 no point doin any other unless you have money to burn!

 

Im not a great one for modding my engine or anything mate but i wouldn't say its not worth doing at all on a k, or on a t for that matter lol !

 

i wasn't meaning that because of the engine size lol theres always going to be turbo lag like you say can be reduced but theres always goind to be a little lag

 

All the K series engines are pretty much the same lump.

All the blocks are the same, and there is little difference between the non VVC heads.

The 1400 is the same engine as the 1600, only with liners in the cylinders and smaller diameter pistons to reduce CC.

The 1800 is the same engine as the 1600, same pistons etc only with a different crankshaft to produce a longer stroke and therefore larger CC.


You can fit the 1800 crank and 1600 pistons to your 1400, thus turning it into a factory spec 1800 more or less.

1400s and 1600s are very revvy, the 1800 less so with the longer stroke - not a big gap BHP wise between 1600 / 1800 but the 1800 has a good bit more torque.

You would then need the 1800 ECU but I wouldnt bother, you would be better going for a megasquirt or emerald standalone ECU - plenty of maps available for both, and youll get far more power out of the standard set up this way.

If you are going custom ECU, might be time to look at bigger injectors / uprated fuel pump.

Beyond this you could look at throttle bodies - bike TB's cheapest option but apparently dont work well with the K series.

Fitting the VVC head with the VVC bit blanked off is an option, as it flows better than standard.

 

get it chiped up and remap mate

 

Superchips charge £300 for a chip/remap - in return you get an additonal 5 bhp on the R45 1.4.... and it'll cost you a load more to insure as well.

imo it doesn't seem worth it.

 

http://forums.xpowerforums.com/showthread.php?t=45516 this could be of interest to somebody.

Shroon

 

re turbochargers -

turbo lag has a lot to do with the size of turbo - a small turbo wont take long to spool, and will have hardly any lag as it will come on boost early, but will run out of puff earlier than a larger turbo.

Larger turbos take longer to spool up, hence nothing a low revs and a punch in the back once the turbo comes "on song".

Sequential systems use a small turbo and a larger turbo, the idea being that the small turbo provides boost at low revs until the larger turbo spools and continues boosting to a higher RPM.


Picking the size of turbo is difficult. Obviously small turbos wont make the big BHP figures you will get from a larger one, but will make the car more driveable.

With a 1400 k series you would be looking at a small turbo to provide perhaps an extra 30bhp, anything more will over stress the engine.

You will need to reduce the compression ratio to prevent detonation and look at aftermarket management as obviously MEMS wont run your turbo.


Superchargers provide a smoother option, as they give near linear boost from idle right to the redline.

popular choice at the minute is the BMW mini supercharger, plenty on ebay.

 

With a 1400 k series you would be looking at a small turbo to provide perhaps an extra 30bhp, anything more will over stress the engine.

hmm 30bhp! have you ever turbo'd an engine before?

Drew

 

Throughout this whole thread I have not seen one decent reply lol

IMO get the pistons and liners swapped for larger 1.6 ones then a 52mm throttle body and some 255 cams an x power remap will fuel it perfreclty then maybe a janspeed manifold and system. This will make it rev happy enough to still enjoy but torquey enough to not be taxing when driving about.

 

The main issue is its hard to get low down torque out on an 16V engine. All 16V engines are rev happy. The older engines wear all 8V's and had loads of low down grunt. The best Rover engine for low down grunt is the T series which is 2.0.

As I have said earlier in the thread I had no issue using my 414 to pull a 800KG caravan and I changed the gear at 3K ever time.

 

The main issue is its hard to get low down torque out on an 16V engine. All 16V engines are rev happy. The older engines wear all 8V's and had loads of low down grunt. The best Rover engine for low down grunt is the T series which is 2.0.

As I have said earlier in the thread I had no issue using my 414 to pull a 800KG caravan and I changed the gear at 3K ever time.

Gonna disagree there. The VVC I had was quite torquey low down. In fact felt more torquey than the T series lump I have in it now until the turbo starts pumping.

 

For gods sake, if you want more low end power then just ditch the 1.4 altogether. Been there done that, wasting your time and money. Go and get a VVC engined car, the difference is HUGE!

 

I cant argue with that. The more CC you have the better. Also remember the 1.8VVC is the most economical K series too.

 

Unbelievable, but defo true.....until you start pushing the loud pedal...:eyes:

 

The guy has said for as little ££££ as poss

 

Which means VVC then, power to cost ratio. The money you would spend on attempting to get power from a 1.4 would outweigh the cost of a VVC for a hell of a lot more power.

 

did the 45 come with a 2.0 KV6 for a while? That would be a nice option.

 

It did indeed.The touring cars originally used the 2.0 KV6

Shroon

 

wich would greatly increase his insurance as opposed to a 1.6 conversion which would only be a fraction of that plus VVC lumps dont come cheap complete

 

The 1.6 is hardly any better than the 1.4, a little more torque that's it. The VVC has shed loads more. A modified car is a modified car and I'd put odds on the insurance being high for either.

I have driven/owned all varieties of the K series engine and know the difference.

 

Yeah, but the V6 was auto only. Which was agreat shame and was no quicker then the 1.8 manuel.

 

you might as well sell the 1.4 and buy a 1.6 and get the standard extras then?

 

I doubt there would be much difference in spec tbh