If someone has gone to the trouble of fitting the engine in the nova and fitting that ecu the chances are that the engine has been played with. The are very good engines as there light, very revvy and give a nice power output for the size of engine.

 

The car was built by an M-sport mechanic, so I guess he may have had something in mind!

Unfortunately I have no knowledge of a K Series lump, hence asking questions! From what I can work out / have been told, they were used in the Lotus Elise cup, so tuning stuff must be available for them.

Cheers

Chris

 

Yes they where used in the lotus Elise in the form of the 1.8 and 1.8 vvc.
They are commonly used in kit cars such as in caterhams etc as well.
Tuning parts are easy enough to come across I think people have got a N/A 1.4 up to about 140 odd bhp

 

First question to ask is, is it actually a 1.4. It could be a 1.6, 1.8 or even possibly 2 litre.

 

This site is certainly worth a look

http://www.dvapower.com/

 

It is a 1400. Thanks for the link, interesting reading!

 

The most i have seen from a 1400 is 184BHP, but normally customers go up to 1600 or 1800/1900 as there is more scope and considerably more torque.

The 1400 has a smaller 75mm bore which restricts the valve size considerably , the forged pistons available at that bore size give little valve/piston clearance at TDC and this limits the scope of the cams that can be fitted.

Dave

 

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the advice. I am wanting to keep the 1400 as this is what class I will be competing in.

I'm not after a screamer / massive BHP engine, just something reliable with usable power, hence why I'm considering the throttle bodies and decent management route.

Cheers

Chris

 

A good spec for a reliable but powerful engine would be a ported head with 633 or 1320 cams timed correctly with verniers, throttle bodies, decent 4-2-1 and Emerald ECU.

Dad

 

the engine in my old 1.4 was bought as replacement to a high miles original,it was once fitted in a nova.it was running with coil packs and ib5(ford based)gearbox as in 04 zr spec.they d also gasflowed the head ,machining the ports to accept the vvc manifold and 52mm throttle body.it was dyno testes at 120bhp which is a good 16bhp over standard 1.4,if its off road then big bore exhaust without cat prob be a benefit with an ecu remap or aftermarket one,k series is still about best power to weight ratio of any modern twincam motorthats why lotus used it.if its got r65 gearbox id be wanting to upgrade to pg1 or ib5 type

 

Thanks for your help guys. It has an 820 close ratio 'box in it, from what I can gather this is a PG box?

Provisionally sorted myself a set of bike throttle bodies (not carbs), complete on an inlet manifold for £150! Off to look at them tomorrow.

Hoping the ECU is ok to run it, if not ill be going OMEX and the GEMS/Lumenition K400 will be up for sale.

Anybody got any suggestions on cams? Not after anything to OTT, just a set of fast road cams. What's the options / best route to go do you reckon?

Cheers

Chris

 

Read Dave's note above about cams. He does know his stuff.

 

I dont think that the PG1 box will fit a 1.4? I was under the impression these came with a Ford unit?

 

The 1.8 uses a PG1 so I can't see a reason it wouldn't fit the 1.4 too.

 

I was told it is running an 820 close ratio 'box and have been informed this is a PG box. When I collect the car I will have a look at the box for any stamps / marks and let you know. Obviously I will be keen to know what it is for future reference / maintenance!

Cheers

Chris

 

Chances are it is a hybrid box. Possibly 820 nasp (W4DT) which has close 1st-4th and a big leap to 5th. This will need to be transplanted into a K series casing (as the bellhousing is different between O/M/T/L series PG1's and K series PG1's).

 

That sounds spot on as 5th is a considerable jump! So it is all 820 ratios but in a K series casing? As I was wondering why there was such a big gap from 4th - 5th compared to 1st - 4th.

Cheers

Chris

 

Decided I'm going to go for an OMEX ECU and a custom loom, therefore the K400 ECU is up for sale. Please see my advert in the for sale section for info!

Cheers

Chris

 

Been a while since I last posted one here, done quite a bit of prep on the shell as well as a few engine related bits!

Engine wise, I've bought a set of BMW K1200 RS throttle bodies and have mounted them on a standard ally inlet manifold (I've fabricated some spacers to get them to line up). Wanted to use the original manifold so I can run the original injectors and same position. The inlet manifold & spacers as well as the cam cover are currently away being powder coated.

Need to sort a set of 90mm (length) trumpets and filter and work out how to mount it as well as getting a billet fuel rail made and work out how to mount that too!

A friend of mine does a bit of competition engine building so is going to be doing a bit of 'head' work for me shortly too.

Slowly getting there...

 

For Dr Bell:

I've bought a set of BMW K1200 RS throttle bodies and have mounted them on a standard ally inlet manifold (I've fabricated some spacers to get them to line up). Wanted to use the original manifold so I can run the original injectors and same position. The inlet manifold & spacers as well as the cam cover are currently away being powder coated.

Need to sort a set of 90mm (length) trumpets and filter and work out how to mount it as well as getting a billet fuel rail made and work out how to mount that too!

 

I've just ordered a billet fuel rail for my build.

Google search Spencer Ashley..

May be cheaper than getting one custom made

Pics man we need pics!

Allan

 

Just ordered a custom one, for less than half the price of a Spencer Ashley one....to my length, threaded ready for -6 fittings from the fuel line.

Will post a pic of the bodies, fuel rail etc when I've got all the bits together, in between time have one of my powder coated cam cover, strut brace and power steering bracket!

 

Looking good.. Where did you get the fuel rail from?

 

From a guy on a kit car forum that I occasionally go on. When I get it I'll post some pictures and PM anybody who is interested with his email address. I'm posting mine off today as a sample in case he needs it for injector spacing, it's being done to the length I've specified and threaded ready for -6 fittings, happy days! When I get it back I'll decide whether to powder coat it or polish it!

 

Ah.. sweet

Mines an exact copy of the OME one.. but in billet.. as Im running Titans.. So needed a like for like swap..

 

Excuse my ignorance, what are 'Titans'?

Picked up throttle bodies this afternoon with powder coated inlet manifold & spacer bars, please see below pics. I have just trial fitted them, they are now back off the car again so I can sort trumpets, filter and backplate.

 

Titans..

Hellier built engine with Scholar EVO 2 bottom end..

 

That's a nice looking set up - do you know where the inlet manifold came from? It could be a cut down of a VVC alloy manifold And the throttle bodies?

I'm doing something similar - using GSXR600 bike 'bodies, and a cut down of the plastic inlet manifold

The set up is a little further forward than this picture shows, but I intend to continue with it over the winter

 

Looks good, don't forget to block up the original bike injector holes! Why did you use a plastic manifold?

 

BTW how are you going to fit the fuel rail? That's taking some cerebration on my part at the moment...