(5) Buying a K Series
Next thing I needed was a decent K series engine for my car.
I had planned on a VVC engine because it would give 150-160 ish BHP and had a great head that would lend itself to more power later on if I decided to junk he VVC mechanism and add throttle bodies and new cams.
Some people have reported problems with VVC fitting under bonnet, but since my car already had a bonnet bulge to accommodate the KAD 16v head that would not have been a problem for me.
I had also planned to use a programmable Emerald ECU to avoid complications that can arise from missing alarm & immobilizer parts and also because it allowed greater flexibility in the long term whatever I decided to do with the engine. Being fully mapable it would also allow almost any K series engine to make more power.
I found several VVC units on eBay that were brand new, but they were selling for £2k+ without loom or ecu, so add £600 for emerald and then another £100 for a loom and you were looking at not far shy of £3k for the engine alone. Again with the benefit of hindsight I would have bought a smashed MGF with a VVC engine. This would yield lots of useful bits and breaking the rest on ebay would almost have got my money back.
In the end I found a low mileage ex Lotus Elise engine with the PTP170 conversion for £1200. The PTP conversion involved a new head and cams, VVC inlet plenum and piggy back EFI ecu system to make it all work. The engine was from an S2 Elise and had the close ratio box, which I knew I could sell for £400, so that made the engine £800 which was more reasonable.
After picking it up I immediately removed and ebayed the box, starter motor and the AP clutch plate and housing. This netted me £635 back so not bad.
I had planned on a VVC engine because it would give 150-160 ish BHP and had a great head that would lend itself to more power later on if I decided to junk he VVC mechanism and add throttle bodies and new cams.
Some people have reported problems with VVC fitting under bonnet, but since my car already had a bonnet bulge to accommodate the KAD 16v head that would not have been a problem for me.
I had also planned to use a programmable Emerald ECU to avoid complications that can arise from missing alarm & immobilizer parts and also because it allowed greater flexibility in the long term whatever I decided to do with the engine. Being fully mapable it would also allow almost any K series engine to make more power.
I found several VVC units on eBay that were brand new, but they were selling for £2k+ without loom or ecu, so add £600 for emerald and then another £100 for a loom and you were looking at not far shy of £3k for the engine alone. Again with the benefit of hindsight I would have bought a smashed MGF with a VVC engine. This would yield lots of useful bits and breaking the rest on ebay would almost have got my money back.
In the end I found a low mileage ex Lotus Elise engine with the PTP170 conversion for £1200. The PTP conversion involved a new head and cams, VVC inlet plenum and piggy back EFI ecu system to make it all work. The engine was from an S2 Elise and had the close ratio box, which I knew I could sell for £400, so that made the engine £800 which was more reasonable.
After picking it up I immediately removed and ebayed the box, starter motor and the AP clutch plate and housing. This netted me £635 back so not bad.
posted by jamesm at 4:34 PM
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