Thought the following might be of some use to anyone considering this:
So, it's that time...
After finding that cylinder 4 was at the lowest allowable compression by the book, I decided to start an engine build to uprate things to cope with approx 450bhp, which has always been my final goal...
So, 18 months ago, I bought a spare, decent ABY block in the hope that I could avoid needing to get it rebored... anyway, that didn't quite work Cylinder 5 was 2/3 worn, so I've decided to rebore it. Due to the machine shop being stubborn, I can only go 1 size up without having to pay £100 extra, so I've gone 81.5mm.
I've got a lightened 7A flywheel, SRE organic clutch, steel front cam gear and full Victor Reinz gaskets sat in the cupboard.
I've gone with FCP Engineering for their price and have got their 8.5:1 pistons, super-strong X-beam rods and ACL bearings on the way, for under £1000 the lot, delivered!
The engine is with Aelred, chosen because he's just up the road and very experienced, and will be bored out when the pistons arrive.
After that, I've got to wait for the rods to come in stock and then it'll be balanced (preferably zero balanced) and assembled.
I've included a head rebuild in the cost and have found what looks to be an excellent AAN head for sensible money, complete with valves etc. I've sent this to JP to be checked over and then I'm going to have a basic rebuild with possibly multi-angle valve seats and inf I'm feeling flush, a little tickly of the exhaust ports.
Recent work has included a coil conversion and I'm hoping to sort a prj RS2 chipset with adjusted dwell time and launch control. Then there's the custom suspension setup, K24R prototype parts and maybe some coilovers...
Final thing to do is to get some new engine mounts in there and finish it all off with paint and a clean where applicable.
Expecting not to get any change from £5k for the lot, minus whatever I get back for any parts I can sell along the way, so let's call it £4.5k for a complete engine rebuild to 450bhp without having the car off the road for any more than a week.
So, that's about what the car is worth then... Including the suspension, it'll be nearer £8k, so that's some serious investment but I still look at the old girl and smile and the prospect of a HX35S, GTX3071 or GT3086 with well north of 400bhp makes me smile even more. Plus, as proved at Combe, the suspension upgrades have made for a very capable car!
I am keeping a full spreadsheet of my costs, so I will share this when it's all done, to give a clear idea of what you're looking at!
Here's what it's all about:-
So, it's that time...
After finding that cylinder 4 was at the lowest allowable compression by the book, I decided to start an engine build to uprate things to cope with approx 450bhp, which has always been my final goal...
So, 18 months ago, I bought a spare, decent ABY block in the hope that I could avoid needing to get it rebored... anyway, that didn't quite work Cylinder 5 was 2/3 worn, so I've decided to rebore it. Due to the machine shop being stubborn, I can only go 1 size up without having to pay £100 extra, so I've gone 81.5mm.
I've got a lightened 7A flywheel, SRE organic clutch, steel front cam gear and full Victor Reinz gaskets sat in the cupboard.
I've gone with FCP Engineering for their price and have got their 8.5:1 pistons, super-strong X-beam rods and ACL bearings on the way, for under £1000 the lot, delivered!
The engine is with Aelred, chosen because he's just up the road and very experienced, and will be bored out when the pistons arrive.
After that, I've got to wait for the rods to come in stock and then it'll be balanced (preferably zero balanced) and assembled.
I've included a head rebuild in the cost and have found what looks to be an excellent AAN head for sensible money, complete with valves etc. I've sent this to JP to be checked over and then I'm going to have a basic rebuild with possibly multi-angle valve seats and inf I'm feeling flush, a little tickly of the exhaust ports.
Recent work has included a coil conversion and I'm hoping to sort a prj RS2 chipset with adjusted dwell time and launch control. Then there's the custom suspension setup, K24R prototype parts and maybe some coilovers...
Final thing to do is to get some new engine mounts in there and finish it all off with paint and a clean where applicable.
Expecting not to get any change from £5k for the lot, minus whatever I get back for any parts I can sell along the way, so let's call it £4.5k for a complete engine rebuild to 450bhp without having the car off the road for any more than a week.
So, that's about what the car is worth then... Including the suspension, it'll be nearer £8k, so that's some serious investment but I still look at the old girl and smile and the prospect of a HX35S, GTX3071 or GT3086 with well north of 400bhp makes me smile even more. Plus, as proved at Combe, the suspension upgrades have made for a very capable car!
I am keeping a full spreadsheet of my costs, so I will share this when it's all done, to give a clear idea of what you're looking at!
Here's what it's all about:-
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