New Engine Build thread

Muncher

Muncher

Muncher

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Joined
17 Oct 2002
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Ipswich
lsj1.JPG


The foundation of my new engine :D

Brand new 2.0 LSJ block
Ported LSJ Head
LSJ Sodium filled valves
Comp cams blower cams
Maybe uprated valve springs
Diamond 9.5:1 pistons
Balancer shafts removed
Lightweight Flywheel
Courtenay Sport Clutch
Lightweight MRZ aluminium crank pulley
Lightweight 6 rib alternator pulley
Baffled sump
Harrup TVS Supercharger
LSJ throttlebody
External crank trigger wheel
Pro Alloy chargecooler
VXR injectors

Hopefully not far off 400bhp :D
 
I'll have it weighed when it's done, a bit over 800kg though.

I'll get more pics when the bits start going in.

Also got a brand new set of Nitrons going on with different springs and valving and either a new or modified fuel tank and pump....:o

Oh and turbo intakes....:o
 
Still in the collecting the parts phase of this...

Have gone for uprated valve springs that should be good for well over 8,000rpm.

The car is currently away having a full 3" exhaust developed which should be VERY nice.

Have accounted for most of the "main" things now other than the chargecooler and fuel tank/pump.

£3,400 cost so far, which isn't THAT bad but is mounting up... :(

At least once it is in I will have a complete supercharged engine to sell, plus a full exhaust system, which could in theory cost me only about £2k for the 400bhp conversion if I am lucky.
 
Dogbreath said:
Is the stock bottom end happy to take 8000RPM though? And will it still be making good power there? Heavier valve spring sap power, so no use unless you need the extra RPM capability.
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Yes the stock bottom end should be ok at those kind of RPMs but I will almost certainly keep the revs down to 7,500rpm in any case. All the indications so far are that it will continue to make power at those kind of rpms.

I'm going for 76lb dual valve springs which are at the lighter end of things in any case.

The darkside, yes, I get where you're coming from completely, I think 350-375bhp will be more than sufficient which is where I may keep it at in a relatively unstressed state. There's another chap who is going through a similar process with his 2.2 engine at the moment so I will be guided by the feedback from that, no one really knows what it will be like...
 
Housey said:
Agreed. I sprinted a V8 Seven many years ago and it simply failed to put the power down and the 300bhp Seven's that I knew that were racing in the 750 championship some years back all had to have major downforce to get any form of traction. It will need to be very clever to get close to taking advantage of 400bhp I suspect. A solid 270bhp would be about ideal in my opinion but hey, it's your build!
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The 300-330bhp Elises don't really seem to have any issues in putting the power down so that's a nice power level. Remember the engine is right over the rear axle in the VX unlike a Caterham.

At 270bhp you would really be looking to replace the rods and also the fuel pump which isn't easy so in terms of effort involved it's not much more work.

I didn't at any point set out to hit that kind of power level, it's all just incremental, when I ordered the Harrop supercharger I was hoping for 290-300bhp, it just turned out that it produced a shedload more than that...
 
The_Dark_Side said:
Not a name I'm familiar with, but if that's a typical example of his work then he's clearly a talented fellow.
Have you mentioned the cost, or would you rather not?
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Yeah he does almost exclusively custom pieces for a lot of classics and race cars including historic F1 cars.

The RRP is £1,385
 
goodies_001.JPG


Supertech dual valve spring kit, MRZ LSJ 6 rib alternator pulley, MRZ LSJ 6 rib crank pulley, JEGS brake vacuum reserve canister, Porting and Polishing kit.

goodies_002.JPG


The reserve canister

goodies_003.JPG


The porting kit

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goodies_005.JPG


goodies_006.JPG



Oh and a Harrop TVS 1320LSJ supercharger... :D:D:D:D
 
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The exhaust was made quieter, got it down to 94Db. It's now 4 inches longer and is fully repackable so the end of the silencer unbolts.

Fingers crossed the cost shouldn't be THAT bad. Put it this way it will be a fraction of the cost of a 300bhp supercharged Honda conversion for an Elise. That's about £15k. with any luck after I have sold off the old parts I should be under £3-4k.
 
olv said:
haha, I lol'd :D

One question, what does the brake vacuum reserve canister do? Or, what does it hold in reserve? Brake fluid?
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It holds a reserve of vacuum pressure.

There is a common problem that when accelerating hard and then applying the brakes immediately after there is a loss of vacuum in the servo system. (As under hard accelerating the vacuum produced from the intake drops off by about 50%).

The servo is supposed to hold enough vacuum pressure to apply the brakes 3 times but in practice that doesn't seem to work, especially on my supercharged car. The canister sits inline on the servo hose between the servo and the engine and allows for a substantial buildup of vacuum pressure, kind of like a buffer.
 
It'll be impossible to have positive pressure surely as the take off is after the throttle body but before the inlet manifold.

My testing with a vacuum gauge showed there was always some vacuum but it dropped off a lot at WOT.
 
-Neil- said:
That manifold and exhaust looks awesome, I wonder if a S2 Exige S system is available? :D

Didn't consider a 2Bular system then?

Neil.
Click to expand...

I tried to order one but 2Bular Jim wasn't interested in taking my money!


I've just got the car back from Courtenay, the chargecooler is installed and the smaller pulley is fitted.

It's now sitting at 254bhp (done on a very hot day) and over 200lb/ft of torque from 2,000rpm all the way to over 6,000rpm.

It is very, very quick now:eek: Kind of making me wonder exactly how much use the extra power of the new engine will be on the roads....

It absolutely flies through the gears, the time it takes to get to very illegal speeds is scary. I've not done any timing but this is how the figures come out from the letstorquebhp calculator...

Power at Flywheel (BHP) : 254
Weight without Driver (KG) : 820
Power to Weight Ratio (BHP Per Ton) : 314.73
0 - 60 (Secs) : 3.96
0 - 100 (Secs) : 9.84
60 - 100 (Secs) : 5.87
Quarter Mile (Secs) : 12.31
Terminal Speed (MPH) : 111.85
Drag Strip Quarter Mile (Secs) : 12.21
Drag Strip Terminal Speed (MPH) : 113.17
 
-Neil- said:
I bought a full 2Bular system about a month ago consisting of 4-1 manifold, silenced de-cat and 8X24 back box, should be fitted next week I hope providing it was sent as Jim said it would, a few delays since the order was placed. From what I gather he's outsourced the making of the exhausts as he's got so many orders from all over the world.

Once it's fitted I should be having the car remapped and different injectors/fuel pump fitted, fingers crossed for somewhere around 260Bhp and noise wise be able to get on track days without being booted off :)

400Bhp in that will be insane, almost supercar quick come to think of it! :D

Neil.
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As I understand it there are only two 3" 2bular VX systems out there, after almost 2 years of working on them.

F430 is 338bhp/ton & 8.0seconds 0-100
997 GT3 is 297bhp/ton & 9.03 0-100

Even without the new engine it's pretty much in the ballpark of many supercars up to 100mph.

400bhp would mean nigh on 500bhp/ton which is about the same as a Zonda F.
 
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