K-Series Engine Build

[russelld]

Andy,

 

That looks like an original oil ladder ? & did you re use the head bolts ?

 

Russ.

[@ndy]

Andy,

 

That looks like an original oil ladder ? & did you re use the head bolts ?

 

Russ.

 

Yes, standard oil ladder...... I'm not convinced the uprated one is required ?

 

I did use new head bolts thou and torqued to std settings.

Following with great interest Andy, I'll be on the engine once the chassis and front are finished.

 

Looking forward to seeing your S1 Jonny..... When do you plan to have it back on the road ?

[jonnyfox]

I don't think it'll be this year, although I hope to get the front back together including the chassis, front clam ready to paint, engine out, gearbox refurbed and rear subframe off by Easter. It'll end up a money thing tbh as I plan to hire a V6 Cup R and do two days at Spa with BaT. Lol it'll also give me enough time to get some tips then plagiarise your engine build! :-)

[@ndy]

Wow.... Thats going to be a nice Exige when it's all done 

[jonnyfox]

Wow.... Thats going to be a nice Exige when it's all done

 

Actually the Cup R is off due to other commitments as of yesterday so I might get the engine done this year. Will post up a thread soon as I've got a load done.

 

Keep up the good work Andy :-)

[Alex B]

Actually the Cup R is off due to other commitments as of yesterday so I might get the engine done this year. Will post up a thread soon as I've got a load done.

 

Keep up the good work Andy :-)

Jonny, there's a ready built kiwi rog vhpd with all the gubbins on Seloc. Alan Reason on here is selling it.

[jonnyfox]

I'm going for a straight forward reliable build Alex with the original engine, whether I buy later something I can mess with will need to be seen I guess.

[@ndy]

What started as an engine build/replacement has turned in to a bigger job and although some of the jobs were planned I'm taking the opportunity to freshen up some other parts of the car.

 

Once the old engine was out I decided to remove the rear subframe to  make access to the bulkhead easier - 

 

 

 

 

One of the jobs I knew I had to do was to replace the rear brake lines as I have had advisories on the past 2 MOT's -

 

 

 

I took the opportunity to add a coat of paint to the fuel tank, however I was surprised how good condition it was and the only evidence of rust was on the 2 ends, here it is before I lifted back in -

 

 

 

Next job was to remove the old heat-shield material from the bulkhead, this was easy but the glue it left behind was a PITA to get off -

 

 

 

Next was to add a new heat-shield and although I used the old one as a template it was difficult to put on as it is less flexible, It actually looks a lot better than the photo shows, its also much more robust than the original..... And that is a new Mocol oil cooler

 

 

 

And here's the engine finally back in along with a lightweight engine mount, I fell that I'm finally getting somewhere now parts are going back on the car -

 

 

 

 

 

[Alex B]

Looking very smart Andy!

[DeanB]

Great work Andy. Well jeal :-)

[jody391]

Awesome job looks great!

[Martin R]

Andy, top work. One of my favourite upgrades was the stiffer engine mounts. Virtually no increase in NVH with a properly balanced engine. I also realized i could feel the engine moving about when cornering before. It was only when i tried it with stiffer mounts i realized what it was, if that makes sense. It feels a lot better when cornering now    

[@ndy]

I run stiffer mounts in the Exige and they transformed the feel of the car, looking forward to seeing the difference in the Elise, I did already run the upgraded lower mount thou.

[@ndy]

My progress has been slow over the past month probably due to my new toy.... 

 

Along with the engine rebuild I took the opportunity to refresh my suspension so all the wishbones were removed and I removed, cleaned a re-greased all the Nylatron bush's which I found were in tip top condition after being on the car for 3 years. The wishbones were also cleaned and given a couple of coats of POR15 along with the anti-roll bar to freshen it all up. I also cleaned the Gaz dampers and replaced the drop links, unfortunately I forgot to get some good photos so this is all I have -

 

 

 

To help protect my new engine I also fitted a Craig Davies electric water pump which is controlled by a toggle switch on the dash and an adjustable timer relay. when you activate the switch the cooling fan and pump will run for around 2 mins even if the ignition is switched off, the plan is to use this after coming off track to prevent heat soak in the head or when I sitting in traffic etc.... 1st results look promising and the temperature drops around 10 degrees after running the pump for about 45 seconds when the car is ticking over.

 

The pump was installed in the outlet from radiator returning to the engine -

 

 

 

 

And the relays mounted close to the fuse box on the top of the chassis top cover -

 

 

 

Back to the engine.... This is all in and running and now needs mapping, The plan is to get it run in on the rollers as I don't want to risk running it in on a bad map that is either too rich or too lean, Here is is all complete -

 

 

 

I also replaced all disks with Eliseparts ally-belled units and put new pistons and seals in the front callipers, again no photos sorry.

 

Bleeding the brakes was a PITA and I'm not that happy with the pedal feel, however this may be because I'm use to my daily drive and the LF1 so will see once I drive it in the road.

 

Only jobs to do now is to fit engine cover and bonnet, fit seats, get it mapped and MOT'd... Fingers crossed this all goes to plan !

[DeanB]

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