William D8on Posted January 22 Posted January 22 Hello All. Hopefuley this all ends well with a bit more power in the back. I have a 04 plate Rover S2. it says 'S' on the V5 which should be Supercharged. But its very much not. Its claim to fame is being January 2026 in the MLOC calendar My plan. Find a 160 K Series and engin swap. What could posibly go wrong... I would like to blog this for 2 reason. 1. People may be interested in doing the same. 2. People may be able to support when I am being a bit silly (This will probably happen alot... Initialy, Let me know how interesting this is for people. How much detail do you want to go through. Quote
Oakman Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Hello William and welcome to the forum, There are other members on here who will be able to help and advise you a lot and better than me, particularly Dean who has an early S2 Rover engined Elise like yours, that is very much appropriately modified to what you are looking for. I have driven it and can testify to its capabilities ! I have an S1 Elise with the basic power/driving 'upgrades' of the larger 52mm throttle body and Rover 135 sport cams, which together make a noticeable improvement to a basic K series engine enabling it to rev out more keenly to the red line and with much more gusto, all without spoiling its low down torque which is so important to the specialness of an Elise with its light weight. The cost of doing that is around £200 for parts minus fitting. Plus in comparison to the later S2 Elise any minor criticism of the standard Toyota engine to a K, is its relative lack of torque low down, plus the requirement to keep it on the boil at the top end of the rev range to experience the VVC effect - great for on track mind you 😁 The S2 Rover engined Elise is heavier than an S1 but a lot lighter than the Toyota S2 Elise and therein lies its performance edge. Plus it does without some of the other weight adding creature comforts too, which for a fun drive and weekend car aren't so essential. I don't think you will need to be looking at an engine swap at all, there is plenty of knowledge on extracting more performance from a K without breaking the bank. Regards, Paul 1 Quote
Phil Hutchins Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Interested in your journey! But note that ‘S’ on your model signifies that it has the VVC engine which I think produced 156bhp as opposed to the standard non-VVC 120bhp. Not ‘supercharged’! Quote
MrWill Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Hi Will and welcome to MLOC 👋 Its Always fun working on the Elise and an engine swap is a really interesting project 👍 However Check what youve already got. Your S It does indicate a vvc lump. So makes no sense to swap 156bhp for exactly the same plus your wiring and ecu....what could go wrong for no lt a lot of benefit.? Far better but not as oily fun to either enhance the vvc with say a kit from dva or go for a vvc delete get your head done say at kiwirog and get a pick and mix of one or more or all of cam intakes and exhausts which take your fancy. Lastly if its a vvc. It will be plenty quick enough driven high in the rev range and with a dollop of skill behind the wheel. If your car could do with a suspension refresh tyres or brakes The right thing is to do that first and drive the &£@# off it as it is before looking at the engine. Good luck MrWill 👍 Quote
Lithopsian Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Supercharged Rover K-series, don't see those every day 😮 Don't see the VVC engines every day either, but very nice if you've got one. Various ways to check, but simplest and most reliable is just to look for the VVC belt cover on the LH end of the cylinder head. Officially the 111S, also some special editions noticeable by the paint jobs and interior trim. Quote
William D8on Posted January 27 Author Posted January 27 Hello Guys Thanks for the welcome and feedbak. The car has had an engin swap at some point, and it doesnt have a VVT or a supercharger. I one big reason for working on her is the amount of smoke on start up. I am getting a pump the presure test the cooling and test the head gasket. From My google I though the S was supercharged? and 111S was with the 160 vvt motor? No Bigi, it's where we are going that is exciting me. Looking to get a car, but watching the price go up. Ill let you know how it goes friday. I am not in a hurry, so If its not in the corect range ill let it go, they come up but we need to react FAST. Quote
DeanB Posted January 27 Posted January 27 Lotus could be a pain in the arse with their nomenclature but I think the Rover S2 Elises with the VVC were originally called 111S or simply 111 but they changed it to simply 'S' for the last year or so. They didn't make a supercharged Rover Elise - all factory supercharged Elises have Toyota engines - but you can, or at least could, get aftermarket supercharger kits. Most people tuning Rover Ks stick with atmospheric pressure motors. A lightly breathed on VVC engine in a car with a bit of weight saving (battery and back box are good places to start) makes for a rapid, nicely balanced and not murderously expensive Elise. If you want 200 bhp though you'll need throttle bodies, ported big valve head (preferably VVC as they have a better port design) cams, forged pistons, probably new liners etc - you could easily burn through ten grand. Good luck 👍 Quote
Lithopsian Posted January 27 Posted January 27 There were never supercharged Rover-engined cars sold by Lotus. Both he S1 111S and the S2 111S had Rover K-series VVC engines, only 143 bhp for the S1, 160 for the S2. Nice engine, need a but more care maintaining them but a good combination of power and torque. VVT is something else, a Toyota variable-valve-timing system. "Smoke" on startup? White smoke could be coolant, usually an inlet gasket letting coolant in and easy to fix, but could be worse things like HGF. Real oily smoke, not good at all. Quote
DeanB Posted January 28 Posted January 28 My original engine started smoking at around 100k miles but not on start up. It would suddenly and seemingly randomly blow a big cloud out. I suspect it was valve stem seals or rings but I was advised it would be cheaper and easier to find and fit a good second hand motor, which I did, so I never stripped the original down to have a look. Quote
William D8on Posted January 29 Author Posted January 29 Thanks again for feedback. More to come... Either good news or well a delay Quote
William D8on Posted January 30 Author Posted January 30 Step 1 compleated. Purchased a MGTF 160. 48K miles front end damage. All Being well then next photo will be on my drive. Between now and then I need to learn how to extract a motor from an MGTF. It looks like its in good nick, and I have a forend who is intersted in some of the bits. A 1 Quote
RichEuropaS Posted January 30 Posted January 30 5 hours ago, William D8on said: Step 1 compleated. Purchased a MGTF 160. 48K miles front end damage. All Being well then next photo will be on my drive. Between now and then I need to learn how to extract a motor from an MGTF. It looks like its in good nick, and I have a forend who is intersted in some of the bits. A Door mirrors are the same as Elise, Exige and Europa S. Quote
Popular Post Lithopsian Posted January 31 Popular Post Posted January 31 Can't you just sell off all the body panels until there is just an engine sitting there? 1 1 Quote
Oakman Posted January 31 Posted January 31 Were Rover still tenuously BL at that time - if so leave it outside over the remainder of this winter, it will have totally rusted away by April ! 😉 Quote
DeanB Posted February 1 Posted February 1 On 30/01/2026 at 15:49, William D8on said: Step 1 compleated. Purchased a MGTF 160. 48K miles front end damage. All Being well then next photo will be on my drive. Between now and then I need to learn how to extract a motor from an MGTF. It looks like its in good nick, and I have a forend who is intersted in some of the bits. A What a great find. Good for at least another 50k miles. Are you going to put a new head gasket on it when it's on the bench and easy to do? Quote
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