Insurance Fun!

So I finally got this tosspot from the fire stations road safety department to admit liability for my crash via threats of complaints and taking this story to the papers...Hardcore pressuring of the transport manager too.

I await my excess to be returned.

Then guess what...I have him bent over a desk with his pants down.

Being as there is an admission of complete liability its now in formal writting, statements and laid down in history at my insurance companies office that he bulls**ted me...

So I am gonna make a formal complaint to the fire service and take this story to the local papers...

Lying bastard will get what he deserved...

I may also attempt to extract alot of out of pocket expenses. I knew I have should claimed whiplash would have been better compensation than the crap I have had to WADE through.

More K-Series stuff

So i stripped the engine of all the induction stuff and shelved it.

I am definately making my life hard wanting to move the thing back 5inches. But its the way forward I think..!

I made some more measurements and rough checks its gonna be tight but no major concerns yet, bar one......The slave cylinder will clear the chassis rails by about 1/2", which is lucky... The one side of the bellhousing, or the bellhousing support on the passenger side of the engine should clear the chassis by a few mm! Or need minor cutting of the seam on the inner of the chassis rails. Looks ok.

Main issue at this time and it made need a beer. The exhaust manifold.

Not to sure on this side exit thing, as it'll need a bespoke silencer about 3.75" dia and about 4feet long to allow it to be 98DB and let the door open and also by high enough to avoid killing it. Might pose some MOT issues?

I think the plan is to fit the engine and box. Make some diagrams and templates of the space left for an exhaust manifold and ground clearance needed. There is not much room between the chassis rails and block just about room for a pair of 1.75" secondary pipes, but I think the system will need to go under the car. So to get the desired near 30" primaries there might be some good snakes in the engine bay!

This gap for the pipes is small cause of the engine mount and the bellhousing are close together. I could adjust the engine mount, hack it off and change the angle to move it forward, but I'd rather not...As it is it leaves me a 5" by 2inch slot for secondaries to pass through...I will fit the engine work out where the space is for a manifold, make a load alloy templates I can bolt to the block to replicate the bulkhead, chassis rails and space left.

I will then take the engine/box and these templates to someone like (Exhausts By Design) tell them to make me a manifold to fit in the holes left on my templates! That should work, I can't take them the car without a load of hassle, basically it needs some snake primaries and then to hug the block and bottom of the box and exit centrally with the gearbox outlet flange.

I will then make my own rear 2.25" main pipe and rear box system. I guess a bespoke manifold won't be cheap but its the only way really.

Provided I am happy with the fit and such I may get this done asafa (as soon as funds allow!). Just need to strip all this stuff from the old motor and collect the cash for those who brought the stuff... Atleast its not actually expense at this stage, just an exchange of spitty stuff for K stuff.

Its worth doing a good exhaust and EBD are well rated in the K scene. Can be worth 20HP and loads of torque over the stock MGF one.

Thats my only headache atm....I can't build something as complicated as that. Thats hopefully the only real fabrication bar small bits and bobs.

Need to pickup a camlocking tool (£5)to get the pulleys off the cams. Just the rear ones at this stage, VVC has front and rear cam pullies with a drive belt on the rear ones also, as they won't be needed they will just be in the way when I ponder bulkhead chopping.

K-Series collected

I have a wonderful little engine!

We can soon call this blog the how to fit a K-Series blog. I will add some very detailed information once I get going. Should be making a start in about two weeks...

Clearly mileage correct on the engine, block is shiny alloy and no salt corrision on anything! basically all the work has been done by the guy I got it off!

Lovely bloke, Welding Fabricator and ex-racer, karting enthusiast. Just the kinda of chap to buy something from. Why there not more bids on it I do not know! Its saved me LOADS of cash and hassle its virtually a bolt in conversion!

I reckon it should be an easy conversion by the look of it...No nasty chassis hacking, rack moving, cross member relocations....

Just need some HEAVY mods to the bulkhead and to make a gearbox tunnel...and exhaust.

I have also a release arm, starter motor from a Ford which fits. MGF clocks and dashboard? Fusebox, ECU, wiring.

To fit a starter on the engine you need to grind off some mounts from the block, thats been done and strengthened. The engine mounts he made will definately be useable. I will make some mini towers off the chassis rails behind the suspension turrets and mount the engine on Jaguar E-Type engine mount rubbers...

The bellhousing is 6-1/4" long same as Spitty with the Type9 adaptor plate, so the engine can surely go back 5-6inches from the 1300 location.

Its an amazingly tiny bottomend, maybe even smaller lower half of the engine that the 1300 spit block! The flywheel is TINY!! Like a motorbike! Much smaller than the spitfire one. The guy has machined this for crank sensor for the ECU and spark firing...nice one.

So plan of action is to pickup a mini-slave cylinder, sierra release bearing, get the clutch and box on it and working...

Get it on the crane, aim it at the hole, break out the anglegrinder, mutilate the bulkhead and adjust the chassis rails...sort the rear gearbox mount plate needed...Sort the engine mount towers and get some Jag rubbers...That should get it in place...

Once in place and bolted down whip it out - stick it under a sheet and create a new gearbox tunnel, something simple from alloy sheet, probably not rounded, but angular. Pickup some cams and that stuff...Work out an exhaust, water system, plumbing...

I will need an Apollo Tank cause the K doesn't like to mounted inline and suffers real bad surge and also the oil can get airy due to excessive oil ending up in the top of the engine, the cams make it foam or soemthing?.....This tank thing is like a dry sump but cheap. It makes the K-series have an 7.5litre oil capacity.

Its an extra tank that sits in the engine bay. Basically its a seperate sump in addition to the engines sump...The oil pump throws the oil into this tank then into the engine galleries...or something tank...It throws oil in the top of the tank and blows it out the bottom into the engine? This means the oil gets shot of any air created and when you get surge you have 3.5Litres of oil in the tank at all times to feed the engine when the sump pickup is struggling...Not quite sure I have got the plumbing/system correctly described, but basically all caterhams have an apollo tank, unless they have a dry sump...

I don't want to go mad with mods and stuff at this stage, but thats the only thing I will do to the oil system bar adding a cooler...To me it looks like the Spitfire oil cooler take off will fit...Infact the engine Spitfire oil cooler system the filter looks the same so?

Quite excited...I always wanted a real rocket ship, at this stage it looks like a relatively painless option.

I think buying this engine and kit has saved atleast £750 once I sell the dashboard, VVC mech, cams, induction system and such like...I'd hope to have to spend as little as £100 to get it fitted and clutch working!

Got a K-Series engine and bellhousing!

Potentially an ebay steal.

£450 for a 35K mileage 1.8K VVC.

Comes with QED bellhousing for type9 box (£300!).

The guy has already fitted a suitable spigot bush (£10), clutch cover and plate (£80)...also its fitted with a lightened 1400 K flywheel and ring gear, this flywheel has some trigger system or notches making it good for use with 3D ignition/aftermarket ECU, so this has saved a lot of sourcing and hassle.

I can flog the VVC head if I wanted to save cash on converting it to solid large journal rally cams and buying a blanking kit...This head is worth £250-300 at my local engineering shop I am told. I can pickup a stock 1.8 head for peanuts...But I like the idea of larger valves and such so for now the main concentration of effort it getting it in the car and getting an exhaust on it...I may pull the head after thats done, stick a double shim gasket on it, reface it and port the valve seat area on the inlets...some way off yet!

Exhaust may need to be a side exit job :) 4-2-1 with the primary and secondary lengths designed from DVApower's findings...This may need to exit round the side of the sill and outrigger, running just behind the wheel where there is just about room...Saves taking out exhausts and trying to make some complex thing under the car...Can just buy a caterham side exit silencer and wedge it on the sill...

Just have to go 110miles to Fareham to collect on Friday?

He has modified the bellhousing to accept a Mini slave cylinder, so there is no annoying cable clutch system to rig up.

The only thing I need to do is find a sierra release arm and bearing and add/weld on a suitable rod to it for operation of the clutch via the Mini slave cylinder...

I had a look at the gearbox area tonite...I can easily get the box back 5.5inches from its current location with nothing more than slight removal of the seams on the chassis rails, no big surgery... Basically the rear type9 mount will them be right by the small cross member under the handbrake..I can weld a plate into this cross member which runs forward 3inches and is welded to the chassis rails, the rear box mount will sit on this and I just need to remove 1cm of the seam from the chassis rails, then run some weld along the seam...I will need to shorten the shifter mech on the box as per frontline kits...

If this is all possible I need to hack a large section of the bulkhead anyway and this will probably mean the entire engine is behind the suspension turrets, or behind the front cross member... :-) 4.5-5" back from where it is now! I think the bellhousing maybe a tiny bit longer on the K so I hope to move the engine back 4.5" to save having to move, adjust the oil filter location...This leaves me with 1" to play with if the bellhousing is longer than expected...All speculative at this stage.

The engine mounts included with the motor look like they can be used? I can build some small towers vertically from the main chassis rails and simply bolt these on using Pinto engine mounts.

One engine.

Can't run the VVC induction system I don't think, cause the bonnet isn't tall enough. Straight onto throttle bodies when funds allow.

Should be able to sell the VVC induction system for £50? The engine will sit slightly inclined as it does in the picture, the stock induction is very tall. The throttle bodies are much lower...

Not sure the exhaust is any good, its not included anyways, he wants £180 for it, gonna measure it and make a diagram and get back to him later. If the pipes were further forward it might be ideal!

So plan is strip it to bare of ancils and crap and get the block and box in, them remake/refit anything and get it running! I'd like to use my EWP, so will probably hack the impeller off the water pump, which is driven off the cambelts...I'll be needing to change cams and will give it a new belt anyways.

K-Series measuring up...PARTS STILL FOR SALE!

So I stripped everything from the engine bay tonite bar the engine.

Made some initial measurments of the engines. I got some good diagrams of the K-Series from a PDF.

The K engine block is 40cm long, 24cm wide and sump to camcover is 61.5cm.The head protrudes 6cm further back from the rear block face.

The Spit engine is the same length and width, just the K is taller, Should be no problems with my bonnet, this was considered and half the reason I brought that humped bonnet you see!

From my initial measurements there are issues to overcome, the K has an oil filter mounting that will foul the suspension turret on the passenger side. I can probably make a remote take off and oil cooler system. However I believe it will JUST possible to move the engine backwards 11-12cm from the standard spitfire location, as they are the same size it makes measuring easier!

This means the oil filter and mount will be behind the suspension turret!

The front face of the engine will be roughly lined up with the rear of the front chassis cross member that runs under the engine atm. I have no idea at the moment where the start motor will sit, so this is all speculative.

Getting the engine this far back means the front pulley will be miles away from the steering rack, also I can run the stock sump without any mods.

It will mean butchering the bulkhead to get throttle bodies on the engine.

Also means removing the heater box thing from the bulkhead and the back of the cylinder head will sit about 2cm off the bulkhead! The throttle bodies might just fit in running right by the clutch master cylinder.

There is one other serious issue to consider thats the fact the TYPE9 box is quite wide in one area, so I may need to adjust the chassis rails to get the box in, as it will be 12cm further back than it is atm, I estimate 1inch per side needing to be found...Hopefully this will not need any major surgery. I will remove the gearbox tunnel tomorrow night and have a look.

Probably run into tons of problems but I want to get this engine back along way.

Hopefully I will have an engine later this week. I will assess how far I can get the gearbox back and go from here, if it will go back from than 12cm I will happily enjoy the company of the engine inside the cockpit.

Alot of my SALE ITEMS NOW SOLD

Updated list below.

5speed kit in reserved at this time.

I may be willing to sell my MEGAJOLT ignition kit complete, crank pulley, brainbox, EDIS unit, wiring loom, sensors, magnecor leads, dissy pedestal -alloy breather the whole nine yards? Enquire.

Perfect VANDERVELL VP Lead Copper Bearings for 1300 small crank engines , don't fit junk to your engine -only fit THESE! SOME SOLD TBA whats left.
Big ends +0+10+20+30 -£40 a set.
Mains +10+40 -£40 a set

1x Unground STD size 1300 small bearing crankshaft - no scoring use as is -ideal for nitride and polish job - no problems in supply of VP2 STD bearings! £75

1x Good condition FD block on +20 rebore ideal for re-bore fast road engine. Main bearing houses complete and not oval or warped, cam bearings in place £60

NEW old stock VP small end bushes for con-rods set of 4 £15.

Lightened 4.6kilo 1300 flywheel drilled for 7/16th bolts, can be fitted to 1300 by tapping crank to take 7/16th bolts as used on 1500. Can be used to instantly release more spin up on the 1500, forget using a 1500 clutch I reckon, not needed in my opinion just stick this flywheel on with a 1300 clutch and a dolomite 1300 clutch plate, loads lighter!. Comes with low mileage Clutch cover.£80

Alloy 1300 small crank front pulley, comes with Sierra trigger wheel attached for use with 3D ignition system (megajolt and alike).. This pulley has a stainless STEEL sleeve on it, it won't wear out and leak in 5000miles like the junk (anodised crap) sold by tuning companies. If you buy for use with a megajolt system I will include a crank sensor and homemade adjustable crank sensor mount which bolts to the block and allows you time the engine to pefection, no messing! an extra £17 - Pulley £35 or £52 ready to go on Megajolt.

Alloy distributor pedestal, cut down and converted into a crankcase breather for use without a Distributor, ie with megajolt system £40.


Low mileage unmarked small journal (cam bearings) TH7 Race camshaft - not really a race cam, totally road tractable, good manners 40mpg at cruise on my engine and 130mph top end! (atleast with me tuning the car!) - cut from NEW blank, nice lobe shape -not a reground ramper £100 with followers (numbered)

Twin Weber DCOE/DHLA DELLORTO INLET MANIFOLDS...Currently Tapped for use with MAP sensor for 3D ignition...can be blanked off before sale or left as is, these take offs make it DEAD easy to use a manometer to balance DCOE without vacuum ports. £65.

Damaged full race cylinder head, 1 chamber fu-bared 1.5/1.25" valves, repairable by welding -Technilock then port reshape, offers?

Mint standard Herald camshaft £15 (cam bearings needed).

BRAND NEW (2000miles ago) perfect mint -Twin 40 Dellorto DHLA40C's jetted for full race engine £475. Most advanced carb made.

express interest ? davidpowell@clara.co.uk

Keep checking if you want any parts, I will update this posting on a regular basis also I will add more parts as I discover them!

K-Series Time - SPITFIRE GO FASTER PARTS SALE!

Time to fit a K-Series.

Can't be bothered building 1300's anymore for own use. I want more power jimma!

I have lots of interesting parts for sale - first come first serve.

Most of these parts can be seen in my blog www.crazyspitfire.blogspot.com troll the archives!

SOME ITEMS NOW SOLD (provisionally)

Perfect VANDERVELL VP Lead Copper Bearings for 1300 small crank engines , don't fit junk to your engine -only fit THESE! SOME SOLD TBA whats left.
Big ends +0+10+20+30 -£40 a set.
Mains +10+40 -£40 a set

1x Unground STD size 1300 small bearing crankshaft - no scoring use as is -ideal for nitride and polish job - no problems in supply of VP2 STD bearings! £75

1x Good condition FD block on +20 rebore ideal for re-bore fast road engine. Main bearing houses complete and not oval or warped, cam bearings in place £60

NEW old stock VP small end bushes for con-rods set of 4 £15.

Lightened 4.6kilo 1300 flywheel drilled for 7/16th bolts, can be fitted to 1300 by tapping crank to take 7/16th bolts as used on 1500. Can be used to instantly release more spin up on the 1500, forget using a 1500 clutch I reckon, not needed in my opinion just stick this flywheel on with a 1300 clutch and a dolomite 1300 clutch plate, loads lighter!. Comes with low mileage Clutch cover.£80

XXX As new - Clutch slave cylinder - small bore- fast action comes with braided clutch line to master cylinder £20 SOLD

Alloy 1300 small crank front pulley, comes with Sierra trigger wheel attached for use with 3D ignition system (megajolt and alike).. This pulley has a stainless STEEL sleeve on it, it won't wear out and leak in 5000miles like the junk (anodised crap) sold by tuning companies. If you buy for use with a megajolt system I will include a crank sensor and homemade adjustable crank sensor mount which bolts to the block and allows you time the engine to pefection, no messing! an extra £17 - Pulley £35 or £52 ready to go on Megajolt.

Alloy distributor pedestal, cut down and converted into a crankcase breather for use without a Distributor, ie with megajolt system £40.

XXX Alloy Electric water pump manifold, bolts to cylinder head, lets water in and out. As seen in previous blog pages. £27.50 SOLD

XXX Alloy front engine plate 1300-1500 spitfire £50-comes with refaced timing chain cover - NO LEAKS!! SOLD

XXX Dual row DUPLEX ADJUSTABLE timing chain kit, comes with top and bottom wheels, good order no real wear, chain, dual row tensioner incl. £105. SOLD

Low mileage unmarked small journal (cam bearings) TH7 Race camshaft - not really a race cam, totally road tractable, good manners 40mpg at cruise on my engine and 130mph top end! (atleast with me tuning the car!) - cut from NEW blank, nice lobe shape -not a reground ramper £100 with followers (numbered)

XXX Baffled sump and modified 1500 oil pump, alloy bolt in baffle works a treat, pump pickup cut, bent, welded to pickup centrally in the pan NO surge- can use 1500 pump on ANY 4 cylinder £50. (you can reuse the pickup on a new pump if needed). SOLD

Your welcome to buy all the main engine parts (bottomend-cam-pulley-engine plates) complete including the block in one piece if your fast, discount available for that.

ALL THIS STUFFS IN VERY GOOD ORDER!!! CRAP goes in the bin!

Rear engine plate 1300-1500 ALLOY £25.

XXX MANDREL BENT HIGH QUALITY stainless sports exhaust manifold 4-2-1. This is MILES better than the Pheonix junk sold now..Its a 1 piece manifold with a flange and seperate Y piece. The pipe merges are well formed and blended not just a V piece as sold thesedays. Ex Kipping? Complete with Y piece will accept ANY rear twin box setup...£110 SOLD

Twin Weber DCOE/DHLA DELLORTO INLET MANIFOLDS...Currently Tapped for use with MAP sensor for 3D ignition...can be blanked off before sale or left as is, these take offs make it DEAD easy to use a manometer to balance DCOE without vacuum ports. £65.

Damaged full race cylinder head, 1 chamber fu-bared 1.5/1.25" valves, repairable by welding -Technilock then port reshape, offers?

5 speed Ford box FRONTLINE CONVERSION kit - minus type9 box (£30 ebay!) - incl ...adaptor plate (box to bellhousing) / 1300 as new clutch plate for ford box -triumph cover/ special propshaft / rear gearbox mount plate / spigot bush - add a box and bolt it in! £325 - £390 with alloy bellhousing GREAT MOD!!!!! I was doing 125mph downhill at Nurburgring in 5th gear :)

ALLOY BELLHOUSING 1300-1500- for USE WITH 5 SPEED CONVERSION, modified as needed and ready to fit to your 5 speeder . £75...If you buy my 5 speed kit I HIGHLY recommend you also buy this bellhousing, I have done all required modification making the kit truely bolt on and it saves about 6kilos over a steel one!

XXX High Torque starter motor - with modified spacer plate. Bolt on 1300/1500cc engines - works perfect! £45 SOLD

Mint standard Herald camshaft £15 (cam bearings needed).

BRAND NEW (2000miles ago) perfect mint -Twin 40 Dellorto DHLA40C's jetted for full race engine £475. Most advanced carb made.

Must be more.

Any of this can be made available in the next couple of weeks. I will need to wait for some stuff to find new homes before embarking on a total strip down as time thin on the ground atm.

express interest ? davidpowell@clara.co.uk

Keep checking if you want any parts, I will update this posting on a regular basis also I will add more parts as I discover them!

So my plan of action is to acquire a low mileage K-Series 1.8 + Flywheel, Clutch and Bellhousing and use my Type 9 box. I will probably use a VVC engine as the head as very big valves compared to the fixed cam K.

You do need to blank the VVC mech and buy some expensive camshafts from Piper for this VVC mod if using non standard induction and ECU, but its worth it for the bigger valve head. The porting is very good I read on the VVC and just needs some blending by the seats to flow well. You can pickup direct to head throttle bodies for fuel injection for about £500...Which by the time I fitted a set of my 45's I have lost £500 anyway + manifold. I will probably fuel inject the engine.

I may initially run a completely stock VVC with standard induction, plenum chamber and VVC mech in place and upgrade the engine at a later date, space? Unknown plan of action atm.

I'd think a few days work would have the block and box in place then its just a matter or wiring it up, plumbing it up and sorting an exhaust...Might make my own if I can come by a decent pipe bender.
Drop the engine in and move it as far back as possible, not sure how far yet but I'd like almost behind the suspension turrets :) The K-Series is a very compact engine with a narrow lower aspect. Duratec is a big engine and the parts for tuning are VERY expensive plus I don't think I need 220HP...

I am hoping for about 165HP initially using cam's and throttle bodies and a decent exhaust. That should make the spit go easy sub 5seconds to 60mph and pull a good 140+mph.

If I got 180HP eventually it should be similar to the Sylvia Striker I drove as it will be more powerful, that was MANIC!

Also the K series is only 87kilos in mass! Zetec is MUCH heavier....It'll be a good 25kilos lighter than the car is atm and also weight dist will be immeasureably improved.

I want a car to beat those V8 MGB's next year Combe Trackday!

I'd like to stick a 1300, but I abuse my engines alot, I have played with them for 10years now and I getting tired of messing with old engine parts, plus everyone must be better than the last, and it gets tiring, addictive and costly... I think in order to quarantee its durability and push the same power levels as this last engine - its just a waste of money...

If I was doing another 1300 I'd move back to a Fast Road 89 cam type or spec and limit overall HP and rev's and get back to safe limits of cheaper components -where I was before...40,000miles an engine with total reliability...Once you get the 120HP area and use em properly your gonna be knocking out your big end bearings, stressing standard parts to the edge and wearing the thing out pretty quick no matter what you do...I am bored of that!

I enjoy the development and playing, its just going back over old ground using another 1300, I want something new to get my teeth into, thats whats drives me, new experiences and alike. I get bored with the same old pretty quick in most things I do!

I have given myself 6 weeks to mull this over.

Engine - Best start doing something!

I have a few pennies to start on the bottom end.

I was pondering using decent rods, but I think I'll prepare another set of rubber ones. I will be using forged pistons, which are about 1/4 to a 1/3rd lighter than the stock ones, so the load on them should be a reduced.

They are from my FD engine I brought a while back.

They are light ones at between 553 and 561 grams in the "set"...Nicely balanced by Triumph! NOT! My first engine had 568gram rods AFTER lightenin, heavy to start!

My last engine had 530ish gram items after lightening, end to ending etc...I wan't these to be a touch lighter again I didn't go mad on the last ones. I could see from the VP2 shells that come from them (very low mileage if run at all! re-useable) that they are not oval and in good order. I will get them honed anyway before they are finally weighted and peened.

I might make a start on lightening them this weekend, can get the beams polished and little ends.

I don't trust the no4 rod from my old bottom end, its been hammered.

Also I never checked those old rods for straightness or examined the bores of the block they came from they were unknown. I noted there was a tiny bit of odd bore wear in No3 cylinder. Which could have been down to the rod being a touch off straight..So a new set is the way forward. I have seen the engine these came from and its all sound.

There they are.

I will treat them to some new YB Cosworth bolts £3 each. As my old ones have been used a good few times now. Bit too much clearance in the little ends if you ask me, but I have 4 vandervells to fit and hone. I will get them peened at the end.

I will try to find a crank main bolt stud kit this time, Arp.

I will be changing my machine shop for crank, honing and bore work now. The guy who does heads there is good and keeps his kit on fine fettle, heads there ok, but the old boy 75! Who does the cranks and rebores is not keeping his kit in good enough fettle for my engines now, as he's a bit quiet and his kit needs a good service. I wasn't happy with a couple of things he did in my last engine so thats it for cheap work.

Not sure who I will use. Maybe Rob Walker, used to work for Osellis.

My block will be given to someone soon for an acid dip, clean, rebore to + whatever needed for forged pistons. I will get my crank inspected to and if needed ground to +10 on the big ends and then nitrided and micro polished. I have cash for this work so best get things underway.

I will pull the old motor out and see whats what with it soon, before I start on the new one incase there's anything I want to change. I will re-use the cam for now, sump, timing gear etc etc. The block is toast and on +60.

I will enlarge the centre main bearing feed on the new block too.

If I can get a bottom-end together in the next two months that just leaves a head.

Kinda getting itchy feet. I want to lighten the chassis too.