S1 Elise 2.0 Duratec Conversion
Discussion
GregorFuk said:
rhinochopig said:
What's the weight difference between the two lumps?
Around 10kg but as a complete pacakage I'd say there isn't much between them.Managed to do a bit more work on the conversion last night, though not as much as we’d have liked.....
With the K now out of the car we can start prepping the Duratec and swapping the necessary parts over.
First things first. Fitting the new custom light weight flywheel. I used ARP flywheel bolts obtained from SBD Motorsport.
Following the flywheel came a new up-rated AP clutch.
Finally on the other side of the engine the custom alternator brackets were fitted and the Elise alternator swapped from the K to the Duratec.
All was going smoothly until we tried to fit the gearbox to the engine. We could not get the two to mate together with the gearbox snagging up a good inch away from the adapter plate. At the moment I’m not too worried as I think it’s a simple case of the gearbox input shaft not finding its way into the clutch plate. I have a good layer of copper slip on the input shaft and could see non on the spline of the clutch plate so I’m assuming it’s a simple alignment issue (Though by eye it all looks pretty central). We will have another bash at getting the gearbox fitted tonight. If necessary we’ll remove the clutch and trial fit everything to see where the issue is. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious.
On top of this we have a few other things we need to do.
I need to order new gearbox drive shaft seals as we damaged one whilst trying to remove a stubborn drive shaft.
We also need to modify the bracket that holds the gearbox shifter cables. This has two mounting points but one will have to be moved to take into account the gearbox adapter plate. I’ll post further details later.
We also need to re-route the Duratec dip stick. I don’t see any real challenges with this.
More to come....
With the K now out of the car we can start prepping the Duratec and swapping the necessary parts over.
First things first. Fitting the new custom light weight flywheel. I used ARP flywheel bolts obtained from SBD Motorsport.
Following the flywheel came a new up-rated AP clutch.
Finally on the other side of the engine the custom alternator brackets were fitted and the Elise alternator swapped from the K to the Duratec.
All was going smoothly until we tried to fit the gearbox to the engine. We could not get the two to mate together with the gearbox snagging up a good inch away from the adapter plate. At the moment I’m not too worried as I think it’s a simple case of the gearbox input shaft not finding its way into the clutch plate. I have a good layer of copper slip on the input shaft and could see non on the spline of the clutch plate so I’m assuming it’s a simple alignment issue (Though by eye it all looks pretty central). We will have another bash at getting the gearbox fitted tonight. If necessary we’ll remove the clutch and trial fit everything to see where the issue is. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious.
On top of this we have a few other things we need to do.
I need to order new gearbox drive shaft seals as we damaged one whilst trying to remove a stubborn drive shaft.
We also need to modify the bracket that holds the gearbox shifter cables. This has two mounting points but one will have to be moved to take into account the gearbox adapter plate. I’ll post further details later.
We also need to re-route the Duratec dip stick. I don’t see any real challenges with this.
More to come....
Oh boy is fitting gearboxes fun when they don't quite line up 
Try it with an LSD equipped E153 if you want fun times.
The friction plate needs to be absolutely bob on or it just won't line up and slot all the way on. Are you using a centering tool at all or just doing it by eye?
Even the right sized deep socket will help get it 95% of the way there.
Then it's a case of wiggling and having sumone steady the engine as you push and wiggle. It's a satisfying clunk when it slots home.
Try it with an LSD equipped E153 if you want fun times.
The friction plate needs to be absolutely bob on or it just won't line up and slot all the way on. Are you using a centering tool at all or just doing it by eye?
Even the right sized deep socket will help get it 95% of the way there.
Then it's a case of wiggling and having sumone steady the engine as you push and wiggle. It's a satisfying clunk when it slots home.
A second night of tinkering and we has success!
Alignment of the clutch plate was done with a suitably sized socket wrapped in masking tape to ensure a snug fit. I'm a little sore that I splashed out on the plastic alignment tool now as it turned out to be kind of useless.
Our next problem is that we need to extend the bracket that holds the gear shifter in place. This has two mounting points on the gearbox but the adapter plate has now spaced the two points apart from each other. I'll have to find somebody who can weld a bit of plate into the bracket to space it out the same distance.
Alignment of the clutch plate was done with a suitably sized socket wrapped in masking tape to ensure a snug fit. I'm a little sore that I splashed out on the plastic alignment tool now as it turned out to be kind of useless.
Our next problem is that we need to extend the bracket that holds the gear shifter in place. This has two mounting points on the gearbox but the adapter plate has now spaced the two points apart from each other. I'll have to find somebody who can weld a bit of plate into the bracket to space it out the same distance.
OlberJ said:
Gearing would be all wrong for a turbo.
Maybe with a longer Final Drive?
I understand it's fairly easy to rob internals from the other variants of the gearbox so I'm sure that can be overcome. I was wondering if anyone knows what level of torque the box will take before you need to start keeping spares. Maybe with a longer Final Drive?
So after taking a break from the project over the Tattie holidays work has started again.
First step was to tackle the shifter bracket issue we identified. The gearbox adapter plate is 16mm think and the brackets two mounting points have now been moved apart by the same amount. Nigel’s idea was to flatten out the existing bracket and use it as a template to draw out an extended version. The new version would then be cut out of plate.
The original bracket is made out of 3mm plate. This must be a standard gauge plate in Rover world because as luck would have it we found a suitable piece of plate inside a spare Defender wing we had stuffed away in the rafters of the garage. So with a template made cutting began.
And by the end we had the beginnings of our new bracket. Some more drilling and dremel work is needed but it’s getting there.
Whilst Nigel was doing that I busied myself fitting the new gearbox oil seals.
And then looked at how best to mount my dip stick. For this I’m going to drill a hole in my airbox back plate and bolt through to the fixing point of the dip stick tube. This coupled with a lower mount will keep the stick in place and keep it easy to get to.
I also fitted my injectors and fuel rail. The injectors were sent away, flow tested and cleaned so they are in good working order and flowing as they should.
I also trial fitted my loom to look at where I could fit my inlet air temperature sensor. It has to go on the airbox back plate somewhere but I needed to see how much length I had on my loom before I chose the location. In the end I chose to mount it just below the trumpet of cylinder 4.
I also fitted my newly modified water manifold.
The next thing we identified that needed doing was a bit of grinding to the engine block. It protrudes about 3mm out past that of the adapter plate and will foul the driveshaft so we’ll need to take this part of the block back a little. I’m currently looking into the best way to do this.
Once we get the block ground we can lift the engine back into the car. More to come.....
First step was to tackle the shifter bracket issue we identified. The gearbox adapter plate is 16mm think and the brackets two mounting points have now been moved apart by the same amount. Nigel’s idea was to flatten out the existing bracket and use it as a template to draw out an extended version. The new version would then be cut out of plate.
The original bracket is made out of 3mm plate. This must be a standard gauge plate in Rover world because as luck would have it we found a suitable piece of plate inside a spare Defender wing we had stuffed away in the rafters of the garage. So with a template made cutting began.
And by the end we had the beginnings of our new bracket. Some more drilling and dremel work is needed but it’s getting there.
Whilst Nigel was doing that I busied myself fitting the new gearbox oil seals.
And then looked at how best to mount my dip stick. For this I’m going to drill a hole in my airbox back plate and bolt through to the fixing point of the dip stick tube. This coupled with a lower mount will keep the stick in place and keep it easy to get to.
I also fitted my injectors and fuel rail. The injectors were sent away, flow tested and cleaned so they are in good working order and flowing as they should.
I also trial fitted my loom to look at where I could fit my inlet air temperature sensor. It has to go on the airbox back plate somewhere but I needed to see how much length I had on my loom before I chose the location. In the end I chose to mount it just below the trumpet of cylinder 4.
I also fitted my newly modified water manifold.
The next thing we identified that needed doing was a bit of grinding to the engine block. It protrudes about 3mm out past that of the adapter plate and will foul the driveshaft so we’ll need to take this part of the block back a little. I’m currently looking into the best way to do this.
Once we get the block ground we can lift the engine back into the car. More to come.....
Edited by GregorFuk on Tuesday 25th October 11:11
Edited by GregorFuk on Tuesday 25th October 12:04
More work on the Duratec conversion last night, substantial progress in fact.
Work continued on the new shifter cable bracket, it's coming on great. Just the job. A few bends and a coat of paint and it will be ready for mounting.
The engine block was also ground down by a few mm to provide driveshaft clearance.
With this done the engine was ready for lifting into the car!
After a fair bit of manipulation she was in!
Well she was in but something wasn't quite right. A closer inspection of the clearances shows that the crank pulley is hitting off the side of the engine bay.
At first we couldn't quite work out what the problem was and we began to move the engine around to see if we could make it sit better. It was only when we looked underneath that the problem became obvious. The sump of the engine was sitting on the bracing of the lower wishbone.
We began to look at various options, including repositioning the engine by modding the gear box mount; however a call to Essex Autosport confirmed one of our other potential solutions. The brace on the wishbone has to be cut out and moved by around 20mm away from the sump. Once the brace is moved the engine will sit down further and the crank pulley will clear the chassis.
So it's in, but there’s a bit of work to do to make it sit right. We'll have to get the wishbone out and then find somebody who can do the welding.
Still, It's not going too badly.
Work continued on the new shifter cable bracket, it's coming on great. Just the job. A few bends and a coat of paint and it will be ready for mounting.
The engine block was also ground down by a few mm to provide driveshaft clearance.
With this done the engine was ready for lifting into the car!
After a fair bit of manipulation she was in!
Well she was in but something wasn't quite right. A closer inspection of the clearances shows that the crank pulley is hitting off the side of the engine bay.
At first we couldn't quite work out what the problem was and we began to move the engine around to see if we could make it sit better. It was only when we looked underneath that the problem became obvious. The sump of the engine was sitting on the bracing of the lower wishbone.
We began to look at various options, including repositioning the engine by modding the gear box mount; however a call to Essex Autosport confirmed one of our other potential solutions. The brace on the wishbone has to be cut out and moved by around 20mm away from the sump. Once the brace is moved the engine will sit down further and the crank pulley will clear the chassis.
So it's in, but there’s a bit of work to do to make it sit right. We'll have to get the wishbone out and then find somebody who can do the welding.
Still, It's not going too badly.
Edited by GregorFuk on Thursday 27th October 12:51
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