Rover 200 BRM - 1.8 K-Series turbo project
Discussion
mercedeslimos said:
Fair play for sticking with it, I'd have run out of enthusiasm and motivation for it years ago!
I must confess to losing enthusiasm for it from time to time. But I have the luxury of being able to just walk away from it when I feel like that.Robmarriott said:
I know those blocks are available fairly cheap now from certain places but do you have any idea what they're actually from? Are they from the SAIC versions of the K?
Used in the mg6 up to 2017.Had a bit of time on my hands (don't we all!?) so since I'm waiting to order my new Zeitronix wideband to get things running I decided to tidy the wiring and make a nice enclosure for the Emerald.
Setup before. Bit untidy and was using the emerald adapter. Not pretty enough!
Breaking out the looms to see what I'm working with.
Building something to hide all the wiring and house the emerald.
Thought it would be smart to display the emerald so made a cutout:
Wiring coming together
And done. Very pleased with the end result. The emerald is fixed to the underside of the top piece and that whole piece is held on with wing nuts so I can still get to the fuses.
While doing this I also integrated wiring for the speed signal so I can have boost by gear, and a clutch switch so I can play with flat foot shifting.
On the subject of boost, I upgraded my internal wastegate to a dual-port turbosmart unit. Apparently this can be controlled with a 4-port MAC boost control solenoid in much the same way as you would control an external gate. As you probably know, controlling a wastegate like this allows you to apply pressure to the top and bottom of the wastegate to give you a greater range of boost control. With a conventional 3-port boost controller (manual or electronic) you can usually only run twice base actuator pressure. Since I want to run very low boost in 1st and 2nd gears (7-10psi) to aid traction, but still be able to get up to 25psi, the 3-port wouldn't have done the job. I've not found much online about internal wastegates being used like this, so it will be interesting to see if it works.
Currently working on all the pipework
Setup before. Bit untidy and was using the emerald adapter. Not pretty enough!
Breaking out the looms to see what I'm working with.
Building something to hide all the wiring and house the emerald.
Thought it would be smart to display the emerald so made a cutout:
Wiring coming together
And done. Very pleased with the end result. The emerald is fixed to the underside of the top piece and that whole piece is held on with wing nuts so I can still get to the fuses.
While doing this I also integrated wiring for the speed signal so I can have boost by gear, and a clutch switch so I can play with flat foot shifting.
On the subject of boost, I upgraded my internal wastegate to a dual-port turbosmart unit. Apparently this can be controlled with a 4-port MAC boost control solenoid in much the same way as you would control an external gate. As you probably know, controlling a wastegate like this allows you to apply pressure to the top and bottom of the wastegate to give you a greater range of boost control. With a conventional 3-port boost controller (manual or electronic) you can usually only run twice base actuator pressure. Since I want to run very low boost in 1st and 2nd gears (7-10psi) to aid traction, but still be able to get up to 25psi, the 3-port wouldn't have done the job. I've not found much online about internal wastegates being used like this, so it will be interesting to see if it works.
Currently working on all the pipework
mattdavies said:
Looking good.
Have yo umade any changes to the exhaust ? What size is the whole exhaust currently ?
Same exhaust it's had since first turbocharged. 3" downpipe into a 2.5" system after the flexi. Sporys cat, mid silencer and backbox.Have yo umade any changes to the exhaust ? What size is the whole exhaust currently ?
I'll be looking into making it less droney at some point, but that's a future tweak.
Shadow R1 said:
Great job on that wiring. 
Thanks. Took forever! Was speaking to my uncle earlier, he has a BRM that my auntie uses but wouldnt mind a bit more power, he has seen various cars with a Civic Type R engine conversion and was wondering about the feasibility of swapping the K series for what I expect is a K20.
Has that been done in a 200 ?
What are the problems, doesnt it spin the wrong way or something ? Edit, thats the earlier B series I believe, so a K20 spins the same ways as a Rover K Series (Clockwise) ?
Is it a fair bit heavier than the K as well ?
Has that been done in a 200 ?
What are the problems, doesnt it spin the wrong way or something ? Edit, thats the earlier B series I believe, so a K20 spins the same ways as a Rover K Series (Clockwise) ?
Is it a fair bit heavier than the K as well ?
Edited by J4CKO on Wednesday 8th April 00:15
There has been a b16 Honda conversion done on a yellow zr a good few years back,
The earlier rover 200/coupe could be had with a single cam Honda engine and I believe you could drill out the spot welds on those mounts and transfer into the newer bubble shell.
Not sure if external links are allowed to other forums but you can find that build here
https://forums.xpowerforums.com/showthread.php?t=5...
Sorry for the thread hijack OP
The earlier rover 200/coupe could be had with a single cam Honda engine and I believe you could drill out the spot welds on those mounts and transfer into the newer bubble shell.
Not sure if external links are allowed to other forums but you can find that build here
https://forums.xpowerforums.com/showthread.php?t=5...
Sorry for the thread hijack OP
J4CKO said:
Was speaking to my uncle earlier, he has a BRM that my auntie uses but wouldnt mind a bit more power, he has seen various cars with a Civic Type R engine conversion and was wondering about the feasibility of swapping the K series for what I expect is a K20.
Has that been done in a 200 ?
What are the problems, doesnt it spin the wrong way or something ? Edit, thats the earlier B series I believe, so a K20 spins the same ways as a Rover K Series (Clockwise) ?
Is it a fair bit heavier than the K as well ?
It does spin the "normal" way but you'd wanna use the honda gearbox anyway which ever engine you choose so it doesn't matter. One thing id want to be checking is the physical height of the engine as those Honda's tend to be pretty tall. Has that been done in a 200 ?
What are the problems, doesnt it spin the wrong way or something ? Edit, thats the earlier B series I believe, so a K20 spins the same ways as a Rover K Series (Clockwise) ?
Is it a fair bit heavier than the K as well ?
Edited by J4CKO on Wednesday 8th April 00:15
They can be built into absolute monsters, the k24 is a very popular one, with the k20 R head on. Or you could rotrex it
Yazza54 said:
J4CKO said:
Was speaking to my uncle earlier, he has a BRM that my auntie uses but wouldnt mind a bit more power, he has seen various cars with a Civic Type R engine conversion and was wondering about the feasibility of swapping the K series for what I expect is a K20.
Has that been done in a 200 ?
What are the problems, doesnt it spin the wrong way or something ? Edit, thats the earlier B series I believe, so a K20 spins the same ways as a Rover K Series (Clockwise) ?
Is it a fair bit heavier than the K as well ?
It does spin the "normal" way but you'd wanna use the honda gearbox anyway which ever engine you choose so it doesn't matter. One thing id want to be checking is the physical height of the engine as those Honda's tend to be pretty tall. Has that been done in a 200 ?
What are the problems, doesnt it spin the wrong way or something ? Edit, thats the earlier B series I believe, so a K20 spins the same ways as a Rover K Series (Clockwise) ?
Is it a fair bit heavier than the K as well ?
Edited by J4CKO on Wednesday 8th April 00:15
They can be built into absolute monsters, the k24 is a very popular one, with the k20 R head on. Or you could rotrex it
Will see what the issues would be, cant be that hard as people manage to slow the K20 in all sorts, even original minis.
Lockdown has given me a bit of extra time to work on the BRM. Since mapping the new engine isn't going to happen for a while I thought I'd take my time and do a few things differently.
First up was sorting the crank ventilation. I opened up the cam breathers as they are tiny on the factory K-series and have AN10 lines running to a 2l catch can. If I pressurise the crankcase with this setup it'll only be from a catastrophic failure.
Next up was setting something up I'll probably never use, but might be useful for rare visits to the drag-strip - flat foot shifting. Basically when changing gear, leave the throttle pinned, and a switch on the clutch tells the Emerald to cut the ignition during gear changes. Apparently it can work with a regular h-pattern box. Some say it's only really for sequential boxes. Others say you need a dog box. I'm aware it can cause clutch damage but it's only for occasional use, if it even works. Just thought it would be a bit of fun. My car doesn't have a clutch switch so had to fit one. A quick look in the footwell confirmed it would be easier to do at the gearbox end, especially as the engine bay is still not together.
Finally, I decided to redo all the coolant and intake pipework in orange silicone. Also had all the pipework powder coated black. Had some other bits done at the same time including the clutch switch bracket and new alternator heat shield I knocked up. Very pleased with the outcome.
I've also fitted a new zeitronix wideband as the plx has been playing up a bit. The 5v signal from the zeitronix now goes to the Emerald, but I've kept the plx in place as a standalone since it works most of the time and I have a spare bung. Thought it could be a handy backup. Just need to finish b the install inside the car.
Thought it would be a good idea to get her cranking over to check I have oil pressure. It was taking longer than I was comfortable with for the light to go out so I whipped off the remote oil filter lines and primed them. Also rewired my gauges so they stay on during cranking and I could check the actual pressure rather than reply on the 15psi oil switch. Happy to report she made good pressure at cranking speed.
So all that's left to do now is fit the radiator, fill with coolant, and start her up.
First up was sorting the crank ventilation. I opened up the cam breathers as they are tiny on the factory K-series and have AN10 lines running to a 2l catch can. If I pressurise the crankcase with this setup it'll only be from a catastrophic failure.
Next up was setting something up I'll probably never use, but might be useful for rare visits to the drag-strip - flat foot shifting. Basically when changing gear, leave the throttle pinned, and a switch on the clutch tells the Emerald to cut the ignition during gear changes. Apparently it can work with a regular h-pattern box. Some say it's only really for sequential boxes. Others say you need a dog box. I'm aware it can cause clutch damage but it's only for occasional use, if it even works. Just thought it would be a bit of fun. My car doesn't have a clutch switch so had to fit one. A quick look in the footwell confirmed it would be easier to do at the gearbox end, especially as the engine bay is still not together.
Finally, I decided to redo all the coolant and intake pipework in orange silicone. Also had all the pipework powder coated black. Had some other bits done at the same time including the clutch switch bracket and new alternator heat shield I knocked up. Very pleased with the outcome.
I've also fitted a new zeitronix wideband as the plx has been playing up a bit. The 5v signal from the zeitronix now goes to the Emerald, but I've kept the plx in place as a standalone since it works most of the time and I have a spare bung. Thought it could be a handy backup. Just need to finish b the install inside the car.
Thought it would be a good idea to get her cranking over to check I have oil pressure. It was taking longer than I was comfortable with for the light to go out so I whipped off the remote oil filter lines and primed them. Also rewired my gauges so they stay on during cranking and I could check the actual pressure rather than reply on the 15psi oil switch. Happy to report she made good pressure at cranking speed.
So all that's left to do now is fit the radiator, fill with coolant, and start her up.
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