V6 engine options

[Edmundo2]

Just posting out of curiosity re V6 engines and what's out there that offers the best performance for the least outlay. I'm talking fast road/race engines and sub 3.5 litres that like to rev. Rather than lazy silky cruisers etc. Just wondering what the options are as I love the sound of the tuned Rover KV6 engines but it seems they're mega bucks if looking to extract more than 200bhp.

Think metro 6R4, Stratos, v6 bike engines, etc

I appreciate loads of crate V8s or blown 4 pots offer great bang for buck but i like the idea of a kit car or classic sports car with a V6 conversion but something a bit lighter/revyer, racier than Essex/cologne etc.

Check out "Will Hall Force Hillclimb " or "Les Mutch Dax Rush " videos for inspiration.

Any wisdom welcome

Edited by Edmundo2 on Friday 13th March 23:37

[CrutyRammers]

I went through this thought process and ended with the Alfa v6, mostly because it's a revvy beast compared to many, but also because of the looks. The Nissan one from the 350Z looked good too, a bit rarer though I think.

[Edmundo2]

Nice car! What's the motor like in terms of character and numbers if you don't mind me asking? Is it tuned?

Cheers

CrutyRammers said:

I went through this thought process and ended with the Alfa v6, mostly because it's a revvy beast compared to many, but also because of the looks. The Nissan one from the 350Z looked good too, a bit rarer though I think.

[Zad]

See what Noble have done to the Ford Duratec 2.5 and 3.0 V6.

Loads of those about now.

[anonymous-user]

Nissan VQ/VR is a cracking engine, especially in VQ form with a couple of turbo's nailed on:




;-)

[Edmundo2]

nice!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHaeuVfiNFI

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN4EC-vd-Ik


www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZH7SA6XPuc

Edited by Edmundo2 on Friday 13th March 23:59

Edited by Edmundo2 on Saturday 14th March 00:03

[chuntington101]

How about he jag v6? It's basically a ford 3.0 v6 with a different top end I think. They are used the JUNO i think as well as others. What car are you looking to fit it in?

[Boosted LS1]

Cosworth 24v is a fairly lazy engine that will rev. It's not complex either.

[stevieturbo]

Surely the Ford/Mazda is bound to be the most plentiful and hence the cheapest ?

Cant imagine 200hp from it being difficult ?

[Edmundo2]

Hi. I'm not currently but just like the idea and fancy building something in the future, ( need more space ). A Caterfield type car could be nice but also thinking lightweight midget/sprite of TVR vixen, Lotus Europa, or even a Mk1 MX5 etc. Ideally something stripped out and agile but with a decent finish and lightweight yet luxury trim. I like sixties racing GT's and loved my TVR Griff but fancy something racier and unique built around a nice racey sounding V6. Think cut price Leightweight E type.

chuntington101 said:

How about he jag v6? It's basically a ford 3.0 v6 with a different top end I think. They are used the JUNO i think as well as others. What car are you looking to fit it in?

[CrutyRammers]

Edmundo2 said:

Nice car! What's the motor like in terms of character and numbers if you don't mind me asking? Is it tuned?

Cheers

CrutyRammers said:

I went through this thought process and ended with the Alfa v6, mostly because it's a revvy beast compared to many, but also because of the looks. The Nissan one from the 350Z looked good too, a bit rarer though I think.

Yeah, it has larger valves and a fast-road type cam, plus the larger intake runners from the 3.2 GTA. (They detuned most of the v6s b fitting restrictive intakes, I guess to give free power for the healine models). A custom exhaust obviously, and runs an Emerald ECU. That gets 280bhp, up from 210 stock (insert proviso regarding rolling road figures here). It was also balanced at Vibration Free to the n'th degree. Other than that, all stock.
Bit dirty on the emmissions at idle though!

It's just what I wanted though. It'll pootle around all day, but from 4-7K rpm it just goes faster and faster until it hits the limiter. Revs for fun. There is a marked change in character at 4, which was always there in stock form, but is more pronounced now.

The real downside is that it's a pig to fit to a RWD car as they were all FWD.

[Iang84]

Bit left field but you could try the v6 from a Mitsubishi FTO, the mivec version is 200bhp compared to the normal 180bhp of the standard nice and it should be nice and compact for a kit car

[Snake the Sniper]

Edmundo2 said:

Hi. I'm not currently but just like the idea and fancy building something in the future, ( need more space ). A Caterfield type car could be nice but also thinking lightweight midget/sprite of TVR vixen, Lotus Europa, or even a Mk1 MX5 etc. Ideally something stripped out and agile but with a decent finish and lightweight yet luxury trim. I like sixties racing GT's and loved my TVR Griff but fancy something racier and unique built around a nice racey sounding V6. Think cut price Leightweight E type.

You sound like a man after my own heart! I'm currently putting a 2.5L V6 mated to an MX-5 box into the front of my '69 Sprite. It's a Mazda/Ford KLDE engine, but not the usual 2.5/3.0L Duratec V6 as found in Mondeo's etc. The Jag unit mentioned above is the VVT version of the Duratec engine. My engine is from the Ford Probe or Mazda MX-1/3 range of cars. This engine is a bit smaller and lighter, and once fitted with throttle bodies will give 205BHP, and rev to 8,000rpm. It's a bit of a squeeze in the transmission tunnel, or would be if I hadn't rebuilt it, but otherwise not too much work to get it in.



I'm also going massively overboard and rebuilding the entire car with new coil over suspension all round, bigger brakes etc. Should you be bored, the several hundred photos I have of my work can be found here.

[McVities]

2.5, 3.0 or 3.2 from any various Vauxhalls (Omega in particular)..........also available in 2.5 from Saab gm900 and 3.0 from the 9000

[georgefreeman]

3.2Ltr VW Golf R32 engine? Strong and reliable and mine revs very freely and fast.

[anonymous-user]

georgefreeman said:

3.2Ltr VW Golf R32 engine? Strong and reliable and mine revs very freely and fast.

^^^Heavy and difficult to tune as the intake / exhaust runners are different lengths. (& cyl head cooling is marginal because its so full of moving stuff ;-)

[CrutyRammers]

Snake the Sniper said:

You sound like a man after my own heart! I'm currently putting a 2.5L V6 mated to an MX-5 box into the front of my '69 Sprite. It's a Mazda/Ford KLDE engine, but not the usual 2.5/3.0L Duratec V6 as found in Mondeo's etc. The Jag unit mentioned above is the VVT version of the Duratec engine. My engine is from the Ford Probe or Mazda MX-1/3 range of cars. This engine is a bit smaller and lighter, and once fitted with throttle bodies will give 205BHP, and rev to 8,000rpm. It's a bit of a squeeze in the transmission tunnel, or would be if I hadn't rebuilt it, but otherwise not too much work to get it in.



I'm also going massively overboard and rebuilding the entire car with new coil over suspension all round, bigger brakes etc. Should you be bored, the several hundred photos I have of my work can be found here.

That's quite a project you've got going on there

[Snake the Sniper]

Thank you! Got a long way to go to finish it yet too.

[PhillipM]

Nissan V6 from the 350Z, we used to just drop them straight in the racers with a set of throttle bodies on the top and they'd crank 330bhp out and make an epic noise doing it.

[multiscutter]

I'm trying a 12V Alfa V6 into a seven style car, still some way to go but hopefully it should make it quick.



Regards Dan.