K Series Question

[hillchilly]

Hi,

A bit of an interloper on this board as I actually have a K series MG Midget but know some people on here have some good experience with the K engine.

I am currently running a VVC with Emerald ECU standard inlet and 4-2-1 manifold which dynoed at around 160BHP according to printout from previous owner. As it is the VVC it is relatively docile up to 5000rpm ish and then as the VVC kicks in it takes off up to 7300rpm.

I have booked the car in with Dave Andrews for the K06 conversion (removes VVC new cams DTH bodies airbox etc) which should show around 190BHP :-)

I wondered if anyone can comment on the difference in driveability between the VVC and a tuned K series - I am not so happy with the VVC characteristic and am looking for a smoother power band if that makes sense.

Cheers in advance

Chris

[fergus]

Dave A can help with cam selection and timing to give you the kind of power (or more specifically torque) curve you'd like.

Dave walker @ Emerald can then map accordingly.

[VHPD]

fergus said:

Dave A can help with cam selection and timing to give you the kind of power (or more specifically torque) curve you'd like.

Dave walker @ Emerald can then map accordingly.

+1

[130g]

hillchilly said:

I wondered if anyone can comment on the difference in driveability between the VVC and a tuned K series - I am not so happy with the VVC characteristic and am looking for a smoother power band if that makes sense.

This is counter intuitive to my understanding of the VVC. As I understand it, VVC was added to solve the problem that fixed cams are optimized at a fixed rev range, where as with VVC the cams are "optimal" over a wider rev range.
So if anything, I think you will find the care is even more peaky with fixed cams.

But you are in capable hands, so no doubt Dave will set you straight

[hillchilly]

Hi

Thanks all - I have done my research and DVA Power seem to be the right place :-)

I have only had the midget a month or so and guess that my previous cars (including E39 M5 and current tuned JCW Turbo Mini) both produce good torque from a long way down the rev range. It may be that I am just not used to having to hit bigger revs before the car really starts to pull. However really enjoying the lightness of the MG which is one of the man reasons I bought it.

Your comments got me thinking about supercharging the K but that seems to be pretty expensive :-)

I am sure Dave and subsequently Dave can help me get where I want.

Cheers

Chris

[kenno78]

Hope the pistons are up to the job!!

[grenpayne]

kenno78 said:

Hope the pistons are up to the job!!

Good point. I've had to go to forged pistons in my 1.8 K Series due to issues running around 170bhp. I'm not saying this is the norm, maybe I was just unlucky, but the advice when I spoke to Dave Andrews was the safe limit was around 160bhp and about 7200rpm (not 7600 as in the R300s).

[elan_fan]

grenpayne said:

Good point. I've had to go to forged pistons in my 1.8 K Series due to issues running around 170bhp. I'm not saying this is the norm, maybe I was just unlucky, but the advice when I spoke to Dave Andrews was the safe limit was around 160bhp and about 7200rpm (not 7600 as in the R300s).

Was yours an EU2 or EU3 engine originally. All the evidence says the standard pistons fail above 160BHP but I was trawling blatchat the other day and came across a thread where the school of thought was that EU3 pistons fail more readily than EU2 pistons.

[grenpayne]

I have no idea if that fact is true or not, but my engine is an EU3! The pistons in mine didn't catastrophically fail though, however the compression was way down on two cylinders and the fuel consumption was through the roof. On inspection the ring lands and piston rings where not in a good way and it probably would have gone bang at some point. It was a completely standard R300K engine too.

That said, it was a good thing it happened as when the engine was stripped there where a lot of nasties that needed rectifying (top of the list was one of the conrods was was 18g lighter than the rest) but that has been done now and the engine is FABULOUS Nigel Keats rebuilt it and his attention to detail was superb. The list of things done was very long (and expensive!) but now goes beautifully and I love it to bits. It's running around 170bhp (perhaps a touch more) and really works well in the car so I'm happy.