TVR TUSCAN - ENGINE SWAP - HONDA S2000 (F20C2)

[alexaras]

TVR TUSCAN S2K – HONDA S2000 F20 C2 ENGINE & GEARBOX SWAP

The story is as follows, I have bought the only TVR Tuscan in Greece (in fact one of the two TVRs in Greece).
Problem is that when I bought the car it was in need of an engine rebuild. I thought that I could get away with a piston and headwork but really the engine needs a full rebuild.
Transportation of the motor to one of the TVR specialists + Costs + Customs would bring the price of the rebuild to extreme high numbers.

So I had a spare S2000 engine (best 4 cylinder engine) and S2000 gearbox (best gearbox the world has seen) and my mechanic encourage me to try it on…
Looks like it will fit in there relatively smoothly so this will be a build thread.

To all purists – I do apologise however please consider:
1. About not having a TVR specialist in the same country to tune the engine
2. Costs of rebuilding the straight six
3. I already owned the S2000 mechanics
4. The fact that no modifications will be made to the chassis and the swap will be fully reversible to fit the straight six engine when it will become 30 years old ie of historic importance.


Finally ofcourse opening this long hood you expect to find at least 6 cylinders, so in order to compensate for the lack of 2 cylinders and to fill up the space we will be fitting a big Turbo kit.

Wish me luck, should be fun.

Edited by alexaras on Wednesday 29th November 14:44

[alexaras]

Hey guys,

I appreciate everyone's input.
I have a pretty good experience with the F20C.

I have an S2000 HKS supercharged for the road (360 bhp)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f65bYMYdVzU

I also have a Westfield Aero Race F20C Science of Speed (SOS) supercharged for the track (400 bhp)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgrxyM-hRvk

Safe to say that after using these cars the way they should be used, its a bullet proof motor.

Now since I am after more power on the TVR - I decided to go a bit nuts and go Big Turbo on it.
Expect 500bhp - noise - flames from the exhausts...

Hopefully with the lighter engine sitting further back we ll save some more weight and aid the weight distribution.
6 speed gearbox is a gem.

I will upload some photos asap.


PS: Here is an older video of my mechanic's similar setup (stock internals) to what I am looking to do on the TVR.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPYll_0XawU

Edited by alexaras on Friday 22 July 11:13

Edited by alexaras on Friday 22 July 11:20

[alexaras]

Wanted more than 400bhp really.
So the E36 and E46 engines were turned down.

I had a think about BMW's V10 - now that would have been a beast.
But the electrics would have beed too complicated.

[alexaras]

Right gents we made some progress.

Here we tried seeing if the engine fits / clears the bonnet

Edited by alexaras on Saturday 12th November 14:26

[alexaras]

We had to do a lot of work on the engine & gearbox mounts to make sure everythings clear and we wont have issues going forward:

Edited by alexaras on Saturday 12th November 14:37

[alexaras]

|https://thumbsnap.com/9CiwLmUY[/url]

Edited by alexaras on Saturday 12th November 14:33

[alexaras]

Its impressive to see how much smaller the F20C engine is.
The engine sits lower back and still leaves loats of space behind it (where it connect with the gearbox) and generally around it.
I think this will help us to not have any heating issues.

Next up will be to convert the drive shaft and sort out the engine electronics


If you have any comments / recommendations feel free to share please.

Edited by alexaras on Saturday 12th November 14:39

[alexaras]

Hi guys,

So the propeler shaft is now ready.



A new tube had to be manufactured that was mated with Honda parts on the front side and Tvr parts on the rear side.

Front side (Tube yoke, end yoke etc) to be mated with the S2000 Gearbox
Rear side (Tube shaft, slip yoke, u-joint bearing plate and flange yoke) to be boldmated with the TVR Diff).



Next couple of weeks we should sort out the fuel lines and sort out the electrics to fire the engine !!

Once this is done we will need to custom make the exhaust and custom lines for the radiator as well as fitment of water cooler (I think an air cooler will be more difficult to fit and less effective).

Edited by alexaras on Tuesday 29th November 17:46

[alexaras]

Hey guys we have had slow progress - as this next step is very critical for the car engine to run smoothly, efficiently and salefy (most importantly to eliminate any chance of fire).

So the TVR has been in the shop for the past 5-6 months in order to design and fabricate from scratch:

- Full exhaust system
- Downpipe
- Screamer pipes
- Wastegates mounts
- Watercooler (with water cooler pump + mount)
- Cooling pipes
- Extra piping needed
- Polishing all the components

Significant distances have been taken into account between the components
The plan since the very beginning of this project has been not to modify the chassis / fiberglass which I can proudly say that we have managed.

Meantime the temperatures at the engine bay will be higher that when it was using the NA straight six so the next step will be to use thermal insulation method on all the critical / high-heat componenets (including Exhaust, Downpipe, Screamer pipes, Turbo exhaust housing, Wastegates housing).


Radiator for water cooler (covering half the radiator of the car)



Cooling pipes





Downpipe & Water cooler & Screamer pipes





Exhaust - What do you guys think?





Bonus porn pic

[alexaras]

Here is a video under the car that shows the details of the exhaust...
Hope you like the craftmanship and attention to detail:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VxfcDNpj0k


Whist the components are thermal treated, the car will go back to the mechanic to work with the pedal box.
See what items need refurbishing and place an order.

Anyone coming to Greece for summer holidays?
Keep some space for parts - ha!

[alexaras]

Oh any suggestions / upgrades please advise as I will have to take care of them

For example:
- Bonnet conversion - To open as 1 piece - where to buy from?
- Battery relocation, any other suggestions there? I was thinking maybe to relocate in the boot?
- Handling / steering upgrades (planning to do some track use)
- Car is fitted with Nitron's anyone we know that can rebuild these?
- Car is also fitted with AP Brakes - What pads do you recommend?
- Upgraded bushing kit

Thanks vm in advance.

Edited by alexaras on Tuesday 27th June 18:25

[alexaras]

Appreciate the feedback guys. Will keep you posted.
This week we are removing the wheels, and having a thorough look under the car (it has been sitting for sometime before I bought it - thankfully at a covered garage)

Seems like some locking nuts were removed harshly...

[alexaras]

Thanks very much for your advises, kind support and encouragement.
Suspension removed - not in great shape
Sending it for a full rebuild this week

[alexaras]

Hello again, we did have some updated over the summer.

Nitrons were rebuilt:
Springs, sway bar and suspension componets sandblasted and powdercoated in black.


Sagaris steering arms were bought / fitted:



Furthemore a Power steering pump was fitted (I will have to revert on that with pictures and specs) and looking to use the spacers.
What spacers are you guys using again?

[alexaras]

A rather potentially dangerous issue that we would (not want to) face would be the very high temperatures due to the turbo kit fitment.

The engine bay (and not only) was not designed to withhold such high temperatures so a drastic solution had to take place to maximise safety and performance.

Well here is our heatshield solution - thermowrap / thermoinsulation and its very efficient and very expensive.

But it works damn well.

[alexaras]

Getting there...

[alexaras]

GTRene & Byker28i & GreenV8S  -  It's not a material that you can use and fit yourself (unless of course you have the tools and skills. - we did try and it was not easy and the result was not up to the quality we have set for the rest of the build). In fact it's ceramic wool + stainless shield spot welding. 

Process is similar to this (video looks a bit amature to be honest and finish is relatively poor compared to our components finish):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68MxJ8e_2y4

After reseach we used this company:
https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=thermoperfor...

magpies - Wow !! Interesting - upload some pics if you like. 

It was test weekend for the car. 
First time I drove it properly and got to know each other. 

Interesting car - I like it !!
Loads of rattles though from the interior though...

Edited by alexaras on Monday 23 October 10:49

[alexaras]

Well hello guys, yeap she is complete and she drives !!




Here are some test runs before the dyno (was taking it easy up to 4 - 4,500rpm) as the map on the ECU (AEM Series 2) was setup sometime ago for an S2000. Just wanted to run checks, observe temperatures, potential leakes etc. Here are a couple of videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tft8tFO5278

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wb22cJuvko

So far, I do like a lot how light the car feels and the fact that it all feels natural / oem behind the wheel.

Even though she has been sitting idle for sometime and she has been in and out of garages, I think she still looks good (there will be some detailing taking place after all works have been completed ofcourse). I am proud that everything is still original on the outside and everything fits under the hood nicely.









Next post will be from the dyno - we will run a basic map so that the car can safely be driven whilst we are sorting out small - time / money consuming details.

[alexaras]

DYNO DAY:



We run a basic map so that the car can safely be driven whilst we are sorting out small but time & money consuming details:
-Smaller diameter oil inlet feed line bolt (you will see it is smokey)
-Fitment of fluid reservoirs
-Engine bay heat insulation
-Proper throttle linkage & pedal adjustment
-One piece bonnet conversion
-Spacers & Corner weight
-Semi slick tyres
-New rear window
-Car detailing / painjob?
-Performance digital display
etc etc...

So we were looking for an initial safe flash/map, not too rich in order to be able to move the car in small distances and not flood the spark plugs etc. So performance was not in mind...
ie lower rev limiter and not agressive but safe approach.

Up to 5,000rpm:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S72KBHv8WKY&li...

Up to 6,750rpm:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW5OXdq8BYU&li...

Up to 8,350rpm:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/s8wBLtHoCj4


We kept 0.8 bar mechanical boost (so no boost controler has been fit at the time) and only tested it up to 8,350 rpm. Still we were happy with the initial results... Nice curves, pretty good torgue 450hp & 8,350rpm



Engine is capable for 9,500rpm+ and 1.4bar, you can appreciate there is some potential.

Edited by alexaras on Wednesday 29th November 16:46

Edited by alexaras on Wednesday 29th November 16:48

[alexaras]

Hey guys thank you for your encouraging words !!
I am glad you start to see what we were trying to do here.

Good question if I would have done it - should I knew the problems.
I think its still a bit early to reply, but I can put some fact down:

- It will cost twice as much as I thought
- It will still cost me less than a full rebuild / spec to 4.5lt
- It is more powerful than any non-race Speed 6 I guess
- The gearbox is a "speed 6" don't forget ha! - so that alone is a huge improvement
- It's lighter that a speed 6 motor
- I will feel more secure using this engine and parts are everywhere - which means I will get to enjoy the car more and take it out more - explore the potential of the chassis and hopefully provide some valuable info to the TVR Tuscan community

- All the above are still theory - I hope we will manage all the heat / power / torgue


PS: Can' t wait. The project is is a very nice stage. - Have a great w/e everyone.