2.8 engine mods

[James MK]

Thinking up having a few mods done to the engine in my S2 FHC. Absolutely standard (bar the cooling system) at the moment and with 140,000 miles probably won't be too long before it needs a rebuild anyway. Ok, so I want unleaded heads fitted and have spoken to JW Developments (they advertise in Sprint) about getting more power. They stroke enines to 2.9 litres (later Granada crank) then bore to 3.0 for about £2.5k. Does anyone here have any experience of such a conversion, or have have any other bright ideas (other than trading up to a 350!)?

[broadside]

Have you checked out the TVR Wedgepages site ? Article on there regarding fitting of a 2.9 24valve cosworth engine from a Granada scorpio. Might be of interest !!!

Nige'

[James MK]

Yes, I've seen that article and it looks like a good idea . . . but the thought of plumbing in an electronic fuel injection system in place of the existing mechanical one, and the making the exhaust manifolds fit? Not being capable of carrying out any work like that myself it could be expensive! Though it is tempting!

[350matt]

I wouldn't worry about the electronics side once you get into it it's fairly straightfoward, also the cost aspect of just replacing the engine won't be anything like 2.5K!
More like 1.5K including sorting out some sort of manifold plus you'll have a much better engine at the end of it.
Of course the easy option really is to trade up to a 350... but you probably don't want to hear that

Matt

[James MK]

Matt - You're right, a 350 would be the sensible choice. But who's going to buy a 280 fhc? They sell for so little nowadays, (and I've spent so much on it) it hardly seems worth it!

[ralph dodds]

Some years ago I did an article in Spribnt on a company based in Salisbury called Veetech Engineering who claimed to take the standard 2.8 up to 4 litres and if I remember (sorry, can't find the article now) about 300bhp. It wasn't much more than the £2.5k your talking of here. I certainly drove their XR4 demonstrator with this engine fitted and it went like greased weasle shit! But then, would standard 280 brakes and a trailing arm chassis cope with that sort of power...

Ralph

[James MK]

4- litres? 300bhp? now that would be interesting!

[taz turbo]

James MK, Try checking out e bay, item # 2418910102, the TT conversion was a very straightforward one, but still a reliable 230HP. The only minor issue would be likely to be the exhaust, the turbo will be mounted up quite high in the engine bay next to cylinders 5 and 6, only other area is the gearbox, the standard 5 speed is not really man enough, the 4 speed is bomber.