Engines everyone assumes are weak but actually arnt.
Discussion
Over the years there has been many engines that as soon as you mention, people instantly get an opinion on it and mention its 'well known' weakness.
For example:
The rotary engine.....as soon as you turn the boost above 1bar it will spit its apex seals out
Ive heard a few times that people have cracked a certain V8 block when upping the power.
The rover k series will blow a headgasket or crack a liner at the first sign of power.
Renault 5 turbo engine will melt a piston or pop a headgasket for fun
Yet to counter that you do some research and find examples of engines doing pretty big power without the issues mentioned.
For example the rotary engine until very recently has been making big power using all factory components as there wasnt a manufacturer prepared to make new stronger parts, yet these little 1.3 engines have been making over 1000bhp on 40psi+ of boost
The rover k series in my car has been run up to 27psi of boost and made 382bhp, in which i ran out of fuel and turbo, thats all stock bottom end components.
The renault 5 engine now that people have access to widebands and efi so can be tuned properly are going from 115bhp to over 300bhp and 30psi+ of boost all on stock components
So I wonder what other engines out there do people instantly state are rubbish but are actually pretty strong when tuned properly.
It would be great to get other peoples opinion and results.
For example:
The rotary engine.....as soon as you turn the boost above 1bar it will spit its apex seals out
Ive heard a few times that people have cracked a certain V8 block when upping the power.
The rover k series will blow a headgasket or crack a liner at the first sign of power.
Renault 5 turbo engine will melt a piston or pop a headgasket for fun
Yet to counter that you do some research and find examples of engines doing pretty big power without the issues mentioned.
For example the rotary engine until very recently has been making big power using all factory components as there wasnt a manufacturer prepared to make new stronger parts, yet these little 1.3 engines have been making over 1000bhp on 40psi+ of boost
The rover k series in my car has been run up to 27psi of boost and made 382bhp, in which i ran out of fuel and turbo, thats all stock bottom end components.
The renault 5 engine now that people have access to widebands and efi so can be tuned properly are going from 115bhp to over 300bhp and 30psi+ of boost all on stock components
So I wonder what other engines out there do people instantly state are rubbish but are actually pretty strong when tuned properly.
It would be great to get other peoples opinion and results.
It's all about probability, not absolutes.
A k series is more likely to shat its head gasket than say a 1.8 duratec
A rotary turbo is more likely to pop a seal than say a 2.0 cossie turbo
A blown rover V8 is more likely to have it's valve train fall apart than say a blown OHC V8
etc etc
You might get lucky, you might not,but generally these reputations are well earned. (and if you think you're getting 300 bhp out of a stock internals R5 turbo, you're very much mistaken!!)
A k series is more likely to shat its head gasket than say a 1.8 duratec
A rotary turbo is more likely to pop a seal than say a 2.0 cossie turbo
A blown rover V8 is more likely to have it's valve train fall apart than say a blown OHC V8
etc etc
You might get lucky, you might not,but generally these reputations are well earned. (and if you think you're getting 300 bhp out of a stock internals R5 turbo, you're very much mistaken!!)
turbotoaster said:
Over the years there has been many engines that as soon as you mention, people instantly get an opinion on it and mention its 'well known' weakness.
You seem to be making the assumption that these commonly held opinions are unfounded. On the contrary - the issues you listed are well known and definitely do affect the reliability of these engines. Even if you are able to find examples of engines that haven't suffered these failures, that doesn't negate the fact that these are well known weaknesses.It's often on a scale of cost to make something work better, but some engines are just beyond that though and will never make large amounts of power, or maybe could if huge amounts of money are ploughed into them.
Some just need the odd mod here and there.....
To make a particular engine make a lot more power than it was originally intended takes a lot of patience, knowledge, time and money.
Some just need the odd mod here and there.....
To make a particular engine make a lot more power than it was originally intended takes a lot of patience, knowledge, time and money.
PhillipM said:
Gotta agree with one thing with the OP here, a k-series doesn't try to spit it's headgasket out at the first sign of power, it only tries to do it any time it's got fuel going through it.
Mmm.. I've upgraded over 700 K series engines, 90% involve a head upgrade/swap. These have had power outputs up to 286BHP. Over the course of these works I have had around 10 HGFs.Go figure.
Dave
PhillipM said:
And yet I've done 6-7 headgaskets just for friends and family on them out of maybe a dozen or so K-series cars. Turns out situation evidence is situational, who knew?
Proper preparation of the surfaces is the key to gasket longevity, the factory methodology was hit and miss.Dave
Bennachie said:
I actually had a Hillman Imp and Singer Chamois. The last 'Chrysler Imps' had the Sport engine in all but name; with a single carb..... and standard exhaust, instead of the twin Strombergs and tubular extractor..........
I really liked those engines....
Derived from a fire pump engine by Coventry Climax I really liked those engines....
DVA is the man who knows about the K. I've only done one HG. My take is that *as originally manufactured* they were crap and basically all failed. Then when rebuilt with steel dowels, modified hg, deck prepared, liner heights correct, they were as good as anything else. Bottom ends appear bulletproof, valvegear and cams solid, the only other snag is standard pistons won't last long over 7500 rpm. Hovever if used normally with only occasional visits to the limiter they will last 100k miles plus. On the second hg, natch.
Bennachie said:
I actually had a Hillman Imp and Singer Chamois. The last 'Chrysler Imps' had the Sport engine in all but name; with a single carb..... and standard exhaust, instead of the twin Strombergs and tubular extractor..........
I really liked those engines....
I really liked those engines....
Fair dos! I've always liked the idea of an Imp, or one of the other versions, quite like the engines too - if only the heads didn't warp!
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