Best straight six engine donor?
Discussion
Right I'll be honest I have very little experience of owning modern stuff (that is post early seventies) but have driven plenty so know what they go like.
The engine in my '36 Austin is getting a little tired and I've been shocked at the price of spares to rebuild it so...in an idle moment I thought of replacing it with something more modern, but I don't know what would be suitable. I've heard that a lot of modern engines have immobilisers incorporated in such a way that makes them very difficult to use in a non-standard setting so I'd like to avoid those...
My first thoughts were various Jaguar engine/trans (cheap) or BMW (not cheap?) but which ones, and which to avoid? TVR (hmmm), Celica, Nissan something or other?
Ideally a manual option would be nice, and a straight six as the engine bay is long and narrow, no horrible smelly diesels please...and it must be rear wheel drive or simple to convert, carb's would be nice but even I realise that they all went long ago.
Any thoughts, and please don't just say Eb36a as it would be meaningless to me...thanks.
The engine in my '36 Austin is getting a little tired and I've been shocked at the price of spares to rebuild it so...in an idle moment I thought of replacing it with something more modern, but I don't know what would be suitable. I've heard that a lot of modern engines have immobilisers incorporated in such a way that makes them very difficult to use in a non-standard setting so I'd like to avoid those...
My first thoughts were various Jaguar engine/trans (cheap) or BMW (not cheap?) but which ones, and which to avoid? TVR (hmmm), Celica, Nissan something or other?
Ideally a manual option would be nice, and a straight six as the engine bay is long and narrow, no horrible smelly diesels please...and it must be rear wheel drive or simple to convert, carb's would be nice but even I realise that they all went long ago.
Any thoughts, and please don't just say Eb36a as it would be meaningless to me...thanks.
davepoth said:
Jag is probably the right answer - an M3 engine will be all electronical and quite "peaky" in power delivery, whereas the old XK engine is carbs and points, nice and torquey, and available in anything from 2.4 up to 4.2 litres. also it'll look more "right" under the bonnet.
Sorry I should have said, a Series 2 XJ6 4.2 and Mk10 manual 'box is what's under the bonnet at the moment...
crofty1984 said:
a: awesome car
b: BMW straight 6 early 90's M3 if you have the money.
Thanks...b: BMW straight 6 early 90's M3 if you have the money.
I'm warming to the idea of a BMW, I've got (or should have) about 250b.h.p. at the moment and don't want to drop much if I can help it. The Jag' is a bit juicy but more to the point is consuming rather a lot of oil as well and pressure is low, rebuild parts aren't cheap unless anyone knows better? I would rebuild it myself if I go that route but just for the fun got a specialist to quote me for the work - approx. £5000 hence me looking at alternatives. This is a genuine enquiry and not a wind up, I really don't know what is available and just need pointing at some viable options - I can't ask my mates as most of them are still running flatheads...
spoodler said:
Thanks...
I'm warming to the idea of a BMW, I've got (or should have) about 250b.h.p. at the moment and don't want to drop much if I can help it. The Jag' is a bit juicy but more to the point is consuming rather a lot of oil as well and pressure is low, rebuild parts aren't cheap unless anyone knows better? I would rebuild it myself if I go that route but just for the fun got a specialist to quote me for the work - approx. £5000 hence me looking at alternatives. This is a genuine enquiry and not a wind up, I really don't know what is available and just need pointing at some viable options - I can't ask my mates as most of them are still running flatheads...
What about a 323/ 325/ 328, all of which should be available for around £500I'm warming to the idea of a BMW, I've got (or should have) about 250b.h.p. at the moment and don't want to drop much if I can help it. The Jag' is a bit juicy but more to the point is consuming rather a lot of oil as well and pressure is low, rebuild parts aren't cheap unless anyone knows better? I would rebuild it myself if I go that route but just for the fun got a specialist to quote me for the work - approx. £5000 hence me looking at alternatives. This is a genuine enquiry and not a wind up, I really don't know what is available and just need pointing at some viable options - I can't ask my mates as most of them are still running flatheads...
davepoth said:
If you are looking at something fuel injected, I'd go straight for an AJ6 engine. From what I can tell they will bolt up to your engine mounts and transmission, which will make the job much easier. There's also a 4.0 with a supercharger which is probably quite nippy.
I wondered about this as I met someone at the weekend with a similar(ish) car running a supercharged XKR engine, it was "quite nippy" - around eleven second quarters, but I've been warned off the AJ6 with tales of unreliability, there seem to be plenty available tho'. I was told that secondhand a BMW unit would be a much better bet as they are bulletproof and that any used AJ6 is likely to be troublesome - unfortunately the info' on the net generally is unreliable and quite often contradictory, that's why I thought I'd ask on here!
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff