M12 now with M15 engine

[mark cundy]

I am new to this (posting and ownership) so will keep it short and sweet and take questions which I will not be able to answer. In August last year I bought a nice looking Orange Noble M12 with a M400 engine which was as i now know not in the best of condition. The car went to the professor of engineering on the Isle of Man and the engine was stripped to nothing. Trying to get it back ready for this year's Cannonball the only solution time wise was to fit a M15 engine. And after many months of waiting i heard it running tonight and if I am lucky I will be able to have the car for the weekend on very low revs before handing it back for further fiddling on Monday.

I am not much of petrol head but I do find it all pretty interesting and I like the idea of having a road legal racing car. One day I hope it will spend more time on the road and track than in the garage. Next target dates are track days in UK early September and Cannonball Ireland mid September.

[mgbond]

If I'm not mistaken the m15 engine is the same as the M400 basically. it was mounted longitudinally with an uprated gearbox?

Bondy

[mark cundy]

No mounting sideways as normal. Gearbox is from the old 400 engine but has been reconditioned. The M15 engine is dry sump but that didn't work in the M12 so has been converted back to wet sump. Also the belt drive for the alternator was on the wrong side of the V6 which has caused a lot of problems.

[TuxMan]

what engine is a M15 engine ?? would it not have been possible to rebuild the M400 engine ?

[mark cundy]

The M15 engine is a specked up M400 engine as I understand it. The tolerances on the cylinder heads were too far out on the other engine. I will get all the bits back of the old engine and maybe it can be put together as well.

[Adrian W]

HI Mark,

I thought that the M15 engine was a 460 bhp unit prepaired by Roush and supplied by powertourque. The NPI units were produced and that was it, I am pretty sure that they were nothing special, just an M400 engine put together by a better engine builder and mapped by Trevor Jasper.

[mark cundy]

Am not really sure myself - I will get it mapped by Trevor and will report back on BHP.