The journey of one man and his Mule(s)

[ashley]

Oh s**t Phil, fingers crossed it ain't done any damage mate

[Magic Beans]

Oh s**t Phil, fingers crossed it ain't done any damage mate

Fingers crossed indeed.

It will all work out in the end, one way or another.

[KarlBristol]

Why even bother investigating and fixing the damage to this.... Just drop a V8 in there. It's inevitable that its going to happen sooner or later so save yourself the money of fiddling with this engine and stick in the engine your car deserves

[pistol pete]

Oh dear buddy not good ;(

I am sure Nik will see you right he is a great chap and knows them Engines well

Keep us Informed of the well named mule

[Magic Beans]

Why even bother investigating and fixing the damage to this.... Just drop a V8 in there. It's inevitable that its going to happen sooner or later so save yourself the money of fiddling with this engine and stick in the engine your car deserves

We need to know what exactly is the state of things in the engine before deciding where to go. I don't want to rush into anything and find myself knee deep in expense and having gone down the wrong avenue. Whatever happens it's going to cost money, it's just making sure the money is spent in the right way and is going towards a product I ultimately want long(er) term. The MR2 was the ultimate money pit and not a situation I want to be in again any time soon.

A V8 would sound good but the concern is that there's then all that weight at the front and just me as ballast over the back, so weight distribution is massively out.

Oh dear buddy not good ;(

I am sure Nick will see you right he is a great chap and knows them Engines well

Keep us Informed of the well named mule

Thanks Pete It'll work out in the end.

[slipping clutch]

Light weight aluminium v8 at the front with the nice heavy rear axle and diff plus you at the back would hopefully balance things out - however I agree with you 100% as far as spending wisely after research and not before . There is absolutely nothing more gutting than having to pay for the job twice!
Fingers crossed that the motor that's in it will be a quick and easy repair so you have the car in the interim period and then have a healthy motor to sell on to offset the cost of the motor you put in there.

[Nickp]

I am sure Nik will see you right he is a great chap and knows them Engines well

Why thankyou Pete, I'll certainly be doing my best to put things right for Phil

A V8 would sound great in there but it's not really what these cars are about unless you just want to be a straight-line hero. If we can get this twin cam back to where it was supposed to be then it'll provide plenty of go for this seriously lightweight chassis

[Magic Beans]

I'll certainly be doing my best to put things right for Phil

[Peter Gidden]

Nic has everything he needs to sort your problems out Phil including a good selection of precision tools.

[Nickp]

Nic has everything he needs to sort your problems out Phil including a good selection of precision tools.

Thanks for your vote of confidence Peter, I've borrowed them from you mate

[Magic Beans]

Nick has removed the head and identified the cause of the noise. As suspected the grub screw from the carb trumpet got sucked into the engine and embedded into the head



Currently weighing up the options of what to do with it and seeking the advice of Guy Croft, who's the aficionado when it comes to these engines. It should be repairable, it just depends on what else might need doing to the head. The "thousands of pounds previously being spent on the engine" appears to be somewhat of a mistruth, unless the work which was done was massively overcharged for.. Somewhat annoying, as you might expect..

The pistons have been inspected and have been found to be concaved, which would go some way to explaining the low compression reading but why they're in there I have no clue?!



There's currently three options of where to go from here:

1. Fix it up, sell it and buy something else. Something proven to be what it's quoted as being. Maybe somewhat more extreme
2. Whack in a Guy Croft engine at around £5k, netting the true figures originally quoted in the sale ad
3. Fit forged pistons, new cams, some head work etc and run it a little down from it's full potential but at a much lower net cost.

Which approach is taken is yet to be decided really, although after the money pit the last one became I'm understandably hesitant to go throwing money at car work, unless I know for sure it will net me the engine I want for the foreseeable future. In short I'm not sure if I'll get bored with [/img]only 200 bhp at the crank

All I can say it's I'm damn lucky to have Mr P and the help he's given me so far

[pistol pete]

at least the cause has been found
yes you will get bored of the 200hp...
you keep looking at v8's and turbo'd kit cars..
so no point throwing 5k at it..
i would do what is cheapest, and then from there you can run it a bit longer enjoy, get the bug for kit cars and track days.. as i think you have a cracking road car, you need the second car to be for something else, which sort of rules out v8's for me and think more track focused... get the bug from that and you'll love it, then go turbo kit car route or soemthing along them lines (arielatom?)..

sorry thats my 2p's after speaking with you the other weekend

[Nickp]

Tbh judging by the state of the current engine (low compression and massive overfuelling) I'd be surprised if it was even making the 120bhp of a good STD engine. It certainly wasn't slow so I think it's a bit early to say 200bhp would become boring in a sub 500kg car

[pistol pete]

That's very true nick agree there
Also know how badly he wants boost again, alight be good to see te difference once its back running properly
Could this engine be supercharged?

[Magic Beans]

I do miss boost, however a lot of that was due to this thing, whilst being quick, not being nearly as quick as I'd have hoped. Resolving the engine woes and adding some fruity improvements should make a marked improvement to the performance.

I wouldn't add boost to this car as I don't think it's true to the car and I'd rather buy something else and let someone else have stumped up the cash for the work. Something Mule 2 has decided for me

[pistol pete]

I do miss boost, however a lot of that was due to this thing, whilst being quick, not being nearly as quick as I'd have hoped. Resolving the engine woes and adding some fruity improvements should make a marked improvement to the performance.

I wouldn't add boost to this car as I don't think it's true to the car and I'd rather buy something else and let someone else have stumped up the cash for the work. Something Mule 2 has decided for me

Fair doo's
if it was down on power
and you get it all sorted properly with right injectors and set up right it might well be the speed you are after

[craig]

Sorry to hear of the engine woes buddy

Those 3 options all come at quite expense, however, I can't help but think you know you need boost in your life

Goes without saying only you can make that call....

Best of luck with whatever you go with.

[ashley]

I'm with you on this Phil- this car is all about the light weight chassis and immediate throttle response...and large v8 misses the point, as would a laggy turbo setup.

If you're current engine won't do it then I'd be looking at something like a nice revy vtec, with a bit of work you'd have some nice top end power without the penalty of additional weight.

But- hopefully you can rescue your current engine and save some cash, 200bhp in that car should be plenty for sh*ts and giggles

[Magic Beans]

Will end up with something like this one day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekjaPLKczVg who knows?! Right now I just want something which goes as it should.

Even got a flat on the 1er earlier, so apparently it's fail week

[Magic Beans]

I'm with you on this Phil- this car is all about the light weight chassis and immediate throttle response...and large v8 misses the point, as would a laggy turbo setup.

If you're current engine won't do it then I'd be looking at something like a nice revy vtec, with a bit of work you'd have some nice top end power without the penalty of additional weight.

But- hopefully you can rescue your current engine and save some cash, 200bhp in that car should be plenty for sh*ts and giggles

If the engine was healthy when I got it and that was a true 200bhp at the crank, then for sure I'd be all over a new car and a (small) turbo set-up. I think I need to see what can be done with this, without spending thousands anyway. If it doesn't fit the bill after some track time etc and I crave more, I'll as least be making an educated decision.