desert spec engine

10th July 2009, 10:55

right.

i need a 1 litre (ish) give or take 100 cc engine which is gonna be reliable, and last 10000 miles of abuse.

what do people recommend?

will be in north africa in their "winter" im not bothered about the europe bit as it'll be fricking cold there.

1.1mpi?
1.0 carb?

what do you reckon?

oh, and its got to run on leaded petrol as well as unleaded.

discuss

10th July 2009, 10:58

i would peronly say carbs may be a bit better for maintance reason on it.

the 1 litre part makes it a bit harder though, maybe an old rover engine, where always reliable

10th July 2009, 10:59

its gotta fit in an ax

10th July 2009, 11:14

how about a 1.1 with open throttle bodies? should work well...

10th July 2009, 11:17

1.1spi?

plenty of air and fuel filters - should be a bomb proof engine

10th July 2009, 12:53

open throttle bodies, title says desert? bit risky

edit: or is it suppose to say descent?

10th July 2009, 12:56

Id stick with the pug/cit 1.1 spi. Fit a bigger rad and twin fan combo for the heat though

10th July 2009, 13:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aron

open throttle bodies, title says desert? bit risky

edit: or is it suppose to say descent?

i was trying to make a funny lol

10th July 2009, 13:05

Leaded fuel doesn't work with cats and lambdas so that kinda rules out SPi unless you were to fit a dummy lambda in the form of a variable resistor to adjust the fuelling.

As per our convo i think carbs are the way to go, the carb will need a full rebuild and you'll have to make a custom air filter and clean it regularly.

Keeping those alloy block engines cool is very important.

10th July 2009, 13:21

yeah you got me thinking last nite alex.

so if i keep the 1l ax engine, give the inlet a thorough overhaul, learn how it all works etc, make an inlet from drainpipe with multiple filtration going to a low pressure point on the body, that should be ok?

vts rad with twin fan housing, one on a direct switch on the dash a la spaxo engine

maybe 2 water temp gauges, or one water temp and one oil temp?

10th July 2009, 13:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexR

Leaded fuel doesn't work with cats and lambdas so that kinda rules out SPi unless you were to fit a dummy lambda in the form of a variable resistor to adjust the fuelling.

As per our convo i think carbs are the way to go, the carb will need a full rebuild and you'll have to make a custom air filter and clean it regularly.

Keeping those alloy block engines cool is very important.

Didn't think about the leaded fuel - my bad.

Would it be worth taking a spare carb along with you just incase?

10th July 2009, 13:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by raunchz

Didn't think about the leaded fuel - my bad.

Would it be worth taking a spare carb along with you just incase?

i think there'll be a roof rack full of spares

10th July 2009, 14:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by pjm300

yeah you got me thinking last nite alex.

so if i keep the 1l ax engine, give the inlet a thorough overhaul, learn how it all works etc, make an inlet from drainpipe with multiple filtration going to a low pressure point on the body, that should be ok?

vts rad with twin fan housing, one on a direct switch on the dash a la spaxo engine

maybe 2 water temp gauges, or one water temp and one oil temp?

sounds a good idea. learn as much as possi ble before you go.
putting a switch on the second fan would be a good idea.

consider oil cooling aswell. insane heats over there.

10th July 2009, 14:11

its going to be "winter", so probably only mid 30's

10th July 2009, 14:30

are you doing it by yourself? or what are your mates taking?

10th July 2009, 14:30

poor little ax !

10th July 2009, 14:33

Mid 30s is still a lot for an alloy block TU.

An oil cooler will cool the water too. A heat exchanger will probably do quite well though if you have a good water cooling system, should keep the oil cool too. Cooler stat or possibly no stat.

Have an override on both fans, all you have to do is switch the earth anyway

10th July 2009, 14:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by pjm300

its going to be "winter", so probably only mid 30's

haha i am sorry!
ok your oil will boil in 2 hours instead of one!

what are you doing this all for anyway?

10th July 2009, 14:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt67

are you doing it by yourself? or what are your mates taking?

there's 2 of us in this car, i think there's about another 4 other cars going

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexR

Mid 30s is still a lot for an alloy block TU.

An oil cooler will cool the water too. A heat exchanger will probably do quite well though if you have a good water cooling system, should keep the oil cool too. Cooler stat or possibly no stat.

Have an override on both fans, all you have to do is switch the earth anyway

can the vts heat exchanger go on these engines? they just fit beside the oil filter anyway... havent seen if the filter is in the usual location...
i'll have a good poke in the bay, there's plenty of space there, so some bonnet bodgery might help to get some heat out

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aron

haha i am sorry!
ok your oil will boil in 2 hours instead of one!

what are you doing this all for anyway?

its the africa rally, charity event from the same people as the rickshaw run and such like

london to cameroon in december

10th July 2009, 14:56

that would be awesome.

heat exchanger would fit mate i would of thought.

10th July 2009, 15:02

heater exchanger will fit just make sure you get the threaded tube n hose.

VTS/GTi/XSi rad will fit fine I fitted one to my old blue ax bit of cutting slam and it was in. OR go for a diesel rad and header tank setup much easier for you to bleed the system then as it is near enough self bleed.

With that and a good fan mine always ran just below half and never had problems.

Carb wise remember the 1.1 carbs fit to

10th July 2009, 15:14

think i might have a spare heat exchanger lying around in the garage.... wahey

think the rad is something i need to get new. will see if i can get a discount from somewhere... probably not

10th July 2009, 15:19

Buy a nissems from the buy & sell section