Transplanting an Exige engine

[alan7]

I noticed thisn in the "For Sale" department.

1800 K-series VHPD engine/gearbox/ecu, 190 upgrade, 8000 miles, presently installed in a Lotus Exige but will be removed soon to make way for the popular Honda Type R conversion.

What exactly is invloved if I wanted to put it in my 1998 1.6K Supersport?

 

Ta Muchley

 

Alan

 

How do you get the dead flies off your teeth....... 😬 R5AAH

[Jason Plato]

6 cans of lager and my angle grinder 😬

 

mod to fit starter motor on block , change flywheel to Caterham lightweight and I think thats it

 

I dont know if you would be able to use the ecu it comes with as it may not be compatable with the caterham wiring loom .

 

 

[SLR No.77]

Spigot bearing and sleeve

 

Stu.

[simon_h]

Wiring loom is nothing like a Caterham one. ECU needs replacing unless its already had an Emerald fitted.

Plus usual like sump, coolant pipes etc.

[Allen Payne]

Does taking an angle grinder to the gearbox input shaft do a way with the need for a spigot bearing?

 

 

 

[Mick Day]

Allen

 

That's an interesting one. When changing from my 1.4 to a 1.6 my gearbox input shaft was shortened & a spigot bearing /sleeve inserted. So what's the difference from the 1.4 to the 1.6 that requires the input shaft surgery?

 

I'm curious.

[SLR No.77]

No. You still need the sleeve and spigot bearing. The engine is Rover, the gearbox is Ford. the sleeve fits in the hole in thje end of the crank to reduce the diameter enabling fitment of a spigot bearing that is suitable for the Ford gearbox. Both items total only around £25

 

Stu.

[SLR No.77]

Mick/Allen - in addition to the diameter of the end bore in the crank and the gearbox input shafts being mismatched diameters, ie. there's no spigot bearing available as a straight fit, the Ford input shaft is too long to mate with the Rover crank. In truth the fit could have been achieved by Caterham having cast a slightly longer bellhousing, but the alternative was to modify the crank or gearbox. In the case of the 1400s, all the cranks were bored deeper. Later, the alternative approach of fitting a shortened input shaft was used, probably when the 6 speed box became a more common fitment.

 

Stu.

 

[Mick Day]

Thanks Stu.

[Allen Payne]

Stu - You've almost got me worried now, I changed a 5-speed to 6-speed when the engine was a 1400 and then swapped the bottom end to an 1800 without chopping anything!

 

Each time I just measured things up as accurately as possibly and did a trial assembly (without the clutch) to make sure every thing fitted and all seemed OK.

 

Maybe having done 9000 miles last year with the 1800, and no problems, I'll just go back to worrying if the starter will work everytime I stop for petrol!

[SLR No.77]

Allen - you've done it correctly

 

The input shaft on the old gearboxes was too long for the K-Series fitment - this was solved by boring a deeper hole in the end of the crank, a smaller diameter than the spigot bearing (enabling the spigot bearing to stay in the same position) but bigger than the diameter of the input shaft. The excess length of the input shaft just rotated in free space within the end of the crank.

 

Later (as per your 6 speed box) the input shafts were reduced in length, avoiding the need for the extra bore depth in the crank - this would work with any K-Series fitment, ie. 1400 or 1600 or 1800.

 

Then, when you swapped the engine you would already be running with a reduced length input shaft (on the 6 speed) therefore everything would mate together perfectly

 

Stu.

 

 

[Allen Payne]

Thankyou!