1600 k upgrades

[mightymetros]

Just thought id ask the question to get peoples opinions. Car at the moment is running a 1600k series with a polished head (not ported) with kent cams RK1611K (ithink equivelents are piper 270's) and vernier pulleys all running off mems. uprated manifold and exhaust have also been added. I now have an emerald ecu and jenvey throttle bodies sat in my garage ready to fit. Im aiming to make 165bhp and wondering what is best to achieve this. I use the car everyday so cant afford to take this head off to work on, so would a vvc head suffice with blanking kit? any ideas would be appreciated

 

Thanks

 

Sacha

[TonyC]

The 1.8k with supersport cams, throttle bodies, R500 exhaust and mbe ecu with R300 map works well

mine was converted from a 1.4k using a second hand standard 1.6 engine, probably 160bhp now, your block with 1.8k pistons and crank and the above extras is an easy route

 

TC

[mightymetros]

so that would be still running my current head? In effect would i not then be upgrading the engine to a 1.8?

[TonyC]

Yes same head and block, new 1.8 pistons and crank.

Rgds

 

TC

[Peter Carmichael]

You do not need to go to 1.8 to get the power you are after. A VVC head will easily make the power - in fact you are more likely to get 180+bhp, but are more likely to hit the power levels where you need forged pistons. Best bet may be to get a a spare standard head to work on - the parts are cheaper as you don't need the fancy VVC cams and for chrissakes be embarrassed that you have a "polished" head with no porting.

 

To get the engine working well with the TBs with minimum fuss, use something like a Piper 285bph cam. Some simple work around the valve throats can make a big difference and other very modest porting can be done helping the short side turn. You can reshape the back of the inlet valves using an ordinary electric drill clamped in a vice - mount the valves in the drill and reshape with a grinding disc. You also need to port match the throttle bodies to the inlet ports.

 

On less cam than this and with mismatched throttle bodies I am currently getting 157bhp.

[prs]

I've just had my 1.6K on the rollers for mapping following my re-build.

FWIW the spec is, completely standard bottom end (I did re-ring and fit new liners) head is using standard valves but is lightly ported and polished on both sides and skimmed 20thou combustion chambers cleaned up. Cams are QED375HK, DTH TB's and emerald. The power is 155BHP at 7200rpm and 120lb.ft torque. Extremely smooth to drive and pulls well from 3.5k upwards.

 

Phil S7 SVN

[mightymetros]

embarrased that i have a polished head 😳

 

thanks for the advice. The reason i dont really want to go above 165 is i want to keep the standard bottom end. I dont fancy changing pistons because im a lazy bugger, so the head work sounds the way to go. When you say port matching, do you mean taking the material out of the head, to suit the tb's.

[Jason Plato]

Its not uncommon to run a standard crank and rods on both 1600 & 1800 cc K's with power levels upto 220bhp and / or 8000 rpm .

 

Its is also common to use the standard pistons for power levels of 180 bhp and 8000 rpm .

 

A VHPD or VVC head with very light clean up of the ports , with 285H or Piper 740 cams on a 1600cc bottom , DTHTB's and emerald will probably make 170bhp at around 7800 rpm using a standard bottom end or 180bhp from a 1800cc .

 

Given that you already have most of the gear , I would just get the K16 head you have midly ported and use the standard bottom end and pistons .

 

Dave

[mahatma]

Well, the info that I have on those Kent cams suggests that they have the same duration as the VVC exh cams but 0.5mm more lift;

 

1611 = 9.72mm / 252°

VVC EXH = 9.2mm / 252°

 

Piper 633 = 10.0mm / 264°

 

Considering that you now have the throttles and emerald, what about using 633 cams and having the old 'Emerald kit' ? Still listed on DVA's site as giving 160+bhp on a 1600k.

 

Sounds to be pretty much what you're looking for.

 

Saves any hassles of lifting the head and having the car off the road for a while, you can also use standard springs with these cams.

 

This time, put some sort of filter on those throttles !!

 

Andy