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MG MGF Technical - 220bhp 1.8i K series

Theres an article in this months MG Enthusiast about a Rover employee, Iain McDougall who has managed to get 220bhp out of a 1.8 K series installed in a Rover 25/MGZR.

The article mentioned that Dave Andrews has worked his magic on the head and that a 4-2-1 exhaust manifold has been fitted.

Dave Andrews' work (on a VVC head) was:
'opened up inlet and exhaust ports with 1mm larger inlet valves'
'high lift Piper camshafts'.

A steel crankshaft, con rods and forged pistons (Trophy Cup spec) have been fitted.

Thing is, I can't work out where all the extra power is comming from. IIRC Dave Livingstons car produced 178bhp but I don't know whether the head work was the same.

Any ideas anyone - and would this be cheaper than a £5k supercharger? The car featrured is used for competition use - would the engine be any good for day to day use?

Paul
P9 VLS
Paul

Hi Paul,

The head work that Dave Andrews did on my car was purely porting. I'm still running standard cams and standard VVC valves. The car runs more sweetly than it has ever done at all revs. The power peaks out at around 175 bhp at 7100 revs. Torque is very flat and significantly above a standard VVC.

Dave Walker believes that another 15 - 20 bhp might come from DTH Jenvey Throttle Bodies and Piper 285H cams.

So, I can't see how he gets to 220 either!

Dave
Dave

220BHP ? Easy fit a Honda VTEC 1.8 with a remapped ECU and TB's ;-)
Mike.
mike

Isn't the going rate for a full on 1600 around 250BHP?

The steel internals might be because they're revving the nuts off it and the torque x revs equation is working in their favour. IIRC the VHPD spec (196HP?)doesn't have too wild a cam and still runs VVC valve and port sizes, admittedly it does use a pair of KV6 throttle bodies.

In some reports the group N saloon racer was alleged to put out around 150BHP from a 1400 with 'standard' spec engine components.
Alan B

Maybe they raised redline to a higher RPM?
Hanah Kim

AFAIK the 1.8 record is 260bhp in a Caterham, 1.7 (Special steel crank to fit into the Kit cars < 1700cc class) record is 240bhp. I believe peak power is at roughly 8600rpm for both of these. The 1.8 revs to 9400..
Russell Morgan

Ians engine uses 1227 cams which are far hotter than BP285Hs and direct to head TBs, 220BHP is fairly modest compared to Mike Bees's 1700K at 242BHP (head done by me) and Pete Carmichaels 1800K at 254BHP (also head done by me). You should understand that these are competition prepared engines with rev limits up to 9000RPM and head airflow about 40% higher than a stock VVC head courtesy of larger valves and *very extensive* porting.

The extra power comes from extending the torque curve much higher up the rev range, 150ft/lb of torque equates to 178BHP at 6250, but if you make the 150ft/lb at 8200 it equates to 234BHP, the trick is to use sufficient duration on the cams and have a head which flows enough air to allow the cylinders to fill well at high RPM, then you will make good power.

Of course the engine will turn to offal if you use a standard bottom end at these elevated RPMs.

Dave
Dave andrews

Paul,

Your outstanding question... An engine in this spec would not be that friendly in most road going conditions.

Rog
Roger Parker

Roger,

Cant agree completely with your statement.

An engine to that spec, properly setup and mapped is as docile as a standard engine when off-cam and will pull much more strongly when on-cam.

I have the curves here from Steve Butts 225BHP K series (same spec as Ians) layed over the curves from a stock Elise; the modified engine exceeds the standard engine's torque at all crank speeds above 2200RPM and matches it from 1500RPM upwards, naturally since the modified engines uses multiple throttle bodies the throttle response is much better and it has a far smoother progression.

Maybe you should try an engine to this spec. and then decide.

Dave
Dave Andrews

This thread was discussed between 23/12/2002 and 26/12/2002

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