Anyone recognize the engine?

[jbcollier]

Brazilian garage find video of an S2 with a belt-driven overhead cam engine I don’t recognize.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA4ueNW0AtQ

[Grumblebuns]

Toyota 4AF? The ancillaries driven off the front look similar but the distributor stuck off the back end appears to be missing. I hope there will be more videos on the continuation of the find and that the rear deck lid made home in one piece. I don't see any straps holding it in place.

[califkid_66]

In the comment someone mentioned a chevette engine and there saying they want to do a restomod with zetec

[jbcollier]

Bingo!

I knew the engine looked familiar.  I just couldn't place it.

Thanks

[shootingsight]

That looks ugly, like they cut out the firewall to clear, or maybe just to access the belts.

I'm just starting to rebuild my S2 and was curious if there is an easy engine swap anyone has ever identified.  I presume not - with the pulleys on the transmission end of the engine.

I recall an article a long time ago about someone using a rotary engine out of an RX-7.   A small V-6 would be a nice fit ....

[BDA]

Having the belts on the tranny end of the engine isn't required but as you noticed, most swaps would pretty much require access to the front of the motor. Richard at Banks has done all kinds of swaps including Vauxhall 4 cylinder and Alfa Romeo V-6. Zetec swaps are popular (I think justifiably so). Ford swaps are a little easier if you can get a TC bell housing. A guy made a kit to swap in a Toyota 4-AGE ( I don't know if he's still producing them). If you might consider swapping in a small V-6, it sounds like you have a fairly high threshold of swapping pain. Easy is a relative term.

[jbcollier]

There are no "easy" swaps.  Nothing just bolts in.  Even fitting a crossflow requires a fair amount of adaptation.  Not trying to discourage anyone.  Just making sure you go in with eyes wide open.

(Alfa V6s are a favourite engine of mine.  Nice and narrow... hmm)

[BDA]

I'll easily take your word for it, JB, especially for the Renault Europas since I don't know the potential choices.

It's not a common swap but my BDA swap might be one of the easiest. The biggest adaptation was the headers. Otherwise, I was able to use the standard motor mounts and the the TC bell housing would have mounted the stock 365 tranny if I had gone that route. All in all, it was a fairly straightforward swap which is good because I would have been way over my head! Of course if you have a TC, the easy swaps would be a "Kent" based engine but your better options get pretty expensive.

[shootingsight]

I'm asking the question that has been asked before - but maybe with a new answer:

Ford has a 1.0 liter 3 cylinder engine that makes 123 HP, and 195 HP in the 1.5 liter version.  123HP would be a nice step up from the 86HP Renault engine.  If I recall, that is Twin Cam types of power.  195 HP would be crazy.  Plus, the 3 cylinder is likely short enough that all the pulleys on the front of the engine will have clearance versus the firewall.

The 1.5 is supposed to be available in the US in 2018/2019, so should be on-line soon.  Very exciting.

[jbcollier]

Heck, they have even fit Merlin V12s into cars, so anything is possible.  It's how much work you are prepared to do.

[TCS4605R]

BDA - years ago I crewed for a Formula Atlantic (Swift DB4) in SCCA racing.  Steve Jennings built the engines - Steve told us 250 HP with rev limit of 10,800 RPM.  It had fuel injection - a system Steve built and was good for 8 hours of race time before it needed a rebuild.  I understand that Dave Bean built your BDA - what kind of HP and rev limit did Dave tell you?  Dave converted a Weber Elan head for me (added the intake cam alternator drive) using L cams - runs really great - I think Dave called it his Stage 3 engine.

Tom
74 TCS - 4605R

[BDA]

Tom,

Jennings and Joey Grimaldi were the biggest Formula Atlantic motors back in the day. I knew about Grimaldi because a couple of my friends bought their cars after the pro series was complete. My buddies never got any dyno sheets but I suspect that they were all pretty much the same. My buddies' Formula Atlantic motors were the motivation for my motor when I acquired a street BDA head.

Dave Bean built my motor in '80. My instructions were to build a race motor for the road. It was to be balanced, ported, cc'ed, etc. He offered me a steel crank for $500. He said the cast crank was good for 7500 rpm (with an occasional run up to 8500) but the steel crank was good for another 1000 rpm (I'm sure that the steel crank he offered me was not the same crank people like Jennings and Grimaldi used in their engines). That would have raised the price of my motor another 10% and I didn't think I'd need to wind a street motor to 8500 rpm so I declined. I wish I had taken him up on it - not because I need the rpm but just because it's more durable and for $500 in today's dollars, that's incredibly cheap but that's water under the bridge.

As I said, my BDA head was a street head from England so the valves were a bit smaller than the race motors that Jennings and Grimaldi worked on. I know that around the time Dave built my motor, he advertised that he built BDRs for the street. I don't know how many he built, but he apparently built enough that he sold headers for the BDR (or BDA) in a Europa built by Mario Andretti's Indy Car fabricator. I got a set from him in stainless steel. I wonder if he had any Elan or 7 headers built for BDAs...

Dave used a warm cam (Burton Power's BLF-7 which is described as a fast road cam) and 45mm Webers (that seemed pretty big to me but they work fine). He did the machining for the intake came to accept an alternator pulley.

I had Dave dyno my motor. It peaked at 177 BHP @ 7500 rpm. It actually turned out that up to 6000, Dave's best TC produced more BHP than my motor. After that, my BDA walked away.

That's probably more than you wanted to know about my motor but you asked!

I've attached the dyno sheets he sent me.

[TCS4605R]

BDA - thanks for the info.  Looking up in my old Dave Bean catalog, his Stage III motor develops ‘150 true HP with usable torque from 3000 to 7000 RPM’, whatever he meant by ‘true HP’.  But, it is really fun to drive - your BDA must be even more fun.

Tom

[surfguitar58]

I don't know how many of you guys watch Jay Leno's Garage on YouTube, but the latest episode (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bng-3aNfqe0 ) is about the the Renault R5 Turbo which has a sweet little mid-mounted, turboed 1,397 cc Cléon-Fonte engine that apparently puts out 158 HP (according to Wikipedia). Being a Renault engine and transaxle, has anyone tried stuffing one of these into an S1 or S2 Europa? Seems like it would fit.
Tom

[shootingsight]

Fooey, my hopes for the 3 cyl;inder Ford engine might be gone - looks like that is a transverse engine.

I'll only do a swap if it is relatively painless.  I was thinking V6, because there is lots of sideways space, so getting a V that is 3 cylinders long, rather than the in-line 4, would make the engine shorter, leaving room for the pulleys in front.  Same hope for the Ford 3 cylinder, but if it is transverse, it is a no-go.  I wonder if Ford would release a CAD file of the engine/transmission ...