Triumph Sports Cars

I am new here and please correct me if I am not writing the the right forum.

I have the Mk 3 from 1968 with the 1300 engine and I am going for a engine-swap very soon.
Can anyone help me out on how much this 1300 engine and the gearbox weight?

I have not yet decided what engine to use, any good ideas or advice's greatly appreciated.
Thanks.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/2011 04:50PM by Icekottarinn.

Hello, Markus.
I would budget the engine weight at 125Kg less fluids and accessories. The transmision and iron bell housing is approximatly 42Kg.
Engine choice is a large subject. I would recommend one that you have a lot of parts, both new and used, available in your area.
One that fits under the bonnent without major modification will save hours of bodywork.

Have you seen the one with the Ford 302 engine yet? If I was doing a Spit I'd sure want more details on that one before I started. Clean hood lines but no details yet on frame or footwell mods.

JB

Thanks.
So the old 1300+gearbox is appr. 200 kg with oils etc.? That is heavy!

How much weighs the Rover 3.9?

I am at the moment looking at the 3.9 L Range Rover injection engine + 5 gear manual transmission.The seller tells me I need the tube or what it is called, the rear end of the gearbox (with the speedometer-gear and link to the cardan to the rear diff) because the Range Rover is of course 4x4 and I will not use the transferbox for that - Is that difficult to get? From what cars?
- How can I tune this 3.9 engine? Is it easy/cheap to buy a good chip, would a chip tuning give 50 to 100 hp along with fully open exhaust?
Or is the torque enough for my small and light Spitfire Mk3?

Also I am told the 4.0 V6 Ford OHV would be a good choose. But again I don´t know. Would this engine be easier to install to the Spitfire, then the V8 Rover?
- is it easy to tune it to appr 250-300 hp?

What rear diff would you guys recommend? And what gear ratio?
What hp/torque can the std diff take?

I am not interested in changing the bonnet but I am ready for some modifications for the new engine, no problem.
- so that means perhaps that the Chevy and Ford V8 engines are to big and heavy?

Sorry for all my questions on this, but I am new to the Spitfire and I have a car I will have for many years from now. AND I will modify it, install a much more powerful engine, no question!

I appreciate all you comments on this,
Thanks!

I think Jim might be referring to the 302 V8 Spit that I just purchased. It's going onto the truck in Nevada tomorrow, but I'm not sure when it will arrive after the 1400+ mile trip. Perhaps by next weekend? At any rate, I will certainly post more details as to how the 302 was fit under the hood with no power bulge. All I know so far is that it has a "custom chassis" and that the engine is set far back. Footwells are probably quite tight, but there are three pedals so that's encouraging!

A couple decades back we bought a spit that had the 90* Chevy V6 installed. It did fit using the stock frame but the tunnel had been heavily modified, the footwells were narrow, and the carb and distributor stuck through the hood. It was driven once before it was sold, and Dan rode shotgun on that trip. I never got to drive or ride in it so I can't really comment on it except to mention that Dan said it was squirrely. I took that to mean he thought it was tail happy. From what I can remember, a smaller bellhousing such as the BOPR uses would have meant a lot less tunnel work, and the biggest issue we had was the exhaust. We used the stock cast iron manifolds and cut and re-welded the outlets to clear the diagonal frame braces.

JB

I am putting a 3.1L 60 degree GM V6 into my Spit. I can not comment on how it works yet as I have not finished the installation.
On the plus side I have had to do no firewall modifications and only some very minor frame trimming. I have a T5 transmission and a chevy S10 bell housing. The stock transmission cover fits right over the new transmission. I fabricated bolt on engine mounts. I calculate the installed weight to be around 10 - 12 kilo over stock.
On the negative side the exhaust routing will be tight and I will need to ceramic coat the header pipes. The oil pan had to be extensively modified to clear the steering rack and I had to fit a remote oil filter. I had to add a hood scoop to clear the intake plenum.
If I had stuck to my original plan using a 2.8L Vin 9 engine I think the bonnet mods could have been avoided.
With a few quick mods and ECM programming I expect to get 160 HP out of the engine. More than enough for a Spit.
I am switching to rear end to a Subaru R160 differential and GT6 wishbones and uprights. I have fitted Triumph 1500 FWD CV joints.
I went this route for a few reasons. First parts are cheap and plentiful. Second, I am very familiar with the 60 degree V6 engines and ECM's. Third, I wanted torque to be safe on American Highways. Both for merging and get the heck out of the way acceleration. If I was only going to be driving back roads I would have seriously looked into a Toyota 4 cylinder or a Mazda rotary.

-Tim B