Good motors to swap into a GT6?

My buddy with the whole fleet of Britmobiles keeps changing his mind. Sorta like a woman.

Anyway, he picked up a mostly disassembled GT6+ a while back with the intention of restoring it, he stuck it in the garage behind his house and has just been letting it sit. He now has the itch to pull the suspension and brakes to use under the 1965 Spitfire we have mostly reassembled and swap a different motor and drivetrain into the GT6 for use as a street legal monster. He wants 200-250 HP. Pretty much any V8 is ruled out for packaging and weight distribution reasons, so we have on the short list: 13BT rotary, 2.2 or 2.5 or 2.4 Mopar turbo motor converted to RWD, Ford Zetec, etc. Long shot is 3.0/3.3 Nissan but that one is sorta big, one of the criteria is that everything fitsunder the nose. No scoops etc.

If i know him, it'll wind up being a pipe dream (which is good because I don't really need any more projects!) but it's an interesting mind game. Anybody got any other ideas?

MZR from 2002+ Ford Ranger truck. Alum block. 2.0 and 2.3L displacement. Same basic engine as used in new Miata, Mazda 3 and Mazda 6. Also used in Atlantic series. Most of the aftermarket Cosworth stuff fits on it.

Plus eleventy billion.

Isn't the new Mazda engine the same as the Ford Duratec?

Complete drive train from a bmw z3 2.8.

Decent suspension, plenty of wheel options and a 190 hp engine with an aluminum block.

3.0 Yamaha SHO motor easy to convert to RWD

Any other tiny straight 6 engines out there?

RB25DET .........FTW

4AGE+TURBO

I've been eyeing up an Ecotech turbo out of a Sky

high compression swift motor with e85 and turbo.

Mercedes diesel

Oooh, I like the boosted Swift idea. 1.3 liters of DOHC fury! All kinds of good suggestions except the Mercedes lump. I guess JB's been sniffing VW fumes again.

G13B with a G16 block. . . . and a turbo. That or a new 2.0L Turbo Theta out of the new Genesis Coupe (also found as a 2.4L in the Sonata). Both are uniwue and different.

Honda S2000

Jensenman wrote: Oooh, I like the boosted Swift idea. 1.3 liters of DOHC fury! All kinds of good suggestions except the Mercedes lump. I guess JB's been sniffing VW fumes again.

Im thinking he was picking on us: too many beers

+1 on an RB. Even an RB25 or RB20 in N/A form would make a GT6 scoot.

Jensenman wrote: Oooh, I like the boosted Swift idea. 1.3 liters of DOHC fury! All kinds of good suggestions except the Mercedes lump. I guess JB's been sniffing VW fumes again.

You kidding? That "lump" is a great engine!

All cars need an LS1 or a 13B.

LSx. No doubt.

Rover V8. Somewhat unique over here, relatively lightweight. Keeps it all British, if it matters.

A british guy once owned an LSx, so it counts.

carguy123 wrote: Isn't the new Mazda engine the same as the Ford Duratec?

Wife has a 3, while at a ford show I had the same thought when I saw a lot of jackson racing parts for the focus 2.3 motors. Called JR and turns out that they may be the same family, but have their differences between manufacturers (Heads are different for sure)

I'm no expert but I believe the only difference is Ford does not use VVT so the head/intake cam are slightly different (think 99-00 Miata head vs 2001-2004 Miata head). Other than that I believe they are the same engine.

http://www.cosworthusa.com/store/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=20

An all aluminum engine under a GT6 bonnet with a Cosworth valve cover would look mighty cool.

Whats wrong with a Ford 302?

it's not exactly a big engine.

A Spitfire or GT6 engine compartment is cramped in the lengthwise direction already and to fix the goofy stock Triumph Ackerman angles we will need to do a good bit of steering mods, meaning the steering rack has to come back and be shortened. BTDT with the Abomination. That means a V8 would have to be back so far there will be no place for the drivers' feet, or raise it up so high the valve covers would stick out of the hood, not exactly conducive to good CG placement. There's roughly 21" from the stock frame crossmember to the bottom of the bonnet.

An inline 4 can be moved back further than a V8 and still have room for the drivers' feet. An inline 6 could be done as well, but now we run into the transmission's placement, it would involve massive frame modifications to keep the engine back far enough for good weight distribution. That's why the stock GT6 motor's 2 front cylinders are past the steering rack to begin with.