Interesting Engines in a Sportster

[greyV8pete]

Re: Interesting Engines in a Sportster

BMW M50/M52 Engines:

.................................... Note the air intake has been taken back into the footwell,

Hi Mike.

Just seen this post and photo. What happens to the air intake after it enters the footwell? Does it then turn 90deg with an inlet on the nearside? What filter do you use? Any chance of a photo of the footwell / under dash area?

I have been considering something like this for some time on my Hunter to get cooler air into the K&N filter that at the moment takes some air from the front duct but a lot from the engine bay from under the "rain cover" that I made up.

I have also considered making an inlet duct through the glass fibre moulding, to take air from the high pressure air below the wipers but I am concerned about any fuel fumes being sucked into the adjacent heater air intake. Peter.

[Mike]

Re: Interesting Engines in a Sportster

Hi Peter

Taking the air intake back into the cabin was a solution advocated and implemented by Marlin - it is not something I have done, nor would want to, due to the intake noise.
The photos I posted were of Peter Lister's Silver Cabrio/Hunter, and Andrew Curtis's Sportster both live down in your neck of the woods.
I know they advised Tim to do the same with his Sportster too, so it has been applied to at least 3 Marlins.

I have taken my intake to the front nose cone via a flexible hose, but I guess with a V8 under the bonnet, that is out of the question.


[IMG]
Inlet manifold and Cold Air Intake : Replaced later by Mike Garner, on Flickr[/IMG]

One other approach which you might be interested in was taken by Patrick Short who took his inlet through the side of the engine bay.

Have a look at what he did on his blog site:

http://www.msportster.co.uk/2007/05/03/cold-air-intake/

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[greyV8pete]

Re: Interesting Engines in a Sportster

Hi Mike.
Many thanks for the info. I have also considered taking the air in through the engine side panel but apart from the visual effect of cutting a hole there it would not be easy due to the louvres which run right along the side. I had wondered about ending the duct against the inside of the louvres but as they are angled to draw air out it may have a negative effect, not to mention likely turbulence for the ingoing air.

I may try and double up the existing flexible air duct duct that runs from the over rad area, just above my ram air duct, to get sufficient pipe area and then ducting it into a sealed container type of K&N but as you say the V8 does take up a lot of the space! Peter.

[philcoyle]

Re: Interesting Engines in a Sportster

I have had my air intake ducted from the side louvres for at least 12 years with out any problems, it then goes into the footwell area, passes through the original Sierra filter and then to the airflow meter that is fixed to the bulkhead, it then goes forward to the front of the engine and a U bend to the manifold.
There is no loss of power, and air being air is always there, otherwise when travelling forward and you stick your head out of the car your lungs would be emptied, and how do planes stay up?

There is more than enough space at knee height and above in the passenger area to fit a flat panel filter of your choosing, just takes a bit of trial and error.

[greyV8pete]

Re: Interesting Engines in a Sportster

I have had my air intake ducted from the side louvres for at least 12 years with out any problems, it then goes into the footwell area, passes through the original Sierra filter and then to the airflow meter that is fixed to the bulkhead, it then goes forward to the front of the engine and a U bend to the manifold.
There is no loss of power, and air being air is always there, otherwise when travelling forward and you stick your head out of the car your lungs would be emptied, and how do planes stay up?

There is more than enough space at knee height and above in the passenger area to fit a flat panel filter of your choosing, just takes a bit of trial and error.

That's another option that I had considered but one look at the festoon of relays and wires under there on mine made me chicken out! Will have another look. Any chance of you posting a couple of photos of your set up please. Peter.

[Mike]

Re: Interesting Engines in a Sportster

I have had my air intake ducted from the side louvres for at least 12 years with out any problems...........
There is no loss of power, and air being air is always there, otherwise when travelling forward and you stick your head out of the car your lungs would be emptied...............

Phil

I'm not sure I agree with this ...... stick your head out of a car travelling at high speed, face backwards, and you will not be able to suck the same volume of air in as quickly as compared to at rest. The air rushing past your open mouth tries to create a vacuum, and you find yourself gulping air in, not just breathing normally.... try it!

Have a look at Bernoulli's principle:
Blowing air across the face of an open tube will reduce the air pressure at that end, causing air to flow out of the tube as the pressure tries to equalise at the two ends of the tube.


Applying this to our cars, normally aspirated internal combustion engines operate by creating a vacuum to suck air in: having to compete with the vacuum created by air passing over the side air inlet will have a detrimental effect on its maximum in flow rate, which ultimately will translate to less power output.

An interesting exercise would be to try your car's maximum speed in a straight line with your current air intake, and comparing it to taking the inlet up to the nose cone where it can get ram air.... my guess is you will be able to record a small difference?

Translating that to Peter's thumping great 3.9 litre V8 it is very likely to cause some loss of power at maximum rpm.

Mike

[greyV8pete]

Re: Interesting Engines in a Sportster

Mmm. That's kind of what I had thought Mike. I will stick to improving the air feed from the front . BTW Mr Bernoulli also makes carburettors work well . Peter.

[lynnx22]

Re: Interesting Engines in a Sportster

My air filter just pokes straight out the top lol.
I wonder if the ram air on the front face cancels out the suction on the rear face?
I don,t actually care much, the air slurping sound is AWEsome.

[kieran78]

Re: Interesting Engines in a Sportster

Old thread but maybe someone is watching...

I've heard it's a heck of a job modifying the Mazda mx5 2L mk 3/3.5 2009 engine to work in a kit car/sportster is this correct? I don't mind some playing about with components but budget is tight.

I believe the 1.8vvt engine is practically drag and drop.

Both to go on a 6-speed mx5 mk3.5 sport gearbox, assuming the gear stick isn't too far back in the tunnel...failing that mt75.

Any experience or knowledge to help a newbie out?

Kieran

[stevejgreen]

Re: Interesting Engines in a Sportster

Old thread but maybe someone is watching...

I've heard it's a heck of a job modifying the Mazda mx5 2L mk 3/3.5 2009 engine to work in a kit car/sportster is this correct? I don't mind some playing about with components but budget is tight.

I believe the 1.8vvt engine is practically drag and drop.

Both to go on a 6-speed mx5 mk3.5 sport gearbox, assuming the gear stick isn't too far back in the tunnel...failing that mt75.

Any experience or knowledge to help a newbie out?

Kieran

I always wanted to build a Toyota, preferably 3.0 straight six 2JZ powered kit, either with a 6 speed manual or a 4 speed auto. That could have been fun!

[kieran78]

Re: Interesting Engines in a Sportster

Change of plan...
Jaguar AJ30 3.0L V6 to either the Jag Getrag 221 manual box or a Mazda RX8 box.
If I'm going to have to IVA/SVA the engine swap, I may as well make it worthwhile!
I've found loads of links but has anyone done this/advice and most importantly, COST?

[jon_wilkinson]

Re: Interesting Engines in a Sportster

Have you seen the Rocketeer conversion for the MX5? Might be some parts that could be useful?

[billjackson54]

Re: Interesting Engines in a Sportster

Hi Kie Zetecran, welcome! My car runs the old i4 8 valve twin cam that Ford fitted to fuel injected Sierras post Pinto, pre Zetec so you'll probably find it a bit pedestrian for your taste...after some trouble getting it to run properly which a re-con cylinder head sorted out, it's OK for now. I had considered tne Jag V6 conversion with an auto box: this would enable more left foot room in the footwell as well as providing more than adequate power, with twin custom exhausts under each running board (assuming you have them). I believe the Jag motor is a Ford design anyway, but taken from a suitable S-Type, would at least have all the necessary for Rear Wheel drive? When I looked into this eBay was selling suitable engines for low hundreds....and donor-suitable complete S-type running cars were not much more, with all the extra bits one might need?
Good luck ...sounds interesting!

[kieran78]

Re: Interesting Engines in a Sportster

Hello and thanks!
Bought a 63k mileage v6 3.0 manual s-type for pennies (with mot) so no going back now! DAUNTING is word underused these days but adequately applies now!
I'm still working on the parts list to adapt it, with an aim to reuse as much as possible. I know the ECU will need to be replaced with an Emerald K6, undoubtedly a new loom, st220 inlet manifold thing on top of t engine (height reduction) and st220 sump to clear front anti roll bar. I believe I'll need to relocate the alternator, redo the fuel lines and a bunch of other stuff......

It's all just nuts and bolts at the end of the day, right?

[dcunn]

Re: Interesting Engines in a Sportster

Good luck - and enjoy the spannering !

Looking forward to your build diary on here

DC