Engine upgrades
Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 9:24 pm
I haven?t posted here for a while but thought I?d share my latest Elan upgrades with you. As purchased, my Elan had inappropriate cams for the road ? good top end but at the sacrifice of bottom and mid-range torque ? performance that I have never been happy with. I had them checked at Clive Cams here in Melbourne and they measure up like L1/L2 with low lift of 0.352?, which explained the performance.
I?ve been collecting parts to rebuild the engine to 1700cc spec with a 711M crank etc?. to make a punchy and torquey road engine just like I have in my Cortina. I?ve collected most things needed but I?ve also collected a couple of small children along the way so now with limited time and redirected funds that project is on hold. I did however decide to progress with some interim upgrades, those being;
- New cams
- 2? exhaust
- Pertronix ignition
I undertook each upgrade one at time to fully appreciate the change each one made.
First step ? the cams. I took a spare set of cams to Clive Cams in Melbourne to be reprofiled and had what is commonly known here in Australia as a Wade 205 grind, 70/30-30/70 with 0.375 lift. Installed with new followers and shims I now have a much better road engine. Bottom and mid-range torque and response is much better.
Next up was the exhaust. My car has what appears to be a standard sprint exhaust. I decided to upgrade the main central pipe to 2? first. $50 later I had the pipe with O2 socket and modified collector. Again, success, with further improvements in torque. I?ll do the muffler next. I?m thinking the Tony Thompson fast road version.
Third up was the Pertronix ignition. I had tried this before but it actually made the engine worse. However now, with the new cams and exhaust it works great.
So, success on all fronts. A bonus is the upgrades have helped the carburetion. I have Dellortos that have always had an off idle stumble regardless of jetting. I am happy to report that this stumble has pretty well disappeared and the low speed running is a lot nicer as is the idle. I figure that the old combination of cams and exhaust just didn?t work well together or maybe they also needed a bigger exhaust to work properly. Either way they would not produce the torque the 205?s do.
Next on the list will be the muffler and another distributor that is in better condition than the one currently in use. I also have some Webers that I may try using some of Keith Franks Hypo jets and tubes.
Finally I?ll rebuild the lot to 1700cc spec and if my Cortina is a bench mark then the Elan will be a real flyer once completed. I look forward to this stage.
I?ve been collecting parts to rebuild the engine to 1700cc spec with a 711M crank etc?. to make a punchy and torquey road engine just like I have in my Cortina. I?ve collected most things needed but I?ve also collected a couple of small children along the way so now with limited time and redirected funds that project is on hold. I did however decide to progress with some interim upgrades, those being;
- New cams
- 2? exhaust
- Pertronix ignition
I undertook each upgrade one at time to fully appreciate the change each one made.
First step ? the cams. I took a spare set of cams to Clive Cams in Melbourne to be reprofiled and had what is commonly known here in Australia as a Wade 205 grind, 70/30-30/70 with 0.375 lift. Installed with new followers and shims I now have a much better road engine. Bottom and mid-range torque and response is much better.
Next up was the exhaust. My car has what appears to be a standard sprint exhaust. I decided to upgrade the main central pipe to 2? first. $50 later I had the pipe with O2 socket and modified collector. Again, success, with further improvements in torque. I?ll do the muffler next. I?m thinking the Tony Thompson fast road version.
Third up was the Pertronix ignition. I had tried this before but it actually made the engine worse. However now, with the new cams and exhaust it works great.
So, success on all fronts. A bonus is the upgrades have helped the carburetion. I have Dellortos that have always had an off idle stumble regardless of jetting. I am happy to report that this stumble has pretty well disappeared and the low speed running is a lot nicer as is the idle. I figure that the old combination of cams and exhaust just didn?t work well together or maybe they also needed a bigger exhaust to work properly. Either way they would not produce the torque the 205?s do.
Next on the list will be the muffler and another distributor that is in better condition than the one currently in use. I also have some Webers that I may try using some of Keith Franks Hypo jets and tubes.
Finally I?ll rebuild the lot to 1700cc spec and if my Cortina is a bench mark then the Elan will be a real flyer once completed. I look forward to this stage.