170 replies to this topic

[Lotus man]

Hiya Mike. I didn't do anything to the cylinder head whatsover with the 420 cam swap. To be honest and as you know the porting is indeed quite tidy on the VX anyway. I don't know whether Caterham "tickled" it before sale but I doubt it.........it was just nice and smooth and looked right. I did however have to match the inlet which ludicrously although a Caterham manufactured part was full of flash/humps/and valleys.terrible. The blending in of this item helped no end.

I've just had my current head worked on by a good VX guy at his machine shop. He is an advocate of not going massive on the porting side of the VX......a view many others hold.

The biggest and again not overly expensive change I made which made a huge difference was to fit a lighter steel flywheel. This made the car rev like a bike engine (or it felt like anyway) and I've got the same on current car......what a difference to the standard overweight lump.

As I said before the biggest restriction on my application is the induction dog leg. You get yours delivering the goods via a straight inlet and coupled with the economic route of the 420H cams you'll be more than happy......with the lightened flywheel you'll be ecstatic!!!!! In a mini this motor will pull it along like a Jet Fighter on re heat.

Problem is then Mike although your car will be brutal don't go driving someone elses who's gone the 450 solid route with forged pistons, big valve head etc. or you'll fall into the same trap as I did.......................you'll then have the "ministry of war" on your back the way I also did ..........she's forgiven me now though!!!!!!!!!!!

Looking forward to seeing your decisions on the spec. I'm sure you'll get it right!

Cheers,
Kenny

[RacingGreen]

Well after a while away from the mini over the new year and contemplating selling it. I finally decided to get off my ar$e and do something.

No pictures, but ive cut out the rear arches ready for the turrets to be welded in (waiting on my dad to be quieter at work so he can do the welding) and i started pricing up some of the bits i need for rebuilding the engine.

The part that surprised me the most, was the cost of rebuilding the oil pump. For 2 uprated gears and a pressure relief valve it totalled £196. The full set of arp bolts i need is only a little more than that.

[HARBER07]

Have you thought about using a Z20LET pump and modified pipe Mike? I didn't realize it was that much myself to be honest!!

[RacingGreen]

Hmm, i hadn't no, but i will now. Thanks Tom.

What exactly needs to be done to the oil pickup?

[HARBER07]

Basically the XE pipe needs to be welded to the Z20LET flange which bolts onto the pump. There was someone on MIG doing a converted pipe for £100 (which is a well steep IMO, but its 100% proven to work). I bet you could get it done loads cheaper though if you sourced both pipes and got them welded yourself.

[RacingGreen]

Thanks for that tom. Il see if i can find a pickup pipe as i should be able to get it welded up myself. It just depends on how much it is, because i dont think the Z20LET pump is cheap either, but i havent found a price for that yet.

Did find a guy wanting £325 for a pump and pipe though.