Moddified Engine On Ebay

[driversdomainuk 8]

Hi Guys

 

Seen this engine on eBay

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280687264889&category=10376&_trksid=p5197.c0.m619

 

How much would you think it is worth?

 

Still on £1k reserve, with 2 days to go......Spoke to chap and I am seeing the car in action tomorrow...But he said he is looking for £3,800 for it...

 

Its is making around 230bhp, but has done 100 hrs comp use....

 

thanks

Rob

[Mikey S 29 1 Cars]

no more than the start bid without bullet proof dyno readings. certainly not 3.8k!!

 

ask yourself this, if it was so powerful was isnt it using throttle bodies? surely bodies could squeeze more power out than carbs and its not like he hasnt spent the money on the engine, apparently...

Edited June 3, 2011 by Mikey S

[driversdomainuk 8]

no more than the start bid without bullet proof dyno readings. certainly not 3.8k!!

 

 

I know! you can buy a BMW M3 engine with 20k on clock for that much!

[Anthony 1,003]

Impossible to say frankly given the vague details given in the advert.

 

100 hours of having the nuts thrashed off it continously at the sort of revs needed for ~230hp would probably mean that it's due a partial rebuild as well.

 

I'd argue that without a stack of paperwork to backup exactly what the engine is it's possibly not even worth the starting price....

[driversdomainuk 8]

Impossible to say frankly given the vague details given in the advert.

 

100 hours of having the nuts thrashed off it continously at the sort of revs needed for ~230hp would probably mean that it's due a partial rebuild as well.

 

I'd argue that without a stack of paperwork to backup exactly what the engine is it's possibly not even worth the starting price....

 

Well I am going to interrigate him tomorrow with my friend who is an expert engine builder...so he should be able to fire a good few questions at him...

[Eliganza 2]

I'd never buy something that expensive from someone who can't be bothered to use correct spelling and grammar in their ad.

[kyepan 291]

there was a 1.9 Mi engine that was 230-40bhp on ebay a couple of years ago used for autograssing. i phoned the chap up he was a good chap..

 

It was the real deal, solid lifters, reving to 9k or something silly... and by the looks of the advert, it may be the same one. I think it went for 900 in the end.. ask how long he has had it..

 

he said it would need a partial rebuild, including liners, which at the RPM needed to produce that power, eventually ovaled.. Similar to the original s2000 engines, that also suffered from ovaling, hence the dropping of the rev limit.

 

so.. to clarify, if it was the same engine, it was due a rebuild then, and factor in liners.

 

Ps i have been led to believe it is possible to get as much peak power out of carbs, as you can out of bodies.. some times more.

[driversdomainuk 8]

there was a 1.9 Mi engine that was 230-40bhp on ebay a couple of years ago used for autograssing. i phoned the chap up he was a good chap..

 

It was the real deal, solid lifters, reving to 9k or something silly... and by the looks of the advert, it may be the same one. I think it went for 900 in the end.. ask how long he has had it..

 

he said it would need a partial rebuild, including liners, which at the RPM needed to produce that power, eventually ovaled.. Similar to the original s2000 engines, that also suffered from ovaling, hence the dropping of the rev limit.

 

so.. to clarify, if it was the same engine, it was due a rebuild then, and factor in liners.

 

Ps i have been led to believe it is possible to get as much peak power out of carbs, as you can out of bodies.. some times more.

 

It sounds like he has "built" then engine himself.....he says he has fitted new liners also..

[kyepan 291]

i can't remember who built it, whether it was the chap on the phone... no .. the guy who sold it, gave me the number of the chap who built it.. it wasn't in a 205. still sounds like the same engine. Perhaps he kept it, put new liners in.

 

if you ask him who built it and he gives you the number of the chap, call him up..

[rallysteve 22]

wow, runs an aqua sump, cant be very good for lubrication

[Baz 421]

Anthony makes sense.

 

And unfortunately Eliganza, although i'd usually agree with you, unfortunately half the population seem to lack literacy so you're only cutting your nose off to spite your face with that attitude these days.

 

 

ask yourself this, if it was so powerful was isnt it using throttle bodies? surely bodies could squeeze more power out than carbs and its not like he hasnt spent the money on the engine, apparently...

 

Why? This isn't necessarily true at all, with a decent ignition map and massive cams it doesn't matter where the air and fuel is coming from at 7.5k.

 

Bodies are just more capable of making an engine more tractable & progressive throughout the rev-range, they have less limiting/difficult factors but carbs when set up well (which is half the battle) can be just as good for power.

[kyepan 291]

remember also, that something that the extra power is probably more due to sky high revs in this particular example.

 

 

the engine builder, when i spoke to him originally said the auto grass engines have a hard life, they get bounced up and down very hard at high revs... he muttered something about imagine the stress placed on the crank.. when i told him it was going in a road car he said something along the lines of it was a full on race engine, and would need management.. etc. He wasn't trying to put me off so much as educate me on what i was actually buying.

 

300 degree cams are very very long duration for a road car, i doubt you would have much tractable power under perhaps 4000 rpm..

 

anyway, i'm repeating myself.. so i've said enough.

 

J

[harryskid 193]

Not worth that sort of money, looks a bit suspect to me

[petert 588]

If it has an "all steel" bottom end it's worth it. That usually implies steel crank and billet rods. You'd want to take the sump off before buying.

[omega 82]

as a x grass track racer that engine will have been used hard with lots of revs as thats whats grass raceing is all about.it will have been used mostly in 2nd gear at max revs as most tracks are short.also if its been raced at muddy /sticky tracks it will have been working even harder.

be carefull

i think its a lot of money for a" suspect" engine.

[Rippthrough 98]

^^What he said.

It probably is a fair spec, most grasstracker engines are pretty far from standard these days, but I've a few close mates who race up front and they rebuilt engines every 6 months...

[driversdomainuk 8]

^^What he said.

It probably is a fair spec, most grasstracker engines are pretty far from standard these days, but I've a few close mates who race up front and they rebuilt engines every 6 months...

 

Well I went to the autograss event - was great to watch. Had a look at the engine, but decided NOT to buy..think I will just work on getting mine sorted sometime in the near future...