Firstly, some background. Earlier this year I had plans to change the engine in my kit car. It had a 2 litre pinto engine in it with twin 45 webers. I guess it was putting out about 140BHP (lightened flywheel, uprated cam, twin carbs). It was pretty fast then, 650kg (0-60 in 5 seconds) but I just wanted something with moar power. Pics before the engine change:
So then I was wondering what engine to replace it with. I wanted something a bit more modern (injection) with more power in standard form. I looked at all sorts from duratec, zetec, 4AG to jaguar V12
rofl
but in the end after years of Dave (volvorsport*) posting about Volvo engines (on the kit car forum I'm on) I thought I'd have a look into them 
It needed to be manual so I found an M90 gbox and decided on the straight six B6304 from an 960. I've always wanted a straight six and someone had already put a 5 pot in an MK Indy.
*thanks for all the help!
Old engine, GTFO:
I had to widen the transmission tunnel area a little to accomodate the M90. This meant losing an inch on the driver side (not too bad) and a few inches on the passenger side)
I spent ages cleaning up the engine, then I welded up some engine mounts and put the engine & gbox in:
I then set to work on the electrics etc. I was having some real problems getting the engine to turn over/start so that engine is out of the car for a rebuild and I'm using another engine in the car at the moment to get it all up and running (found one locally with a 3 month guarantee, cheap and plentiful engines!)
Bodywork: The se7en type car isn't good aerodynamically and I wanted something I could use year round. I looked around on ebay for about a month and found a Lotus Elan fibreglass body so I sniped it (having looked into wheelbase measurements etc)
I love open top cars too much to keep the roof on so I chopped it off. I'm going to have a removable hardtop for the rain/winter and take it off when the weather is good. (can't wait to take it round the alps)
Messing around with shapes/ideas for bodywork:
(I also fibreglassed up the old flip up headlights as I hate the shape)
All this was months back, now I've got the engine running with megasquirt. Now I have to tidy up the electrics, get an exhaust made and sort the bodywork out! It's been a lot harder than the original engine setup, that was so simple with carbs, dizzy, coil etc. This time I've had to do loads of fabrication (engine mounts, gbox mount, inlet plenum, radiator mounts, modify the tunnel, alternator mounting etc) but i've learned loads along the way. Can't wait to get it all finished now.
Today and yesterday I filmed the first engine starts and a quick drive around the driveway (including me stalling
)
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So then I was wondering what engine to replace it with. I wanted something a bit more modern (injection) with more power in standard form. I looked at all sorts from duratec, zetec, 4AG to jaguar V12
rofl but in the end after years of Dave (volvorsport*) posting about Volvo engines (on the kit car forum I'm on) I thought I'd have a look into them It needed to be manual so I found an M90 gbox and decided on the straight six B6304 from an 960. I've always wanted a straight six and someone had already put a 5 pot in an MK Indy.*thanks for all the help!
Old engine, GTFO:
I had to widen the transmission tunnel area a little to accomodate the M90. This meant losing an inch on the driver side (not too bad) and a few inches on the passenger side)
I spent ages cleaning up the engine, then I welded up some engine mounts and put the engine & gbox in:
I then set to work on the electrics etc. I was having some real problems getting the engine to turn over/start so that engine is out of the car for a rebuild and I'm using another engine in the car at the moment to get it all up and running (found one locally with a 3 month guarantee, cheap and plentiful engines!)
Bodywork: The se7en type car isn't good aerodynamically and I wanted something I could use year round. I looked around on ebay for about a month and found a Lotus Elan fibreglass body so I sniped it (having looked into wheelbase measurements etc)
I love open top cars too much to keep the roof on so I chopped it off. I'm going to have a removable hardtop for the rain/winter and take it off when the weather is good. (can't wait to take it round the alps)
Messing around with shapes/ideas for bodywork:
(I also fibreglassed up the old flip up headlights as I hate the shape)
All this was months back, now I've got the engine running with megasquirt. Now I have to tidy up the electrics, get an exhaust made and sort the bodywork out! It's been a lot harder than the original engine setup, that was so simple with carbs, dizzy, coil etc. This time I've had to do loads of fabrication (engine mounts, gbox mount, inlet plenum, radiator mounts, modify the tunnel, alternator mounting etc) but i've learned loads along the way. Can't wait to get it all finished now.
Today and yesterday I filmed the first engine starts and a quick drive around the driveway (including me stalling
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This is so awesome. That thing is gonna haul ass.
