Duratec engine upgrades

[SonicHedgeHog]

Has anyone fitted an upgraded Ford Duratec engine into their MK3 MX5? Cosworth will supply anything up to a 2.3litre 280bhp engine in a crate ready for installation. That's a bit much for what I'm planning, but 225bhp would be about perfect. Specifically I'm wondering about the strength of the standard Mazda gearbox and whether a brand new engine makes more sense than upgrading all the internals of the existing engine.

[TheJimi]

Dunno, but I dread to think what a crate engine from Cosworth would cost

[SonicHedgeHog]

It's all relative really. A proper supercharged/turbocharged conversion will set you back several grand. A 225 NA direct replacement for the existing engine would be about the same. The 280bhp is a whole different kettle of fish and, I believe, is well into 5 figures.

Another way to look at it is buy a used car for well under 10 grand, spend another 10 on engine (maybe gearbox) and some nice Recaros and you have a much more interesting car for the same price as a standard new one.

[MX-5 Lazza]

What would the power delivery from a 280bhp na tuned 2.0L be like though? Traditionally, highly tuned na engines tend to have loads of power at high revs but very little torque and are a real pain to drive anything other than flat out.

[g40steve]

Look on nutz several of us are playing wih the mk3's etc.

[SonicHedgeHog]

MX-5 Lazza said:

What would the power delivery from a 280bhp na tuned 2.0L be like though? Traditionally, highly tuned na engines tend to have loads of power at high revs but very little torque and are a real pain to drive anything other than flat out.

It's basically the same engine they use in the top of the range Caterham. I agree it's not really ideal for purely road use, but the 225 engine should be a nice balance between performance, thrashability and drivability. Hopefully this engine can turn the MX5 into the kind of car the S2000 always should have been.

[SonicHedgeHog]

g40steve said:

Look on nutz several of us are playing wih the mk3's etc.

Wilco. Cheers.

[MX-5 Lazza]

SonicHedgeHog said:

MX-5 Lazza said:

What would the power delivery from a 280bhp na tuned 2.0L be like though? Traditionally, highly tuned na engines tend to have loads of power at high revs but very little torque and are a real pain to drive anything other than flat out.

It's basically the same engine they use in the top of the range Caterham. I agree it's not really ideal for purely road use, but the 225 engine should be a nice balance between performance, thrashability and drivability. Hopefully this engine can turn the MX5 into the kind of car the S2000 always should have been.

A few years ago I drove a Westfield 2000S (basically a Caterham R500 wanabee). I think it had something like 250bhp from a Dunnell-tuned 2L Duratec. To be fair to it, at low/mid revs it drove fine, just not that rapid and the idle and low speed drive was fine. Over about 5k though it was a blur! That car is half the weight of an MX5 though so hard to say how it would feel in that chassis.

[SonicHedgeHog]

Right.....I've found a price list. Nothing to see here. Move along please. Nothing to see here. :S

[TheJimi]

Told you!

[Mr. Potato Head]

SonicHedgeHog said:

Right.....I've found a price list.

I could do with a laugh. Go on, post some prices.

[SonicHedgeHog]

Mr. Potato Head said:

I could do with a laugh. Go on, post some prices.

2 litre 225bhp £9124
2.3 litre 280bhp £11700

That does include free delivery though!

[Genie Chaser]

Christ ! That's a serious amount of cash. Always wondered why they never stuck the rotary in the mx5 ??

[Podie]

SonicHedgeHog said:

Mr. Potato Head said:

I could do with a laugh. Go on, post some prices.

2 litre 225bhp £9124
2.3 litre 280bhp £11700

That does include free delivery though!

Gotta be the 2.3.

[Munter]

SonicHedgeHog said:

Mr. Potato Head said:

I could do with a laugh. Go on, post some prices.

2 litre 225bhp £9124
2.3 litre 280bhp £11700

That does include free delivery though!

They might do discount for bulk. Order 10 and get the price down....

[TheJimi]

I realise I'm not comparing like for like here, but see my OP in this thread -

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

If you're seriously considering spending upwards of 10 grand on an engine to put in a MX5, I'd say that you should give some equally serious consideration to something like the car in my OP in the thread above, or a 7 style car.

I was seriously considering supercharging mine (1.8 Mk2) but I just don't see the point now.

Sorry, bit of a ramble and nowt to do with the thread

[SonicHedgeHog]

I never considered spending ten grand on the engine, but I would have been tempted if the price was £5000, especially given it should be an easy swap.

Plan B is to see if Jota are going to offer their kit and if not, how much would the individual components cost. It can't be THAT expensive to get 200bhp out of a modern 2 litre without forced induction...surely?

[TheJimi]

It's always expensive to get decent power & torque hikes from NA engines (without converting to FI) to the point where, most of the time I wouldn't even bother if it was for a road car. It's generally a lot of money for relatively little gain.

[g40steve]

You can choose any two from the three.

Fast, Cheap, Reliable

Your choice.

I recon in the region of 5 to 7K for 200+ bhp from a mk3.

Boy do they supprise people with 180

[SonicHedgeHog]

g40steve said:

You can choose any two from the three.

Fast, Cheap, Reliable

Your choice.

I recon in the region of 5 to 7K for 200+ bhp from a mk3.

Boy do they supprise people with 180

Have done a bit a reading I won't argue with those numbers. However, I can't believe how unreceptive to tuning this engine is. Mountune offer a very professional conversion for the Ford 2 litre in the old Fiesta ST150 that takes it up to 200 bhp for a quarter of those prices. It really is shocking that the Mazda lump is expensive. Makes me wonder if someone is making a lot of money.