mx5cartalk.com

Anyone ever seen one
I recon it would be a good conversion, small alloy.
But I'm new to mx5s so it may have been done and I missed it.
Any comments?

olboy

yeah i remember seeing something about this being done in the UK. can't remember where i saw it tho.

very pointless - only do it for noise. you want 3.5l do a nissan v6 conversion. should be able to get 400hp with not too much trouble. not to mention it will be more reliable and fuel efficient.

is that the VG30 arn't they cast iron and double overhead cam, too heavy too wide too expensive?
I just thought the rover might be cheep exersize

olboy wrote:is that the VG30 arn't they cast iron and double overhead cam, too heavy too wide too expensive?
I just thought the rover might be cheep exersize

you must have seen that recent episode of top gear which featured the 3.5 V8!

it's probably a cheap engine to source, but the total conversion exercise into an mx5 won't be cheap.

Do a search on 'v8' on the forum and you will see the discussions. No engine conversion is cheap, nor easy in a 5 (even converting a 1.6 to a 1.8!).
Rover v8 is an old motor. Legally you will need the newer version as the motor cannot be older than the car. Leads us to Lexus v8...

yeh i sorta thought that if an LS motor fits then a 3.5 rover would fall in but it seems that the rover motor is about the same size anyway.

not the vg 30. its the vq35hr which is all alloy. here are all the vq engines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_VQ_engine#VQ35HR

Just bolt in an SE Turbo engine from a 2004/5 model and make your life an easy one.