cush wrote:
Blokeinamoke wrote:
Lotus Twin Cam - which is Ford Kent block. I think they bolt onto a Mini gearbox
About 160 horses at the flywheel - interesting
Not a very cheap option - silly prices for those engines at the moment
good for novelty value
but 4efte would make a better bang for buck option..
Very true Cush. My Kent engine was in my Minor (conversion done circa 1978). I wanted more power (easily achieved - it was tuned enough to run on only three cylinders!), so I contacted some small Ford guys (hard to find in Oz!). They were talking Cooper S money for the engine built with a twin cam head... So my Minor's turning Japanese instead.
So... You'd probably get two Starlet/Suzuki conversions (which would go harder and be more reliable) done for the same price as a Lotus conversion.
That said, back in the day, a Kent conversion - even without the twin cam head - would've been an interesting thing. Every Kent over 1100cc had 5 bearing cranks, and they were all very oversquare. Can't remember for sure whether or not they were all crossflow - I think anything called Kent
should be, with the early ones seemingly aren't called Kents, even though they're the same basic engine. Not sure. Then they became Pinto and CVH and Cosworth engines, then degenerated back to power the Ford Ka. They got some good power out of them back in the 60's and 70's though...
