Performance Engine & my new car

[Martin Gutkowski <webmaster@xxxx>]

Hello peeps

As some are now aware - I've slapped a deposit down on that D in Germany 
that was posted on this list a week or two back. I go to collect it next 
weekend, and barring any really nasty surprises will be bringing it back 
here in order to fit a new engine, seats and whatever else it needs to 
restore it to MOTable condition.

Interestingly, because the engine is a write-off, and because the turbo 
system that wrote it off has been removed, I am starting with a blank 
sheet with regards the engine and exhaust.

In working on #2727 (the twin-turbo belinging to Richard Johnstone), we 
found a guy in Manchester, very close to Dave actually, who knows the 
PRV very well. I asked him if he could help find me one and he asked for 
some photos of the DMC PRV so he could work out what version it was. I 
spoke to him earlier and this is what he said: The sandwich plate on 
which the block mounts is the same as the Renault 25, but the internals 
and the heads are all Volvo, but the pulleys are Renault. You can't take 
the sandwich plate off one engine and swap to another, so he'd have to 
build me an engine, taking a 2.7 block and replacing the pistons, 
liners, crankshaft and heads from a Volvo. Because all the components 
are readily available, the cost would not be too much (under a grand) - 
and I'd have basically a new engine.

I then asked him about building a bit more performance into it, and he 
started to get quite excited. With the K-Jet system off a volvo, new 
cams, gas flowed heads, lightened and balanced flywheel and a 
free-flowing exhaust (there's a nice coincidence!), we're looking at up 
to 230 hp. This is not just an estimate - he has done this before on a 
normall aspirated PRV for use in a kit car, and because we're starting 
with an engine that needs building in the first place, the cost "should 
not be a lot more than for building a stock engine". He's getting back 
to me next week with pricing, and that of course will affect my 
decision. I made it clear and he agreed that the engine should not look 
different from the stock one - the only noticable change would be the 
lack of Lambda system and therefore the frequency valve. I also stressed 
that as I'm planning on fixing this car up for sale, it would have to be 
reliable, and he basically said "it'd be like a new engine", and we all 
know these lumps are pretty solid!

Just thought I'd see what you thought.

Martin
#1458 & #4426