Engines that will fit in a moggie engine bay

[Aidensfieldpostie]

Hi can anyone tell me if its possible to fit a 2.9 granada engine into a minor if so is there much modifying needed to get it in there with the granada automatic box fitted aswell or is there a shorter ford gearbox that will match up to the engine please as we have seen this engine & box & are thinking of purchasing it but if it won't fit then there is no point in buying it . thanks

[chrisd87]

Not speaking from any experience of trying, but the Cologne v6 is a big old lump! I suspect fitting it to a Minor would involve a considerable amount of cutting, re-shaping of the bulkhead and lots of other work besides. As for the gearbox, if it doesn't fit then you could probably get a Ford type 9 box that'll mate up to the engine from a 2.8 v6 Capri.

To be honest, if you're determined to have 150bhp in a Minor (about what the Granada engine will give you), then the K-Series/Zetec route would give a far neater end result, less weight, lower fuel consumption and less butchery of the car. Obviously if you were to have this much power in a Minor from any engine, the front brakes and rear axle would have to be changed for items able to cope.

[Aidensfieldpostie]

Hi Chris, thanks for your advice ,I had thought the same myself but it just looked so tempting &very true what you said it is a fair lump of an engine ,I think k series or zetec like you say is going to be the route we have to go down cheers

[rayofleamington]

That's a big/heavy engine compared to some of the alternatives.

The K-series engine offers almost unbeatable power to weight, (lighter than an A-series and can take a good tune). Old-school modders were using Fiat/Alpha/Lancia RWD twin-cam engines (e.g. from Fiat Mirafiore), which can be used with their mating gearbox or even Ford type 9 5 speed. The Fiat stuff is getting rare due to lack of remaining donors.
Modern school would give you a wide choice, but best is to go with what is used in kit cars as there is a big supplier market supporting engine re-application e.g. Ford Zetec.
Depending on your budget you can get quite a lot 'off the shelf' for Minor upgrades.

For any auto box you are likely to have to do serious cut-n-shut work on the shell around the transmission tunnel.
If you're after 150+ horses then typical way to go would be scratch built chassis. The Minor shell can take a fair amount of torque if it's in good shape, and more if it's reinforced but it wasn't designed for 4000Nm prop torque.

[mrsnak]

I'd highly recommend the Nissan a14 motor and transmission. Don't know how easy these are to find in the uk