Building a Race Car. The great engine debate.
Okay a friend of mine is building a race car.
He's starting with an S13 240SX chassis and is researching a powerplant and driveline for it.
We want to avoid cliche like the SR swap and to a lesser degree, the RB and LS1 swap.
Here are the potentials being debated:
1) Ford 302 (5.0 roller cam, efi)
2) Mazda MZR 2.3 DISI Turbo
3) Ford Cosworth YB
4) Nissan VH45DE
Each has their merrits, I'll list them as we understand them:
1) Ford 302
- Parts everywhere, cheap.
- Tons of power and torque
- Easily attainable transmissions (Anything from a T-45 to a T-56 works)
- Even with a T-56 only 15 pounds heavier than the KA24DE coming out of the 240
- V8 sound
- Almost no one has done it
- Durable
2) Mazda MZR DISI Turbo (my favorite)
- POWER
- Lightweight compared to other choices
- Hightly Upgradable and Tunable
- Accepts NC Miata transmissions (2006+)
- NEW(ish), the only engine still being used in a production vehicle
- Durable
- Unique. No one has done it, to my knowledge
3) Ford Cosworth YB
- POWER
- Lighter than the V8 options
- Highly respected, lots of development, lots of real race-ready parts
- Durable
- Unique. No one has done it, to my knowledge
4) Nissan VH45DE
- It's a freakin 4 cam V8.
- With some work, can easily do 350-400whp N/A
- Using an adapter, can work with the Z32 5 speed transmission
- V8 sound
- Rare, but not unheardof, so some adapter parts are available off the shelf.
- DURABLE, fully forged internals, real race-derived stuff built in, this is what the Super GT engines of the late 90's were based off of.
Okay now the negatives...
1) Ford 302
- Adds weight. Realistically probably around 30-40 pounds.
- The most custom work of any of the options (headers, exhaust, moving things reward for weight balance)
- It's an ancient, pushrod V8..
- Automatically puts you in any highest class if classed by displacement.
2) Mazda MZR DISI Turbo (my favorite)
- Not a Nissan engine...?
- Finding a harness and ECU a challenge.
- Uncharted territory mounting to a RWD tranny, some development needed
- There aren't tons of doner cars yet, but the car is still in production.
3) Ford Cosworth YB
- The only incarnation of this engine sold in the US was the SOHC engine in the SVO Mustang and Merkur.
- Pretty much have to buy an expensive crate motor
- All parts will be shipped from Europe
- Only transmission choices are the SVO/Merkur or really rare models from a specific trim of Ford Sierra sold in Europe for a handful of years.
- A simple break could cause weeks of downtime due to availability of parts.
4) Nissan VH45DE
- Weight, it's the heaviest of the options.
- Rarity, only used in Inifinity SUVs in the US for a handful of years.
- Glass ceiling on power since it isn't forced induction and there aren't any aftermarket engine parts to speak of.
- Finding an ECU/Harness will be difficult.
- Automatically puts you in any highest class if classed by displacement.
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Okay. So, what do you guys think? My friend is romanced by the Ford Cosworth YB motor because he reads too much speed hunters (seems like two thirds of their coverage is in Europe where these engines are common, and mostly used in FWD/AWD cars).
He knows how awesome the MZR Turbo is, as he used to have a MS3, which I now own, but is insisting the YB could be just as great..
Am I crazy? Is an MZR with a Miata 6 speed a terrible choice?
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