Quote:
Originally Posted by Arragonis
Question - are you looking for lightest weight or best FE ? Or are you just wanting a bike engined Imp (deep respect  ) with some FE ? |
In answer:
As you you have implied, if ultimate FE was the only driver I wouldn't even be starting with an Imp
I would say, as the standard car can do 50+ mpg (UK) on run, -even with a progressive choke- I would have a hard time to get more than 20% better. It does suffer round town though, and this is where I think modern wizardry could play a part (ECU's, etc).
As is commonly known, (by those who care!) the Coventry Climax engine was pretty advanced at the time & it has been common to bolt-on injection & other improvements to the std block for quite some time. That said I do think, the money cost of 'modernising' is now greater than replacing with an modern equivalent. The trouble is that, even low-displacement car engines today are at least as heavy (+ have more grunt than is needed) than the original (A Toyota 1KR-FE 2007 onwards would be great but I can't afford one yet).
It's for these reasons that I have reckoned that a torqued Bike engine (of 750+ from the early 2000s) would be the best compromise. And I just like the concept of using Boxer and perhaps experimenting with it (ECU maps, cam-mods, etc) down the line.