Porsche 928 engine

I think I love you guys. Thanks it may be coming together now:thumb:

[mylesdw]

Keep it up guys! It is always interesting to hear about people putting unusual engines into their Cobs. In this part of the world the Lexus engine is quite a common choice. I got chatting to a guy the other day with two of them in his jet boat. He reckoned they are SO much stronger and more reliable than a SBC!

[TonyD]

Originally Posted by mylesdw

Keep it up guys! It is always interesting to hear about people putting unusual engines into their Cobs. In this part of the world the Lexus engine is quite a common choice. I got chatting to a guy the other day with two of them in his jet boat. He reckoned they are SO much stronger and more reliable than a SBC!

It was looking at some Aussie Cobras ( to be more exact Ozvenom's Cobra) that got me thinking about the Lexus route. Hence now I have two Lexus V8's going into two AK kits in my garage, sharing space with the Beemer engined beast.

The Mrs thinks that one Cobra in the garage is acceptable, three is being just plain greedy !

I must say that now I've had them apart the Lexus engine is a delight to work on and the design and thought thats gone into it is first class........Now I just have to get at least one of the buggars built and SVA'd for the Le Mans Classic....

Cheers,

Tony:thumb:

[apearce]

Wouldnt it be great if there was an all alloy ohc engine which was robust, had simple electrics, didnt have to be imported, was available in plentiful supply for a few hundred quid, fitted easily into a dax chassis, mated with a proven 5 speed manual (also available for a few hundred quid), made 300bhp straight out of the box or 450 bhp with mild mods because (unlike detriot pig iron) it was designed for racing and revs to 7500rpm on standard lubrication.

OH yes, the jag V12. But then its not a V8. Its sort of inverted snobbery when you think about what engine you get in the flagship cars of BMW, Merc, Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Lamborghini (oh and Michael Shumacher's race car).

The bloke I bought my corvette engine from cant believe Im about to take out a v12, especially after he saw the dry tarmac donuts it can pull and the spine chilling noice on full chat (yes torque and noise are not the exclusive preserve of v8s) - i must be mad, pandering to fashion, oh well

cheers
Andy

[mylesdw]

Originally Posted by apearce

Wouldnt it be great if there was an all alloy ohc engine which was robust, had simple electrics, didnt have to be imported, was available in plentiful supply for a few hundred quid, fitted easily into a dax chassis, mated with a proven 5 speed manual (also available for a few hundred quid), made 300bhp straight out of the box or 450 bhp with mild mods because (unlike detriot pig iron) it was designed for racing and revs to 7500rpm on standard lubrication.

OH yes, the jag V12. But then its not a V8. Its sort of inverted snobbery when you think about what engine you get in the flagship cars of BMW, Merc, Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Lamborghini (oh and Michael Shumacher's race car).

The bloke I bought my corvette engine from cant believe Im about to take out a v12, especially after he saw the dry tarmac donuts it can pull and the spine chilling noice on full chat (yes torque and noise are not the exclusive preserve of v8s) - i must be mad, pandering to fashion, oh well

cheers
Andy

Yes, this anti V12 thing puzzles me too. When Dax brought it out, people saw it as 'the ultimate Cobra'. American V8s are very crude by comparison.

[Antony]

I reckon the sound of the Aston Martin DBR9 Le Mans car that ran on Top Gears race track 1.08minute lap, ie 10 seconds quicker than the Porsche Careera V10 620bhp car was absolutely fantastic, I assume that has a V12 in it.

The Jaguar V12 is a good engine but heavy and hard to make over 600bhp, I have a Ford alloy engine making 675bhp which is a detuned Nascar engine, this engine has a lot better quality parts to make it live compared to a factory type Yankie V8 engine, but I guess they have been around since the early 1960's so compared to modern engine technology which has gone all modular etc, the old SBC and SBF are antiquated, but I would have to say a V8 is more in keeping with the Cobra image!

[mikey]

Originally Posted by mylesdw

Keep it up guys! It is always interesting to hear about people putting unusual engines into their Cobs. In this part of the world the Lexus engine is quite a common choice. I got chatting to a guy the other day with two of them in his jet boat. He reckoned they are SO much stronger and more reliable than a SBC!

From what I have been told, I think you will find that the more modern engines rely on a greater Nickel content etc if cast to give them strength. This means they can be made lighter, but they dont design them necessarily to be stronger, they design them to fit the application. I think you will find that the Ford and Chevy small block units are over engineered but they are also very heavy. This means that you will probably have similar strength, but in a lighter set up. But if you want that you can go for the Dart and Mowtown Smallblock set up which can take awesome power in a racing application. Horses for courses really.

I think the main reaso people choose the Chevy smallblock is the ammount of power you can get for the cost.

By the way, just to let you know, the SBC was deemed to be one of the most reliable units ever built (Discovery Channel). Apparently they used to use the series 1 in the desert and they coped with sand etc where others broke down. They put much of this down to the oiling system which was revolutionary in its day.

I run a beemer with all the electronis wizadry, but from a gut feeling I think the SBC I have would be chuntering on long after the beemer is worn out. They are just bullit proof

Really do like the idea of a Porsche engine though - quite an engineering feat I would think.
Mike

[Robin427]

I've got an LS1 - the newer variant of the SBC... haven't blown it up yet!!

[mikey]

By pure coincidence the New Zealand Jet Sports Championship was on Motors TV yesterday, The leaders were all using Small Blocks ??

I'd luv a go at that though - nutters or what. 0-100 in 4 seconds.
Mike

[mylesdw]

Originally Posted by mikey

By pure coincidence the New Zealand Jet Sports Championship was on Motors TV yesterday, The leaders were all using Small Blocks ??
Mike

Definitely the engine of choice for the racers, aluminium blocks, Brodix heads etc are popular but like any race vehicle they only have to stay together for the duration of a race. The chap I was talking to was running a jet boat operation for tourists, running the boat hard several times a day 7 days a week during the season. It is VERY demanding on the engines since they spend long periods at or near maximum power which cars hardly ever do. His experience with the SBC was that the cranks break sooner or later in this application but that the Lexus engines just kept going.