Maki

Is it leagal in UK to put another more powerful engine into the car?
I see many conversions f.e. MKI escorts with cossie engines and so on.... So is it leagal?
In my home country we can't put the engine in if it has more then 30% more power then standard engine fitted into that car
Does anyone know the route how they do it in UK...and whats the problem with Insurance, MOT and so on?

Thanks

SafeChav

Well obviously you are meant to decalre it to your insurance company.

But there is no restriction on how much we can tune our cars as far as im aware, as long as it passes an MOT its all good

Maki

What about MOT? f.e. we can't even put aftermarket exhaust systems here. It has to be standard as hell

tabetha

As safechav says so long as it passes MOT you can have as many mods as much power as you want, but obviously insurance will go up depending on what you do.
You can even make your own car, so long as it passes SVA if needed then it is legal, that's why we can have road legal skips, sheds speedboats, settee etc!!
tabeth

Maki

But does it have to have sertificates for all the mods like in Germany?

Strange that it is different way in UK as it is the same EU

SafeChav

No certificates for modificatios no

As Tabetha says even if you build your own car it goes in for a routine safety test and then you can use it on road, sounds like there is a lot of restrictions where you are, but in all honestly its probably a safer place to drive a car than here!

Maki

I saw this "car is born" thing ... so I know what you are talking about
Here you can make your own car too, but then you’ll have to go through something like your SVA and it will be registered as "self made vehicle" but there you will have to have all the drawings with formulas and so on ...
Anyway safechave is right about safer place, but as I like doing things I hate this system
Our regulations are short. Only few points.
1. you can't put in engine which has more then 30% of power
2. you can't put in engine which has more then 30% of capacity
3. you can not put diesel engine instead of petrol one and vice versa
4. you can't make any changes in engine mounting points (so there is no legal way to put an engine into the back of escort)
and during MOT everything has to be standard like it came from factory. No bumper cut outs, no drilled brake discs, no free flow exhausts, breathers etc. That's the sad place we live at.
I failed mot week ago... so now I'm changing thing's like bumper, breather, exhaust (and it's impossible to get standard muffler for the RS here )... luck they didn't notice my spacers on the front brakes But that's the sad story anyway .... I couldn't have legal MKI or MKII escort with ZVH in it here

SafeChav

You have to produce vehicle diagrams and formulas

That is very strict ruling you have but as i say the roads will be a lot safer than they are here, with all our rude boys driving their Nova 1.4 SR's with nova dose body kits etc

Maki

I uderstand what you say, but still...

SafeChav

I dont think it will be too long before the rules get tighter over here to be honest..........they seem to of clamped down on every other aspect of motoring, so i dont hold my hopes high.

One question though, how do they check the capacity of your engine and the power output?

Maki

You see you could tune your fiesta 1.1 to 1000 BHP as long as it's engine stays original...they only look at the engine number...they never measure things like BHP or capacity...

SafeChav

But you said you couldn't have an engine which has more than 30% more of its original power

1.1 fiesta, 1000bhp

If only

Maki

On the paper

If you have escort with 1.6i in it you can't put 1.6 RST engine in it as the power in documents will be higher by more then 30% ... 1.6i has 90BHP, RST has 132 BHP.... this 1.6i could be upgraded only up to 117 BHP (30% from 90 BHP is 27... 90+27=117) got it? The same with capasity... you can't put 2.0 instead of 1.6...

P.S. but you could upgrade XR3i as it has 105 BHP to RST engine (105*30%=31.5.... 105+31.5= 136.5) And nobody cares that 1.3 MK4 escort and RST has identical shells

SafeChav

A 1.6i engine is an XR3i engine though They are all 105bhp

I understand the theory now though, i thought you meant they tested the cars power output at first

Maki

Nope my cab had 1.6i which wasn't xr3i and had only 90 BHP... maybe only europe had them I don't know... but that doesn't matter I'm glad you understood the situation with the regulations here

P.S. do they check exhaust loudnes at you MOT stations? I know they do it on the SVA tests but what about MOT?

SafeChav

Thats interesting! Was it on K Jetronic? I thought all the K jet engines were 105bhp

Ummmmmmm, well the ruling as it goes it the exhaust system isnt allowed to have a lesser number of silencers than a standard exhaust but its not something thats strictly adhered to, many people have straight through exhausts on their cars. They dont do any tests for loudness or anything.

SafeChav

Just looked in my Ford Orion sales brouchure and the injected models are 105ps so i cant see a fuel injected cabriolet being any less

tabetha

The only thing in the MOT manual about noise is that the car(on test) "must not emit a noise louder than that which would be expected from a similar car".
So in essence they can fail any car that is louder than standard, ie different louder back box etc, but fortunately they are mostly very good about this and if it does not make them deaf they will be ok.
tabetha

SafeChav

Half of the UK's testers must be deaf lol

NUTS RuS

iTrader: (35)

Not all of them Woof Woof

frog

Most of the european countries have very stringent rules on modifications, it seems the UK is one of the few left where anything goes.

I know that the french are very strict, just like the belgians and germans.

There are some good sides to being in the UK, despite what everyone says

Alex_86

iTrader: (2)

in norway u could tune every car before 1996..1997 this year, as much as u whant, to the skys,

cars after that,u pay pr bhp

SafeChav

Please do tell me more because i really wasnt aware of this!

So your saying there are K jetronic CVH's that only kick out 90bhp?

A twin weber XR2 engine does that doesnt it?

JesseT

Pretty much the same in Finland. Max +20% in power from the most powerfull in the model range. So legally 158hp for the RST

As if...

Also one shouldn't tinker with anything newer than 1992 because of the emissions regulations. That's why all "hobby" cars are old classics.

Alex_86

iTrader: (2)

wow, did u know that? its stands in the Haynes manual too

well, not sure if u got this in the uk. but its European model so do believe it is so

the mk4 with k-jet is:
1.6i
and the
xr3i mod

the 1.6i is 90hp engine

the xr3i is a "gti" killer, was suppose to be that with its 105hp.

the cvh also did get in the mk4 with ke-jet and 90hp, no it was not only in the s1/s2, but suppose u know that

i am not in fiestas, but think it have 90hp??

but the orion.. that was released the same time as the escort mk4, did have the xr3i engine in (the orion 1.6i) and was cheaper to have insurance on

SafeChav

but.....WHAT is the difference between the 90 % 105bhp K jets?

Mk1 orions came out in 94, so not the same time as a Mk4

my Mk1 1985 orion is 105bhp

Alex_86

iTrader: (2)

it is 15bhp

really dont know the answer there, usually its YOU that provides them.
but a better head, and higher comp i do believe.

dont know the orion, but if the mk1 orions came out in 94... how can u have 1 from 1985

NUTS RuS

iTrader: (35)

Sounds like a right rocket ship

Bet you have trouble controlling that beast

scottiemous

That is true for now.

But now that they want to bring us into line with the EU over how often we

have an MOT, it might not be long after that they change our rules on

what we can change on our cars.

SafeChav

Alex_86 that was meant to say 84

oh and HA FUCKING HA for working out it was 15bhp

NUTS RuS answer my question you coont

tabetha

MK1 XR2 was 84bhp, MK2 XR2 was 96, same as XR3.
Lower powered version had different ignition curves, CR, and cams, but heads were the same, CR diff was pistons.
tabetha

JesseT

Just to be annoying, the 90hp 1.6i is not a K-jetronic, it's a KE-jetronic system.

Alex_86

iTrader: (2)

it came in both.

ke-jet and k-ket

ke-jet came out in 88/89

SafeChav

wtf have i started here im getting more confused with every reply now

So theres:

a 90bhp K jet
a 90bhp KE jet
a 105bhp K jet

tabetha i know the XR3's were 96bhp but they are carbed, im talking about injection engines.

Alex_86

iTrader: (2)

yes!

90bhp ke-jet




xr3i (its a cab though, only pic i had at the moment, but same engine as the xr3i)



dont have a pic of the 1.6i at the moment

SafeChav

But they are both K jet

The top one isn't KE

Alex_86

iTrader: (2)

nope, have a closer look behind the heating ding











and no, my cabby does not have those

SafeChav

i see what you mean now.

I always wondered what the outlets on the K jetronic metering head were for!

So thats 90bhp? Whats the benefit of having it on KE then?

Alex_86

iTrader: (2)

yes, that is 90bhp. dont know the benefits, what is the benefits on a rst with ke-jet?
do belive it is better fuel economy and things like that

SafeChav

To me it sounds like theyve added KE and LOST 15bhp pmsl

KE is used on RST's to achieve additional fuel enrichment when the boost comes in etc, i really can't see the logic in Ford using KE on a normally aspirated engine especially seeing as its 15bhp less then a K jet one