Possible car rebuild - crossflow engine

[Yanto]

I'm thinking of rebuilding a narrow, I saw this on ebay and wondered if the price was ok, I have no knowledge of costs to rebuild an engine these days.

Cross flow

[Quinten]

That is a lot of money for an antique engine.  I know people love them, and I liked my Crossflow when I had it, but personally I would stick that sort of money on something more modern...

[corsechris]

Looks like a nicely turned out good spec motor....but I agree with Q FWIW. Ran a similar XFlow for many years but was happy to replace it with the Zetec when the time came. Appreciate your choices are potentially limited with a narrow though, so maybe? It would make for a really nice 'period' car wouldn't it.

[TAFKARM]

F*** me thats a lot of money for a crossflow. 

Always surprises me how compact the older engines are. 

[Yanto]

34 minutes ago, RussH said:

F*** me thats a lot of money for a crossflow. 

 

Is that a reactionary comment or a fact based opinion on what it would cost to rebuild plus lightened flywheel HD clutch, exhaust manifold, carbs, megajolt?

[TAFKARM]

The former. 

[Jim G]

I recon if you could get it for about £1500 it would be a good buy if all the receipts come with it. Just add up the cost of the parts and time to do it yourself.. if I was to sell my x-flow it would be about £3500!

[Jim G]

Funnily enough, that engine is on my watch list 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Remove the words "cross flow", which is throwing everyone, from the package of parts, and it's probably not too bad price wise; pair of Webbers on a manifold, (ignition) ecu and associated parts, clutch, alternator, modified sump, exhaust manifold - not necessarily any use, but it's there.

If you had to buy a cheap engine and spec it up to that, it would get dear fast! Be good to know who did the engine rebuild, it does make a difference to prices. 

Given that it may be spec'd for more track use, I'd probably want to know more about the cam and it's suitability for the road?

The thing is, while it's possibly good value for money, for an engine with a fair bit of work in it, and some expensive parts, when the reality check comes along, you're using those expensive parts and rebuild, simply to get up to the sort of power levels that a more modern engine could give you in a relatively out-of-the-box condition. So price wise, won't be that different!

A tuned crossflow is a very charismatic engine in a Westfield, presumably, with a Megajolt, it should need a little less hands on servicing than the norm, and with a good re-build, should be reasonably reliable. (Hence asking about the builder..) But then a relatively standard Zetec will just work.

Ultimately, the big decider will be room; depending if the narrow you're looking at has a high line or low line nose, you may not have many engine options.

[Kevin (Mr T)]

3 hours ago, Quinten Uijldert - Northants AO said:

That is a lot of money for an antique engine.  I know people love them, and I liked my Crossflow when I had it, but personally I would stick that sort of money on something more modern...

Turncoat!

[Kevin (Mr T)]

If it has the provenance to go with it, I would say it was a reasonable price........assuming, like me, you are a fan of the Mighty Crossflow!

[B.RAD]

Looks a decent price for the spec, main costs in there are the headwork, rockers, cam, carbs and distributorless set up. Depends how well it's all been put together, the ad doesn't mention when the rebuild took place, by whom and if all components were new - pistons, rings, rods, cam and bearings etc. 

Also check if the pistons are forged or not, IIRC Nural are just standard pattern parts and despite being the 1300 higher compression option, an engine of that spec really needs forged pistons (ask me how I know).

[Yanto]

I asked a few questions about the build, here are the answers;

"Ian I have built this engine! I have been building race and rally engines since 1970, and for the last 30 years have been self employed restoring classic sports and race cars. I also spent quite a few years on the World Rally Championship working for most of the major manufacturer teams.

There are no receipts as they are all in my company accounts.

It is unleaded.

CR will be about 10:1.

Cam is the Cosworth A6, which was developed for the 1000cc Formula 3 engine. So it was a wild race cam for a 1000 engine. With a 1700 it will be lumpy, but should be good for 150 brake.

Any more questions, then fire away!

Colin"

A bit  of digging and his company does exist, so maybe trustworthy.

CGP Auto Engineers

[Jim G]

I have the cosworth a6 in my 1840 and it is lumpy  

[Pantherman]

I have just had a Crossflow engine rebuilt , the engine was a good spec with a Vulcan stage 2 unleaded  head with a good 234 Cam, I had it stripped and all components checked eg crank crack tested etc etc..

The crank was reground the little ends needed attention to the whole engine was rebuilt rebored with quality forged pistons balanced flywheel lightened and quality stuff used throughout

 

The cost was £1700 and that was VAT only on the parts sourced, hopefully should be a nice smooth engine.