Price Advice! Duratec Engine package

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Assuming all the labour has been done at home, and you do not already have parts knocking around in the garage form years of projects, then historically, spread across the experiences of all the members that have done engine swap build threads, or reported on their costs, for the last thirty odd years, (allowing for inflation somewhat).

 

We have a kind of ball park range for figures, on top of the cost of the engine (which is assumed to have no induction or exhaust), if you go bike throttle bodies and a budget ecu, it will typically cost around £2k on top of the cost of the engine, by the time you're done. (+/_ a few hundred, it's not an exact science). If you go for more premium parts, like Jenveys and a more main stream ecu, it will be more like £3k upwards, depending on whether you start tuning etc.

 

And don't forget, that's not including the trial and error that sometimes happens with making it all work! (Though it does include a PC sum to allow for a mapping session)

[RJRWesty]

7 minutes ago, Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman said:

 

Yep, I'm up to about £1800 on the Race line web site just with the throttle body kit, wet sump and exhaust system alone, no ecu + wiring loom, no mapping on the rolling road, no plumbing parts and all the little bit's and pieces you forget about for an install. Plus the clutch, starter and alternator etc.

 

 

Think all them prices are plus vat on their site from memory.  All the little bits like tps sensor, injectors, blanking plates, temp sensors, then there's the time of fitting it all with no leaks etc etc

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

2 minutes ago, RJRWesty said:

Think all them prices are plus vat on their site from memory

 

My apologies, you're right, for the sump for example, it £575 ex vat, which was the price i looked at, £690 inc vat.

 

I've just edited my post to match, I got up to just £2200 for the ITB kit, wet sum and exhaust and that was missing loads of what's in this package.

 

Plus it's already done! Mapped, tested, and running - which you can see, currently.

 

 

[Kingster]

1 hour ago, RJRWesty said:

I wanted to sell it in less than 5 mins I'd be sticking it up for 2k

My ballpark figure didn’t include the cost of the engine. As you say, getting a low mileage decent example is going to add to that considerably. 

[Alec E]

8 hours ago, Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman said:

What ecu is it? (Westfield Duratec of a certain age came with (now locked forever) Weber Alphas. As long as the package is kept in the state of tune inc things like exhaust manifold it was mapped for the Alpha is a good ecu. So has some value as part of a running package, but it is nominal value.

 

Alone, these days it’s worth anything from zero to ~£100 or so, on its own, (depending if you can find someone desperate for a spare, or to replace an identical mapped one)

 

As Chris said though, those ancillaries alone including the Raceline ITB, (rebadged Jenvey’s, normally, but a photo would confirm), will be north of £3000 (new) to fit and get running, without the cost of an engine included

Is this the Alpha unit you mentioned? It has what looks to be a serial cable attached. Are there any options to having this tuned or is it stuck as is? 
If it’s the latter, what are the options for changing to an alternative (tuneable) ECU? 

[Kingster]

49 minutes ago, Alec E said:

Are there any options to having this tuned

None - I stand to be corrected but I believe nobody has the required hardware any longer. 

[RJRWesty]

45 minutes ago, Kingster said:

None - I stand to be corrected but I believe nobody has the required hardware any longer. 

Dennis Vessey in (Doncaster from memory) can still do them. 

[Nick Algar - Competition Secretary]

44 minutes ago, RJRWesty said:

Dennis Vessey in (Doncaster from memory) can still do them. 

I've used Dennis in the past and he did a good job. 

[Kingster]

47 minutes ago, RJRWesty said:

Dennis Vessey in (Doncaster from memory) can still do them. 

Good to know and I happily stand corrected!

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Some Weber units, the last generation I believe, didn’t have the dongle system for unlocking them, but, while I’d be thrilled to find out someone still could, every specialist I’ve spoke to from Northampton Motorsport, (another Weber Alpha dealer in the day) to the uk Weber Alpha distributor has told me the last working dongle failed a few years ago, now, leaving that generation of ecu’s permanently locked on their last map.

[Alec E]

5 hours ago, Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman said:

Some Weber units, the last generation I believe, didn’t have the dongle system for unlocking them, but, while I’d be thrilled to find out someone still could, every specialist I’ve spoke to from Northampton Motorsport, (another Weber Alpha dealer in the day) to the uk Weber Alpha distributor has told me the last working dongle failed a few years ago, now, leaving that generation of ecu’s permanently locked on their last map.

Any ideas on the options and costs of replacing what I have in there now with something that’s generally accessible?

[Kingster]

1 hour ago, Alec E said:

Any ideas on the options and costs of replacing what I have in there now with something that’s generally accessible?

Cheapest new ECU will likely be a megasquirt or speeduino kit - otherwise you’re looking at £6-800+ for an Omex, DTA, MBE or Emerald item. Add in wiring loom mods and a mapping session to see you north of £1000…

 

I suppose the question is why? Are you planning to upgrade and tune the engine?

[Alec E]

58 minutes ago, Kingster said:

Cheapest new ECU will likely be a megasquirt or speeduino kit - otherwise you’re looking at £6-800+ for an Omex, DTA, MBE or Emerald item. Add in wiring loom mods and a mapping session to see you north of £1000…

 

I suppose the question is why? Are you planning to upgrade and tune the engine?

I’ll start by saying that I have no experience in tuning/mapping. I do have experience of running a car that wasn’t well mapped, then being delighted at how much better the car ran when mapped properly. 
My Duratec on ITBs  runs “ok” at the moment. But it does smell like it’s running rich, often wants to or actually stalls when coming to idle (when warm or hot) and I’m not a big fan of pops and bangs (which it does). 
There’s a receipt for purchase of a cable (pictured previously) and at attempt at tuning (in Germany) a couple of years ago. 
So I guess I’m currently blindly trusting what’s been done previously to it. That would be my primary reason for checking what’s there/changing for a solution that can be checked. 
I’m located in the south east of England near Dover. 

[Phippsy]

I've also used Vessey previously and had a very good experience. 

13 hours ago, RJRWesty said:

Dennis Vessey in (Doncaster from memory) can still do them. 

 

[Kingster]

2 hours ago, Alec E said:

I’m located in the south east of England near Dover. 

Bit of a hike to Doncaster then!

 

I totally get your point about having a nice useable map though.