Setting the scene
Since I started circuit racing back in the early 90’s I have always raced with the PBIC in its various forms. In the early days it took a while for me to get into the action but when I did it was fantastic. For me the lure has always been good close racing, the thrill of winning through good driving.
In the later years, as I’ve moved up the classes, I’ve found it near impossible to obtain the same performance as Midgets and V8 powered cars. Simply, you can’t get the power out of the B Series engine. Couple this with the spiralling costs in the pursuit of performance and begin to get more than frustrated. At the end of the 2007 season, we had seen the likes of Dan Ludlow in his VHPD Metro, mixing it at the front of the pack. This, as well as what we had read about the conversions lead to us hurriedly building the experimental K Series B.
Reasons
Cost is a massive factor, the need to keep costs down has always been there, and always will be!! The conversion, start to finish, came in at about £5k, which pleased my bank manager immeasurably. Of that we had spent £2k on the conversion parts.
Power is the key to success. Not everything in racing, but it helps lots! The old B Series produced a strained 168bhp, not bad for an engine as old as that, but not competitive. The VHPD K Series engines produce a comfortable 190bhp, with a smoother power curve. This increase in power matches the power-to-weight ratios a lot more closely with other cars in the class.
The K Series engine is easy to install, you only need to cut a couple of bits of the engine bay and make new mounts for the engine and gearbox. All that’s left then is the wiring into the Emerald ECU. The conversion parts are also easy to source (Frontline), which meant we could get everything we needed quickly.
The Conversion
The team set about doing the conversion just after Christmas 2007, the first race being in March. That’s right, just about two months to do the conversion. Fitting the engine was relatively straight forward, the balance being between where the gearstick sits and whether the engine is straight or not! We went for the best compromise, which required a little fettling of the gearstick opening. Once we had the position we could then fabricate our mounts and cut the bulkhead to suit the position of the engine. You’ll see from the gallery pictures the two areas that have been modified. Paul at Classic and Modern then did us a full rebuild.
Once the engine was in we could concentrate on wiring the various sensors to the ECU, which was made easy by using the supplied manual along with a little help from Dave Walker at Emerald.
All that remained then was to link up the ancillaries and have the exhaust made; Zero Exhausts did a superb job of the exhaust as you will see from the pictures.
Then it was off the rolling road at Emerald where Dave Walker set the car up perfectly, we were pleasantly surprised that the power was 191bhp and 149lb torque. I would have to see how this would translate to speed on the track…
The Result
I gingerly approached the first race, not knowing what to expect from the new engine, but what a triumph!! The first race at Donington saw me climb from 12th to 2nd by the end of the race! If you have followed the championship this year you’ll see that the K Series has been a massive success. I have not won races, but have been extremely competitive and right where I need to be in the field of cars. This coupled with the consistency of the engine and car has made me the 2008 Class C Champion!!
Next year you will see the same car, plus Dan and Ollie’s cars, all running K Series engines, taking the 4-pot MGB back to the front of the PBIC Championship.
After the recent drivers meeting I understand there will be a few more V8 cars coming out next year, which should be interesting!
Blaine
