Freelander 1 My Winter Project

htr said:

Thank you all! @Nodge68 Remap: tricky as I haven't heard any one in my region who does it. @rob_bell pointed me to Saw tuning in the UK, loved their web site = exciting thoughts!. I could sent them a spare MEMs 1.9 ECU tot week and then fit that but would it work on my cars system? Or would I have to send the actual one on the vehicle leaving me without a car while I wait? I guess their work would address fuel pressure / spray pattern...

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I spoke to the guys at the MGF25 show a couple of weeks ago. They haven't remapped a Freelander before! The fuel and ignition maps are all likely to be the same or similar to other MG Rovers of the period, so that isn't the problem. What I don't know is how MEMS1.9 interacts with functions such as the HDC - and on that basis I would send them your ECU, but discuss with them to see what they think is the best way forward.

I am considering getting my 2001 (MEMS3) remapped by them - but this is much easier on MEMS3 as I already have a pscan.eu diagnostic unit that can be used to perform remote remaps on this later ECU

PS from memory, MEMS1.9 and MEMS2J for pre-2001 1.8MPi and VVC respectively, use the same fuel injectors. The bigger difference is between these earlier systems and the later MEM3. The latter use a smaller injector to get finer fuel delivery control to improve emissions for EU3 approval. For you, just use whichever injector you have.

BTW, MEMS1.9 tends to run the engine quite rich. This is to allow for variable fuel quality in multiple markets. On my sprint/hillclimb car, I was able to get another 5bhp and 5 ft.lb torque by leaning out the fuelling and advancing the ignition a little While that is not particularly relevant for your plan, what it does mean is that the system already has a significant margin for upgrades without the engine running dangerously lean. Which means that the car will likely run fine with the planned mods you have. This is true for both my MGFs, which use TF135/ Lotus135 cams, both have 4-2-1 manifolds, both run high-flow air filters and one even has cylinder head porting and both run perfectly and run well within the MoT exhaust emissions required - and have done in this state for 10s of thousands of miles. Happy days

Great project HTR
I loved my old K series but I can't help wondering if you should go a bit further than a bit of tweaking and porting. Like Rob suggested a supercharger would make a noticeable difference or even a Turbo (there is a thread here from a couple of years ago on that). Not sure how it would help the fuel economy but you would see a big improvement in power. I'd just be concerned you will spend a lot of time and money on it and not really notice much improvement.

Good luck with it tho.

Hi Alibro,
It hasn't taken a hell of a lot of time or ££ as of yet. I bought some TC burrs off the 'net and a cheap die-grinder... and a scrap head to practise on. I had a chuck extension made too - very handy that bit. I read a lot on the internet. Especially informative sites include the K-engine page, DVA power... and the MG_Rover forum too. Parts are very affordable from the UK, even with freight and taxes. The only real cost is the engineers work - head skim, valve un-shrouding and valve trimming... Youtube and that video by Lorne Mason & Dave Andrews is very informative.

Turbo and supercharging I know little about. I've never seen a turbo K series here in any guise let alone a supercharged one. That ZT motor has different pistons and con rods too doesn't it? I starting to think about a K series car again - MG F? Rover 200Vi... Fun to do their motors up to give them more oomph and not that hard to do! Nodge 64 has suggested in the past, as have others too, that a set of extractors can make a noticeable improvement too. I see that 52mm throttles are that expensive. One in conjunction with the VVC inlet arrangement and the inlet ports modded to accept it is another thing I'm thinking about. Is the st'd VVC throttle 48mm?

Brodie Britain Racing (BBR GTi) back in the day offered turbo kits for the K-series. There wasn't much take up, but they built an engine for a little known chap called Adrian Newy (for his Lotus Elise). As is normal in the tuning game, there were a range of upgrades from full fat to skinny - and the low-pressure kits were offered on K-series with no internal modifications.

Comments on a post card as to the likely longevity of a K-series who's internals were originally designed to cope with 1.1 or 1.4 litre displacements - the 1.8 is already a factory "hot rod" engine - but so long as you are not chasing massive power with significant increases of intake pressure, a low-pressure supercharger and/or turbocharger, may give you everything you need.

For what it is worth, I've contacted SAWS to get a remap for mine - I downloaded the standard map from the ECU last night and emailed the file to them - so hopefully I'll get the tune back later. The other modification I'm very tempted to make is to upgrade the existing exhaust manifold to a 4-2-1 long-branch - in my experience, these really boost the low-end torque to almost diesel levels. Based on my pay-and-play day yesterday, that would be the best option for my use scenario.

Thank you for your thoughts. I can only guess that a turbo kit, even if they are still available, would cost more than the value of my car, which might be £500 to £1000 on a good day! An electric supercharger was about £900 iirc., so again well out of my budget. I guess that to date I've spent less than £300 and that includes tools and parts for two motors. As I'v said I'm keen to explore an extractor set up. Does anybody have photos or better still design plans or measurements I could copy?

They (4-2-1’s) are available for MG Rovers and Lotus - so widely available. Cost approx £500 so not cheap…

First day of spring tomorrow!
Still moving on this project. Yesterday I 'flowed' the oil pump as per the K series Engine page.



I've resealed number 3 cylinder's liner. Was a fiddly job even with the motor on its stand. I cut up an old oil rail and used the bits to screw the head bolts in and secure the liner. Today I resealed number 1 cylinder liner. I'll do cylinder 2 and 4 as well and then being to reassembly that motor.




My funny story today: I undid the big-end studs and with the final turn of the socket the liner and piston slipped out onto the floor and the piston popped out. Didn't expect that. Gave everything a clean - no damage, checked that the rings were in their correct orientation and slipped the piston back into the liner - and carried on.

update - I heard back from the motor engineers who are looking at the head for me. As they were recutting the valve seats the found two which were not concentric So, what to do? Organise another head and start again but taking more care, Or organise replacement valve seats - they are not expensive at under £10 per cylinder 'set'.

Has anyone on here replaced valve seats? I've got that scrap head I could practise on - heat it in the oven to about 150ºC for 30 min's and see it the original seats drop out. Chill the new seats in the freezer and with the head hot would they just drop straight in?

Strange that they are not concentric: they'd presumably have been like that from the factory?

Changing the valve seats is not something that I've attempted - generally this is a task you hand over to a machine shop.

I'd get the machine shop to do it. A dropped valve seat makes a big mess!!!

Poor cutting technique on my part lead to them being eccentric

Don’t worry - that’s all part of the fun of working on and modifying engines! Lol

(Don’t ask what £&@* ups I’ve orchestrated over the years…)

There was some oil showing as a stain in my new VW coolant tank and I feared that my HG was on its way out. No 'mayo' on the dip-stick or under the oil cap, so I took the opportunity this week end to swap the heads over.

Over the last two weeks I've been reassembling the replacement head. It's been 'tweaked': combustion chamber work = polished and the valve seat lip removed, valves seats recut and two exhaust seats replaced as in my enthusiasm with porting & polishing, there were no longer concentric. Exhaust ports were enlarged to 21mm and the inlets are a bit larger, valve guides trimmed flush with the valve throat, curves 'eased' as per Dave Andrews' suggestions. Exhaust ports polished and inlets left rough to 80 grit finish. Coolant apertures opened up to facilitate coolant flow and the coolant outlet behind cylinder 4 to the inlet manifold blocked off. One less place for a leak to start. In the reassembly I 'planished' a set of VVC lifters and cleaned them which was a fiddly and tedious job! I've used stock cams and the valve stems were 'trimmed' to ensure all was a good fit. The inlet ports where the inlet manifold attaches were opened up to accept a VVC inlet set-up. A future 'enhancement'. But at the moment I still have the st'd 'plastic affair' and I don't think what I've done there will be a disadvantage. On the exhaust manifold I ground that weld lip away from inside each port.

Removing the current head revealed two coolant leak points and my irritating oil leak. Coolant had been weeping from that point behind cylinder 4 as well as my coolant pump had been weeping from its shaft seal - annoying as it isn't that old - fitted in July 2017.Those two in addition to the poor quality of the available coolant tank replacements... always had me loosing coolant over time - and that really bugged me! The oil leak wan't the suspected exhaust cam front seal, it was the cam cover - weeping near the alternator mount.

Any how - all day Saturday and a good part of Sunday too. Refilled with fresh oil and a filter and new coolant - took care on how I filled it and all seems well. Fired up first go Lifters quietened down after about 10 mins. I haven't quite got the crank pulley centred exactly - which does make a noise and I can hear a noisey alternator tensioner pulley too, so I'll get onto those soon.

Things left to do: check that the cam belt tension is right, refit the front cam cover, centre the crank pulley and replace that alternator tensioner pulley.

It will be interesting to see if these things work towards giving it a bit more pulling power in the lower rev range. I'll keep you posted.

Great work getting it going on first attempt.

As with any of these things you'll probably only notice a difference once, then take it for granted but it's still nice to know it's done.

Good luck! Look forward to your driving impressions