220 Gti

The clever thing about the Rover engine is that the MEMS engine management unit does not have tightly pre programmed ignition timing settings - it learns from your car and the way in which you drive it. After sniffing the exhaust fumes, looking at the load on the engine, the revs per minute and readings from sensors around the engine and comparing this with the last 200 miles driven it calculates the best fuel delivery and ignition timing . My old engines sensor returned 1 pulse in every revolution of the crank whereas other engines (newer versions) can operate on 4 pulses every revolution (Including the rebuilt engine I added which had its original sensor) - you must ensure that the crank sensor you have is the compatible with your MEMS unit otherwise the car will not run and you'll have to take off the gearbox, flywheel and pull out the crank sensor and change it for the correct one. Gladly the correct crank sensor (the one from my first engine) sorted out the problem and the engine fired into life.

When you drop in a new engine or heavily modify an engine it may not run smoothly for a while - mine took about 200 miles before it ran smoothly I guess it has to learn the new timing settings to use. A recon engine with a crank grind gave me loads of torque low down (pulling very well from 1000 rpm) - and massive '!' fuel economy of 31 - 32 mpg!!

The rebuild engine is back and installed and it is running sweet - the car literally purrs and the 3'' Scorpion exhaust sounds fantastic - a real deep power sound.My new fully reconditioned/rebuilt engine fitted - going really well more power - smoother and more refined this is the later engine from a rover 800 - the mounts are different but the basic engine is the same T series (The rover 600 2.0 engine is not compatible!) It should be putting out more power - the compression has been increased and the whole inside has been tidied up and polished, crank polish/grind new piston rings etc and with a better flowing exhaust and a piper-x air filter things are much easier going now and it purrs like a kitten I reckon we are getting closer to the 175bhp I wanted - will get the car dyno tested soon when it's been run in. I am so pleased with the way the car is running now - 3000 miles to bed in the new pistons and I can then start to really see what the car is capable of - i'll have to stick to 55mph 2500 rpm in 5th gear for the moment! The engine is now run in (It took me over a year to do the mileage) - things got better and better as everything bedded in. Now its run in I have used X1 superlube to protect the engine. I find Shell optimax to be the best fuel in terms of performance other 'supers' seem to cause a burbly tickover.

Out of interest the old ratios were 28 mph 1st gear redline / 58 mph 2nd Gear redline 3rd gear became illegal speeds so I didn't record a figure for it.