Thanks to Hermann, we were able to get ourselves a brand new engine, straight from Ford. It comes in a box, with “Service Engine” on the side. “Service Engine“, like it’s some sort of spare part.
“Say Jim, how’s my car?”
“Bad news Bob, coupla problems wid da engine”
“Can you fix it?”
“Nah, but I think I got a spare in the box out back. I’ll just chuck a new one in”
It’s V8 5.7l hemi engine, with a twin supercharger. Not.
It’s a 1.6l Ford Rocam engine. “Rocam” stands for “rollerfinger camshaft”, obviously. This engine is well known for low/mid range torque. Why such a small engine, for a sports car? Two reasons – the car should weigh under 600kg, and the racing series restricts the engine to this specific engine.
To compare its performance consider the power to weight ratio:
- Mazda MX5 (2006 model) : 107 W/kg
- Rocam Locost: 135 W/kg
- Nissan 370Z: 162 W/kg
So it’s halfway between an MX5 and a 370Z. Until you chuck it round a corner, and then it’s got a lot less inertia trying to tear it off the track.
Specifications (from the Ford website):
Engine: 1.6i
Type: SOHC-Efi
Cylinders: 4
Valves per cylinder: 2 (8 valves in total)
Capacity (cc): 1597
Compression Ratio: 9.5:1
Bore and stroke (mm): 82.0 x 75.48
Power (kW) @ rpm: 70 @ 5500
Torque (Nm) @ rpm: 137 @ 2500
To quote “The RoCam design ensures a more accurate valve performance and greatly reduces friction and noise levels. Valve performance is controlled by hydraulic lash adjusters (the cam follower stays in permanent contact with the camshaft), which reduces maintenance bills as no setting of tappets or valves are required. Furthermore, the cylinder head is a cross flow design, which improves “breathing” and, as a result, combustion and performance. This is done without detracting from fuel efficiency”.
The RoCam has been designed to “withstand South African conditions”. This means that it can listen to Juli-ass without smashing its head into a brick wall. Although it doesn’t agree with it, it doesn’t get upset when its government spends millions on flashy cars and world cup tickets, but struggles to pay teachers, nurses and policemen properly. Ooh, politics and building, perhaps a bad mix.
It is manufactured in Ford’s Port Elizabeth based plant, which now supplies diverse markets such as Asia, South America and Europe. It is a highly robust engine, supposedly capable of being able to run on fuel of almost any octane rating.
Another article from Ford states
“The engine incorporates several advanced product and manufacturing technologies – including plastic intake manifolds, a fabricated camshaft and modern weight-reduction techniques. The engine has electronically controlled fuel injection and ignition which adjust automatically to cater for variances in fuel quality.”
Don’t kid yourself, a necessary building expense is an engine crane. Since the engine and transmission are quite light, you can get away with a very small crane. We got a mobi-jack 1 ton crane, apparently that’s a good thing? One thing that is good is how small it folds away. Very nice. Careful when picking it up – one of the mount points is right by the plastic coil pack. Better to remove this to not damage it.
Unfortunately both of us have got very busy lately with work, and we’ve pressed pause for the next (and past) few weeks. We’ll pick it up again towards the end of Sept.
B