What Do I need?

Have you thought about getting a second motor so you can keep the car on the road and take your time over the rebuild. Worked well for me and someone on the forum would have one for cheap.

For a road going car on a budget i went with a bottom end rebuild so:

Block cleaned and crack tested
Replace core/welch plugs & cam bearings
Bore and hone to next oversize, i went up 0.03" to give a capacity of around 1660cc and used pistons from the 1300 to get a little more compression.
HP oil pump
Steel crank pulley
You will need to have the valve reliefs cut for clearance (I didn't but was using a BCF3 camshaft)
Crankshaft crack tested and ground to next undersize
I used the old rods with new bearings all round

The trick is until you have had the machining done it may not be all that easy to determine what size the bearings and pistons need to be unless you know the full history of the motor or have a decent workshop.

To get the full benefit of the cam upgrade and bottom end work i guess you will be looking at larger valves, port matching on the head and probably some work on the ignition side of things either electronic ignition or get the dissy re-calibrated

When i got my block done it was around $500 but i didn't shop around. Pistons from Burtons in the UK would be about $100 each once you factor in the postage. 'MK1 Lotus' on this forum seems to have a huge amount of experience and a workshop that specialises in this sort of thing.

Cheers

The cleaning and machining would only take a day or two depending on how busy the workshop is. If you plan on putting it back together yourself it's well worth taking your time checking bearing clearances; a bit of care on the rebuild can save you big time and $$$ later.

You are not going to know what bearings and the like you need until you strip the engine down and have everything property measured (preferably by someone who knows what they are doing). 0.030" pistons will not give you 1660. Buy some decent 0.090" over pistons and take it up to 1700. You'll really notice a difference. Buy the best quality parts you can afford.

thanks guys - much appreciated.

yeah low comp engine... upping the compression with 1300 pistons is also a valid option...

just wanted to know if my assumptions were in the ballpark...

anyone have a spare good condition high compression 1600xflow motor lying around in WA?

I paid $2,000 just to balance, drill holes, supply bearings, gasket set and install unleaded valve seats. I supplied all other parts; that was just the machining cost.

In addition to your list you will need a second 45 carb (1 is just a waste of time) but I would go 40's on a motor you sound like you will have.
.050" steel oversize rocker posts.
You do not need new rods but you should get ARP rod bolts.
New clutch
ARP flywheel bolts

I spent well over $5,000 on my motor and that was buying the stuff wholesale and getting some bargains (like a Larner head for $500!). I actually stopped counting as it was too depressing [xx(]

It comes down to how much money do you have, and how fast do you want to go?

If I were to do it again, I'd probably stuff a Duratec in there. More power, better reliability and plug it in to a laptop to tune it

Honestly, i was going to put aside $2000 for the build.

I have the cam kit, the weber / intake, extractors and a stocka motor.

I was hoping to see what i could get away with keeping as much as possible stock standard.

it was the cam lift that hinted that i may need to modify the pistons, which then went onto the ol' 'whilst its open, what else should i change'.

if i get the valve clearances sorted (modified or new pistons) and keep everything else stocka... i was hoping $2K would cover it...

thanks!

based on my limited budget

I think I will go with a reduced list (bottom end only);

- buy a second-hand motor
- strip motor and clean / chemical wash
- machine block (+60tho) with new oversize pistons (+60tho) with machined valve reliefs
- reassemble with new bearings
- balancing

then i will sort out the head / cam work later...

will start shopping around to see if this can be done under $2K...