MGF K series in a Freelander

Hi all,

I've just had the dreaded HGF. Driving down to Birmingham and a hose sprung a leak. Managed to get to a petrol station and fortunately the hose had holed about 1" from the end. Cut the hose short and re-fitted it, filled up with water and everything was fine.

Drove back to Sheffield, then a few days later drove to liverpool and back, still no problems.

Pulled onto the driveway, 2 hours later came out to the car and the engine was locked solid.I thought starter's jammed. Tried to bump it out, still nothing. Next day, pulled all 4 plugs and tried the starter and guess what, it turned over,accompanied by a fountain of water out of #4 cylinder, QED HGF!!

Anyway, I've aquired 2 MGF 1.8 engines, the plan being to build an engine up out of the car. One engine sounded like a tractor (Main/Big End bearings?) the other was a runner that had been messed with.

The problem I have though is, these engines are ones without distributors and with twin coil packs on the rocker covers.

What I am asking about is, should I be able to fit one of these engines in my 1.8 Freelander (Distributor) if I replace the rocker cover and fit a distributor drive,arm and cap onto the end of the camshaft,or are there other differences that would make it not worthwhile?

What other issues could arise?

Any advice and help would be much appreciated.

Secondly, I was looking at a number of the 'Cooling System Sealants' that claim to repair HGF, cracked heads & blocks and that sort of thing.
Does anyone have any experience of any of these with regards to HGF on a K series. I'm tempted to have a go with it, but if it would be a waste of money I probably won't bother. If it's likely to give me 3-4 months of use I may go for it. What do you guys think.

Thanks everyone in advance for your help.

Best Regards
Pete Frith

W reg 1.8 3dr Freelander

Are these two engines VVC or non VVC? It sounds like you've bought EU3 lumps where as i think the stock freelander 1.8k is labelled as EU2.

I'd imagine there are possibilities that the rocker cover and other hardware from your old engine may fit the new, but there may be differences in the head as well.

You may run into other problems such as the ECU as i know on Caterhams, there are different ECU's for the EU3 and EU2 but i'm certainly no expert on this. Your best bet is to wait for Northern Irelander to come along with answers as he knows the K's like the back of his hand.

As above /\ /\

What engines dop you have?

I forgot to say about the 'Cooling system sealants'. Some people will say they've worked for them, others will not.

Personally i wouldn't even dream of putting one of these into my K series. The waterways on the K series are very small and you're taking a gamble as the sealants can also cause blockages along the way. You could very well end up paying a lot more if you needed to replace your radiator and heater matrix due to blockages caused by this as it's impossible to know where it could accumilate and block. Plus, it wouldn't be hitting the nail on the head, it would just be covering up the underlying problem.

Me personally, i'd see about getting the original head skimmed as it sounds from your description that it hasn't overheated. If it hasn't overheated it should be ok as it shouldn't have lost it's hardness. Then you've got the other two engines for spare parts. I'd only bother with putting one of the new engines in if any of the liners have dropped.

It might be nice to strip one of the MGF heads and see if the valves are enlarged, which if they are would make a nice upgrade over the original. You'd also be able to see if the MGF head would then take your old hardware.

I'm sure I've read about this on a previous thread some time back. Give Northy all the details, he's your man.

pjfrith,
I did a few months ago what your planning to do.
And yes a coil pack engine can be converted to a dissy type,you have to change the camshafts over.The k series in both cars is basically the same but you have to change over quiet alot of things,but it also depends on the age of both engines,because they have to be roughly the same year.
Parts like camshafts,camshaft box,clutch,engine wiring harness,oil dipstick,oil filter adapter and a few other bits need to be salvaged from existing to donor engine.
If you plan on doing it PM me and i'll talk you though it ok