The basic 12A weighs about 170lbs or less. Years ago Racing Beat put a handle on a 12A engine block and someone took it onto an airplane as carry-on baggage. Get a peripheral port 13b engine. It weighs just few lbs more than a 12 A and makes 300 hp. And it bolts up to everything you already have.
How about a SBF with aluminum heads and a cam? Hehehehe gigglesnort hehehehe
For what it is worth, I have under $3k in my 13B, and while it doesn't make 300hp, it's not that far away, and it's also hamstrung by a streetable exhaust and various other compromises made in the interest of being street friendly and inexpensive. I know I am leaving a lot of power on the table with ignition timing, but I'm too cheap to move away from the distributor and I have made a few compromises for better low RPM/low load cruising.
I could probably duplicate the engine tomorrow with $3k.
I would think that any D-series would be right out since the transmission you need for a rear drive reverse-rotation Honda would bust the budget.
Loosecannon went down this exact road with the formerly v12 MGB car, he chose the newer turbo ecotec...
Knurled wrote: ... I would think that any D-series would be right out since the transmission you need for a rear drive reverse-rotation Honda would bust the budget.
I keep forgetting not everyone's installing an FWD lump mid-engine 
Nobody has said 4AGE yet? Internet says 341 pounds complete with a 5-speed, and a turbo with supporting modifications should get you to 300 horsepower.
*disclaimer: I have a spare 4AGZE that I want to put into my Spitfire, so if you prototype the swap and post about it that would be cool for my team.
300 is pushing it for a 4AG, Tommie. For reliability, 220-ish is about all people want to push them on a stock crank. The weight of a 20v with the accessories including the exhaust manifold out to the clutch is 300 lbs. A 16v is about the same. A T50 trans is going to be another 60. Add a turbo and the manifold for it would probably be another 30. I got the numbers from a SCALE in my shop, except for the turbo, which I am GUESSing at. I could go measure one, though.
There was a guy in Oz that built a 7AGTE-20v. He claimed 300 HP.
4AG Spitfire has been done. Try your google-fu. Hey, I have an idea: How about a Mazda Rotary in a Spitfire? That would be cool....
I think the real answer here is 20b, 20b, 20b.
Appleseed wrote: I think the real answer here is 20b, 20b, 20b.
If you can find one. Last time I looked, I couldn't find any. Time before that they were up around $8k. And the kicker is you can make more power with a 2 rotor than a 3 rotor, the 3 rotor has cooling issues. And the 3 rotor is HEAVY. And large.
And oddly enough, 13B-REs have completely dried up. Love to find me a 13B-RE, that is the ultimate starting point for a nonturbo build.
Here is some light reading on a turbo Hayabusa in a Spridget.
Whichever engine you choose some googling ought to produce info on doing the swap- probably from the mg or the triumph experience.
In reply to Knurled:
Is the RE engine the Renesis? There are a pile of those on Ebay for reasonable. Is that engine worth anything as far as building a engine?
I also lean towards sticking with a rotary. It's what Mike intended.
Otherwise, I'd look into a Rover 4.0L V8. All aluminum. Pretty good power-to-weight.
One question - does the car still have the original Spitfire diff and axles? If so, plan on replacing/re-engineering all of that as well if going much above the current power level. While I know of the car, I believe the build for the Abomination was before my time.
Toyman01 wrote: In reply to Knurled: Is the RE engine the Renesis? There are a pile of those on Ebay for reasonable. Is that engine worth anything as far as building a engine?
The RE is the standard engine from the JC Cosmo. It's a twin turbo engine with a smaller primary turbo than the FD. It is easily identifiable by its intake manifold that looks like a cut down 20B manifold. And it has HEE-YUUUGE intake ports. If you cut the end ports in a 6-port out into one big port, it would probably be the same cross sectional area as the RE's, only the RE doesn't close the ports way too late for serious power.
Scrape the turbos off and run as-is, or install 9.7 rotors and, while you're in there, an FD intermediate, since the 13B-REW has larger primary ports.
First while SR20s are indeed sturdy they're also porky. A SR20DET is 375lbs complete give or take a few pounds. Add the transmission and we're talking 450lbs, which would add 100-125lbs at a minimum.
I also vote rotary, not sure of how light you can make a Spitfire but I'd imagine 1400lbs wouldn't be an issue. A racer with a Spridget told me the fiberglass hood on his car eliminated about 80lbs from his car. Don't fully ported Rotary motors make 300hp, as a Solo car the run time is going to be much less than a road race motor. How many hours does a GT3 rotary engine go between rebuilds, 6 hours? That would work out to 350-400 runs at an autocross, that's gotta be 4-5 seasons or more for even the most active autocrosser.
In reply to Tom1200:
It's funny how the rebuild thing works. The "6 hour" engines have carbon-aluminum apex seals, which wear exponentally faster with RPM. So that 6 hours is 6 hours spent in the 7000-9000rpm region. Actually a very good lifespan.
A newer engine (2mm apex/.7mm side seals) will live just fine in shorter bursts with steel seals, however. Even with the time off the past couple years, I probably have 350 runs on the engine, plus drag racing, and lots of street driving. I do keep meaning to pull it apart just to see how things are wearing, but I keep finding more important things to do 
There's a big difference between running for 50-100 seconds at a time, and running full bore for 20 minutes plus at a stretch. As a general rule, though, if you use properly clearanced steel seals, keep the temperatures in check, and keep it fed oil and coolant, the engines are the closest thing to immortal that you can find in motorsports. There's basically nothing to fail.
In reply to Ian F:
The rear uses a Miata center, uprights, hubs, and brakes with shortened Miata axles on arms that Mike built. I don't think it will be a issue into the 300+ horse range in a light car.
x Whatever for the 2.0 direct injected turbo Ecotec engine. The stock turbo can easily get you to the power level you're looking for. Hell, the GM stage 1 tune takes you to 280hp/320ftlb with a restrictive intake & exhaust. With an EFR turbo, you're spooling at the same low RPM and making up into the 400's. The GM ECU is cracked enough that you can do all this without going to megasquirt or similar.
In reply to FooBag:
Has anyone got the computer to run stand-alone yet? I remember that being an issue.
I'm asking for a friend who knows where there is a complete low miles Solstice GXP drivetrain under a bench.
In reply to Knurled:
Loosecannon's MGB uses a very similar engine setup doesn't it?
Grab a ecoboost 2.0 from some pedestrian vehicle, a NC miata trans, the longitudinal pack https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-6006-20 and the ford contols pack https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-6017-20T.
In reply to RossD:
Ecoboost 2.0s have gone UP in price lately. When a certain rallyist documented his XR4Ti Ecoboost swap, I noted that you could find them locally by the dozen for $300-400.
A Duratec-engined Ranger happened to get towed into the shop last week. It suffered a fatal dose of something but the oil pan and other RWD-specifc bits are still sound. I was all set to call dibs on the core but thought to check the local junkyard listings. 2-liter Ecoboosts have gone UP in value. Seems anything under $1k is missing critical components like turbos. Sad.
I may still call dibs on the core, mind you. There's a lot of fun to be had with naturally aspirated Duratecs and some of those are still silly-cheap.
In reply to Knurled:
The Ranger Duratec may actually be a more desirable starting point than the EcoBoost. It's much less complex (no direct injection, VVT or heavy balance shafts). It's easily tunable via a $400 handheld OBD device, rather than the big money Ford controls pack. Lots of the high HP DISI guys actually want the Ranger engine as a base since it's lighter and there's so much less to go wrong.
This one has a largish hole in the side of the engine after something important decided it would rather take a nap on I-480.
Perversely, I'm kind of hoping that they DON'T want to fix it. Scrap prices are really low so I could buy the truck for peanuts. Having the RWD specific Duratec parts would be neat but the possibility of getting the trans is awesome. And I know someone who is looking for a minitruck rolling chassis as an easily moved (ATV-towable) obstacle for run-n-gun type competitions.
One problem with the Ecotec, or so I'm told, is the ratios on the transmission.
It seems there are supposed to be some less than optimum ratios for something like autocross.
Knurled wrote: The VW engine is slightly shorter in length and is lighter than a rotary.
Is there a way to run a VW/Audi engine without using Megasquirt or some other standalone?
Or were you talking about an air cooled Beetle engine?
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