What engine could I put in a Champ Car?

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Say I got my hands on a Lola B02/00. What is the largest engine I could fit into it, with some modifications? Will I be able to run a Judd GV5? An LS7 Crate, or is that just ridicolous? They've run mostly XFE's but there's been others too... I'm thinking Formula 5000 style with this one!

[mountainstar]

There is one guy I have done some work with who run an atlantic car and he knows a few people that have done small block conversions to Lola champcars and apparently it works well enough with much lower running costs.

[Al Weyman]

Gotta be a Small Block Chevy for bang for the buck surely. Dunno about crate engines though as surely you will need a dry sumped motor so maybe better to build a SBC from scratch. There is a Hilbourn injection system without pump for a SBC currently on Ebay, which may be a good start!

[ian_w]

I would have thought production based engines would be out, you will probably need a 'proper' race engine. The centreline of the crank will be very low in the car so you will need a very low sump otherwise it will be below the bottom of the tub.

You will also need an engine that is a very similar length to the Cosworth otherwise you will increase the wheelbase and also the bodywork won't fit any more. There may however be some scope to reduce the length of the bellhousing to get it back to the right length. This will require a new bellhousing as well as a shorter gearbox input shaft.

There are also all the issues of the engine mounts on the back of the tub not aligning with your new engine. Overall, it would be possible to fit a different engine but it will involve a large amount of re-engineering of the car / engine in order to mate the two together.

[Al Weyman]

so you will need a very low sump otherwise it will be below the bottom of the tub.

Thats why I said a crate engine would'nt work it needs a purpose built dry sump unit with a small flywheel that should get it down low enough. My Tilton unit is only what 7" and any size plate to carry the ring gear could presumably be adabted, I think they do on the sprint cars.

[ian_w]

Originally Posted by Al Weyman

Thats why I said a crate engine would'nt work it needs a purpose built dry sump unit with a small flywheel that should get it down low enough. My Tilton unit is only what 7" and any size plate to carry the ring gear could presumably be adabted, I think they do on the sprint cars.

Yes, but you will probably find the Cosworth engine has a crank height of 4" or less.

[AU N EGL]

Ilmore.

[Al Weyman]

Originally Posted by ian_w

Yes, but you will probably find the Cosworth engine has a crank height of 4" or less.

I will measure one tonight if I remember but I doubt its excessive.

[Alex Laidlaw]

There are lots of considerations you would have to make to choose an alternative engine for a Champ Car. Most importantly apart from crank height, you need to remember that the engine is a structural component, which narrows your choice down to engines that are designed to be stressed (ie. extremely expensive scratch built race engines) or changing the chassis to take the stress off the engine, which would probably result in a far more compromised and expensive car than just building an old F5000 style car from scratch.

If you did get a production engine low enough and solved stress issue then you'd still have to re-design the bodywork (severely compromising the aerodynamics of the car) and would have to account for the fact that the wheel base is directly related to the length of the engine.

[R59]

You could use the LS7, which is dry sumped from the factory. You'd be using a 5" clutch.

Lots of grunt indeed.

Though pukka Ilmor champcar motors are around at fairly reasonable prices (for a racing engine), and can be pretty reliable if you turn down the wick.

The LS7 is a pretty compact motor for a production engine, but you'd be looking at a new engine cover if you ran anything other than the original motor.

Rob.