Practical performance car, Top Ten worst engines

[nib]

Come on now, the K Series has been proven to be reliable and for it is a very good engine (high power output for capacity, very light etc.) It is a shame as with many things from Rover, the accountants and poor workmanship got involved.

AFAIK Nikasil linings are actually pretty tough as long as you don't get sulphur involved. Indeed, Porsche used a similar process (Alusil) in the 928, 944 and 968 engines for years without fault. Saying that, my last Porsche 944 had a seized piston but that was more down to previous overheating.

Not to mention the 3.2 poxster my mate had,he bought it with 1500 miles on the clock and had a load of trouble with the liners,the engine needed a rebuild and Porsche weren't interested in helping out with the bill.

[STAG1973]

I am a fan of the Rover k series having owned a fare few, head gaskets are a very simple fix to a engine with a good rev range and endless tunability and great hp, when it was launched in 1989 the 1400 cc engine was faster than all the 1600 cc equivalence from ford, vw, vauxhall etc.

I would nominate the Ford V4 to that list.


Adrian

[tonypy1]

I had a Porsche 944 with the Alusil treatment and that was a superb engine albeit boring in terms of engine note alongside the Stag, as far as I'm aware Alusil cylinder bores didn't suffer from the same problems with sulphur as Nikasil. The point with the Nikasil engines is that the likes of BMW and Jaguar must have had to replace way more engines under warranty than Triumph (during the high sulphur years) but when I had a Jag XJ8 nobody came up to me and said "has it still got the original engine?"....

[tonypy1]

I would also nominate the Ford Essex V6 when installed in the Scimitar SE6A, pretty much guaranteed to blow its head gaskets unless the cooling system was modified with a header tank yet a good strong engine in other applications.

[ChasR]

I would also nominate the Ford Essex V6 when installed in the Scimitar SE6A, pretty much guaranteed to blow its head gaskets unless the cooling system was modified with a header tank yet a good strong engine in other applications.

You also forgot about the fibre timing gear which had a habit of stripping itself on those.

Not to mention the 3.2 poxster my mate had,he bought it with 1500 miles on the clock and had a load of trouble with the liners,the engine needed a rebuild and Porsche weren't interested in helping out with the bill.

The Boxster engine has other issues besides its liners (crazy isn't it?). Just type in RMS or Rear Main Seal failure into a Boxster forum and you can see how such an engine issue can effectively scrap early 996s and cheap Boxsters.