Hey Jay, I spoke to you on Friday briefly about this but I'll attempt to explain things a bit more. Im no expert on this but I did consider many engine swaps and conversions in my 2 years of Telstar ownership so did do a fair amount of research.
blondejay wrotethe alternative failing all this is an engjne swap. prefrably a diesel again. i have been told that the RE (petrol) and the RF (diesel) are the same block/head combination and the R2 is the same hust a different stroke. im kinda hoping the S2 engine (mine) is atleast the same block. or engine mounts.
These are strange engine codes and I think you are referring to the F/R series which came out in the early 80's. The F series is the petrol motor and the R series is the diesel, the other codes you referred to are correct though. FE is 2.0L petrol, RF is 2.0L diesel. F2 is 2.2L petrol and R2 is 2.2L diesel. See
here and
here. It's a pretty easy naming code from then on.
S2 as you say is the Perkins built engine and isn't based off the F/R series at all, I believe they use pushrods and the F/R are all OHC. But considering they fitted the F/R series motor later in the car, I would say it uses the same/similar engine mounts, and the engine mounts would be easily found anyway. It would still be considered a 'direct swap' in my opinion, again no expert though.
blondejay wrote...hence trying to find out which engine blocks are the same, that would mean a straight drop in swap. which if i was the R2 series would be good with the RF diesel turbo option
In terms of F and R series motors, all of the blocks are basically the same but not all the heads bolt up directly to all of the blocks, some need more modifying than others.
An example, the FE and F2 motors use exactly the same cylinder block and even share the same cylinder head gasket pattern. It is possible to swap the heads without any issue as they are both SOHC. However, using a DOHC head on a SOHC block can be tricky, like it is when putting a DOHC head on a SOHC red-block. This applies to the RF and R2 diesel blocks as well. You can also use a petrol block for diesel duty. They are the same block design, and the F series is over-built for petrol duty because it was the block for the diesel too, to quote
Wikipedia:
wroteRF - A diesel variation of the 1,998 cc FE engine which shares its square internal dimensions of 86 mm (3.4 in) bore and 86 mm (3.4 in) stroke - it is virtually the same block, with identical bell housing pattern and block dimensions. This could be a testament to the F-block's strength as it was over-built for naturally aspirated duty.
Im not sure if the R series motors use the same pistons. I believe they do, but the R series use a completely different head design because the diesel runs at a higher compression than the petrol. I've never heard of a diesel head on a petrol block conversion ever actually being done, but I did really consider attempting it in the Telstar.
To quote
Wikipedia again:
wroteThere were four basic head types within the F range, the diesel SOHC 8-valve (R-series), the petrol SOHC 8-valve, petrol SOHC 12-valve, and the petrol DOHC 16-valve. These heads came attached to multiple variations of the different blocks and strokes. Only the petrol 8-valve and 12-valve shared the same gasket pattern.
As I say, I'm not sure of the feasibility of swapping heads with different gasket patterns. But if you can squeeze a 16V head onto a 240 red-block like you said I could, then I'm sure you'll figure it out. The F/R motors are tough and very forgiving so I'd yolo it and try it if you can't find a diesel motor for some reason.
However the S motor in your car now is indeed different from the F/R series motors, they MAY use the same bolt pattern for the transmission because I think the transmission got carried over to the later cars but don't hold me to that. In any case, you should just be able to change the bell housing. If no bell housing, you can swap the entire case, but I imagine that involves tearing all the gears out anyway so really why bother, just rebuild the one you have.
Hope this helped! Good luck!
