J15 or A14 in my 411

[Spedie]

Hello all.

 

I'm looking for some advice and feedback concerning replacing my J15 with an A14 in my '66 411. I guy her locally rolled his b210 with a built up engine and 5 speed.

 

From the craigslist ad:

"i rolled my car but motor and tranny are in perfict condition tranny is a 5 speed all rebuilt and motor a 14 bored and stroked to a 1527 and i also put a 3 step flat cam msd ignition electric distruburator bored and shaved head 2 barrel webber carb every thing has about 4,000 miles on it"

 

The J15 in my car was rebuilt and installed by the PO. It runs and drives fine, but I'm looking for some more ease keeping up on the freeway, and some more power.

 

The big question: Is it worth it!? What power do the A14 put out? Would this be a beneficial swap?

 

The guy told me he would let it go for $1200 for the whole car, this is before any haggling. The body is toast, is there any resale value in anything else?

 

Thanks!

Sam :D

[ggzilla]

Not worth it. The A14 will have more power than the J15, but for $1200 you could easily fit a a 2 liter Datsun engine in there. A bone stock L20B or Z20E will have more power than most "built" A14s.

[Spedie]

My hope would be to get him to sell it for (well) under a grand, and be able to pull the engine and transmission, then part it out. Along with selling the J15 and trans maybe break even?

 

I also worry an overhead cam engine would not fit, and I don't wanna hack this car up.

[ggzilla]

Can you part a 210 for $800? I doubt it. A rolled 210 is worth $200.

[gcmustang]

I do not know about the A14 but there is not alot of room in the 411 engine bay. If you have a J15 in there you should stay with that. The PL411 came with J13 and RL411 the roadster R16 motor and disk brakes. If you want a bigger motor talk with PPETERS about all the hacking that was done to fit an L20 in his car. He is thinking of going back to theroadster motor because of all the issues.

[fisch]

I do not know about the A14 but there is not alot of room in the 411 engine bay. If you have a J15 in there you should stay with that. The PL411 came with J13 and RL411 the roadster R16 motor and disk brakes. If you want a bigger motor talk with PPETERS about all the hacking that was done to fit an L20 in his car. He is thinking of going back to theroadster motor because of all the issues.

 

 

True enough! Tight fit. Remember the R16 was big enought that they had to run the exhaust manifold through the fenderwell on the sss.

 

You could try to find a J16 (JDM) or if you know someone in Mexico, a J18!

 

Now the neat news is that the J15 is based on the British B-series engines that were in MGBs all the way into the 80's where they stopped with the 1800. The way I understand it you could even take the Datsun head and put it on the BMC block.

 

I am not sure where the motor mounts are on the 411, but if they are attached to the front timing cover, you might be able to bolt a British 1800 5 bearing main engine right in your car. If given a choice, get the 5 main, not the 3 main British engines.

 

If you can do that, start digging into the power mods the british guys have come up with over the years. Superchargers, cross flow heads, on and on. (Superchargers seem to be mainly for 5 main engines.)

 

Heck, might even be able to put your Datsun valve cover right back on. Maybe look for a british guy selling a race built 1800 engine?

 

So what I am saying is this might be a bolt in upgrade for your car! Start googling!

[ggzilla]

The A14 is smaller, lighter and more powerful than the J15. A14 is closer to the BMC A-series (though not a direct descendent).

 

I hear the J uses a factory adapter plate for the transmission.

[Spedie]

The most attractive part to me to doing this swap would be the 5 speed. I feel the car would be much more drivable, and if I need I could also swap in the higher geared rear end from the b210. The only draw back to my 411 is sitting in the slow lane going 65 @4000 RPMs.

 

The a14 being smaller and more powerful is just a plus. Im going to get a hold of the seller this weekend and see how low I can get him to go.

[ggzilla]

It is not a bolt-in swap... but has been done before. I do not know what is involved in swapping it.