KAD Project

[KAD16V]

What's the power on the motor estimated to be?

Hummm...I asked Doug ( the second owner ) that question once and he admonished me for asking.....something he felt was an irrelevant point. If it's fun to drive, it's powerful enough..

I have never really been in it for the power....I may well get curious one day. The new heads do about 160bhp...

This is capable of the similar but would loose reliability. She needed the over-haul and has good bits in her...

I suppose some people would be scared of knowing a specific figure least it disappointed them...I have put in too much time and effort to be disappointed....

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This was the reply I had from the first owner when trying to get some setup info...the sentiment speaks for itself...

"Paul Leicht said:


Hi - sorry about the really really slow response from me, Tings a bit hectic on this end!
 
I'm going to toss "arbitrary info" to start with:KAD big-valve head on mild cams should drive a bit like an 1100 Clubman up to about 2500 rpm, feel a bit like a 1275E from there to about 3500 ... and then just get stronger and stronger all the way up to the rev limit (** IF SET UP PROPERLY AND ON small-ish chokes in the Dellortos **)

The longcam race head I bought was developed for Autocross in the UK and only had about 10 hours of engine dyno time on it. Then I bought it! The mix of big-valve and mild cams was to give the best spread of torque for Autocross. Was better than a road head with wild cams to get 150+ hp (on injection). On carbs, arguably a small valve head and some cams would be more driveable. But you can happily run the BV/mild setup on carbs, just don't expect fireworks under 3500-4000. Injection is your friend. 

Rev limits1) on a steel crank, with ally flywheel and steel crank pulley - you can use 8500 safely ON OCCASION for a road motor. For track, you can buzz to 8700 or so regularly on that but expect to pull the motor after every 2nd-4th event to check things.2) on a fresh iron crank (later UK cranks with radiused journal-to-web areas) you can safely run to 7700 but no higher if you want the crank to live beyond 10000km. Contrary to a lot of bush-engineering nonsense, the late UK cranks are actually very good. 

Balancing must be very good (static and dynamic) to stop the flywheel centre from fretting and welding itself to the crank tail.3) If you are going to be conservative and want a reliable road setup, use 7250 as a sane limit, with OCCASIONAL bursts to 7600.

Cranks www.gotech.co.za) and ITBs from the Corolla 20v setup .... If on carbs, then Dellorto 40s with small chokes best (will try and find what I used when doing initial setup in 1997).Lumenition or magnetic trigger essential. Don't mess around with points.On carbs, avoid too much idling or sitting in jams ... plugs will tend to foul. Also, too much slow driving and you'll get bore-wash from the richer mixture you need on carbs at low revs.

Gearboxes and transfer/drop gearsI ran a SCCR setup with 3.44 and 3.105 diffs - on the 3.105, you'd battle in 1st in Hillcrest etc pulling away up hills. On the 3.105+SCCR setup, I could sit at 70mph (112km/h) and play tunes 2nd-3rd-4th-3rd-2nd ... used to freak the drivers of the cars trying to mess with me.

Also ran GTS/GT ratios on 3.105 and that was 100% acceptable on the road. Best of both, but with horrible cruising noise (to me) at 120-140 is SCCR and 3.44. Good acceleration, a ratio for almost every occasion. Except freeway.I liked the GTS ratios and 3.105 best. Not much use for dragging GTis, but way better overall. 

Drops/transfer gears - 1275E/A+ type are fine - just make 100% sure the transfer gear casing is perfect and that there is not excessive backlash present when all assembled. SC drops are fine, but probably not needed. More needed on a turbo setup as there is more low-end torque.Mythology and some random itemsKAD 16v setups are fragile. No, only if you're an ass. If you treat 'em with respect, they last. I did 96.000 km on mine. Not one breakage. Nil. Nada. 

I changed oil every 3.000 km (and filter as a precaution). Cambelt every 15-20,000 (overkill but it made me happy). Checked crank and bearings at 40,000 to be safe. Changed bearings as centre main was looking a bit unhappy. Crank was polished, checked and refitted. Also changed rings as a precaution. Cleaned bores - and there was NO sign of bore wear. 

KAD 16 big valve heads are useless on the road. No. Only if huge chokes fitted or badly-jetted. Or you are expecting V8 torque at idle.KAD setups need crazy-short diff ratios. Nonsense. I ran a 3.44 and then changed to a 3.105 to make cruising on the freeway less busy. see next point for more ...KAD setups can only run Straight-cut gears. Also nonsense. S/C for race, yes. Road? 
Run GTS gear clusters (you have the casing already I tink) for best road ratios, or run A+/1275 E gear clusters (just means slightly wide ratios and you need to rev a bit higher to not fall off the torque!).Run oil levels "towards low" to minimize the amount of oil misting and general thrash. But then you MUST check daily ... or just run normal levels and don't pile on the revs (to max) too often.

My original contact at KAD was Nick Cole. He stepped back from the business a number of years ago as far as I know. He was great to deal with. The business is much bigger than it was then. Colin Woollard (the other main dude) was never the greatest at people skills. I just used to ignore him and get what I wanted anyway.There are admittedly fewer longcam heads around now than shortcam heads, but you can still buy long cams etc etc ... so you probably have got a bum steer from someone who couldn't be bothered at KAD. If so, it's sad ... I spend many happy days there drinking tea and eating biscuits and talking. 

I bought a GTM Coupe from Nick Cole too ... irrelevant though!On your misting issue - no, large overlap on valve timing is not the culprit. Check your compression "dry" and also "wet" (a bit of 3-1 into the bore to wet seal) ... if big discrepancy then possible that rings are just not sealing as well as they might. 

Don't forget that when you crank 150hp, there is a LOT more combustion pressure ... and some WILL leak to sump area. There SHOULD be an extra breather hose where the mechanical fuel pump would normally go. If not, then I am 80% sure there is your problem. Also, the venting should be to a catch tank, and NOT to the carbs/inlet. Too much at high revs and it just hurts things.

The Rodda-then-Doug storyI was shedding toys prior to moving to Germany, and Doug had pestered me for a long time about the KAD setup. So when I was ready to sell, I called him ... took him for a drive around the middle of Pinetown ... and he said yes please! Actually, while we were driving (I was), he said "holy f**k!!!", "f**k, f**k, f**k" (and other things) more than a few times. 

For what it's worth, I bounced the rev limited in 3rd along dem road that runs towards the Eskom offices in Pinetown. That was somewhere around 165 km/h before having to hit the anchors for a red light. Was interesting.I was running 165/60r12 Falkens, and they were good. Skip the 13s ... the look sexy but the handling I don't like. 

Best are 10s ... being beaten up by a Mini on 10" wheels does not work for most people. Just use the best brakes and pads you can afford.Did try to get him to run engine management, but Dougie was a clockwork and fuse kind of guy .... 

I have to dig deep to find all my specific build data, but I will hunt for it.
 
 
More as it occurs to me! "