English Ford Model Y

[Flat Ernie]

One of the challenges of driving a stock one is a) lack of power and b) ridiculously low gearing (5.44:1). You can put a 103E engine in with only minor modifications and jump the horsepower up considerably. There are even many aftermarket bits to get a 103E to put out around 60HP or so...which is actually a pretty strong engine for such a tiny car.

If you're willing to go open drive, you can then use a 105 tranny and there were even bolt-on overdrives with their own lever (all mechanical - almost making it a 6-speed).

The back axle in this case is most easily made out of the mix-n-match 103/105 stuff I mentioned earlier.

When I was looking into this as a temporary measure until I could fully engineer a V860 swap, I discovered that the little Jeep Go-Devil 134 engine would probably fit right in there too. It came with 60HP stock and could probably be mildly modified with standard porting, milling heads, open exhaust, intake and electronic ignition to put out around 80HP I'd guess. There was at least one aftermarket head for it too - very rare and I've only ever seen one on eBay.

Now you've got an engine that has a plethora of adapters for various transmissions to bolt up to. Puts out a healthy-enough HP number for such a small car. Is small and light enough to fit into the Y without over-burdening it.

You're still stuck for a back axle though....