There seems to be a few opinions on this�but does anybody actually know what the stock internals can handle safely?
I know the oil pump is probably a weak point and worth upgrading regardless of power output � just curious to know what the crank, rods, pistons etc can handle. Not really heard of many (if any) failures.
Well from all my research on this,
oil pump valves and springs need sorting if you want to increase the rev range
piston ring land fail when piston crown pressure exceeds the amount required to deliver much over ~300hp, this is reputed to be 10psi but that very much depends on your setup, even with my smaller pulley I don’t make 10psi of boost since I increased the bore of the exhaust.
If I was building a SC engine for >300hp I would be changing pistons, rods and the oil pump along with sleeving the block all other parts seem to be fine
I was all up for building an engine, but I�m reluctant to go do down the path of a blueprinted engine the more a think about it�. Forged parts could always seem to open up whole new chapter of problems, and also greater costs should anything go wrong. Pretty much everything that has gone wrong on my car has been with an aftermarket parts, so I�d rather reduce that risk. For the cost of building a new engine, id prefer to drop another 2zz-ge in with change to spare.
I�m going to be increasing the boost, but I want to know if the internals are going to take it�not really heard of any failures really apart from detonation due to poor mapping.
Anyone else (like Whiteysback) running circa 330bhp?
Do it. 330 bhp is bonkers quick in an Exige 
5k miles of mixed road use and zero issues so far. Wayne at Sincs has seen all sorts of failed yoya lumps and reckons the stock internals are good for 330bhp. That is the limit though.
You will not regret doing it!
At the end of the day, it’s only an engine…
Stock rods good for 350 whp, pistons should be changed at 280 whp, oil pump needs upgrading if buzzing the engine past 8200 rpm., valves need to be changed if buzzing past 8200 rpm. Cams/valve clearance need to be checked if you start the engine…Baffeled pan if you go around corners…
Well that has just saved me a bucket load on new rods, I’m just going to sleeve mine and through in some 10.5/1 comp pistons 
Frank what do you think of the bolts or do you need ARP?
I have heard not so good thing about their head bolts in the 2ZZ?
Imho …
Keep it sealed … easily good for what us guys want , if you fancy more boost then look at water injection .
Remember our box , even with jubu gears won’t take much more than we already have
Water injection is for chumps, I would change the head bolts to ARP without a doubt.
9/1 pistons is the way to go, this gives you room to grow…
Ok so ARP bolts all the way, I am going to stick with 10.5 I don’t want lag city
Lag ??
Lower C/R will allow you to run more boost safely without detonation.
Not sure what you’re meaning by lag 
Lag if i go turbo, if you move to the lower compression it will effect off boost performance 
maybe not lag, but a general lack of throttle reaction I like the high comp reving nature of the engine and don’t want to take that away just incase I want to run more than 1bar of boost
WOW !
You may turbo it ?
Excellent … will be interested following progress.
What’s the plan with the gearbox though,as,you’ll soon be in the danger zone again 
No turbo for a while, going to max the MP62 first with a lower comp engine for a couple of years
There’s me upping it 
JSR jonnyfox screamer lol R&D by DDPerformanceResearch
This was the main reason for my question on the limitations�.
The MP62 is pretty much running at max 320-330bhp on the 2.8� pulley. If the internals can cope with the extra (certainly handles 300bhp ok), then it makes more sense to leave the engine un opened - Built engines can be very troublesome. Quite a few on the SC vx220 boys are running the M62 to 300bhp, but are forced to change the internals at 260bhp � quite a few of these guys have had their engine rebuilt more than once due to poor quality aftermarket markets, and or poor workmanship. Something I�d rather avoid.
Personally I wouldn�t bother with turbo. Turbo lag just doesn�t suit the car, and you�d soon be running into gearbox problems again with the torque. The 1320 Harrop charger is the way to go for more power (much more efficient than the MP62)��but then this would require a built engine for big power!
you can run as small as a 2.5" pulley but you are then running just above its max RPM at 8k rpm, I am going to try a 2.6 and 2.7" pulley and see what difference there is in power, but I will probably stick with the 2.7"
not convinced by the 1320 harrop as I feel it is a bit large for the job and doesn’t give the low down performance results sadly
A 2.6 will give 230+ lb/ft torque I imagine … Brave for the gearbox even with Jubu,s
Respect for trying it tho
I love living on the edge
That’s Southend described to a tee!