RMweb Premium boxbrownie Posted January 30, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 30, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, Enterprisingwestern said: Is that the one one where the head had to be turned round with the carbs at the front under a Ford 4D commercial style protuberance? Mike. Must have been a different/unique head I'd have thought, we had the Longman inclined valve five port head, real cutting edge back then. Then the 8 valve crossflow heads for minis were produced for racing so carbs/injection at the front, maybe those are what your thinking about? Of course the Gomshall came along with a spaceframe chassis/fibreglass mini body and twin cam ford lump and spoilt it all for us club racers, way out of our league, we went single seaters (formula ford) after that. Edited January 30, 2020 by boxbrownie 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 7 minutes ago, boxbrownie said: None of my road going Coopers show on the UKGOV sites, so I assume they are now long gone.........shame Their log books may well be sitting in drawers though, waiting to be 'invigorated'...! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alastairq Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 28 minutes ago, rockershovel said: I briefly drove an ancient Ford flathead V8 which used a LOT of fuel but was quite fun in an old-school sort of way, The USA has a big industry serving those with flathead [sidevalve] Ford V8s....and the modification of them...to the extent there was the finance to experiment with flow benches, all the various accepted mods for sidevalves [with applications to UK Ford sidevalves]...one or two of which dispelled long-held practices. If only the likes of Bill Cooper [in the UK] had access to flow benches back in the early 1960's? WHo knows how much more power could have been extracted? It is interesting to find that a trials bike manufacturer [GAsGAs?] produced a 4 stroke sidevalve trials bike engine in recent times... Loadsatorque. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium MJI Posted January 30, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 30, 2020 31 minutes ago, boxbrownie said: I do not understand this? I had a car where base engine was a Coventry Climax Imp engine and top engine was 2.2l Lotus slant 4 and most common engine a reasonably decent 1600 I ripped out a Climax and dropped in a 1600 and then tuned it. Nearly tripled the power. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alastairq Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 35 minutes ago, rockershovel said: It wasn’t only Harley Davidson that persisted with sidevalve Harley spent several millions of dollars on development of their sidevalve Vee twins after WW2.....and unheard-of sum in these days....I have, somewhere, the data sheets for those flat track racing Harleys, with drawings, etc...which were published in paper file form some years ago....it makes interesting, if complicated, reading! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alastairq Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 The main reason for using the climax engine wasn't for out & out BHP bragging rights...it was class capacities. Triumph used a1100cc Coventry Climax engine in a Herald [coupe?] for a bit. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium boxbrownie Posted January 30, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 30, 2020 3 minutes ago, alastairq said: The main reason for using the climax engine wasn't for out & out BHP bragging rights...it was class capacities. And it was the base of the IMP engine which gave us a run for our money (quite literally) in the SS up to 1300cc class back in the 70's 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium boxbrownie Posted January 30, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 30, 2020 30 minutes ago, Rugd1022 said: Their log books may well be sitting in drawers though, waiting to be 'invigorated'...! I know what happened to my Mk3 S.........it got rear ended by a drunken 2500Pi one Sunday afternoon My Mk2 which had our Longman transferred to it (albeit with just a race cam inserted) after we went Formula Ford I know not what happened to that, I part exchanged it for a brand new BMW 2002tii....... As for the Mk1........no idea 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 11 minutes ago, boxbrownie said: I know what happened to my Mk3 S.........it got rear ended by a drunken 2500Pi one Sunday afternoon My Mk2 which had our Longman transferred to it (albeit with just a race cam inserted) after we went Formula Ford I know not what happened to that, I part exchanged it for a brand new BMW 2002tii....... As for the Mk1........no idea That Mk3 S would be 'worth' around £25k - £30k by now, sounds daft doesn't it..? One of my Mk1s which I owned from '95 to '99 has come up for sale twice in recent years, I wanted to buy it back each time but just wasn't quick enough off the mark. A '67 850 in Island blue, 'Mackie' (MAC 825E) had Mk4 tail lamps grafted on by a previous owner and was just starting to bubble in the usual places, I had big plans to improve and modify it until I spotted a kosher '69 Mk2 Cooper for sale at a Mini show in June '99 and bought that instead. Mackie soon went but popped up on ebay a couple of years ago sporting a 1275 lump, new metalwork all round and the correct Mk1 rear lamps had been reinstated. I was too slow to bag it but had already bought my Mk2 S at that point. Last year it popped up on ebay again in a sorry state, the gutter rails had started to go and the sills too but I still fancied having it back and turning it into the car I always wanted it to be. Oh well, never mind, and Mk1 Minis aren't as rare as some folk would believe, at least a million saloons were built between '59 and '67. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium boxbrownie Posted January 30, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 30, 2020 5 minutes ago, Rugd1022 said: That Mk3 S would be 'worth' around £25k - £30k by now, sounds daft doesn't it..? and Mk1 Minis aren't as rare as some folk would believe, at least a million saloons were built between '59 and '67. Yes I cannot believe the price of some of the cars I owned when they were just few years old are fetching now.........Mk2 Cooper S, Mk3 Cooper S, Dolly Sprint, 2002tii, Elan Sprint Drophead, Mexico, RS2000 Mk1..........the list goes on As for rarity, just look at some of those back projection clips on here..........soooooo many MInis scattered about, I'd forgotten just how many. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killybegs Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said: Is that the one one where the head had to be turned round with the carbs at the front under a Ford 4D commercial style protuberance? Mike. No, the 1300 block was bored and stroked but the head stayed the same way round with twin 1.5" SU's at the back. Fuel consumption was frightening and the engine needed two oil coolers and an oversized radiator not to mention very expensive spark plugs! The engine also required stabiliser bars from the head back to the bulkhead. I tried it with a twin choke Webber carb but, although that gave better performance at the top end, there was less low end 'grunt'. I bought the engine from Jonspeed but I think the mods were done by an outfit in Birmingham. It was a great wee car. Edited January 30, 2020 by Killybegs 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 5 hours ago, Rugd1022 said: Let's all go camping in Devon... Ford Corsair, centre left; awful car, heavier than a Cortina and fitted with an early, unreliable version of the V4 engine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northmoor Posted January 30, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 30, 2020 20 hours ago, alastairq said: The Reliant engine therefore was right up there with the rest of the small production engines. If you want to talk about gutless engines, try looking at Jaguars for one? Despite their huge capacity, they were nowhere near the bhp per ton, of smaller engines .......of the era. There are good engineering reasons for this of course. The forces created by reciprocating masses rise with the square of the engine speed and obviously cubic capacity means bigger pistons (and you want to put a limit on piston speed). This is why 250cc 2-stroke motorbike engines could reliably put out 350bhp/litre in race tune. Therefore the bigger the engine, the lower the maximum revs so less power density, but you still get the torque you can use on the road and at revs that won't raise complaints from the local Womens Institute. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BernardTPM Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 50 minutes ago, rockershovel said: Ford Corsair, centre left; awful car, heavier than a Cortina and fitted with an early, unreliable version of the V4 engine. That particular one is pre the V4 so fitted with the 1500 Cortina engine: script lettering and no date suffix on the plate. Naturally heavier because it's a stretched Cortina with more legroom in the back and better soundproofing. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
runs as required Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 7 hours ago, Rugd1022 said: Scenes of Sheffield in the '60s... Interesting range of buildings which would all be listed now in that Sheffield pic, do you know the name of the place? I used to know Sheffield quite well, both from Sat. nights out as school boy, later professionally: I worked on station improvements to Sheffield Vic. just before it closed! 2 Do I spot an XK120 fixed head coupe and an NSU in the centre parking strip? dh 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 (edited) 7 hours ago, alastairq said: The USA has a big industry serving those with flathead [sidevalve] Ford V8s....and the modification of them...to the extent there was the finance to experiment with flow benches, all the various accepted mods for sidevalves [with applications to UK Ford sidevalves]...one or two of which dispelled long-held practices. If only the likes of Bill Cooper [in the UK] had access to flow benches back in the early 1960's? WHo knows how much more power could have been extracted? It is interesting to find that a trials bike manufacturer [GAsGAs?] produced a 4 stroke sidevalve trials bike engine in recent times... Loadsatorque. You learn something every day on here https://www.trialscentral.com/forums/topic/37786-gas-gas-4-stroke/ seems it was a development project to meet an FIM requirement which was dropped, so the project was abandoned. I suppose that a sidevalve engine would go in the space required for a 2-stroke? The Harley WL sidevalve was actually a rather superior piece of engineering, very nicely made, high quality finish, easy to start and capable of decades of service and very high reliability. Not very fast and rather thirsty, with no brakes to speak of, but you can’t have everything.. it is basically the predecessor of the VERY fast KR and the ironhead Sportster. But if you’re American, don’t really care about fuel consumption and don’t really care about specific power output, none of those matter. Edited January 30, 2020 by rockershovel 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted January 30, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 30, 2020 3 hours ago, rockershovel said: Ford Corsair, centre left; awful car, heavier than a Cortina and fitted with an early, unreliable version of the V4 engine. 2 hours ago, BernardTPM said: That particular one is pre the V4 so fitted with the 1500 Cortina engine: script lettering and no date suffix on the plate. Naturally heavier because it's a stretched Cortina with more legroom in the back and better soundproofing. I know of someone who fitted a 2.6 litre V6 from a coffin nose Zephyr into a Corsair. Went like stink but used to eat half shafts if you let the clutch out to quick. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold chriswright03 Posted January 31, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 31, 2020 Found a couple more locally that could do with a bit of tlc. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium boxbrownie Posted January 31, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 31, 2020 9 hours ago, runs as required said: Interesting range of buildings which would all be listed now in that Sheffield pic, do you know the name of the place? I used to know Sheffield quite well, both from Sat. nights out as school boy, later professionally: I worked on station improvements to Sheffield Vic. just before it closed! 2 Do I spot an XK120 fixed head coupe and an NSU in the centre parking strip? dh Dunno, I can see a Beatle and a Saab....... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted January 31, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 31, 2020 1 hour ago, chriswright03 said: Found a couple more locally that could do with a bit of tlc. The Escort looks a bit rusty, below the back window in particular, and the missing petrol cap won't help either. As for the BMW, looks as if its doing service as a Christmas tree. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolseley Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 I was sorting through the various photos I've taken over the last few years and came across these, taken at a very upmarket second-hand car showroom at Star City, the complex that is the home of Sydney's casino (no, I wasn't going to the casino, we were going to see a show at the Lyric Theatre, which is in the same complex). The car yard (if that be the right name) was closed, so I had to take the photos through plate glass windows, hence the reflections although, if it was open, I don't think that I would have wanted to go inside: 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 I was watching an episode of the 1966 BBC series 'Adam Adamant Lives!' last night and there's a nice (but very brief) sequence of Gerald Harper driving his Radford Cooper S up to his bachelor pad on the top floor of a London multi storey car park, it's a pity it was shot on grainy 16mm stock, but it looks and sounds great with the typically farty Mini exhaust echoing off the concrete walls... in the early publicity shots taken at Elstree and in the first few episodes it rides on magnesium Miniltes but these were replaced by Mk1 Cosmics for some reason... 5 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanuts Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 On 30/01/2020 at 16:46, Killybegs said: No, the 1300 block was bored and stroked but the head stayed the same way round with twin 1.5" SU's at the back. Fuel consumption was frightening and the engine needed two oil coolers and an oversized radiator not to mention very expensive spark plugs! The engine also required stabiliser bars from the head back to the bulkhead. I tried it with a twin choke Webber carb but, although that gave better performance at the top end, there was less low end 'grunt'. I bought the engine from Jonspeed but I think the mods were done by an outfit in Birmingham. It was a great wee car. lad i co drove for had a 1380 with big valve longman head 1.5 roller rockers scatter cam and split 40 webbers was an fuel guzzler and had a frightening habit of blowing great gouts of fuel back out of the carbs on the over run went like a rocket loads of midrange grunt which is ideal for the twisty stuff 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolseley Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 Spotted in Montague Street, Goulburn. An old car enthusiast who obviously does not believe in angle parking: 12 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alastairq Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 10 hours ago, Wolseley said: Spotted in Montague Street, Goulburn. An old car enthusiast who obviously does not believe in angle parking: It's a darned sight tidier than most of my local Tesco's car park parking... 3 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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