4 replies to this topic

[Howie1000]

Good evening all,

I was hoping someone with a bit more knowledge than me would be able to help out a little, basically I have a 1380 MED engine which is need of a good old fashioned strip & rebuild, unfortunately my budget isnt going to allow that right now so I'm going to buy a bog standard 1275cc engine, I wondered if I could fit my MED Stage 3 head straight on to a standard 1275? If so will it increase BHP by much? I will just be running LCB, RC40 1 3/4 carb, K&N filter on the standard 1275.
The particular head was for the old leaded 4* petrol & cant be converted to unleaded so some sort of additive will be needed in the fuel. Thanks in advance for any help guys! )

[mini7boy]

Good evening all,

I was hoping someone with a bit more knowledge than me would be able to help out a little, basically I have a 1380 MED engine which is need of a good old fashioned strip & rebuild, unfortunately my budget isnt going to allow that right now so I'm going to buy a bog standard 1275cc engine, I wondered if I could fit my MED Stage 3 head straight on to a standard 1275? If so will it increase BHP by much? I will just be running LCB, RC40 1 3/4 carb, K&N filter on the standard 1275.
The particular head was for the old leaded 4* petrol & cant be converted to unleaded so some sort of additive will be needed in the fuel. Thanks in advance for any help guys! )

you don't mention which cam you are running, so I will assume it is the standard cam. If this is true, chances are that the MED head will be too much for the rest of the engine and that you will have an engine that really only works well at higher RPMs. If you plan to change the cam for something hotter as well, then the MED head may be worthwhile. You mentioned that your budget is tight, so maybe a new cam isn't possible, but it may be a waste to use the MED head without it. Depending upon the condition of the head on the 1275, you might be wise to do a valve job and check valve spring tension on it so as to make it run as well as possible.

[Howie1000]

Many thanks for your reply, a cam shold be fine, a Piper 285 is only about £70.

So a basic 1275 engine with a piper cam, MED stage 3 head, single 1 -3/4 carb, LCB & RC40 should be ok & have a decent increase over a standard 1275 then?

Cheers
David

[mini7boy]

Many thanks for your reply, a cam shold be fine, a Piper 285 is only about £70.

So a basic 1275 engine with a piper cam, MED stage 3 head, single 1 -3/4 carb, LCB & RC40 should be ok & have a decent increase over a standard 1275 then?

Cheers
David

Before you commit to running the Piper 285 cam (now known as the Piper BP285 cam), you should double check with Piper to make sure that it is the same cam that was evaluated under the name 285 Magnum in David Vizard's first edition of his "Tuning BL's A-Series Engine" that has a blue cover and was published in 1985. Vizard was very impressed with the Piper 285 Magnum and described it as "an excellent high performance road cam" for 1275 engines.

If your cam is the same as the Piper 285 Magnum, it should work very well with your MED head if the compression ratio is appropriate. Best to check with Piper as they don't list any target compression ratio in their catalog.

Piper lists the 285 cam's specs at this website: http://www.pipercams...rCamFrames.html
You need to select "Austin Rover" to pull up the A-series cams.

For what it's worth, here's what Piper has to say about their BP285 cam in their catalog: "For use in 1275 and larger engines massive improvements in mid range torque and power"

[Howie1000]

thats great, many thanks for your help with this.

Cheers