6 replies to this topic

[Oldskoolbaby]

It's been 9 years since I bought my mk1 racer and for a large chunk of that time it sat in dry storage gathering dust. Over the last year I considered restoring the shell and building it up to Appendix K rules and regs. However, looking more into it, it seems that unless your cheque book is endlessly open to buy the very best you'll get nowhere which in my opinion is a crying shame as it doesn't shout genuine period mods to me.
Anyway, because of that I thought it best to retain some of my cars history and enjoy it as it would have been in the mid 60's to late 70's. Turns out 3 times BTCC winner Bill Mcgovern owned the car in its early years so I feel its better to keep its originality and sub 1000cc. Some of you may remember I foolishly went stupid with an engine about 8 years back thinking more was better (1460, forged en40b crank, k1200rs head, t25 turbo, quaife dog box) but then realised dyno queens aren't really enjoyable. So from now on this car will be strictly kept n/a and use period type parts and modifications.
Well the car was unearthed last month from its storage facility and I was delighted to see the shell was still in fantastic condition with no welding or panel work needed. With a good amount of prep and new paint it will be box fresh in no time.
Engine wise, although it must be kept below the 1000cc mark, it won't be the typical 998 lump with pocketed block and 1275 head. It took me ages to find but last week I bought a complete 970s bottom end that was fitted to an A+ block which has been offset bored to 73.5mm using Omega piston. Unfortunately that gives me 1050cc so that will have to be sorted by either sleeving it down or swapping the block over. The key to the build will be its cylinder head and rev limit however. With a goal of 10,000-10,500rpm I'll be avoiding the trusty 5 port head and pushrods in favour of a modified twin cam Honda CBR 900 variant. After fitting the K1200 head to my last engine it seems quite straight forward with many of the same modifications needed to get it working with the Honda head. Luckily, I'm doubting ill need to make any modifications to the port designs as the bore and stroke of the CBR is very similar to a bored out 999cc A series yet still makes around 130hp at 10,500rpm. The car used to produce 115-120hp at 11,000rpm with its old expensive Arden 8 port so anything around that figure and I'll be very happy.

Once I have a few pics I shall post them.

[The Matt]

Blimey mate, been a long time since I saw you on here!

 

I never finished that 1400cc engine I bought off you by the way.  Sounds like you're in for a mad engine build there!

[Oldskoolbaby]

Hiya Matt, it has been a while! Literally years. I was thinking of that motor the other day and wondered what ever come of it. Would have been a stump puller I reckon! How's things?

I suppose this engine does sound a little mad but its very similar to the typical BMW swap in many ways wich are common place now. With the twin cam head it saves me so much hasstle trying to make everything take the high rpms. That before ive paid someone to port a 5 port to make good power too. From the head down it will all be pretty usuall mods. Lighten/balance, 4 bolt center main, dog box etc etc. The rev limit seems very high but I'm assured the parts I have are fine upto 11,000rpm.

[andywaller]

Awesome I was thinking of this car as I saw a picture of it on Instagram recently and wondered what happened to it but couldn't remember who's it was, then I looked on my project and you have commented on it and now I've remembered.

Anyway brilliant to see it still in existence. Look forward to seeing some updates.

[Bungle]

back again , love your car and i remember it in ccc mag

[Oldskoolbaby]

Funny you should mention the CCC mag. I managed to get hold of an immaculate copy a few months ago. It's quite an interesting read and I only wish engine building cost the same now as it did then!

What picture have you seen of it Andy? I'm still gathering as many pics as I can and didn't realise there were any on Instagram.

As a small up date, I've fully removed the roll cage and stripped the interior ready for a light rub down and paint. I was considering having the shell soda blasted or acid dipped but have been advised against both so will be using a paint stripper mix to take the exterior down to bare metal. I'm only doing this as to give my sprayer a clean canvas instead of working over a fair ol' few quick coats of 2 pack to hide the usuall battle scars. Both subframes are set for powder coating this week too.

[The Matt]

Brett!!! Update me!