12 replies to this topic

[Chris.Williams]

Hi all,
One of these ? has popped up on a local auction site.
Original Cooper S 970 thick flange motor, on original bore, crank is 10/10.
Is also built, not just parts.
Anyone want to chime in on what it’s worth, rareity?
Thank
Chris

[mattmiglia]

Got the link? ;)

[Cooperman]

Very rare and hard to value.
Maybe £1500+ from a buyer who needs a sub 1-litre engine for competition

[Chris.Williams]

Got the link? ;)

https://www.trademe....-1744451467.htm

[Chris.Williams]

Very rare and hard to value.
Maybe £1500+ from a buyer who needs a sub 1-litre engine for competition

Asking $4000 NZ

[mattmiglia]

Very rare and nice engine but not sure it’s worth quite that, assume aswell over there would be worth less than if it was in uk

[Chris.Williams]

Very rare and nice engine but not sure it’s worth quite that, assume aswell over there would be worth less than if it was in uk

I was wondering if the price was a bit high, but I know nothing about these particular engines.

[Spider]

Mmmmm,,, sorry mate, but a 970 Thick Flange?

 

I'm 99.999999999999999% certain that the Thick Flange stuff came in well after the 970 ceased production.

[Chris.Williams]

Mmmmm,,, sorry mate, but a 970 Thick Flange?
 
I'm 99.999999999999999% certain that the Thick Flange stuff came in well after the 970 ceased production.

Very interesting, might have to leave him a little comment on his auction.
Cheers Moke

[Cooperman]

The 'S' blocks are basically identical, except that later ones are thick-flange.
From memory, the 970 and 1275 S blocks have the same deck height with the 1071 about 0.25" lower. There is enough metal to take 1/4" off the deck of a 1275 if necessary and I have previously done this to create a 1071 rally engine. The bores are all the same.
So a 970 thick flange engine is easy to build. The rare part is the crankshaft. That combination would make a great race or rally engine for up to 1 litre class in historic motor-sport.

[Spider]

The 'S' blocks are basically identical, except that later ones are thick-flange.
From memory, the 970 and 1275 S blocks have the same deck height with the 1071 about 0.25" lower. There is enough metal to take 1/4" off the deck of a 1275 if necessary and I have previously done this to create a 1071 rally engine. The bores are all the same.
So a 970 thick flange engine is easy to build. The rare part is the crankshaft. That combination would make a great race or rally engine for up to 1 litre class in historic motor-sport.

 

Yes, a 970 (or 1071) can easily be made from a 1275 S (or most other 1275 Blocks).

 

Cooperman, good memory and close. It was actually only the 1275 S Block that is taller, both the 1071 and 970 were 'shaved' and additionally, the 970 used slightly longer Rods.

 

I actually suspect this particular 'Thick Flange 970S' has been made from someone taking to a 1275 Block with a planer (and also in the process, removing the original 1275 engine number).

 

The 970 (as a complete car) was only in production for less than 1 year, from March 1964 to January 1965. Thick Flange Blocks didn't make an appearance until late 67 or early 68.

[62S]

1970's replacement engines and blocks for 970 and 1071 used the thick flange block.

[Cooperman]

Yes, the nominal production run of the 970 was the 1000 identical units needed to homologate it for competition. It is said that actually slightly fewer than 1000 were built.

The 970 did win the European Touring Car Championship which was on a class improvement basis and got BMC a lot of publicity.

It was never a great road car. A friend of mine who used to navigate for me at times had one and it seemed to be all revs and not much go.

My son built a 970 from a 998 Cooper for historic rallying using an engine and gearbox I acquired very cheaply. I drove it to a class win on one rally but was only 7th overall. If I had driven my big S that hard I reckon I would have won outright by quite a bit. Nothing under about 4500 rpm and max revs of about 7700 rpm. We used a very low final drive ratio.