7 replies to this topic

[Adam Johnson]

Hi all,

 

There is a ‘Stage 2T head for sale on Facebook for £600.  I am in the middle of a rebuild with a view for relative ‘fast road’, some historic ERA/Hero events and a a bit of uncompetitive hill climbing.  I am after more pep but still able to drive the car.

 

So far, it has a Maniflow LCB and twin box system, Minispares inlet, single HS4, 123 ignition and during the rebuild we have add slightly lighter flywheel. MED RS camshaft (the compete kit with 1.5 roller tips and duplex vernier etc).  It is also being bored out to 1330.  The head is in solid condition with leaded valves. The head is a 1275 HLE from South Africa; I had not planned to do anything with it but given I m this far in and the following has come up; is it worth the money, is it worth switching to unleaded now, would this suit the spec above?

 

Oh and its been painted red so that’s got to be worth at least 5bhp gain?

 

Head Details:

Stage 2 mini head for sale

Painted red now 

35.5 mm inlet valves

29mm exhaust valves

Light weight stellite race valves

Re seated

240lbs double springs fitted height 1.4 inch.

Steel torpedo valve guides.

Unleaded

Fully ported and polished

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

[Alex_B]

I believe Hegnirst on here is the gent selling it. If he pops on he might be able to give some more details. Stage two is a bit meaningless as the "specification" varies from one person to another. If it has a decent porting job then it will make good power, if its been ported badly there's a chance it will perform worse than standard. Without more information it would only be guesswork. Also it doesn't state the size of the combustion chamber so you may find you need to modify it further to obtain the optimum compression ratio. 

But I did see it for sale and was tempted myself but would be asking for more information before going further. Then I realised I should focus on actually having a solid shell before buying go faster bits.

Edited by Alex_B, 25 February 2020 - 10:49 AM.

[Turbo Phil]

Who did the work ? £600 for a second hand head is quite a lot of money. You need to know firstly if it’s a decent job, secondly it’s in good condition and thirdly it’s suited to your engine regarding the compression ratio and port sizing for your intended application.
The term stage 2 is pretty meaningless on its own as one companies stage 2 spec will vary from another.

Phil.

[postve]

personally I would reach out to someone like Keith Calver as for that price he can build to suite and no guesswork involved - When I started my build was looking online and decided, nope, pay a little more and get exactly what I wanted - no regrets!! (CST2001)

 

My general thinking is, unless you have expertise in head work, go with a pro and get it done right and most importantly be very clear what you want and have the CAM to match

Edited by postve, 25 February 2020 - 02:58 PM.

[luismx123]

 

Hi all,

 

There is a ‘Stage 2T head for sale on Facebook for £600.  I am in the middle of a rebuild with a view for relative ‘fast road’, some historic ERA/Hero events and a a bit of uncompetitive hill climbing.  I am after more pep but still able to drive the car.

 

So far, it has a Maniflow LCB and twin box system, Minispares inlet, single HS4, 123 ignition and during the rebuild we have add slightly lighter flywheel. MED RS camshaft (the compete kit with 1.5 roller tips and duplex vernier etc).  It is also being bored out to 1330.  The head is in solid condition with leaded valves. The head is a 1275 HLE from South Africa; I had not planned to do anything with it but given I m this far in and the following has come up; is it worth the money, is it worth switching to unleaded now, would this suit the spec above?

 

Oh and its been painted red so that’s got to be worth at least 5bhp gain?

 

Head Details:

Stage 2 mini head for sale

Painted red now 

35.5 mm inlet valves

29mm exhaust valves

Light weight stellite race valves

Re seated

240lbs double springs fitted height 1.4 inch.

Steel torpedo valve guides.

Unleaded

Fully ported and polished

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

Id rather get a new one from someone reputable like turbo phil or keith calver if youre going to invest that kind of money - I believe keith does heads for 675+vat to order which is probably a safer bet investing a touch more and knowing its done to your spec than getting a random "stage 2" and not have a clue whats been done and by who...

As said above by phil himself, its a lot for a second hand one... But im sure you can negotiate a better price with the seller ;)

[GraemeC]

No information on chamber size.

Do you know what CR you need and what the swept and unswept volume of your short motor are?

[postve]

To GraemeC point, and I was educated by Keith on all these critical things such as chamber size (25cc)/CR (9.5)/Pistons (8.0), etc etc etc.

 

Here's cost on brand new CST2001 and details as follows - 695 quid as they say over by you and worth every penny.  As always, the devil is in the details and I can only thank god I never bought something resale without proper knowledge and education;

 

Sport spec cylinder head - CST2001

 

Inlet valves: 35.7mm, single groove collet EN214N plasma-nitrided

Exhaust valves: 29.5mm, single groove collet EN214N plasma-nitrided

Guides: Manganese bronze

Stem seals: Sprung type on all 8

Valve springs: 220lb nominal dual coil, shimmed to correct fitted length

Top caps: Standard

Collets: Standard single groove

Chamber cap: Tailored to suit application.

[Adam Johnson]

Thanks for the advice everyone. The bad news is that I have had a call from the machine shop and the block has liners in and needs a hone at least. They say its not in great shape but if honed would be ok.

 

Given I have the entire engine in bits would you;

 

1 Buy a new bottom half engine from mini spares (or elsewhere and if so who).  

 

2 Buy a complete engine as I was looking at approaching either Keith or Phil for a new head (and again, where would you go for this)

 

3 Buy a second hand block from eBay and give it back to the machine shop to bore etc out to 1330 and then buy the bits to go in?

 

I have the MED RS camshaft and kit and a lighter flywheel to fit but I could probably send this all back and get recover the costs...what are your thoughts?