Any idea what stage this project got to?
There may well be the dies sitting somewhere gathering dust when they could
be at a foudry creating new heads for old engines. I often wonder what
happened to the "mould" for the REPCO high power X-flow head for the 138c.i.
"grey motor" that G.M.HOLDEN produced from 1948-1963. Only a handfull of
thes heads were ever made, as rare as rocking horse sh*t, I've known cars to
be stolen just for the X-flow head.
Andy
>From: Scott Fisher <sefisher@cisco.com>
>Reply-To: Scott Fisher <sefisher@cisco.com>
>To: Daniel1312@aol.com
>CC: Ajhsys@aol.com, spritenut@Exit109.com, spridgets@autox.team.net,
>toyman@htcomp.net
>Subject: Light Headed
>Date: Fri, 14 May 1999 11:23:02 -0700
>
>Daniel1312@aol.com wrote:
> >
> > In a message dated 13/5/1999 2:40:14PM, Ajhsys@aol.com writes:
> >
> > << The A series cars could get close... >>
> >
> > I think you have to put this comment in perspective. The A series
>engined
> > cars were delibrately NOT fitted with the Cooper S head because they
>were
> > embarrasingly quite compared to the MGB. In other words they made them
>SLOW
> > on purpose.
>
>And the perfect segue to the story of Eddie Maher and the Engine That
>Never Was!
>
>In the mid-Sixties -- about the time Spridges were getting 1275s instead
>of 1098s -- Honda was making a first pass at a Grand Prix car, and
>decided to try making some small sports cars. The S600 and S800 that
>developed were roughly Spridget-sized, using jewel-like little
>motorcycle engines that put out considerably more power than the 10CG
>*or* the 1275 (or even the Triumph 1500 :-).
>
>Geoff Healey, who tells the story, said that they were very worried
>about the Honda taking sales away from Spridgets, so they got BMC to
>throw a few pounds at them to see what they could come up with. They
>borrowed Eddie Maher, one of the racing/rally team members, and had him
>put together a new cylinder head which could be bolted onto the A
>Series.
>
>Apparently, Eddie did such a good job that the head he came up with not
>only made the Spridget faster than the Honda, it also made it faster
>than the MGB, and it would even have been easier to produce than the
>12G940 head. Honda allegedly got wind of this special head and pulled
>the S600 and S800 out of the UK market. With the threat disappearing
>before it even arrived, BMC realized they couldn't make a cheap car that
>went faster than an expensive one (a decision they'd make again with the
>MGB-V8), so Eddie's project was shelved.
>
>Geoff doesn't say anything else about that head, such as whether it was
>the inspiration for the eight-port alloy heads used on the Le Mans
>Sprites, or even whether it was a crossflow design. I can't imagine
>that it was still a five-holer, but you never can tell.
>
>And speaking of cylinder heads, has anyone here used one of the
>al-yew-minnie-um heads that Moss (et al.) are advertising in the back of
>the latest Spridget catalog? My soon-to-arrive roundarch is said to
>have a freshened up motor, so I'm not planning to do anything major to
>it for a year or so. But a 9-lb aluminum head (allegedly with 35%
>better flow capability, no less) has me thinking of Rimflo valves,
>high-ratio rockers, and all the usual tweaks. Many thanks to anyone who
>has experiences to share...
>
>--Scott Fisher
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