[Spridgets] Heads

[WeslakeMonza1330 at aol.com]

There are a whole bunch of different 1275cc head castings of which I know  
very little.  Whether or not the casting is A+ doesn'e mean anything as  they 
made some small valve 1275cc heads for stuff like the Morris Ital.  On  the 
other hand the late A+ heads on the Classic (but not 1960s Classic) Minis  would 
have had bigger valves.
 
What you need to know is what the valve sizes are and how well the  casting 
is ported.  There are different combinations of inlet and exhaust  that will 
fit in the head.
 
Any 9 stud block can be drilled and tapped to take the extra 2 studs or  
sometimes a stud and a bolt.
 
All of the 5 port aluminium alloy heads originate from Pierce who supply  
them as a bare casting for 'whoever' to build as per the customer spec.   There 
is almost no data on the Pierce heads and possibly no flow bench data  either.  
Generally the limitation on the Pierce head appears to be that  since it 
needs an insert for one of the valves (or both) you can't get use as  big valves 
as you can in an iron head.  However, the aluminum head is  significantly 
lighter than an iron head and if this is more important to you  that a few more bhp 
(and almost certainly it'll benefit you more than a few more  bhp) it's the 
hot choice.  At least three listers here are runnin a Pierce  head - probably 
all to different specs.
 
Weslake-Monza 1330
 
In a message dated 21/01/2009 21:35:59 GMT Standard Time,  
mdrowe at optonline.net writes:

MiniMania offers Longman heads for 11-stud blocks that "will fit 9-stud  
blocks."  I assume they are A+ heads, but I can't find any information on  this 
difference.  Also, alloy heads claim a different internal shaping  that 
increases flow by 30% with standard valves.  All are  expensive.  Any advice?

Michael Rowe
'74 Midget
Long Island,  NY