Tuning for Enduros - MGB, Lotus Cortina, TVR etc (Spa 6 Hour spin off)

[terence]

Originally Posted by esper

honestly 1845...............................I have always wondered that in the Cambridge catologue the small pistons were cast and the big ones 82,5mm (if i am right) were the forged ones? I think if B's start protesting there will be no B anymore which nobody wants. There is no cheaper way to do a six hours than in a B. (with the bigger pristons and 4 synchro gearbox.!)
but even in the old days low 8ths was pretty fast! Niek van gils and Sander did that as well, and thats fast. Allthough in a TVR you can hold these times and in the B you have to slow down a little after your fligher!

1950 are 83.5 and 1845 are81.5, There is no point in using cast pistons on an endurance engine,I did once try and it doe,s not work.Where do you think Nieks engine came from.!!.Cambridge would supplie cast ,but only special order. You only need to slow if you susspect a problem, other wise ,keep it in there .I agree,with the Griff it just takes it in its stride,.

[esper]

Originally Posted by terence bower

1950 are 83.5 and 1845 are81.5, There is no point in using cast pistons on an endurance engine,I did once try and it doe,s not work.

well JE pistons are cast but the they use probably one size fits all so a lot of turning down , where lies the advantage of a cast piston.................everybody forgets but its the name wich sells but possibly a good founded Hypolyte is not that bad> ..Nothing above a good cast MAhle piston but never seen or fits in an MGB (sadly enough)

[terence]

Agree, the Mahle Piston is very good,I dont ever recall them being used in a race engine though.J & E pistons are forged Esper.By the way ,my pistons are 81.25,so you see ,totally legal.

[Peter Mallett]

Worth checking but I believe Mahle were the preferred piston for Essex V6 engines. this was told to me by a certain G Marshall esquire.

[esper]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Worth checking but I believe Mahle were the preferred piston for Essex V6 engines. this was told to me by a certain G Marshall esquire.

mm (small voice) in my healey i use them . they used to be in an Opel (you call that Vauxhall) and tehy are great. would love to have them in an MGB engine

[esper]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Worth checking but I believe Mahle were the preferred piston for Essex V6 engines. this was told to me by a certain G Marshall esquire.

I will never forget him on the opening of John Chatham last bigger workshop (after he moved away from Bristol centre) 10 years and more ago Gerry MArshal told me about the best valvesprings for an MGB, " and you ill never get them............" now i have them but they come from Japan!
So I never raced against him but I drank against him............I lost ,and I was better then than I am now.

[terence]

It would take a VERY experienced drinker to beat Gerry. Mahle pistons were indeed a subsidery of Opel, but things have moved on since then.

[esper]

Originally Posted by terence bower

1950 are 83.5 and 1845 are81.5, There is no point in using cast pistons on an endurance engine,I did once try and it doe,s not work.Where do you think Nieks engine came from.!!.Cambridge would supplie cast ,but only special order. You only need to slow if you susspect a problem, other wise ,keep it in there .I agree,with the Griff it just takes it in its stride,.

nieks engine came from Dymotrack

[esper]

Originally Posted by terence bower

Agree, the Mahle Piston is very good,I dont ever recall them being used in a race engine though.J & E pistons are forged Esper.By the way ,my pistons are 81.25,so you see ,totally legal.

Good thing by Mahle is that the dimesions of the cast are strickt and close to machined ready priston which is one of the things which make them very good I think. Are we (again ) in the right forum?

[terence]

Cambridge supplied Neiks first engine, unfortunatly he fell out with the workshop manager,and that was the end of the relationship.Yes, he did start using Dymotrak after the first season.As I remember, I always got on well with him,I,ve not seen him for years though. Maybe you could send him my regards?

[zefarelly]

Originally Posted by terence bower

Interesting Zef, my best [are we talking Spa ?] lap on 4 year old 008r,s is down as 3.07.237. The best it will do on ZZs is a low 08. I promise you that these times were using an 1845cc engine ,built by Mass Engines. The rest of the spec is totally to F.I.A reg,s. Whizzo or myself didnt think we could get it any quicker on the day.

I'm referring to running on Dunlop M's which should knock some time off !

re pistons, I've seen all the above mentioned in Ford Engines, I use JE in the race car because they where efficient and prompt with manufacture etc, and half the price of a certain UK supplier. they've proved to be superb thus far

I also have a set of brand new accralite MGB pistons at 81.8mm which will drop into a ford crossflow block for a precrossflow head . . . . project No 179 in a very long list !

[terence]

There is at least one highly respected engine tunerIknow very well,he,ll not use anything but Accrillite. I suppose you find something you like and stick with it.The Dunlop ,Ms, should help, I think they are more user friendly than ,L, section,but both a lovely tyre to race on Zef.M section on my B are within 4/5 10ths of ZZs

[Peter Mallett]

I've got JE in mine. They machined them to our design and so far I've been pleased with the performance.

quite right though, you find someone relaible and you stick with them.

[terence]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

I've got JE in mine. They machined them to our design and so far I've been pleased with the performance.

quite right though, you find someone relaible and you stick with them.

Morning Peter, you should not have the crowns part company with J.E, unlike certain other brands.

[esper]

Originally Posted by terence bower

Cambridge supplied Neiks first engine, unfortunatly he fell out with the workshop manager,and that was the end of the relationship.Yes, he did start using Dymotrak after the first season.As I remember, I always got on well with him,I,ve not seen him for years though. Maybe you could send him my regards?

they still have that mgb an elan and an ex Chris Schirle (Serge van Havre ) Griffith.

[terence]

What front and rear uprights has Niek got on the Griff. I was correct about his first engine.It is several years ago now,I do remember it being 1950 though,he always wanted to beat Fritz!is he still racing?.It would be good to meet up with them again.I met Peter Equery[forgive the spelling.]at Spa, i had,nt seen him for years, his son Bob worked at Cambridge for a while!

[esper]

Originally Posted by terence bower

What front and rear uprights has Niek got on the Griff. I was correct about his first engine.It is several years ago now,I do remember it being 1950 though,he always wanted to beat Fritz!is he still racing?.It would be good to meet up with them again.I met Peter Equery[forgive the spelling.]at Spa, i had,nt seen him for years, his son Bob worked at Cambridge for a while!

He races once and a while , and when he does we total dedication. He was at Assen and last weekend at Nurburgring (saisonsfinale) His Grif was converted to FF uprights (Triumph) and at the rear I don't know . The Reid Vixen uprights??? I realy don't know....................:
Chris is not on the car anymore they do it wih dymotrack Enginewise ok but brakes needs a little fetling. but what to complain he roles over the field battling the Bizarrini and E types. I saw Peter just a short while ,sadly enough; he is a nice guy if you know him. Heard about Porsche Troubles / but i am not into those cars . what did you do with all those guys?

[terence]

We used to look after all of their cars,we would race prep them before every event. There was also Ed Sturwold with another M.G.B. I built the Bernd Schmidt Marcus to namedrop that is .Once upon a time the workshop was constantly full of continental cars.Good to know the front uprights are legal now!

[terence]

Esper, just a thought, do you know Micheal Hess, he used to have another Griff that we looked after,it was once clocked at 178mph on the Dottingerhohe straight.

[zefarelly]

they do seem to be disproportionately fast, probably becasuse they're that much newer, and over developed compared to other cars of the period ?

there seems to be a few really quick cars in each period which where initially made just before the cut off dates, but in reality never made a mark until several years developement later.

an example being the Jan 63 launch of the LC . . . . it never did anything much asides break until well into 1964 and the success really came in 65-66

[simon drabble]

Originally Posted by zefarelly

an example being the Jan 63 launch of the LC . . . . it never did anything much asides break until well into 1964 and the success really came in 65-66

so what you are saying is that the first year of the Lotus Cortina it breaks a lot and then its fully sorted and success' follow in the second year
sounds very familiar!!!
To be fair to our spanners we have cracked all the problems without sacrificing pace in teh 6 Hour we were just unlucky to have a water pump go on us. Anyway if anyone is interested it will be on the market as soon as its fixed with spares ready for Goodwood 07 as well as U2TC etc....!

[terence]

Hi, Zef, sorry to butt in ,but was,nt the diff housing the main problem? .Engine wise Iknow the head gasket gave trouble occaisionally,most of the time the T/C was not to bad.It did win the B.T.C.C in 64 after all.

[zefarelly]

It takes a year or so to get a new car sorted IMO, it did for me, and several people said chin up, and the same thing when I had bad days out.

I was more referring to certain 'pre66' cars which never really raced successfully until late 60's as they where so new/unreliable early on, but somehow get in pre66 races at later spec and wipe the field.

[simon drabble]

Originally Posted by terence bower

Hi, Zef, sorry to butt in ,but was,nt the diff housing the main problem? .Engine wise Iknow the head gasket gave trouble occaisionally,most of the time the T/C was not to bad.It did win the B.T.C.C in 64 after all.

certainly all our prblems have been diff and prop linked - the engine is fine, but after doing the 6 hour in 05 we knew that would be

[terence]

Originally Posted by zefarelly

It takes a year or so to get a new car sorted IMO, it did for me, and several people said chin up, and the same thing when I had bad days out.

I was more referring to certain 'pre66' cars which never really raced successfully until late 60's as they where so new/unreliable early on, but somehow get in pre66 races at later spec and wipe the field.

Je comprand