1098 worth saving?

As mentioned before, my 1098 went south. My diagnosis was that it had A) eaten a valve, B) holed a piston, or C) blown a head gasket. Rather than spending $$$ to find out and getting it fixed, I bought a 1275 with a Weber 32/36 and a new maniflow exhaust system. It's done now except for putting it on a dyno for the final tuning.

The question is, should I bring the old lump home? It would still have to be fixed to be runnable. Who would want it? It will just sit and be in the pile of spares that goes to whoever owns the red thing next.

I say save it or make sure it finds a good home. One day originality may matter and someone may need it.

No. I scrapped mine. Parts > buying 1275.

Bill
Keep it or sell it out- don't scrap it.
Bill

kellysguy said:

I say save it or make sure it finds a good home. One day originality may matter and someone may need it.

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EXACTLY! I keep saying our cars will be worth something one day!

Bill, you can remove the serial number plate with a pair of visegrip's and twisting. Once you have done that you could always find a engine to put the plate on and that would resolve any originality problems. Save everything else. manifolds and carbs cause I think you would like them better than the weber. Also heater valve, distributor, thermostat and housing. Plugs, oil preasure outlet fitting, banjo tubes for oil filter and filter housing if you have converted to spin on. Personally I would tear it down just out of curiosity to see what went wrong.
Thats my .02!!

Kurt.

Hey Bill.
There's a tired 1098 here in Portland (just south of you) for $400 at: https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/pts/3379519870.html as a point of reference.
I'd like to see the newly upgraded rig when you get it down this way (at the Jumble?, earlier?). Maybe Pete, you and me might get together.

Ok, I'll bring it home if for the parts if nothing else... When Paul A. rebuilt it 10 years ago or so, he lost the number plate so no point saving that part. I'll want the carbs and manifold in case I do go back to SU's and the oil filter adapter and banjo bolt connecty thingy could come in useful .. The dizzy, and starter are on the new engine already.

Thanx for all the input.. by the way it also has the Morris Service 1098 flywheel. I had Paul prepare a 1275 flywheel for just such and occasion as occurred.

To Bill M: Now that you've left the Pacific Northwest I can have a car that's faster than yours. Neener Neener Neener !

I say keep the whole engine and keep it together. Don't tear it down unless you plan to rebuild it. best way to keep a motor from rusting is keep it together. Otherwise, all of those nice shiney machined areas rust....then it gets junked. Guys keep tossong these things and 1275's are drying up. One day all the 1098's will be gone and folks who need them won't be able to find them. Keep it and put it on a gocart or make it into a coffe table but don't scrap it.

The fact that Paul built it is reason enough to keep it and in one piece at that. Sure, pop the head off to see what's up but button it back up if it still looks good.

Bill
Next time you come down to see Andrew bring your Sprite down and we can have a race and you can see Seaworld too!
Bill

Sorry for the bump,
but you know the 12G295 head on that thing is getting rare and bringing quite a bit nowadays on ebay. Having a valve bounce around a bit doesn't hurt it since the chambers should be reworked and polished anyway, as well as a .060 skim.

So for the rest of you Americans who got the bulk of 12G295 heads, They are valuable. The do wonders for the 948 and 998 motors.

I realize everyone wants the 1275, but is a properly rebuilt 1098 with the 2" crank and 295 head a reasonable and fun choice for a Spridget?

Jim

Absolutely YES!!! I have a 1098 that was transplanted into Bugsy my '68 and it is a great motor. Lots of torque.

For years I thought I wanted a 1275. When I asked anyone whom I considered knowledgeable about swapping out (the 10cc, 2" main) for the bigger one they asked .. WHY? It is the smoothest running (doesn't need a crank damper!) highest torque engine ever put in a Spridget. When it bombed on me, that was finally my excuse the "Go Big". .. Most seem to think it's worth saving. . Thanx for all the input

I'm interested in members' opinions on this because I'm facing the same issue. When I reacquired my bugeye after 38 years a 1098 had been installed by the prior owner. The smooth case transmission had blown - maybe 25 or 30 years ago - and the car was pushed in the corner. I'm working on the body and haven't done anything to the engine except confirm it has the 295 head and is a 10cc. When I picked up a ribcase transmission from the local British rebuilder/restorer he said "put a 1275 in it; it'll cost the same to rebuild".

By then I had already bought a 1098 clutch on the internet. Now you guys are scaring me to death with the 1098's torque. Here is a picture showing the new disc compared to the old. There's much less grip surface. It's also a 4 spring. I checked the B&B numbers and there are several UK sites listing this as correct for the spridget. When finished the car will probably spend most of its time going to the hardware store and back.

Is this clutch OK for the stock 1098?

Thanks, Jim

Bill, your cylinder head for the 1098 is sitting still in the box you sent it in, you mention checking it out for a possible rebuild, I never even open the box, because I knew you're committed to the 1275 now, there no reason tho throw money at the 1098 head, rebuiding a head is not cheap. Long story short, call whenever you're ready to ship it back to you, and we can get it back with the engine. FWIW, if it is a 10CC 1098 engine, that means it has the bigger 2" mains, still while not in great demand, racers who use the 1098 engine for racing want the bigger main bearing engine.


As for retagging the engine with your old 1098 engine tag, you're not fool anyone who knows anything about these cars, the lack of lifter covers and and breather can on the timing cover of the 1275 are dead give-aways, anyway unless you are being judged in concourse judged show for originality, then who cares, all other shows are popular vote, and most people voting could care less if it is original, or probably would even know. Also IMHO, I would value a Sprite like your's at more value because it did have the 1275 engine. When I look at car like your's, I would value it more because it has all the stuff most people would want on a car like your Sprite, 1275, engine , alloy wheels, and such. These cars are just not valued that much for being absolute original, so people make them into what they want, and other people intrested in these a car would value these improvments as such as well.

For example, everytime I see some one who want to drive their car, say rebuild a 948, in sqaure body Spridget, I think, WHY throw good money at a 948, if you want to drive the car and enjoy it. Ok if you are into the originality thing, can't see I agree, but I get it. I just see these cars being built to enjoy, not like they will ever be of great value, like a Big Healey, Lotus, or a old Jag, so build them to enjoy!

jjscott said:

Is this clutch OK for the stock 1098?

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I ran into the same dilemma when I purchased exactly the same disc.

Torque transmission has to do with the disc compression force times the friction coefficient. Nothing there about surface area. With the smaller surface area, (assuming the same pressure plate) the specific loading will be higher, and the disc might wear out sooner, but here I suspect the material is different and may last longer than the old unit. Therefore the smaller area, and I would suspect it will work just the same.

Actually I'm putting that unit behind a 1275. It has a larger diameter than the 1275 clutch, though not a diaphragm pressure plate, and I like the feel of the spring type pressure plate.

I rather like my 948 .....with a +60 overbore, flat top Hepolite powermax pistons, 12g295 head and a 649 profile cam , it surely spins the wheels easy enough:
Managed to get a second set of pistons and NOS rings (!!!) for pennys off ebay over the last year. They do come up from time to time. I imagine (would have to check) that there are similar pistons available for the 1098...

So keep it dont scrap it..

jjscott said:

There's much less grip surface. It's also a 4 spring. I checked the B&B numbers and there are several UK sites listing this as correct for the spridget. When finished the car will probably spend most of its time going to the hardware store and back.

Is this clutch OK for the stock 1098?

Thanks, Jim

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Jim,

You are correct about the new clutch discs having less surface area. The old ones are about 1" wide and the new ones about .9" If it's a complete kit, you should be OK. From what I've been able to find out, the new matching pressure plates have more clamping force. I would strongly recommend against putting a new disc with an old pressure plate; here's why...

Last year, I had someone that didn't want to spring for a complete new clutch kit. Instead, he brought me a new friction disc he bought and asked me to install it while I had the engine out. Upon driving the car for the first time with the new disc, the clutch slipped as bad as one completely worn out. I don't think he made it more than a mile. I bought a new B&B clutch kit, installed it and it worked fine as a complete kit. His savings over buying a complete kit were spent 5 times over having to pay labor to do it all over again.

Hap, .. pass it forward.... Anyone need a 12g295 head? .. I was going to have it rebuilt, then just swap it out instead of having my engine out for a long period of time waiting for the rebuild. I've gone for 1275 instead so there is what looks like a brand new 1098 head (bare) just sitting in a box at Hap's shop.