• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.

    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

1275 build

Rut

Obi Wan
Country flag
Offline
I'm in the process of selecting parts for my bugeyes 1275 build and Hap will be supplying the kit. I'm a little thick on some of these subjects (kinda like chemistry in college) and here's my initial plan. I have 2 blocks, 1 .030 over and the other is standard. The .030 block is a 'fresh, pro rebuild' and it has new .030 County pistons on rods that look like they were balanced with an angle grinder. The piston to deck height is in the neighborhood of .070, crank looks good at .010 on both, head was rebuilt using the original valves which have a little pitting on the faces. It also has a Kent 256 cam, lifters unknown.

The standard block had the original pistons, good standard crank, original rods, etc. and may have been refreshed, but all the bearings are original and standard size. It came out of a 73 parts car that was almost rusted away and I was very surprised at its good condition.

Should I cut the block on the .030 to give me a better piston to deck height or bore the standard block and use the .030 pistons? Should I start fresh and view all parts as questionable...new parts are reasonable, but add up in a hurry.

Hap also pointed out this 1.5 ratio rocker set, but this is the part I'm really thick on. If used with the 256 cam will it improve performance considerably? Someone please 'splane' this to me!

Thanks, Rut
https://www.minispares.com/product/...search/classic/rocker 1.5.aspx|Back to search
 
I just wrote six sarcastic replies but since this is a friendly forum I erased them all. My only comment is that there must be a more cost effective improvement for approx $200 US than high lift rockers on a street engine.
 
I'd start from scratch. Make sure your blocks have not been decked. Decide what compression ratio your want to run and go from there. Then decide where you what your power band and select the desired cam. I'd spend money on porting the head and skip the high lift rockers.
 
Thanks for the feed back. I'm looking for a street performance engine that will make more mid range power, but will pull to redline without struggling. I really like engines that rev easily and I know that I'll get everything balanced so whatever build I have will rev smoothly. The heads are at the shop and I'll pick them up today so I can cc both...they are in good shape with no cracks. I might take both blocks in today to get tanked and get their opinion on condition...I'm going in to finish my MGB engine today so I don't want to get side tracked.
Rut
 
Rut for my 1275 build, I used a Kent 266 cam, had it balanced, opened up the head a bit, used std. valves and rockers. That engine would rev like there was no tomorrow.....It pulled right to red line and well beyond if I let it. I could not have been happier. Talk to APT, they can fix you up. If you want something hotter, they have a 276 that goes highly recommended.
Cheers,
Scott
 
Isky made a great street cam mm32 have it in my 948 thing is I don't believe they grind this any more.
 
If you want street mid range you want torque and not necessarily a "high flowing" engine. IIRC, peak torque occurs at peak V.E and that right at peak port velocity. The "bigger" the cam and ports, the higher up in the range peak torque will be.

If it were me, I'd concentrate on the highest compression and intake velocity I could get within a "street" RPM range. Just glancing over the 266 specs that seems like a good street cam. Ultimately Hap will know exactly what you want to do to get to where you want to be.
 
Thanks again guys...I have a Kent 256 cam, will I be giving up much if I use it? If at all possible AND it's a good decision I would like to reuse as many parts I can.
Rut
 
Thanks again guys...I have a Kent 256 cam, will I be giving up much if I use it? Rut

"Giving up" is arbitrary; with the 266 I can guarantee you'll be giving up about $500. :grin: What does Hap say? Tell him where you want to be and he'll tell you the best (read cheapest) way to get there.
 
Thanks Billy, always good to keep things in perspective!��. Hap really didn't have anything good to say about it...I guess I'm trying to sell myself on it in spite of what I know. Sometimes we be cheap and what we want don't really play well together.
Rut
 
Thanks Billy, always good to keep things in perspective!��. Hap really didn't have anything good to say about it...I guess I'm trying to sell myself on it in spite of what I know. Sometimes we be cheap and what we want don't really play well together.
Rut


What did he say?
 
Hap will help you build what YOU want and if you follow his advice and build as he suggests you will
actually get what YOU want.
Adjustable timing chain is nice with aftermarket cams. Light weight flywheel helps make 'em spin like a top.
Ported head is a nice touch and works well with a header.
Jeff can build a distributor for your setup.
The Pros who know are the best advice.
My 1380 has a lot of bells and whistles that are probably over kill for a street engine but...dang skippy...
make the Sprite a wicked little thing.
Some drivetrain/suspension stuff can help when the curves show up.
:cool:
 
Back
Top