British vita cylinder head 8port

[coopers1968]

Hi guys I have acquired a British vita 8 port cylinder head but I don't know why it's called that way or who made it. Any history ? I will Post pics shortly

[Astro]

Congratulations! We have a British Vita racer nearby. There is just an early Weslake head installed. It may be ported with some special ideas. That's all.

[coopers1968]

does anybody have any information about this special head? as i heard not many are around.
thanks

[Smiffy]

Early flat Weslake they had the chambers in the piston Ford Crossflow style.

[Astro]

they are rare, but it is not easy to handle these heads. They suffer from bad cooling and if they became to hot, they would crack between the valves.

[smithyrc30]

Bit off topic but the engine also has the belt drive pulley for the TJ fuel injection pump on it.

[Astro]

In the late 60ies early 70ies VITA was handling supercharged and turbo engines. I would be curious about the compression ratio. Maybe it is one of these.

[coopers1968]

When we started it it revs was 11000 rpm as he remembers that was the limit I have no other info and I don't wish to open it oil pressure and everything is perfect

[Vegard]

How on earth can you resist not opening it??

[coopers1968]

Think I'm going to have to . It hasn't been opened in 30 years and I want it to remain as is from that era as left. Don't know if you know what I mean. Would like to get the history of the engine if anyone has would appriciate it

[Astro]

When we started it it revs was 11000 rpm as he remembers that was the limit I have no other info and I don't wish to open it oil pressure and everything is perfect

You saw the engine turning 11.000 rpm? You saw, the oil pressure being OK? Does it run with a Lucas injection? Then it might be one of the engines winning the european touring car championship in the late 60ies.

[mk1]

British Vita Racing & Tuning were the premier tuners in the North of England, Run by Harry Ratcliffe & Geoff Goodliffe they were every bit as competitive as the better known southern boys.

Amongst many many national & international victories, BVRT ran a team in the 1968 European Saloon car Championship & Won it.

Most of the development work on the 8 port engines was done by Harry utilising early Weslake raw castings that were supplied via special tuning. All the cars ran TJ Fuel Injection.

There are still 1 or 2 of these engines about, but they are a rare & unusual beast. No doubt once you have posted this thread on here you will be inundated with offers to purchase. So please let me be first. If you decide to sell please let me know. I have the perfect BRT car for this engine & i would be prepared to pay SERIOUS money for the engine.

You can read lots more about Harry Ratcliffe & BVRT on my mate Paul's brilliant web site http://http://www.mountgreen.co.uk/ or there is a brief synopsis on the main MK1 site here http://mk1-performance-conversions.co.u ... h_vita.htm

If it wasn't for Harry Ratcliffe I very much doubt if you would be reading this now. It was way back in 1985 when I first took a tuned 1071 S Hillclimber to be set up by Harry who spent nearly the whole day working on it & telling me tales of what he got up to as a lad that REALLY turned me on to early Minis, their tuning & History. I felt 10 feet tall when, at the end of the session Harry took a pull on his pipe leant on my car & declared "You've got a good one their lad"! Happy days!

PS. I strongly suspect that the claim of an 11,000 rev limit may be apocryphal. PLEASE don't try to test this claim as I suspect the whole thing will dissapear in a shower of metal bits & oil!

[coopers1968]

Wow can I check for any engine number or stamp ? Maybe we can see from
Which car it came out from ?
Thanks

[Astro]

British Vita Racing & Tuning were the premier tuners in the North of England, Run by Harry Ratcliffe & Geoff Goodliffe they were every bit as competitive as the better known southern boys.

Amongst many many national & international victories, BVRT ran a team in the 1968 European Saloon car Championship & Won it.

Most of the development work on the 8 port engines was done by Harry utilising early Weslake raw castings that were supplied via special tuning. All the cars ran TJ Fuel Injection.

[/b]

Sorry, I have some advertising claiming the use of Lucas as well as it is mentioned here: http://www.mountgreen.co.uk/resources/tricky_test_1.jpg

Best

Astro

[mk1]

The chances are that it did come out of a racer, but they did also supply these engines to customers as well. I think the chances of tracing the engines history are very slim now.

Sadly Geoff died last year & Harry is in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease. It was for this reason that one of our chosen charities at Blyton this year was the Alzheimer's Society.

[mk1]

Astro,

No need to apologise. I am sure that Harry did try out the Lucas set up. However, the vast majority of the Vita 8 ports were fitted with Harry's own version of the TJ setup. He made, amongst other bits, his own Throttle bodies that are unique to BVRT 8 ports.

[coopers1968]

Took photos of the head off and the numbers of the head block and gear housing will post this evening it was bought from Manchester British vita workshop apparently

[coopers1968]

Fuel injection is tack Jackson

[Astro]

Astro,

No need to apologise. I am sure that Harry did try out the Lucas set up. However, the vast majority of the Vita 8 ports were fitted with Harry's own version of the TJ setup. He made, amongst other bits, his own Throttle bodies that are unique to BVRT 8 ports.

Hi,

there are different sources like this one http://touringcarracing.net/Pages/1969%20Cars.html I used. Perhaps there was a difference between client motors and those ones they used to do the championship. If I quote from this page http://mk1-performance-conversions.co.uk/vita_min.htm , this "There is a Godfrey Supercharger attached to the Tacelmit Jackson fuel injection, & the head is an 8 port X flow design designed & cast by BVRT." is definately wrong for they used the cast Weslake did for BMC. In a week Jean Burgy will come to watch a hillclimb we will do. Maybe he can contribute some knowledge. He is alive, fit and still owns the VitaMin racer.

[mk1]

I knew Harry quite well & discussed the two injection systems on one occasion, he rated the TJ system over the Lucas. He thought that the Lucas system was over complicated & the TJ would work just as well while being more flexible.

As I say, I'm sure BVRT did use Lucas injection as well as TJ, but Harry's preference was TJ without any doubt whatsoever.