Weslake or Arden 8 port

[anis]

it worked well! congratulations!

[Astro]

As Lexie467 said there are Arden 8 port heads and the special Arden 8 port heads, I was fortunate to have had one of Jim Whitehouse special fully built 8 port heads from the man himself just taken from his dyno engine the same day I was at his workshop at the pricely sum of 320 pounds Sterling,special 300 degree camshaft and steel fabricated inlet for twin 40DCOE Webers ,He even instructed me how to build the engine with pistons 5 thou above top deck running a compression ratio of 13:1 with a std cooper S distributor set at TDC and total advance of 30 degrees with in those days avaition fuel of about 105 octane,he even gave me jetting settings for the weber carbs as in those days there were no dynos in Malta and we used to race in an old world war 2 air field doing 1/2 mile sprints, there was just no comparison with a Downton 5 porter,

Hi,

do you still know more about jetting the Webers for the Arden? I seemed to enter a one end road and am looking where to leave. Last weekend in Etretat a MSA scrutineer told me that it is nicely build, nevertheless the times got worse and it was not only the rain.

[Astro]

Hi,

is Weslake Motor Heritage still alive? They never call or mail back and I am waiting now for a quite long time.

[John Bull]

Astro.

I'm afraid JDM won't be able to help for a while as he is presently recovering from ill health problems.

We wish him the best of luck.

For my part, after running the 8 port on TJ mechanical injection for a whole season, and spending more time fiddling than racing, I have decided that for this season I want to enjoy more racing with less fiddling in my old age, so I have bought a little ECU and am converting injection and ignition to modern electronics.

I'm presently in the process of mapping, with first race meeting due at the end of this month.

[Astro]

That’s why I decided to use carbs on our classic Arden. I am still remembering the early 70ies with those digital minis. Running, not running, running …

OK, there is a big change with the historic FIA hill climb regulations. From now, not the periods does compete anymore but the FIA groups. That means to compete 3.0CSLs, 500SLCs with a 1300 mini and to become last one. The idea was to set up a 1275 GT group 1. Unfortunately, there was a clever guy to tell me, that his car only needs polishing. For there was not much time, I was looking for during a rainy evening. Being back, there was not much steel under the colour and this 1275 GT was a matter of complete restoring. Too late for this year’s season.

But much luck with the new ECU! May it run like a carb. 

[850man]

This is currently for sale here in Australia.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/171723695674 ... 26_rdc%3D1

[dbo]

That Pinion Port was originally run on a 970 and short stroke (58mm) 999 in Victoria BC, Canada by John Erith. It was damaged I believe in the late 70's early 80's and was sold to a friend in Victoria BC, then to another in Texas, USA and then sold to Australia. The intake Manifold and twin 40 DCOE's I believe are still in Texas. I had a few sets or valves for it (now sold) but I may still have some although not a complete set. Cool to see it show up again.

Cheers
Dennis

[John Bull]

Had a much better day last Sunday, son Josh taking a full 3 seconds off our previous best lap time.

[John Bull]

PUT THE MINI ON A DYNO THIS MORNING.

It's an all steel 1500 short engine (74 x 86), with semidowndraft alloy 8 port head, 320 - 320 cam, ECU and electronic injection and ignition.

Result 160 bhp @ 6000rpm, and torque of 143 @ 5500rpm. 20bhp more than I had with TJ mechanical injection.

Delighted with the result, but power drops off dramatically after 6000. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do to keep the power up to about 7000rpm ?

[Astro]

you use a 320/320 cam and lose power above 6000? This is a mayor fault. 1. valve springs, low rate? may an inner one have been broken? 2. May a broken seal ad some unwanted air at higher revs? 3. Is it a constructive fault? (airflow)

[Astro]

this is an app. K car with about 130 hp, a SW23 8 port, 40 DCOEs and revs easily up to 8.5. You may see it here at 6:35 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKwfwG8PgOc

Best regards

[gpmini]

In the last two weeks I was lucky to find a Weslake head with matching new cam. I suspect the head is one of the original porous ones as there appears to have been some work done on it. I'll get it pressure tested next week. At least it will make a nice display piece . If salvageable I'll need valves (are these standard length?), and inlet manifolds for twin webers.

Then someone (not me) found an incredible barn find S. And with it 3 brand new S motors, one still in its crate. I was lucky to pry this off of him. One motor has a standard AEG163 head, and the other has an Arden head with Amals mounted to the block.The Arden is stamped MOWOG, which I believe was the BMC supplied head.

I had two 7 port heads coming from SC Components (one head will be fitted to the 970 with twin 40DCOE's, and the other has modern fuel injection). These are stunning heads, and ports aren't massive, so should hopefully work well up here in Johannesburg. I found a Longman GT14 with a very interesting history on this site, and was able to ship it over with the 7 port heads.

From niks to 6 new heads in two weeks makes the next engine build choice a little difficult...

[gpmini]

more pics

[graham.codling]

That's a great find and valves are shorter than an Arden type 8 port so impreety sure they are standard length .

[gpmini]

Thanks Graham. I see they are for sale on the Westlake site too. Now to find the Maniflow inlet manifold.

[Oldskoolbaby]

That's a nice range of heads. The SC heads do look great. Their direct injection setup for 5 port looks very interesting too.

[gpmini]

Last year I was over for Blyton. In the days before the track day I visited a number of the tuning shops. I was very impressed with SC. Very friendly and informative. And also with Swiftune of course. Nick took a whole hour out just to chat to me about my projects, and it was the very first time I'd met him. In fact, he pointed out a race car that was being loaded that had been built from a rust free South African Mk1 shell.

[gpmini]

I got the Weslake and Oselli rocker covers on that trip, but can't for the life of me remember where. Possibly from Nick Rogers stand at the show. At least it has a home now.

[Astro]

Thanks Graham. I see they are for sale on the Westlake site too. Now to find the Maniflow inlet manifold.

Hi,

bought one years ago there and am still waiting for. If you give the meassures to maniflow, they will make one for you. There have been different versions. Last not least, some of the heads may have been braised and you will not detect this by a preassure test, just by running an engine with.

Best regards.

[gpmini]

Hi Astro, where would the heads have been braised, and how would you pick this up on a running engine? (apologies f this is a completely stupid question)