Westfield Elevens

That will come up lovely with just a bit of leather feed! It's in better nick than the aforementioned one on the mega buck restored series one!

Yes, although there is a small cut in it, but nothing too serious. The aluminium will polish up nicely too.

I'm thinking of getting a tulip boss from Jacob Engineering, but maybe I need quick release instead in case a Lotus purist swipes it off my car whilst I'm not looking...

I looked at that tulip boss too but I find it quite lumpy don't you think? And would the hole pattern fit?

I once made a boss out of an old steering wheel by using its small splined ring that I welded to some flanged piece of metal.

Yes, it is quite chunky although better than some.

I'll leave it now until after the IVA test as I have bigger fish to fry! My engine is currently awaiting it's turn on a dyno following a full rebuild. It's my first attempt at engine assembly so hopefully it won't self destruct!

Very nice.

Bit OT, but what’s the engine spec?

I disassembled the engine myself, then took it to Crafted Classics (A-series specialist) who had the block re-bored to take +40 Omega die cast pistons (1310cc) and MED rear main oil seal.

The head was re-furbished to ‘Super Sport’ spec at ‘Specialist Components’ with hardened valve seats and 36/30 mm valves, and was skimmed to give a 10.5:1 compression ratio.

Crank and rods were balanced.

The flywheel is a lightened steel one (3.2 kg) from TTV racing. I couldn’t find any others that take a standard diameter clutch (which should be good for 100 odd bhp).

The timing gear is a vernier type from MED which is a lot easier and less time consuming to set up than the standard type. This was part of an MED kit of parts that included their Piper RS cam and 1.5 high lift rockers.

I bought the Weber 45 and Maniflow inlet manifold second hand from Ebay and re-jetted it according to the ‘Vizard’ A-Series tuning book.

I was convinced through the club to get Megajolt distributorless ignition given the tight space next to the driver’s foot well moulding. (A distributor does just about fit with a side entry cap.). My son wants me to programme in a RR Merlin ‘crackle’ but seeing that I’ll have to load the map myself I’ll be happy just to get the engine running correctly! The dyno chaps can't accommodate Megajolt so an Aldon yellow distributor will be fitted just for the session.

To save on costs (and through a desire just to have a go and not having partaken before!) I brought the engine back in bits (apart from the head that was reassembled by C-Classics), painted and re-assembled it myself – hence my dyno concerns…!

I didn’t intend to go this far, just a refurb to get the car through the IVA, and then swap it out afterwards for something like a Climax. I got rather carried away with parts as I got into it and I started to really enjoy the process given its mechanical simplicity.

I feel very lucky and fortunate to be in a position to build a car without having to compromise too much on its specification (unlike with so many of the usual day to day purchases).

There’s currently a dyno back log, but next week is hopefully when I find out if I’ve build an expensive white elephant…!

Sounds like a cracking rebuild.Good luck on the dyno. Did it take you long to reassemble?

I took my car to Slark for a go on his rolling road. Excellent service, and he re-profiled my carb needle etc. I’m using the original old dizzy with a SimonBBC module, but have every intention of changing to a Megajolt. I’m sure that I’m not getting everything out of my engine, though it did post 90hp on the dyno.

Hoping to get my car out a few more times in Oct before it returns to SORNed slumber for the Winter.

It took a couple of months of spare time to reassemble.

90bhp is still pretty healthy and I'd be happy with that!

My nut torques are currently being re-set after my engine chap casually asked me why the cylinder head nuts were so slack! The sump will therefore need to come off for the big end and main nuts to be re-set. Better to be slack rather than over-tightened I guess!

It turns out the spring in my torque wrench has settled over time (30 odd years...!) so I need to invest in a new one.

Dyno still scheduled for sometime next week.

Norbar do some cracking torque wrenches.

Thank you Jon, I'll check them out.