Westfield Elevens

well 129 I might agree with you, but I am not a spring chicken (58) that just want's a fast, well lined, perfect ballanced, historic ikon of a car. I want my own time capsule too, one that might have have come straight from the late 50'es and landed in my lap.
So it has to be a litlle insain and old fashion.
So it has to be a litlle experimental with 4 inch RAM pipes and a cold air box that goes thru the body just behind the left front wheel.
So it has to have a soul of it's own that I have to find, out there on the winding roads and on a track if I get the chance.

Everybody says go italian and put a Weber 45 on the engine, but the eleven came with either 2 SU's or twin Webers on the left side of the engine.
So as you see the only solution for me, is twin SU's and to get them to flow like a Weber 45, so it has to be a litlle experimental.

I have two sets of HS4 and I will only bridge one set.

Here you see how they got the Danish champion 1959 and 1960 ready to race
[attachment=0]Lotus 2001.jpg[/attachment]

Well, I am a little older than you are. By the way, 60 is the new 40, so they tell me. Anyway at our advanced ages, any delays are devastating.

My current XI build is half done, in a month and a half. It would have been finished if the diff and the trans arrived on time.

I did the SUs on one car, and finally went with a Weber, as that was what was used on the FJr cars of the period. Since I was not using an authentic FWB, but rather the A Series ( often used in FJ, and installed into some of the Lotus 7 Series 1 chassis, which I have owned), I figured something more like the FJ engine would be OK. Longman Head, 6" Maniflow, and a Weber 45. The carb overlaps the frame, just behind the front wheel. Custom Maniflow, with a 3/8" rise to ensure frame clearance, but still fit beneath the bonnet. Webers have been around a long time, and have been bolted to the sides of A series engines since the late 50s.

I have nothing against SUs, and I have had plenty of cars with them. Some of them were highly modified, like my E Type, which had special needles, and shaved throttle shafts, and made 300 HP. I did the work myself, and never went for bridge modifications. Somebody came along and offered so much money for the car... 'Never got to finish it.

Experimental is my middle name, but I'd rather start with something that I know can work, and move forward from there. In this way, I can keep the car on the road, and enjoy it, while also making some changes. I can learn more about the tune and the engine with fewer variables.

I have been working with a nice fellow locally, with a late production XI. We did an engine, special cooling system, changes to the electrical system, and now an LSD... Too many delays, and it has taken a year and a half, as the owner wants so many specially fabricated parts. I really wanted it on the road sooner, and without the "experimental" crank fired ignition. It has been problematic, and I am about to rip it off and install a properly curved dizzy and be done with it so that the car can start, idle and be driven and properly broken in. I have nothing against the crank fire ignition, but it doesn't work well enough to even break in the cam, and I want to see the car on the road, being enjoyed. I have an Alden sitting on the bench... The cooling system has to be sorted, and a few other systems. To do this, I need a sharp running engine.

I think that your use of the 1.5" SUs is perfectly valid. Easy setup. I know that with the SUs in stock form, you can figure out your air box, long stacks and needle combination more quickly before you start with the modifications. In fact, I am willing to bet that properly tuned, you get all the HP you wanted. I bet that MED could even give you the right needle solution. The only thing is that while it is easy to get the SUs to flow like a Weber, you can't get the throttle response... But you can screw on a light alloy flywheel.

Since you have two sets, you can run the stock set, and when you change to the modded set later, you can then pull your hair figuring why it doesn't seem to be as fast...

While I do build engines for myself, and friends, most of my experimental work is now on the chassis tune. I can tell you that if you put an LSD in your car, with a pair of race axles (mandatory with the LSD. Trust me...), you will improve your lap times, and the car will feel like it picked up 20 HP off of the corners. You can make the most delicious drifts with the throttle, and the thrust is never lost to wheel spin (unless you want wheel spin).

I understand the need to drive the car. I drive my nearly daily.