Algy

Not a bored out 1600 the engine was replaced with a full 2ltr Mk1 Bond engine in 67. No head gasket as engine was put stripped in the car! :-(

The engine currently has a very rusty tubular 6-2-1 exhaust manifold, that needs to be replaced / repaired, the head combustion chambers are all matched and have been dressed back around the valves and inside the ports (although not as much as Vizard might have gone) and the head must have been skimmed to as the chambers have a volume of 33.5cc, which would put the CR just under to 10:1 originally but will be closer to this with the +0.020” re-bore (due to bore pitting). The valves are standard size and I will be having the head converted to unleaded as the valve seats are corroded and the engine is having a full rebuild so it makes sense to me to do this now. I not been able to drive the car as it had a crash in 1975 and the then owner stripped everything and then found he was not capable of doing the work, the car then migrated out of his garage and was left to decay, until another chap bought it then quickly realised it was beyond hi and sold it to me. Luckily it came with a fair bit of the cars early history and the fact the engine was replaced with a tuned 2ltr engine (originally a 1600 straight 6) in 1967. Unfortunately the state of tune in not detailed. The carburettors appear to be standard other than the fact they are matched to the inlet manifold, however they had been stripped and some parts are missing (like needles and jets) so I plan on having them fully rebuilt and jetted once the final engine build if completed. I would like the engine to be driveable, ie not a race engine, but would like to get it in the realm of how it might have been before it was crashed. I am assuming it would be in the format that I would term stage 1 or low end stage 2 tune.

I am rebuilding a 2ltr Mk1 Vitesse engine and the original cam is very badly worn. As this is the engine from a special built in 1967 and the engine had been breathed on, I assume the cam would have as well. To give you an idea of the mods that I have found: The inlet manifold is matched to the carb’s and head, the pistons and conrods show signs of balancing, the combustion chambers and ports have been worked. My question is what cam would you recommend, that is available? Somebody suggested a Mk2 cam, which to me sounds plausible; however, I am wondering if there is better or if the Mk2 cam would give any improvement over standard.