I often race with a fellow who drives an S800--the car is fast! See
below--44 HP from 531 cc's is approximately 80 HP per litre, whereas most
British pushrod engines of the era were putting out approximately 50.
BTW one of the things most MGA race engine builders do is to use the oil
pump spindle off of a Honda Fairlady (1600) in place of the MG one--they are
a bolt-in replacement and are much stronger and will survive at 7000 rpm's
whereas the stock ones often break at 6000. I have one in my Elva and bet
that Gary Anderson does too in his MGA.
Best--Michael Oritt
"From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The S500 was the first production _car_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car)
from _Honda_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda) , released in 1963,
following the _T360_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_T360) truck into
production by four months. It was a larger displacement variant of the _S360_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_S360) roadster which, though developed
for sale in 1962, was never produced.
Like the S360, the S500 used a high-tech engine developed from Honda's
_motorcycle_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle) expertise. It was a
_dual overhead cam_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_overhead_cam)
_straight-4_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight-4) with four
_carburettors_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carburettor) and a 9500 rpm redline. Originally
intended to displace 492 cc, the production version was 531 cc and produced
44 hp at 8000 rpm.
The S500 used a 4-speed _manual transmission_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manual_transmission) with _chain drive_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_drive) at the rear wheels. A four-wheel
_independent suspension_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_suspension) was also novel, with
_torsion bars_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torsion_bar) in front and
diagonal
_coilover_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coilover) _shock absorbers_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_absorber) at the rear.
The car was priced at $1,275 in 1963. A fiberglass _hardtop_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardtop) was also available. 1,363 S500s were
produced
from October 1963 through September 1964.
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