Martin,
One mod. I can suggest is dual carbs. I used to own a '78
Spit, and at rebuild time, I followed a friends advice on this
and was not disappointed. He told me get an older, dual carb
Spitfire intake manifold and a set of MGA carbs (which he oblig-
ingy sold me). The MGA carbs are 1 1/2 inch throat, although I
never knew what the number/name of S.U. they were specifically.
I had to make up brackets for the throttle and choke cables, but
this wasn't too hard.
I had a higher performance cam, although again I don't remember
the specifics, and had the head milled down .125", yes that's one
eighth of an inch. On the later Spits, the compression was terri-
bly low. This engine DID ping on 89 octane, though. A 'Quick Trip"
header and "Monza" exhaust completed the picture.
My friend said the S.U.'s would run better than Webers (which is
a very hot topic for debate here), and I must admit that I had no
flat spots on acceleration whatsoever. The instalation of S.U.'s
passed a visual inspection for emisions intergrity (who really knows
much about these "funny little furrin' cars" anyway) but the tailpipe
test was a headache that required use of an anylizer to get the car
"adjusted" to pass (for a quick trip to the test center and back).
I never had any reliability problems in the two years/twenty thousand
miles that I subsequently drove the car after this rebuild. And it was
fast enough to keep me happy.
JOE IV
TR 250
WALLINGFORD, CT. USA
|