I was chatting with Oliver Clubine last night and mentioned this
conversation to him. He laughed and said that he'd owned three of these
motors, and that they were the official BMC Formula Junior factory cheater
motors!
What the Junior rules said was that the engine and drivetrain had to be
based on a production engine, etc. The rules said that the block, head, etc
had to come from the same production car, ie. no mixing and matching of head
and block to get the best combination from a range of production cars. BMC
A-series motors were pretty much down on power compared to the Ford and Fiat
power plants, so they came up with a new, special motor that carried the XSP
number plates.
They came in two series. The first, started in 1961, was based on the 948
A-series. It was bored to come out at close to 1,100 cc, and ran the stock
948 stroke. It had the first examples of the Cooper-S head (the 1071 Cooper
S), which was not yet in production but was in prototype, and this required
the valve cut-outs at the top of the block to clear the exhaust valves. It
ran a dry-sump system that used the stock oil pump as the pressure pump and
had the scavenge pump placed roughly where the mechanical fuel pump would
have been on a stock engine. The scavenge pump was driven from a second
scroll gear (similar to the distributor drive gear) on the real 649
camshafts. The oil passage on the rear of the engine that normally carried
oil from the pan up to the stock oil pump is not drilled through on the
Junior engines, and the bosses on the rear of the block are drilled to
provide scavenge in and out ports. It had special crank, rods, etc, to
handle the RPM's required of a Junior engine.
The second series of factory cheater Junior engines were based on the 1071
Cooper S engine, which was never produced in an in-line configuration in any
production car. It used the big-bore, short stroke of the Cooper S, the
same oil system, and had a unique crankshaft that had the normal Cooper S
tail removed and an in-line flange substituted. These engines came out in
late 1962 or 1963.
There were a number of these engines around in the day, but they are pretty
rare now. The special cam required to drive the dry-sump pump might be a
problem to find, but the block could be drilled to allow a normal wet sump
configuration to work. Oliver has one of the special dry sump pumps if
anyone is interested. We know of about three of these engines about in this
area of Canada (mostly in David Cronenberg's Cooper FJ). My own suspicion
is that these engines were supplied to Cooper for his FJ cars, and possible
to a few others, but not to the general public.
As this conversation between Oliver and I continued, it came to light that
he has a pile of A-series heads on the floor of his shop that he's probably
going to sort thru and try to get rid of. If anyone is looking for a spare
head casting, he might have one to sell. 1-519-756-1610.
Cheers, all
Brian
At 08:53 PM 8/3/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Just a minor correction to this thread - British Leyland was not formed
>until January 1968. Before that - and this is obviously what you are
>refering to - it was BMC - British Motor Corporation.
>
>Derek
>
>
>Brian Evans wrote:
>>
>> In the early 60's timeframe, the Canadian arm of British Leyland had what
>> amounted to a national "works" program, acting as an adjunct to the English
>> factory. I've met a character maned Dennis Prophet who worked for the
>> Canadian BL works team and prepared a number of cars, including a team of
>> Leyland sponsored Healy 3000's that ran at Sebring. He tells stories of how
>> they used to show up at Mosport, Harewood, etc, with a truck loaded with
>> engines, cranks, rods, heads, etc. If you were running a Leyland car, you
>> qualified for defacto sponsorship! In those days, they ran the factory
>> EN40B forged cranks for 3 races then tossed them due to fatigue!
>>
>> This kind of program was what I was thinking of when I suggested the engine
>> might be "factory", but as you say the XSP serial number really suggests the
>> "real" factory, so to speak. Some times you really wish the things could
>> talk...
>>
>> Brian
>>
>> At 09:32 AM 8/3/99 -0400, you wrote:
>> >Brian,
>> >
>> >There was the "Works"... which was the Donald Healey Motor Co.'s racing
>> >efforts. They did Sebring, LeMans, Bonneville.
>> >
>> >The BMC Competition Dept. prepared all the cars for rallyes. I'm not sure if
>> >the BMC effort used the XSP designation... I suspect not.
>> >
>> >I think a motor marked XSP refers to the Experimental Shop, headed up by
>> >Roger Menadue, with Geoff Healey as the Chief Engineer, working for Donald
>> >Healey.
>> >
>> >WST
>> >Flounder
>> >Team Thicko
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >----- Original Message -----
>> >From: Brian Evans <brian@uunet.ca>
>> >To: Wm. Severin Thompson <wsthompson@thicko.com>
>> >Cc: <vintage-race@autox.team.net>
>> >Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 1999 8:20 AM
>> >Subject: Re: motor I.D.
>> >
>> >
>> >> What's the difference between works and factory? I know that in the era,
>> >> British Leyland would provide race motors to some teams that they
>> >produced,
>> >> ready to run, fully race ready. That's what I meant by "factory". If
>> >this
>> >> motor was originally run by the official "Works" team, that is British
>> >> Leyland themselves, then it would be a neat motor to have indeed...
>> >>
>> >> Brian
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> At 08:48 AM 8/3/99 -0400, you wrote:
>> >> >The numbering suggests a Works, not a factory motor. Geoff said that the
>> >XSP
>> >> >designation on the engines produced by Donald's race efforts. Most
>> >engines
>> >> >were prepared by Eddie maher of Morris.
>> >> >
>> >> >WST
>> >> >----- Original Message -----
>> >> >From: Brian Evans <brian@uunet.ca>
>> >> >To: Haynes, Mark <mhaynes@ball.com>
>> >> >Cc: <vintage-race@autox.team.net>
>> >> >Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 1999 7:24 AM
>> >> >Subject: Re: motor I.D.
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >> I bet it's a factory Junior motor. They started making these in late
>> >> >1961,
>> >> >> and they were a precursor to the 1070 Junior engine, which had the
>> >bigger
>> >> >> bore/shorter stroke.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Brian
>> >> >>
>> >> >> At 09:33 AM 7/30/99 -0400, you wrote:
>> >> >> > I just happened on an A series motor which I cannot identify by block
>> >> >I.D.
>> >> >> >A little help would be appreciated. The block tag says"XSP 18669" it
>> >has
>> >> >a
>> >> >> >2.67" bore, with a 3.00" stroke. It has an 11-bolt, 1-stud pattern,
>> >the
>> >> >head
>> >> >> >has no heater take-off. It has 2 lock-wired caps on the back of the
>> >> >manifold
>> >> >> >side of the block, and, of all things an 8-bolt flywheel attachment.
>> >Does
>> >> >> >anyone know any possibilities? I have an old Clymers manual which says
>> >> >that
>> >> >> >Huffaker bored out 948s to 2.67"to make a 1096cc Formula Junior motor,
>> >> >It's
>> >> >> >set up for inline application,and has valve reliefs cut into the
>> >block.
>> >> >The
>> >> >> >head is a 12A128 casting, which should be a Cooper 'S' MKI head. Any
>> >help
>> >> >> >would be appreciated
>> >> >> >Mark Haynes
>> >> >> >'62 Sprite (with unknown motor waiting)
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> Brian Evans
>> >> >> Director, Global Sales
>> >> >> UUNET, An MCI WorldCom Company
>> >> >>
>> >> >>
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> Brian Evans
>> >> Director, Global Sales
>> >> UUNET, An MCI WorldCom Company
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> Brian Evans
>> Director, Global Sales
>> UUNET, An MCI WorldCom Company
>
Brian Evans
Director, Global Sales
UUNET, An MCI WorldCom Company
|