[Spridgets] 100+ HP

Ron Soave soavero at yahoo.com
Wed Mar 18 07:41:23 MST 2009


--- On Tue, 3/17/09, Matt Hagopian <mhagopian at hoppetool.com> wrote:
> If anyone is bored and wants to share some of the specs of
> their engine
> build it would be much appreciated!! please include
> horsepower!!!

I will start as always by recommending what Flounder always told me - get much more track time before you build a motor that will hide your deficiencies. That said, my buddy's motor from Midwest Motorports, back from freshening, dyno'd at over 150HP when they stopped at 8100 RPM. Torque was between 106 and 112 ft-lb from 5500 - 8000 RPM. George Bauchman head and vintage camshaft grind. 1.4 and 1.16 valves. Crank by Moldex (not a billet). Bauchman 1.5 SUs and intake manifold. 1.5 Titan rollers. Mallory Dual Point distributor (no pertronix or anything). 14.5:1 compression ratio on a .040 over bore, o-ringed block, 9 stud. Pistons are J&E with Wiseco rings, I believe. Carrillo rods. This motor came out especially good for a non all-out SCCA motor, I have heard from 3 people that George was extremely happy about it. Yawn.

I was talking to a guy named Dave Brown recently who has been building race Spridgets for 30 years. He agreed that the inflection point for design was in the early 1990s. The Vizard stuff is a good starting point, but Rick Haynes (sportsandimports.biz) and George Bauchman changed the game completely when they started running away from everybody. Prather and Huffaker are good names to know also. Craig Chima is now building motors as well. He scraps more HP than I know how to build. Someday maybe I'll be able to buy the extra 40 or 50 HP over my homegrown kluge, but not until I can out drive my car.

Ron Soave
"That which you manifest is before you" - Enzo the dog


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