Joe2; thanks for confirming that cast iron does absorb the carbon powder
and becomes case hardened...as I always believed.
Also your comments on cast iron having a certain amount of "natural" pits
is something I always knew (from machining it) but frankly never even
thought to link tappet pits with this normal situation. Therefore, we might
revise our pit complaints considerably.
After I reface a lifter base I NEVER rejected the lifter due to these pits
as they were not profuse and also never seemed to cause lobe problems. In
fact, pits in moderation, might even serve as oil traps and help the lube
process??? who can say.
-----------------------
Chris Albers; I did not mention in the engine mods report, that my engines
were always made to be legal in SCCA and would pass tear-down inspection
after a win (and there were plenty).
Obviously, if I were allowed carb major changes as well as certain internal
and external mods (ie. big valves, custom intake manifold etc. etc.) the
engine has more output potential. The alloy head alone , allows sustained
higher HP outputs vs. a cast iron type.
But.......everyone should keep in mind that this is a 1950s to 60s
commercial mass production engine, which was NOT at the time a significant
output engine for it's day. The 1800 cc MG was on a par (although a tad
bigger) and Triumph also pumped comperable outputs. The Rootes factory
development effectively ended with the start of the series V , 1725cc , 5
main bearing engine ! Other marques survived to later years and therefore
owners, tuners and the works staff continued development of those marques.
The HP and outputs I managed to obtain were in my opinion (and that of the
works) to be perhaps the highest known to have been obtained..with
reliability ! At the works, my friend, service manager Lee-Majors and
others always claimed my HP to be more than they EVER obtained and often
mentioned that they obtained about 115 to 118 hp on their LeMans cars.
This is not to say some pvt. tuners did not surpass my data (which BTW was
not a true 140, as I rounded it off some. At Denver altitude it was read as
136.5 (at) 7500-7590 rpm) I assumed that at sea level (where ALL advertised HP
is calculated from) this engine would have easily gone over 140 hp.
Then too...my dyno setup included the entire exhaust system off the car,
but no tranny attached, just the dyno shafting.
In a prior message I did state the car ate up Tigers with ease and while I
passed most on the straights, there were some running "properly" which had
a tad more pull down the straights and I would have to tuck in behind and
slipstream until near their breaking point,when i would then pop out and go
around them easily, then break for the corner and accel. away...NEVER again
to be caught by that particular Tiger. The balance of the Tiger is so bad
as to prevent anyone going around curves or breaking with a good Alpine!
The Tiger was and is a great fun car like the two seat T-Bird but from a
handling (and safety) standpoint it is hopeless as a road race car !
It is a classic case of...can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear !
The Alpine is another story and has a much better chassis than say the MGA
or MGB, against which I regularly raced. The Triumph TR 3,3a,4 with solid
rear axle was almost a match for the beam in corners but the first IRS rear
suspension models were death on wheels and never performed well. Later
(live factory) they got so good as to stay right with the beam all around
the tracks.
Bob Hubbard of St. Louis ran me ragged in his MGB in the late 70s and I
never ever beat this top driver in his state of the art MGB. Of course I
consoled myself with the knowledge that I was a privateer running an orphan
marque while Bob had MG works support and access to freebee parts etc.
I also could not usually beat a Lotus Super 7 with 1250cc race motor. One
running in the Denver region pipped me by a slight amount every time but
years later the owner had a few to many at our SCCA meeting and confessed
to having a cheater engine bored to a bit over 1300cc. This great chassis
car with that much illegal power was too much for my legal beam to overcome
but we made that guy work his ass off in every event.
Perhaps the greatest single race with this car was one at Hallet, OK in
which the F-Prod. Sunbeam was in a race having B,C,D and E Prod cars. I
managed to really fly around this long and twisty course, passed all the F
cars including a highly touted Volvo P1800 factory built aluminum door race
car, all the E cars incl. some locally feared Porsche and triumph cars then
found myself running third overall behind a couple D class Datsun 280Z cars.
I blew past them in due time and found all that was in front of me was a
huge Corvette running in B Prod. Seems all the other B cars had broken and
gone off the course. I was catching this Vette at the rate of 3 seconds
per lap but the race ended as I was 50 feet behind him ! Still have the
trophy for first in F and 2nd overall. That was one race I can still relive
in my minds eye. When I parked in the impound...the officials asked if
anyone had any protest on the Sunbeam. No one did, so the officials held a
quick meeting and filed a "stewards protest" and had the engine opened up,
and of course they found everything strictly legal , and had to give me
$125 for reassembly fees. I remember smoke coming off the front calipers
for 20 minutes after having parked that baby. Anatoly Arutinoff who owned
Hallet came over and offered his personal congratulations. We knew each
other from prior events as he ran a Fairthorp Electron Minor roadster in G
prod. and was and is a top driver and gentleman who owns a big hunk of
phillips petroleum corp.
With so few of the Sunbeams having been raced then or now, I thought you
guys might enjoy this sort of old timers report of the "salad days" when I
was running the F-Prod car. The events in vintage car racing are quite
fun but you MUST NOT touch another car nor cause any harm or drive
dangerously etc. etc. Of course no one wants damage to a collectors item
and I agree. It's just that VCCA rules prevent really daring and risky
track performance and the results are of course quite tame today. Back in
the old days we leaned on the other guys door handles and passed inside on
some curves ! BTW Chris and others, I am in the St Pete FL area most of
the year.
----------------------
To all; if you have a copy of the book The Classic Sunbeam by Chris
mcGovern, I am seen on page 190 where club listings show my Sunbeam Owners
Assoc. based in Denver and also a mention of the race car I was running in SCCA
-------------
Dick T.
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