Rob, Greg, etal...
Regarding the 1494cc engine, you are correct about the camshaft, head and
manifolds: the 1494cc engine block is the same wherever it was used, and is
for all practical purposes it is an overbored 1390cc, although they probably
changed the cores to accommodate the larger cylinder bore. In other words, I
don't recommend boring a 1390cc to 1494 cc, +.040.
There were two different "versions" of the 1592 block, and if you compare
the main bearing caps of a Hillman vs Sunbeam block, you will find the
Sunbeam main bearing caps are MUCH beefier: this is similar to the difference
of the main bearing caps in a standard Ford Falcon 289 V8 vs a Hypo 289.
I believe there is one possible remaining difference between the Rapier
and Alpine engine assemblies. If memory holds, and it gets a bit vague these
days, there are two versions of the front plate: on early Audax cars the
motor mounts sit on a stamped steel riser, and on the Alpine the riser is
part of the front suspension. The difference is the location of the flat
areas on the front plate, designed to mate with the engine mounts. I believe
one of the two front plates have more "reach".
Jim Leach, PTC Seattle
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Sep 05 2000 - 08:45:18 CDT