I belong to several other lists/forums and on one at the moment is a discussion about a T.C. head that is unusual, the camshafts are short and there is no 5th cam cap, the head does not even have stud holes to take studs. The cast inlet manifold (runners) are about 1.5" longer then a normal T.C. and there is no “oil chamber” where the oil returns to the sump.
I seem to remember Vegantune made some belt driven cam heads in the seventies but this is chain driven so I doubt its one of these.
I also seem to remember someone else cast some heads but Lotus took them to court for copyrite/patent infringement, could it be one of these?
I have some pic’s of the head but my computer skills do not extend me being able to put them on the forum, if anyone is interested and wants to see them I could email them as an attachment…so any ideas to the origins of this head? :huh:
Brian
Come on,someone with the skills,we’re all dying to see these
John
There is a guy in Seattle area (McCoy I think) who modifies heads, but nothing like that. Mostly he just converts Stromberg heads to Webers and does some nice flow work as well. Just thought I would mention it as a possibility.
Just got the pics, will post them soon.
BTW - McCoy’s website from the Stromberg conversion pics is - http://www.omnitech-engineering.com/auto/strom.asp
Here are Brian’s pics. :huh:
Hmmmmmmm???
Can I quote you on that ?
Brian
I was going to say “could it be an early casting for evaluation purposes” but it has the strengthening web between 2 and 3 as per the later castings
John
Those two ~1/4" holes in the webbing between #2 & 3 are in the right position to mount the fuel distribution manifold module for the TJ fuel injection system.
If it were carburated I’d be concerned about running out of latent heat at the end of the straights and having it run too lean.
Suppose the extra length of the induction ports was to exploit the Helmholtz resonator effect?
Completely baffled here as to the origin.
-Keith
Maybe someone at Lotus knows. Too bad Graham Arnold is gone.
Greg
could it be a 1100 or1300 ford tc motor from the pre 1558 motor ? ed
Ed,
The engine casting number (2731) indicates it is a 1500 Cortina or Cosair block. :blink:
Brian
QED used to do a conversion of Stromberg to Weber. They welded the new cast weber inlets to the head after machining of the stromberg inlets and oil drain section. I have never seen one of these conversions but it could be possibly from that source. However the head surface on the inlet side does not show any machining from removing the stromberg inlets so this theory appears unlikely
Why no 5th cam caps could potentially be a conversion of someone looking to reduce bearing drag but why no hole in the head for the studs hard to understand as that implies it was done from a new bare head.
My best guess is its an early experimental Lotus head from the early 60’s as the oil drain was a late addition in the development and its possible that Lotus also played with number of bearing caps and length of inlets during the development. The photo of an early 1500 engine in a 23 in the Wilkins book on page 11 appears to have longer inlets made in 2 sections to enable the length to be adjusted. The drawing on page 12 of an early engine also shows only 4 bearing caps ( never noticed this before today !).
It could be an interesting bit of history that raced in some of the classic races with some one like Jim Clark at the wheel !
Rohan
Finally, I at last I have found another one. I too have a head as described. I have taken it to various people and Lotus club meetings in the hope that someone could identify the origin of this head. To no avail, I believe I even communicated with Lotus with similar results, it remains a mystery.
I too think that it may have been an early prototype, perhaps from a 23? There are the same mounting holes on the web between 2 & 3 which I have wondered if they located a T-J setup. But this is only the 2nd one I have heard of in all these years.
I acquired mine when I bought my 26R in 1973 from a Carlos Neiderhauser (sp?), Summit Point, NC. He related that he had the original head off the car for repair at an SCCA race and over the course of the weekend it disappeared. He got this head as a replacement, but did not elaborate as to the origin of it.
Given the brilliant yellow paint on both head & block I would venture that VeganTune was involved since they commonly painted their engines in a similar color.
Kiyoshi
true Brian—but the head may not be ed
Does the head have any casting numbers or other identification marks on it?
Rohan
Rohan,
I dont know as I’m just jumping between forums, if you go to “spannerfodder forum” and follow the links you can view the topic.
Brian
The WM9403 casting number referred to on the “spannerfodder” site forum is the same as on one of my early heads . WM stands for William Mills who cast the Lotus heads.
The absence of the Lotus part number that was also cast into the heads again suggests its an early development head before the Elan and its parts numbers were finalised.
Vegantune did at one time make twin cam heads for Caterham in 78/79 after Lotus stopped making them. The supply was negotiated between Lotus, Caterham and Vegantune, William Mills cast 50 heads but could do no more due to lack of capacity. The foundrys Vegantune tried after William Mills were not available to do the casting did not make many successful heads due to porosity ( see page 201 of Wilkins book) and the program stopped. Possible that the head is from this period given its Vegantune paint job and lack of a Lotus part number but I suspect not. There were enough problems fitting the carbs into the side of a caterham seven bonnet without puttng longer intake runners on.
Rohan
For what it’s worth; Miles Wilkins book Twin Cam Engine has an early drawing dated June 1962 ( page 12) which describes a 4 cap head. The rear cam cap is missing.
Wishing the best during the holidays and throughout the new year, to all!
Greg Foster