the more i look at the graph the more impressed i am with it, 154bhp from an X/flow usually needs a 254 cam, which gives zero bottom end power, just shows how right the lotus head is
And that's why, when I built my Caterham 30 years ago , I fitted the twink rather than a x-flow
in this instance i think the only win for the x/flow would be cost, twin cams are anything but cheap. also as i discovered its not easy to build and engine which never actually existed from bits form here there and everywhereOriginally Posted by briang
the more i look at the graph the more impressed i am with it, 154bhp from an X/flow usually needs a 254 cam, which gives zero bottom end power, just shows how right the lotus head is
And that's why, when I built my Caterham 30 years ago , I fitted the twink rather than a x-flow
if you could find a set for less that 5K, i recon it would be worth trying a pair of 42dcoe on this engine
Twin cam is nice engine if you can find one and you don't require over 135hp as this is the head flow limit.And that's why, when I built my Caterham 30 years ago , I fitted the twink rather than a x-flow
To properly build a lotus twin cam good for 150hp you need proper gas flow, big valve head with 420 cams.
The cost of the above is well above 5 steel xflow, especially if you have to pay someone to build/gas flow the head.
its defiantly an expensive engine to build 180bhp pintos are dirt cheap by comparison!
When we were Rallying Twinks 40 years ago we had one engine that was bored to 85mm with a Xflow bottom end giving 1760cc. It had a big valve head, L1 cams and 45 dcoe carbs with 34mm chokes if my memory's correct.
For some reason we decided to try a set of 40's off another Lotus engine and I was amazed how much sharper the bottom end power was. We never went to Rolling Roads in them days to compare power figures, jetting was done with a thrash up the road, stop and remove a spark plug to check it's colour and jet as required out of a small selection we had in a tobacco tin. Needless to say we eventually fitted the 45's back believing bigger was better.
a little progress, today i fitted the clutch Ap racing plate and a helix cover, interestingly the plate had valeo a friction lining and the cover was stamped LUK. Id been sent a bellhousing, which i gave a quick clean and chased the rust out of the threads and bolted the starter on, which thankfully cleared the sump and cranks the engine over nicely.
Same for the AP clutch plate for an Pinto. Was not the case 5 years ago.
By the way the AP cover I used aren't available anymore for pinto.
Thanks Graham for the thread; really interesting stuff. Pics are great too.
Are we there yet?
since the engine was dyno'd its had a filter back plate fitted and works type linkage fitted.
it was clear the idle and balance of the carbs would be well off, luckily by now i had everything i needed to run the engine, so i was able to fire it up sitting on its stands
https://www.facebook.com/graham.bahr...3306848317830/
Love the cooling solution - long hose for track use though LOL!
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