coventry climax V8

[KemppiFrog]

Any chance you can match the bore size to a small Renault engine? They used wet liners that might be resized to fit. I had a Perkins sleeved by a machine shop in Portugal. He showed me a heap of rough castings and selected some, then machined the outside to the book dimensions, pressed them in, then bored them to STD size. Quite an education and not expensive.
The Renault liners are centrifugally cast and very long lifed. Plus, heaps in the yards, nicely aged
KF

Daimlers came in 2.5lt and 4.5lt. The latter in the Majestic, popular for weddings and funerals. But quite a performer if goosed.

Going back to 1960s F1; CC made some great engines for the 1500cc era. The last one being a 32valve V8 that Lotus used to some effect. When the rules changed to 3lt, CC bowed out ( Cost?) and Ford sponsered Cosworth to make the DFV. Often said that it was the best £100K that Ford ever spent.

Is it the photos, or is that a very wide angle between the bores? Looks to be 90 deg or over?

Yet more edit... The CC 1500 V8s were resized for the Tasman(OZ) series at 2.500cc. So not much of a stretch to get to 3lt, if they had found the money. Jack Brabham bet on a production motor with single cam heads to win the first years F1 3ltr series, on the assumption that nobody would get a better motor ready in time. He was right.

 

[Wallace]

Can you not find any info on the original sources such as Hepolite?

Edit.....Cracking post above, double "like".

 

[bill_gj]

Have you looked at Laystall for the liners?
http://www.laystall.co.uk/cromard-range.php

 

[Wedg1e]

When the rules changed to 3lt, CC bowed out ( Cost?) and Ford sponsered Cosworth to make the DFV. Often said that it was the best £100K that Ford ever spent.

I'm sure I read a similar tale about the original Lotus twincam (the Ford-based one used in the Lotus Cortina): I forget the precise names and figures but Colin Chapman offered the twincam cyl. head designer either a flat fee of £250 or else a £1 royalty for every engine the head was used on. He took the £250; when Ford sold the 10,000th LC the guy asked Chapman if he could reconsider

 

[KemppiFrog]

Remembered something about BRM and the Lotus twincam, so looked. You were right, except Harry Mundy took £1K against 55,000 units built.

 

[Wedg1e]

Remembered something about BRM and the Lotus twincam, so looked. You were right, except Harry Mundy took £1K against 55,000 units built.

Facts, story, pah

 

[lotus 30]

Thanks for all the reply's people great read. I have been in touch with Laystall as they made the crank in this engine they have not replied.
I have contacted abbeyspun they make the material for the liners and they are happy to finish machine them i will send them a sample to get a price.
Still looking though off to climax engine services to see what he has he has never taken one of these engines apart so i have no idea what i may find.
Stripped the valves out of the head today they are waisted at the top and bottom one was cracked and as i tapped it out of the guide the valve head fell off.
Lucky if it hadn't it would of when the engine runs again one day. blasted the cylinder heads today and yes plenty of corrosion i will have to weld them up i will go and take a pic now and post it up dam annoying my mate i got the engine off has had it for several years already sized when he bought it i told him to put it in a drum of diesel then but he never did now it is a sh!!! t load of work to bring it back to life. more later. andy

 

[ronan]

Ah yes Andy, the joys of working on classics, corrosion, cracks, wear, unobtainable parts. Still its all forgotten when it all works out.

 

[lotus 30]

I had to make a puller to get the liners out dam they were tight i had to freeze the pistons to unstick them and then freeze the liners just to crack the corrosion to block. then fitted the puller and warmed the block and they came out a 1/4" at a time with a bang as they pulled out it has taken six days to strip the engine. and still plenty of work on this one.

 

[colnerov]

Thanks for all the reply's people great read. I have been in touch with Laystall as they made the crank in this engine they have not replied.
I have contacted abbeyspun they make the material for the liners and they are happy to finish machine them i will send them a sample to get a price.
Still looking though off to climax engine services to see what he has he has never taken one of these engines apart so i have no idea what i may find.
Stripped the valves out of the head today they are waisted at the top and bottom one was cracked and as i tapped it out of the guide the valve head fell off.
Lucky if it hadn't it would of when the engine runs again one day. blasted the cylinder heads today and yes plenty of corrosion i will have to weld them up i will go and take a pic now and post it up dam annoying my mate i got the engine off has had it for several years already sized when he bought it i told him to put it in a drum of diesel then but he never did now it is a sh!!! t load of work to bring it back to life. more later. andy

Hi, don't be too hard on him because that's quite an investment in diesel if you are not going to get it back on some thing such as this.

Colin

 

[lotus 30]

Hi, don't be too hard on him because that's quite an investment in diesel if you are not going to get it back on some thing such as this.

Colin

He runs a garage you can't tell me he has not had a customer with the wrong fuel in there car in the last seven years and he has had to drain he could have used that. at no cost. thats my rant over LOL

 

[the snooper]

He runs a garage you can't tell me he has not had a customer with the wrong fuel in there car in the last seven years and he has had to drain he could have used that. at no cost. thats my rant over LOL

if he could use the diesel that he drained in a vehicle of his own then its still a cost in a round about way, use 30 quid of free fuel or use 30 quid from his own pocket ? there is your answer

 

[MG David]

Lotus 30, you say you froze the liner to break the corrosion bond and than heated the block. Can you tell us how you did the freezing and the heating?

Also, interesting to see it is a flat head as some of the CC engine designers went on to Jaguar and designed their V12 which was also a flat head.

 

[Moosevan]

Well it is in bits loads of corrosion in the liners these are dry liners pushed into the ali block is it viable to make cylinder liners and where can i source the material west wood liners will make them but they are a £1000 for 8 thought i may try and make them. still got to unstick the piston rings well and truly stuck

What about having a look at the dimensions of motorcycle cylinder liners (Triumph / BSA / Norton etc) to see if something is close enough to machine to fit?

 

[penfold]

Lotus 30, you say you froze the liner to break the corrosion bond and than heated the block. Can you tell us how you did the freezing and the heating?

You can use whatever you can get hold of; dry ice, liquid nitrogen, cans of freon, CO2 fire extinguishers or even just ice from the freezer may be enough if the block is heated enough. Here is an interesting story about using cooling and heating to repair a damaged crankshaft on a ship; the same technique used to tackle a tricky repair in-situ.

 

[lotus 30]

i had some plumbers freeze which i used on the pistons liners i used 3cans on 3 pistons got them as cold as i could. i let it come up to w/shop temp then used a small space heater to blow over the block nice even heat. and i got them out before i froze them they would not budge i believe the freezing just broke the bond of the electrolytic corrosion enough to get them out.

 

[KemppiFrog]

Penfold, that IS an interesting story.
My experience is limited to freezing chromed steel oléo legs into heated mag castings in aircraft under carriages, after the originals being bent in careless landings. In one case he actually bent the wing clipping a mound on the edge of a field, He was VERY lucky it wasn't much worse

 

[bill_gj]

Nice pics of the head...I hadn't expected it to be a flat 'Heron' head though. What do the pistons look like?

 

[Pete.]

If I had to shift stuck pistons I would clamp a fat steel plate across the cylinder with a hole in it for a hydraulic fitting, fill the cylinder to the top with oil, screw in a fitting and pump the piston out with a porta-power type pump.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

My favourite trick is to pour oil heated to about 200 deg C either in the top or the bottom of the bore depending on where the piston is in the bore.