Story and Photography by Bill Holland
Editor's Note: this article originally ran back in 2018. Some information and prices may be different today.
Without a doubt one of the most popular powerplants in the history of sports car racing is the venerable A-series engine. Throughout its nearly 50-year lifespan it appeared in such vintage racing icons as the Austin-Healey Sprite, …
well, I reckon that engine would be just wonderful sitting on a display stand as a piece of automobile art - it is totally schmick ! well done guys - I now wish I han't sold my Mini Moke - then I could embark on recreating something as nice as you have done. I would have to worry about the driveshafts though !
120hp to the wheels for a 1275 is pretty stout.
Why is torque crossing HP at 6,700 RPM? Should be at 5,252 - that's a lot of artistic license on the dyno sheet.
In reply to Frank Wissman :look at both sides of the graph. Torque and HP are displayed different scales.
This makes Huffaker's engines look like toys and costs more than his original cars! --so much for an inexpensive racing class as intended.
Thank you for the great article! Approximately what was the total cost to build and how many hours? Also what were/are the specs of the gasoline you utilized for the dyno run and your team's track time? Have you built any 1500 motors? Our team uses them for rally, trialling, and some limited track time, no redlining of course! Sorry, it's a lot of questions, but we are always interested in folks buiding these engines. Thanks again for the great article. --Dr. Paul Lynn. Hochkraeusen Racing Team, Ohio
Good article.
I dod a similar thing when I grafted an MGA Twin Cam head onto a 5 main MGB Block - it stayed together and put out 160 bhp at up to 7900 rpm! Lots of details to modify and upgrade to keep everything together.
Great article ! Very informative..
When we we're attending Mini meets in the 2000's there were a couple of cars that had cross flow heads vs. the standard head ?
How uncommon are they, all Y'all didn't try to hunt down one of those for your build ?
Don
Good article, but I've seen it all before. When it comes to the BMC power plant, every publication takes the easy path 1275 Spriget or 1800 MGB unit. I'd like to see some current magazine expand on what Sports Car Graphic accomplished 63 years-ago with BMC 6-cylinder.
dougie said:Good article, but I've seen it all before. When it comes to the BMC power plant, every publication takes the easy path 1275 Spriget or 1800 MGB unit. I'd like to see some current magazine expand on what Sports Car Graphic accomplished 63 years-ago with BMC 6-cylinder.
The C series was always a bit agricultural (though nowhere near the D series), but as you well know was made to produce decent power.
The only C series I have modded was an MGC which is a slightly developed version of the Healey 6. It will never be a high revving screamer, but if you rectify some of the stupidity committed by the factory, improving flow in the head and put some carbs on that actually point somewhere near the ports (I was never sure why Healey dropped the tricarb 3000 Mk 2 configuration) you can get decent power.
One of my cars:
wspohn -
I'm well aware of the the C Series' potential, I've been vintage racing a big Healey 6 for over 20-years. My current motor making well over 250hp with similiar torque on a very linear curve. The point of my previous statement was that no one else is probably aware of their performance capability. My pals in the UK are pushing their Healey motors over 300hp with said agricultural iron. I'd like to see some modern articles explore this topic instead of recylcing the same information on the A & B motors.
Currently competing at tracks across the USA:
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