Dick Rasmussen wrote:
> When trying to solve this problem don't forget that the owner/driver of
> each car needs some reasonable way of proving to himself or herself that
> his or her car has not been modified beyond what is permitted in the
> rules for the class. Relatively easy for original owners but what about
> everyone else? Remember, we as competitors have the primary
> responsibility for insuring that our cars are legal. Seems like we need
> some documentation to do that with a used car. However, as I posted
> previously, factory shop manuals won't necessarily have the most
> relevant information such as spring and anti-roll bar data for late
> model Mustangs.
This very thing happened at Nationals a few years ago, Dick. Larry and
Chris Imbeau had their DP Spridget protested because it had an 11-stud
(actually 10 studs and a bolt!) head. The protester claimed that it was
a Mini Cooper S head with bigger valves. Larry and Chris had no real
idea what they had on their car because they'd bought it already
prepared by somebody else. Turns out their head was a 1316 - the
standard "smog" head on all early 70s British Leyland A-Series engines
and the same one I'm running on my DP Mini - with stock-sized valves!
It had eleven mounting holes because the builder had followed A-Series
engine guru David Vizard's recommendations for strengthening the
head-to-block attachment. The builder had just drilled and tapped two
additional mounting holes! But it took a lot of time and a lot of
research on the Imbeaus' part to prove that their head was legal.
That's not something you're going to find in any shop manual. It's only
available in Vizard's TBASE (Tuning the British Leyland A-Series Engine)
John (Old Fartz & TLS #37) Lieberman
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