All,
There's been a lot of talk about about the 130 hp Spitfire lately so I
thought I'd put my .02 in. I have built several engines over the last 10
years including Chevy 350s, Ford 289s, MGs, and Isuzu 4 cyl. If you have
the money it is possible to build HP in small displacement engines but to
make a 1500 cc engine pass the visual and tailpipe emissions would be
difficult. The Spitfire built by Triumphtune and shown in one of their
articles is claimed to deliver 115+ bhp with twin 40 DCOE webers, a header,
hot cam and completely ported and polished head. I don't live in CA but I
assume that any visible modification is illegal so that eliminates
carb/manifold and exhaust enhancements as well as supercharging or turbo.
The only other ways I know of to make HP are displacement (you can't bore
or stroke a 1500 to 5000 cc) and nitrous oxide. You could internally
strenghten an engine enough to make it last using nitrous and the bottle is
easily concealed. Even then I doubt that you could make double the horse
power even with a higher compression ratio, polished head etc . and still
have the engine pass a legitimate test. So I have to call bullshit on this
claim (no offense intended and I'll gladly eat my words if anyone can
produce the details of how this was accomplished).
Hope I'm wrong I'd love to have a 130 hp Spitfire.
Glenn
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