I think the discussion will be subject to a great deal of change in the
coming months (or years) when all the fantastic new aluminum V8's start
showing up in the junk yards. Most of these engines are upwards of 300
HP and weigh less than the Spitfire 4. Talk about possibilities! Of
course upgrading the subsystems to handle the added power will still be
a problem, but the cars should be better balanced with all that extra
power.
My mouth is already watering!!!!
Regards,
Joe
"Mostrom, Paul" wrote:
>
> As my brother (who drives a '79 MG Midget) said to me one day when we were at
> an auto-x,
>
> "A horse-power, a horse-power, my kingdom for a horse-power!"
>
> This discussion gets re-hashed on the list every couple of months or so. Each
> side has it's merits, Spit engine vs. non-Spit engine. Stock vs. modified,
> yada, yada, yada....
>
> I still haven't seen any thing presented (on either side) that will convince
> one side to change to the other side.
>
> IMHO
>
> For those that have the ambition, the know-how and the tools to radically
> modify their cars, great! For those of us who prefer to modify the existing
> machinery to suit them, go-for-it! For those that want to maintain the
> originality of the design, more power to 'em.
>
> Thanks,
> Paul Mostrom
> '77 Spitfire 1500
> '80 Ford F-100 (Triumph Support Vehicle)
>
>
> 'Black holes, where God divided by zero......'
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bowen, Patrick A RP2 [mailto:PABowen@sar.med.navy.mil]
> Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2000 7:22 AM
> To: 'dayton carpenter'; Bowen, Patrick A RP2; spitfires@autox.team.net
> Subject: RE: Nitrous Oxide
>
> I do believe that Dayton is one of those individuals that believes bigger is
> absolutely better. No Cubic inches is not the name of the game. It is a
> part of a formula while looking for the answer, it is not the answer. I
> would make a pretty solid guess that your 4.3 ltr weighs a considerable bit
> more than my spit engine. Not to mention the fact that you now need to cut
> a huge hole in the bonnet to make it fit. You now have the problem of
> adding several hundred pounds to the front end of a sports car that is
> already nose heavy. If I wanted to drop a 12 litre engine into a car, then
> there are plenty of choices from the detroit arena. However I want a car
> with real styling and handling characteristics. So tell me, how would your
> car compare to mine at the local races through the slolom. Sorry, but I
> don't think you would be able to stay within the cones.
>
> Sorry, but I would rather use skill to improve on what I have rather than
> dropping in a junkyard engine that will tear up all my subsystems anyhow.
>
> Patrick
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dayton carpenter [mailto:djcarpen@hotmail.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2000 8:00 PM
> To: PABowen@sar.med.navy.mil; spitfires@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: Nitrous Oxide
>
> Patrick:
>
> Get real! Cubic Inches is the name of the game. Torque, Torque, then
> Horsepower, Horsepower. The Spit engine is wimpy 1.5 liter. There is only
> so much you can do with it and you still have 1.5L. So if you really want
> to move that little spitfire body then replace the 1.5 with something has
> some cubic inches and can be built strong enough for nitrous without putting
>
> you in the poor house.
>
> Dayton
>
> >From: "Bowen, Patrick A RP2" <PABowen@sar.med.navy.mil>
> >Reply-To: "Bowen, Patrick A RP2" <PABowen@sar.med.navy.mil>
> >To: "'spitfires@autox.team.net'" <spitfires@autox.team.net>
> >Subject: Nitrous Oxide
> >Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2000 08:37:22 -0500
> >
> >I posted this question a couple weeks ago and I didn't have any takers or
> >responses (other than a joking jibe from Fred Thomas). The winner of the
> >Grassroots Motorsports $1500 Challenge was a MG Midget with Nitrous. What
> >would happen if I put Nitrous into a spit engine? Has anyone ever done
> >this? Any good reason not to? What is the overall experience here?
> >
> >It would make that Porsche look silly sitting at the light as I stream past
> >him.
> >
> >Patrick Bowen
--
"If you can't excel with talent, triumph with effort."
-- Dave Weinbaum in National Enquirer
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