The weber motor above was a pretty strong, dual weber, 132hp at the wheels motor with Carrillo rods, JE .100" dome pistons, isky push rods, and a .530 lift Crane reground cam. That motor was great until it spun a rod bearing at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma California in 2002. It was at that point I knew it was time to push the envelope on what could be done with a Sunbeam Alpine motor. Below is a taste of the direction I went and some of my design work.
Block: |
Stock Sunbeam Alpine 1725cc bored to 1829cc, CNC O-ring in deck, pinned mains and head, modified rear main to accommodate a rope seal. |
Crank: |
Stock, repositioned oil holes on journals to improve oil wedge at peak cylinder pressures, welded and ground scroll for rope seal use on rear main. |
Rods: |
Carrillo |
Pistons: |
Custom 84mm JE turbo pistons running 7.95:1. |
Bolts: |
All ARP except the mains which are NAS 627 180ksi. bolts to help keep the bottom end in place. |
Head: |
Stock Sunbeam Alpine, ported (opened intake from 64.7 to 74.6cc and exhaust from 54.7 to 64.7cc), polished, flowed, larger valves, CNC'd receiver groove for stainless steel O-ring in block and copper gasket. |
Head Gasket: |
Custom solid copper, 0.040" thick gasket, manufactured by Cometic Gaskets. |
Head Studs: |
Were 3/8", are now 7/16" ARP. |
Valves: |
Ferrea custom Intake and exhaust. |
Springs: |
Ferrea IRL 460lb/in. , 150# on the seat, 385# open pressure. |
Retainers: |
Ferrea LS1 titanium retainers. |
Camshaft: |
Custom designed roller cam that I had Crane Cams grind from billet 8620 stock. |
Lifters: |
Comp Cams Endure-X Solid Body Mechanical Roller Lifters PN838-1. |
Pushrods: |
Manton Series 5, 0.120" wall, 3/8"OD. |
Rockers: |
Custom 11/16 shaft mounted roller rockers, 1.42:1 ratio, made from 15-5PH tool steel, Crower needle bearings in nose wheel and Manton adjuster screws. Oil supplied by a spray bar mounted to the rocker support block. |
| Timing Belt: |
Competition Cams small block Ford. |
Oil Pump: |
ARE Racing, external single stage wet sump. |
Dampener: |
BHJ |
Intake: |
Custom intake manifold and throttle system so the only bend between the throttle plates and the cylinder is right behind the valves. Goal was to minimize flow losses. |
Throttles: |
CBR929 motorcycle with an adapter plate welded to them. |
Injection: |
Direct port injection. I welded injector bungs directly onto the head pointing right at the valves. |
Exhaust: |
1.5" primaries, 2.5" collector into the turbo, out of turbo @ 2.5" then out the back at 2.25". |
Turbo: |
Garret TB 25 turbo with competetion T360 trim and a 15 degree blade clip on the exhaust side over 3/4 of the blade length. |
Boost: |
12psi |
| Intercooler: |
Spearco |
Radiators: |
Dual Radiators. Primary: Griffin Thermal, cross flow 13x21x2, Secondary: Therma Cool cut in half to 7x18x2 and installed in front of the passenger side front wheel. |
ECU: |
034 EFI, StageII using a wide band 02 sensor. |
Flywheel: |
Stock SV but put on an 8lb diet. Went from 22lb to 14lb. |
Clutch: |
8.5", Kevlar |
| Clutch Release: |
Tilton PN 61-401 linear clutch release bearing. |
Tranny: |
85-89 T5 with 94-95 input shaft and 0.73 overdrive built by Bruce Couture at Modern Driveline. |
Rear End: |
Ford 7.5" limited slip, shortened. |
This latest motor/tranny creation took 27 months, and I logged over 1500 hours making it all come to life. Boy was it worth it!
