Outlaw Dolomite Sprint

[DutchSprint]

After a thorough two-year-long restoration I decided to take my beloved Dolomite Sprint to the next level. In small steps I want to make car a bit more to my taste, as well in looks, output as handling.

I decided to start with the output. Yesterday was the last event of this year, next week the car is moving to an equipped garage box, where I will take out the engine for an overhaul. I also found a Weber intake manifold on this forum and am picking up Weber carbs this week which will be mounted after the overhaul. I'm also considering a new camshaft, and am curious if people here have more suggestions to get a better output.

I'm also planning to have the car lowered and looking for ways to make it more stiff, especially for cornering. Advice is welcome!

I will try to keep this thread updated with pictures.

[straylight]

sounds very interesting and I am jealous ! webers are just outside my price range.

From what I've read on the forums, it is always a case of making upgrades across the whole engine, so team the webers with a suitable cam, some porting, a sports exhaust and so on. A search of the forums quickly reveals what is useful (trackerjack, madmart, gmsclassics and all of the others who track their sprints). Likewise with the suspension.

Good luck, I look forward to reading about what you do, with an eye to upgrading my second sprint (as cheaply as I can)

stu

[DutchSprint]

I will be picking up the carbs and trumpets tonight, I will post a picture when I have them. Also negotiating on a complete head with camshaft and adjustable sprocket... TBC!

[DutchSprint]

This is how high on it's heels the car is right now. Below is pretty much like I would have it.

[DutchSprint]

The parts I just bought. A rebuilt cylinder head with fast road lotus camshaft.

Kent Cams S43 Vernier adjustable camshaft power pulley and timing disc.

Rebuilt skimmed cylinder head with Lotus profile camshaft (Lotus 907 - L14 spec.), uprated Kent single valve springs, standard valves, new camshaft bearing cap and pedestal bolts, new inlet bucket tappers, new exhaust valve stem oil seals etc.
The head has no serious corrosion or warping and has been fully decoked.

New correct spec. thick head gasket

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[MIG Wielder]

Nice head rebuild. Can I guess where the Lotus badge came from ?..........

[Dolly-Nut]

I did wonder why it was taken off eBay! A bit pricey for me

[DutchSprint]

Didn't pay full price

[Dolly-Nut]

I wouldn't have either!!

[DutchSprint]

I paid £325, fair enough if you ask me. A new cam and vernier would've cost more. The only thing I'm curious about is how well the porting and skimming is done...

[Henk]

Interesting head! Spoke to Jeroen last weekend, he advised to skim the head slighty slant (what's in a name...) to stay clear of the valve seatings. He also mentioned a hotter cam being a lot more effective if it's accompanied by a higher compression ratio.
Good luck!

[DutchSprint]

Very interesting head, Henk. I was searching on eBay for a camshaft, but found this instead. I'm not completely sure if the revision is done thorough, but luckily my dad knows a lot about engine tuning. Jeroen also advised to check if the compression chambers are equal, so we'll see. In Q1 it should be up and running again...

[soe8m]

Henk, that is an 1850 head. A sprint is supposed to be straight skimmed. To have the best result an 1850 should be skimmed slant to save the valve seats and to have the most out off the combustion chamber. The only thing is you MAYBE have to drill out the angle stud hole 1mm because the studhole does not line up with the engine block.

Jeroen

[Henk]

Oops, apologies... I didn't expect a difference in the heads at that point.

[DutchSprint]

Well, looks like I will be making a start tomorrow. The Sprint is moving to my parents' garage, where I have the equipment to get the job done. Forum member and fellow Dutchman Soe8m adviced to start with optimizing the engine before doing upgrades. So that's what I'll do first, after the engine is out. In the meantime I'll clean the set of 45 Webers I acquired.