Recommendations on building a mild 1776 cc engine for my 1303.

DK Bug said:

I am building a stock looking 1776 cc engine for my 1303.

Any comments suggestions and specially experience with a similar setup, on the specks below, are most appreciated?

What i want is a civilized easy driven engine that pulls from low down.
Of course I want as much power as I can get, but not on the great expense of low down power and torque.
Going from 1300 to 1776 will naturally give a great deal of what I want, but maybe there are more easy apples to pick?

I will use:

Cast AA pistons and cylinders.

AB 1300 engine case – AS41- With Hover mods.

Full flow oil pump / filter.

Stock crank, con – rods.

Stock TP heads, and do a little flow work on them

34pict carburetor – MAYBE a progressive Weber.......

Probably stock valve train with bolted rocker axles.
Depends on whats needed for the cam I am going to use.

CR 8 – 8.5

Stock looking exhaust with CSP High Flow tailpipes and either I will mess the internals up in the stock exhaust, or maybe buy the CSP stock looking one.

As I don’t want a screamer and as I rarely will see over 4000 rpm, I am a little I doubt about if I just should stick with the stock cam or go for a mild upgrade.
Have tried to order a CB 2280 cheater cam but the order were canceled because it is not available any more.
That leaves me with stock cam,
or maybe an Engel W90,
or maybe 1:25 rockers with stock cam is just what I need,
or if some of you folks have a better suggestion?

Recommendations to the rest of the setup is of course also most welcome.



Have been looking a little towards this setup CSP has posted, using a W90 cam, in conjunction with their High Flow tailpipes.
View attachment 303316

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I ran a 1776 with stock 16 heads/valves all be it ported and polished diy. Stock crank but balanced, engle 110 cam. (If not wanting to rev the engine maybe stay stock or 100?)
Dual 34 itc....make sure are genuine webber not modern crap. I perfonally don't like the 32/36 progressive carb. I have one that's given me no end of trouble that want a rebuild if looking for one, but I'd go dual 34s any day.
Fit a equal length merged header and choose your back box wisely. A single pack will be torquier, easy breathers will let it rev harder but feel less torque low down in my experience. Best performance I got was from a CSP super competition...... or BAS as it was back then and much less money. Had access and weight drawbacks but sounded great and gave my best quarter mile time over and easy breather and restrictive single pack stainless.
I fitted external additional oil cooling full flow for peace of mind.
Ran this setup for a few years and was a lot of fun. HOWEVER.....for a small price Increse I wish I'd just gone upto 94mm over 90.5 and made it a 1915cc 😉. If your having machine work done why not maximise the bore if keeping stock stroke. Best of luck

Thank you all very much for sharing all your experiences and suggestions.
There is definitely a lot of food for thoughts.

The 1776 cc is chosen because of longevity and reliability, and because I don’t think an extra 176 cc is going over the fence regarding using an original 34pict carb, but on the other hand is an noticeable upgrade over a 1600, and significantly more than my current 1300 cc engine.
I have though considered to up the cc and have also had my eyes on a set of thick wall 92 mm 1835 cc. The machining is then 101 mm it the top and 97 in the engine case, same as for 1914 cc.

Regarding maybe using a progressive Weber.
If I go that route I will not buy a dedicated carb for the purpose.
I will just pull one of a Ford at the junkyard, adapt it to suit, with manual choker and self made manifold with a tube in a tube preheat etc.

Have been looking into the 37 – 39pict solution, but most of them is Chinese ones and cant find anyone had experience with them!
There are some German made ones, made on the basis on original Solex, but they are fairly expensive!

As I have written before, I has to keep the cost down, at least for the moment, as the money going into my 1303 project, happens faster than I can collect it....
I could just wait a year or more to get the car on the road and collect more funds, but would really like to drive it sometimes next summer, so the expense of a set of duals is out of the question.
Although a set of 34 mm ict Webers singles looks tempting.

About the cam.
I am a little surprised people gets away with using a W100 or 110 and a single carb.
Reading suggestions from proclaimed “experts” deems mostly this solution undriveable!
But maybe it is the same as in many other cases. One thing is theory and another thing is real life.
For cost and simplicity, the idea of getting a little more out of the standard cam with more lift rocker arms, is something I find tempting, and as I diffidently don’t want a race like engine, could probably turn out be the best solution for my needs.
Only thing is.
What is the pros and cons, for my needs, over a W90 or even a W100, now I am going to split the case anyway..!?

Milling the engine case for 1835 cc / 1914 cc.

97 mm gets extremely close to the cylinder studs.

My AB AS41 case has 10 mm studs.
Should I keep them or should I fit case savers and 8 mm studs??

As I sees it, the larger 12 X 1.5 mm treads for the case savers can be a problem with a 97 mm drilling in the case!

Measuring my other AS21 engine case, with case savers already installed, there will only be around 0.5 mm material left if it were milled up to accept 97 mm barrels!

Th AS 41 case with 10 mm studs are going to have around 1.5 mm material left between the studs holes and barrel bore, when it is opened up to 97 mm.

As it is we will only mill down as long as the barrel skirt goes and thereafter only a fraction larger than the 92 mm piston. It gives some more material between the studs and the bore in the case, for the deepest 10 - 15 mm part of the studs holes anyway.

As it is 1835 cc thick wall I will aim at, it is 97 mm in the case and 101 in the heads, same as 1914cc.

Have already checked the studs, with nearly twice the torque. All treads are fine.

Yes the case is fine with nearly no corrosion and no cracks to find.
Only thing is the lifter bores is to their max.
Think it is as good as it can get for a 50 year old engine case.
Have already got it linebored ,by someone else with the right tooling, who knows how.

My oldest son is a toolmaker, therefore the machine work is for free. 😁

But should I leave it with the 10 mm studs?

On the other hand. If money were no issue. I would just have bought a brand new alu. engine case.

DK Bug said:

As it is 1835 cc thick wall I will aim at, it is 97 mm in the case and 101 in the heads, same as 1914cc.

Have already checked the studs, with nearly twice the torque. All treads are fine.

Yes the case is fine with nearly no corrosion and no cracks to find.
Only thing is the lifter bores is to their max.
Think it is as good as it can get for a 50 year old engine case.
Have already got it linebored ,by someone else with the right tooling, who knows how.

My oldest son is a toolmaker, therefore the machine work is for free. 😁

But should I leave it with the 10 mm studs?

On the other hand. If money were no issue. I would just have bought a brand new alu. engine case.

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Imo!...

10mm headstuds directly into the case, without casesavers, and boring for 94 barrel size = no. It is very close and not worth the risk. Fit 8mm studs and case savers, and bore for the cylinders carefully. Case savers resist stud pullout FAR better than studs straight into the case.

Decide on everything now before you start machining/building, it's all in the combination. Changing one or two things mid way through can ruin a good known combo. So... finalise what you want in terms of bore, cam, induction, valve size, exhaust... etc... youve had a lot of good suggestions already.... but....to add to those.... think about the air filter/inlet into the induction and..

don't forget the ignition system!.

If you want decent, smooth idle, almost stock like with 1776cc... don't use the usual engle 100 or bigger, it will work, but it won't be smooth and will be hard to tune with a single carb.. with twin carbs, completely different...

I'd say... for a fairly low rpm, nice daily driver type deal, easy to maintain, reliable..

1835/1776
Stock heads/valves
Cheater cam by engle, cb, webcam
Csp or vintage speed stock style high flow exhaust
Single HD springs, retainers, etc.
Hi flow stock style inlet manifold
Bored out venturi solex 34 pict 3.
As much cylinder head work as you can do/afford.
Tight deck height. Approx 1mm
Decent Elephant feet adjusters, shimmed rocker shafts.
Full flow oil, 26mm pump.
Comp ratio between 8.5-9.0 to 1 depending on the cam.
If staying below 5000rpm, stock pushrods. Valve geometry
set correctly, and pushrod length adjusted if necessary.
Statically balance rods n pistons.
Dynamically balance rotating assembly.
Don't fit a small restrictive air filter. Modded stock style is nice.
Hoover oil modifications are good. Don't do the Hoover cam tunnel mod. 😮*
Decent ignition.. I.e. not cheap Chinese 009 or svda.
ALL the stock tinware and seals.
Deep sump, especially if you do longer journeys.

It will start nice, will warm up well because of the autochoke, should idle around 900-950, and once it gets going, will pull very nicely and have a good increase in torque over stock for hills, extra weight in the car etc.. also reasonable on fuel compared to twin 40s etc.. however twin Chinese 40s or kadrons would also work... I would consider changing to better pushrods if fitting those carb setups..

You WILL need to jet/time it differently to stock as it's not a stock engine!.. but that's true for ANY non stock motor.... consider some gauges to tune it yourself, or have it rolling roaded by someone you trust.

Rocket ship?! No... not the intention... fun to build and use?, good value? definate increase over stock? Something Stock looking, but different and personal to yourself? Imo..yes.

If you have a toolmaker in the family, that should help with a lot of the mods

Good luck!

* unless you're doing other external oil system cooling mods...