I've been splashing a bit of money the Scimitars way and bought some goodies! a set of stage four Ultimate cylinder heads and a Borg Warner T5 from a Sierra Cosworth (a favorite of mine) that got wrapped round a lamp post.
The Heads were a spare set that were ran for one race in this brusher an MG BGT (automotive pornography) historic racing car, sporting a 450 BHP 4.0 RV8 with quad Dellorto twin down daughters full racing cam, dry sump Borg Warner T5 transmission and all the other usual's expected from a V8 Racing car.
The heads themselves are now chemically cleaned blasted and skimmed, and i have a new set off 16 stainless steel "soup spoon" valves measuring in at 1.73" inlet 1.45" exhaust, there also fitted with 3 angle valve seats, Manganese bronze valve guides, double valve springs and the usual ported and polished inlet and exhaust ports.
I am worried about the distinct lack of metal between the inlet and exhaust valve seats, its a classic case for a crack, but i guess theres not much i can do about it appart form make sure the heads a kept very cool.
There's a few extra ponies in those polished valves
The other acquisition is a Borg Warner T5 from a sierra Cosworth. Id decided I wanted a T5 in the scimitar before id even chosen to use the Rover V8 its by far one of the greatest boxes ever made and can take bucket load of torque and punishment from any V8 or turbo charged engine its, plus it comes attached to my two favourite engines of all time, the TVR Rover V8 and the Ford Cosworth YB Turbo, not to mention everything from Mustangs, Cameros and odly enough even a Datsun, the ratios are just perfect on it and if you have ever had the privilege of driving a Cossy you know it can hit 60 in 2nd. Before anyone wonders I insisted on a Cosworth box over a TVR model, because the Cossy unit is a T5 World Class (T5-WC) which is a much stronger box with a much stronger tail section with cross supports in the casing casting.
I got it really cheap as the owner of the Cossy said it had an issue changing from 4th to 5th, being quite familiare with these boxes I knew exactly what it was, and yes it was.A very common problem with the cossy the boark rings between 4th and 5th are chewed up, normally an easy fix for me, but on a T5 bit of an issue. It almost impossible to get 5th gear off short of smashing it off, so I may have to send this one to a transmission specialist, I don't normally send things out, but we will see.
Apart from that little syncro damage the gears and box itself is solid..
The old gearbox has been lying in the garage for some time now but I don't like to see good quality car parts go to waste, so the box is going to an acquaintance who wants the Laycock overdrive for his MGB and he intern is passing the rest of the box on to a friend who's always restoring an old Coarser or Zodiac, so happy ending for all, and with the Essex and the Cast iron gearbox gone and the all aluminium V8 and T5 box in, I've cut the Scimitars curb weight down by well over 70kg.
The old Essex Starter has found a new use too, propping the workshop door open
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