My bedtime reading for the last week or so has been Ortenburger's book on the Lotus 11.
Possible relevance of it here is that the engine used in the top spec 11 was the Coventry Climax FWA engine, a little OHC unit which bears a -- to my mind -- striking resemblance to the FIRE engine.
Of course, the FWA was a sort of FIRE engine, developed from a portable water pump engine commissioned by the government at the time of the Korean war.
Figures are:
72.4 bore, 66.6 stroke for 1098cc
Torque 74.5 lb.ft @ 4,400
Power 83 bhp @ 6,800
Duplex chain driven SOHC
Valve adjustment seems to be by shim under bucket (as opposed to FIAT's shim over bucket). Shim under bucket is generally regarded as lighter and safer.
Various states of tune, but -- rather worryingly -- the stage 3 engines came with a 5 bearing cam, the 3 bearing cam (as on the FIRE engines) was said to be only safe for 7,200 rpm.
Interesting.
For what it's worth, I don't think the FIRE looks as robust as FIAT's 'Lampredi SOHC' (what I call the '128-motor'), as used in several generations from the 128 through to the Tipo and Punto 90. My favourite incarnation was the Uno Turbo Mk1 engine (which I have, of course
) but in many ways it was very sturdy and well-designed. E.g. the short-stroke crankshaft was strong and the cam had five bearings.
However the FIRE is definitely a better design for an economical around-town runaround - it's lighter, the longer stroke gives better torque, and presumably the crossflow design offers greater breathing efficiency (of course, my favoured turbocharged application made the non-crossflow design less relevant).
I know a few people have tuned and turbocharged the FIRE with success, so I don't want to belittle the potential of the engine - just stating that I think the older, heavier SOHC was stronger for ultimate tuning. In the 70s, with Kugelfischer mechanical injection, some racers got over 160bhp from the 1290cc version.
Tonight I'll be reading Car Mechanics (I subscribe from overseas) and I have just this minute renewed my subscription - exciting - it may as well be called Volvo Mechanics due to the preferences of the editor, but to be fair they have covered some FIAT stuff over the years (e.g. how to rebuild the FIRE engine!)
Other favourite bedtime reading is a series of ten binders (containing weekly magazines) from 1979-1980, called On The Road - another English series - covers all sorts of things from practical techniques through theory discussions and even road test reviews. Today it is amusing to read some of the road tests (ever wanted to know how the Rover 2600 was, compared with a Ford Granada?) but the general techniques sections are very useful, the theory hasn't changed much (e.g. how synchromesh works and how it was developed, understeer/oversteer and chassis dynamics, etc.) and then there are the discussions of desmodronic or electrically-actuated valves which are still interesting today.
It was eerie last night to read about series/parallel hybrids and fuel cell cars, comparing it against my knowledge of the Honda Civic Hybrid that I drove for six months last year - their predictions were accurate. Also they predicted rain-sensing wipers by infrared phototransistor, which is exactly how they work. How they knew this in 1980 is anyone's guess (that's the year I was born) and I think their sources must have been pretty good. I suppose it shows that not much is really new in the automotive world - everything is a refinement or a development of something else, so I like to have a broad knowledge of what has gone before in order to understand what is new today...
After an Internet search turned up nothing, I began to wonder if anyone would believe me that such a magazine existed - happily I found
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MARSHALL-CAVE...250044425QQihZ013QQcategoryZ274QQcmdZViewItem to prove my point (bidding has ended for this item).
Thanks,
-Alex
