MASCOT January-February 2008

Did you know???

Barry Paine

….that late 1497cc engines, as fitted to the some Roadsters, SM1500s and Hunters, had cylinder heads that were adaptable for single or twin carb use?

We recently had an enquiry via the website from Luca Cortini in Italy, requesting such a cylinder head. He was able to send us a picture of the cylinder head that he already had in his possession, and amazingly it appears to be an early type with a crude and unsuccessful conversion to twin carb application, with the original centre port for the single carb blanked off and two holes cut into the manifold for the twin carbs, the edges of which were being built up with weld metal to be faced off - see inset.

The 1497cc engine has the inlet manifold built into the head, and in the case of the adaptable type of head there are three inlets to this manifold, one in the centre for single carb application, and two either side for twin carb application.

Two types of side plate are available which blank off the inlet(s) not in use. This can be seen in the picture above. I have several spare 1497cc cylinder heads at home, and fortunately was able to send Luca one of the correct type.

Although Luca's original enquiry indicated that the car in question was a Singer, when he sent this picture it turned out that it is an HRG. The front wings seem unusually pointed. I have been trying to find out a few more details to pass on to the HRG Association.