Bristol Engines

[Geoff Kingston]

Claude,
The survey is an excellent idea but I can't seem to get the link to it to work it takes me to the part of their site that allows you to create a survey rather than answer questions, any idea what might be wrong or what I am doing wrong or is there another way to get to it?
I will try and find the details of the firm I spoke to last August about the cylinder heads I put the information somewhere and the magazine their detail were in and of course can't find it!
I suspect that currently it is not to difficult to get new rods pistons and camshafts but not sure about the crank and how many suppliers are out there. Nor am I aware of the current prices for those items, it would be interesting if anyone else dose know if they could give us some indication. The big problem is the lack of availability of heads and blocks, several people have apparently been talking about making or having some made but as far as I am aware only Peter Jaye has so far actually produced new heads , he will be doing them in small batches and I understand they will be to a better specification than the original, if memory serves me right I think he said they were lighter and stronger than the original and slightly deeper / thicker on the actual head face.
When I spoke to him he mentioned that IN Racing were about to start producing blocks including a 2.5 litre version but I have not made any enquiries with that firm. In both cases I think the prices were going to be around £7.5k contrast this with some reproduction alloy heads I saw recently advertised for the. 6 cyl Austin Healey at around £2.5k and the effect of a larger potential market in unit cost is quite apparent, I suspect also the Healey head may be a simpler casting and easier to machine?
Tom suggested in his posting alternative ways of making a head,someone more knowledgeable in these matters than me may know if it is possible to use CAD to produce the patterns for the initial castings and if this would work out cheaper than the traditional methods, this might bring the costs down a bit but as I said previously if production of the first casting including the pattern making works out at £20/£25k, and subsequent casting average out at say £500 each, a batch of 10 is going to cost £2500 to £3000 each before machining. on the estimated cost I was given. The only way to reduce this is if someone can be sure of selling a larger number. If you consider that a good 401 or 403 will probably make around £30000 for a really nice car I think that to be viable a new engine or kit of parts to build one up would need to come out around £15000 maximum to stand much chance of significant sales , coincidentally roughly the price of one of Al
Mellings new V8 engines, an engine I am thinking about to put in one of my own cars.
If the price were nearer £20000 then for me at least it would probably be the alternative engine route and at £40000 no way, I would rather buy a good used Brigand from Bristol Cars or a nice coachbuilt Bentley Mk6 or R Type!
Geoff.

[Kevin H]

Originally Posted by Geoff Kingston

Claude,
The survey is an excellent idea but I can't seem to get the link to it to work it takes me to the part of their site that allows you to create a survey rather than answer questions, any idea what might be wrong

There were a couple of extra/unwanted characters on the end of the raw URL. I have now removed them from Claude's post.

Try this one http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GCZQ3TJ

Kevin

[Geoff Kingston]

Thanks Kevin,
That worked fine lets hope enough people are interested to make this a viable and affordable project.
Geoff.

[Hal]

Claude..Guys,

Its a great idea to come up with a pricing idea and a list of people who are in search of engines.

Sometime in the next few weeks, i will try and speak to my contact about casting the replica heads and blocks. If he thinks that he can do it, then i'm happy to carry the baton, as i also know of some people who could machine the castings afterwards.

What do people think about tinkering with the design to gain more power,
2.5 / 3 litre etc.

[kfitzgerald]

There is a reason that Bristol went to 2.2 liters and not 2.5. If you
bore out the engine that much you are looking at new piston designs,
connecting rods, and most important a revised crankshaft. The fuel fog
problem may dissipate with more space to suck in the fuel.
I am a fence sitter on the project. If a new block were available would
I buy one, it is price dependent. Do I want to commit myself today to
buying one, no.
I like the idea.
Another Kevin

[technicaltom]

I have been following this thread with interest and would like to add an observation regarding engine capacity.The cylinder head at present when as standard has a certain intake port capacity/volume usually described in cubic centimeters( CCs)and has an ability to flow so many cubic feet per minute(CFM) All very basic stuff that applies to any engine.So if a new block was manufactured with a little more room/clearence for a longer throw on the crankshaft,or larger diameter cylinder liners , or both, then extra capacity maybe up to or even more than 3 litres would be possible.
Now the cylinder head with its siamesed inlet tracts will need to be able to flow more CFM to feed the extra capacity therefore the new head will need a slight redeseign to allow it to breathe better, all this = more hp.
With some careful research its possible that con rods could be sourced from another engine,as Brabham did many years ago on their Repco FI engines,if memory serves me right those con rods were standard Daimler Dart 2.5 V8 items.Pistons are not an issue as custom pistons are available from numerous manufacturers and relatively cheap.The crankshaft could be sourced from many countrys nowadays. I look forward to others views . Tom

[Geoff Kingston]

Kevin,
The last time I looked at Bristol Cars website in the section covering upgrades there was mention of a. 2.5 liter engine, I assumed that this was a conversion of the existing engine but when I was speaking to Peter Jaye about his new cylinder heads he told me this was going to be based on. new block castings. made or about to be made by IN Racing and that his heads would fit this block.
Bristol Cars obviously think these problems can be overcome quite probably with the other additional new parts you outline, but I would certainly be interested in the larger engine option if it were available.
Another thought but what about a project based on the Larger BMW engine that the Aldingtons wanted Bristol to use instead of the 328 unit, that must have been designed to fit the same type of chassis layout as the smaller unit, same probably goes for the post war BMW V8 though that may be even shorter supply than the Bristol unit.
Geoff.