Spitfire Spitfire engine question

[eejay56]

Can somebody confirm my research? The engine that I pulled out of Piece O Spit is FK1074HE. From what I can tell this is a high comp 1300 from an early Mark IV. Are there any external differences between a 1500 and a 1300? It had the later electronic dizzy and ZS carb but came with a set of SU HS2s. No holes in the head for the air rails. It has dished pistons and no recess around the cylinders. If this is a 1300 can I use a 1500 head on it and flat top 1500 cylinders? What would the CR be for a 1300 HE?

 

[70herald]

You can use a 1500 head, but unless you have it significantly shaved, it is going to have fairly low compression. I just got a nice fresh 1500 head which will go onto the 1300 block in my Herald. I told the shop to shave off 1 mm which combined with the oversized, flat top +0.06" pistons will give me about 1:8.7 CR. I may have the shop remove a bit more, I still haven't decided how far I want to push things.


You can NOT use 1500 pistons. the wrist pin is in a slightly different position. There are of course flat top 1300 pistons available.

 

[myspitfire]

My offering suggestion.The FK/dish pistons/ZS suggestion you have a low compression California BIG CRANK engine their.
Send the engine # to Paul Tegler at Nass(north american spitfire squadron).I'm interested to find out more & let us know.
Ken

 

[hilsideser]

Try this... https://www.triumphspitfire.com/enginenumbers.html

 

[eejay56]

Thanks, I don't know how I didn't find that one. Seems to confirm that it's a low compression 1296. That would explain the dished pistons. When I get started on it I'll measure the stroke to be absolutely sure. You just never know what you'll find when you take these things apart. A very nice surprise since that engine will be going in my racer.