Spitfire Spitfire Engine Type?

[Bruce_B]

Looking at a spitfire whose plate says it was manufactured in
June 1973. I'm curious about it's engine. I came across a document that says:

"At the close of 1974, a modified 1300cc engine, enlarged to 1493 cc, was introduced resulting in the Spitfire 1500."

But a picture of the engine shows the Single SU mounted to the engine.

So is this a 1500 engnie or the 1296cc? I know there'a always an overlap on engine/body changes, but welcome any ideas or opinions....thanks...

 

[eejay56]

What is the engine number? I believe the 1500 began with the FM series. Are you sure it's not a Zenith carb?

 

[philman]

could be somebody put on a eurospec intake. I took the zenith's of my fhc tr7 and put on SU HS6's I purchased off ebay.co.uk from a TR7. You could get Triumphs with SU's in the early 70's in the UK.

 

[Andrew Mace]

Eric is correct: if the engine prefix begins with FM, it is a 1493cc. As for that "document": that reference is to most of the rest of the world. "Federal" Spitfires beginning in the 1973 model year were also 1500s, the extra displacement intended to help make up for power loss due to emission controls.

And that picture is puzzling: "philman" is correct in saying that Triumphs were likely as not to come with SUs in the UK, but Spitfires in the US from 1970 on had a single 1.5" Stromberg.

 

[dcphotos]

Where did you see this document?

 

[tdskip]

I'm pretty darn sure that is a ZS carb on the engine. For what it is worth...

<grin>