Engine in '66'
Hi Tim and Mr. T,
If I could jump in with a quick update on '66', when I brought her back from Germany it was fitted with an 1100 lump that according to the book originally put out about 47 HP. From the paperwork it looks like this was installed in the donor when Gary bought it. Most of those had long escaped and it was in a poor way. We have almost finished a full engine rebuild of a 1300 unit to drop in instead, with an unleaded head, twin SU carbs & tubular 4-2-1 manifold. Should be good for around 75 hp?
I did seriously consider putting in a straight six, having a 2.5 litre unit from a 2500 PI sitting in the garage. However the very early chassis's ('66' was rather confusingly built on a 1959 donor) apparently had a rather different chassis of thinner gauge metal in places and different engine mounts. When the first Vitesses were introduced Triumph changed the chassis for the more powerful engine. This new chassis I understand became the new standard for both Heralds and Vitesses from that point onward. So in summary, shoe-horning a Vitesse six into an early 948 chassis is probably not the best plan, notwithstanding the issue of stopping the extra weight up front on drum brakes all round!
Hope this helps in some way,
Paul.
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