thesheep Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Hi, I'm new to these forums. Having just acquired a 1989 Supersprint that's been sleeping for the past few years, I'm beginning work to bring it back to life. The history of the car shows that in 1990 it was converted by SPR Engineering to 'Racing Class B Spec'. It has a dry sump and various other mods. The rocker cover says 'SPR Engineering' on it. I can't find much reference to SPR now - seems they probably went out of business a while ago. Does anyone have any details about what exactly the modifications would have been that were made? Obviously there's the dry sump and I think some suspension changes, but I'm not sure what was done to the engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djg Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Try here Wet day here,read bored/happy to help, and a quick search of the archives and this popped up. Let us know when you get her going. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECR Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 S for Steve Parker P for Pippa Newland R for Robin Rex I believe .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Durrant Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Steve Parker Racing have moved to Bradenham in Norfolk. He advertises in Lowflying and has an advert on page 36 of April's magazine. I am not sure what his records are like but it might be worth giving him a call to see what he knows of the car. Mark D Comp Sec Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesheep Posted April 10, 2009 Author Share Posted April 10, 2009 Hi Doug I *think* that's something else. I did find a few references on the web to an 'SPR Engineering' that has stopped trading. I guess I could double-check though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesheep Posted April 10, 2009 Author Share Posted April 10, 2009 I'll try ringing Steve Parker and see Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djg Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 To be fair I did miss this bit of the investigative work out, here HTH Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millsn Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 Also try contacting Roger King who did a fair bit of the SPr work back then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leadership Team Midas Posted April 15, 2009 Leadership Team Share Posted April 15, 2009 My first Caterham - a 1992 Supersprint came with an SPR engine - the company was called SPR Engineering and it was based in Bishop's Stortford. It was an official Caterham 7 Service Centre and it offered Caterham builders a number of bespoke engine packages (a bit like Redline or Raceline do today). They marketed their own Supersprint and Supersprint+ engines for Caterhams (difference was the Supersprint+ was forged pistons and other nice goodies). The engines had their own unique SPR engine number. As far as I know they were well regarded. Their engine shop employed Mr Roger King (a well known Ford engine guru). He sometimes pops up on this forum. Roger had all the spec sheets for all the SPR-built engines, so if you can contact him he might be able to let you know exactly what the spec of your engine is. He was very informative about mine, and told me its complete history. I also recall that the Racing Class B Spec engines were very highly tuned and to a high standard. If that is what you have you are a 'lucky' crossflow owner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gridgway Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 eek what a fabulous thread hijack opportunity... 😬 ...can we talk about....Arrowstar? Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dickie Normuss Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 😬 😬 😬 VX HPC - Loud and proud here Adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesheep Posted April 16, 2009 Author Share Posted April 16, 2009 Thanks Midas. A spec sheet would be great, so I'll try and find Mr King. By all accounts this is a pretty fast Crossflow, although I haven't driven it yet, as we're still sorting it out after a few years sitting in a shed. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonboylaw Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Ben, Is this on an AX block ? If Roger built the engine then he will have the spec sheet for it. You will need to get the engine number for him to trace it. I am sure he will be along shortly, else you can post a ping request in Chit chat. Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesheep Posted April 16, 2009 Author Share Posted April 16, 2009 Number on the engine is SPR 90 09 042 Also had some helpful emails from Steve Parker, who told me what the original cam was and what sort of oil to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger King Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 I have some, but not all information on this engine. Send me a blat-mail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusCat Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 From information in my 1989 price list: Class A was up to 185bhp Class B was for 125 to 155bhp Class C was less than 125bhp Mine is a dry sumped similar Class B xflow of the same age - done by Dave FLashman at Baldyne Engineering - nothing that special just lighted flywheel, balanced, modified head with big valves, polished head and manifolds to improve gas flow - which they claimed gave an extra 12bhp so about 147bhp. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgrigsby Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 My car also started life as a Class B racer, it ran a 234 Cam, forged pistons, dry sump and a bit of head work but not too much else. Not sure of the exact spec but I don't think it ever made any where near 150bhp! still it went very well. I'm fairly surely I have the original invoice for the engine from when it was built by Churchelm(?), I have a vague memory it cost around £3600! but that was before I bought it. Cheers Rob G www.SpeedySeven.com Edited by - rgrigsby on 17 Apr 2009 08:36:51 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusCat Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Mine is still on 234 cams, no steel internals. The whole job starting with a 1600 block, so including a 90th thou. overbore, pistons, rods etc cost £810 ex vat in 1990! It's a sign of getting old when you are amazed by inflation. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisb Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 My X-flow wears a SPR rocker cover as well. When I was lookign at purchasing my 7 (gulp - 7 years ago 😳) I spoke to Roger king at length about the engine. He assured me at the time it the engine was "very solid, and built to a nice spec" I since added a drysump, and a couple of other bits I have to say that whilst I have owned the car, the engine has been pretty much faultless. (About 4 years ago, I had the bores "glazebusted" and new rings fitted as it started to smoke a little on the overrun - been fine since) Although I never thrash it from cold, I am not nescessarily the kindest person to it, and tend to drive it to within an inch of its life. The car did the USA2005 trip with not so much as a hiccup, and many of you will have seen it on trackdays as well. On 2 independant rolling roads, (after settign up & tweaking the carbs) it has produced around 185bhp, and it seems to keep up with 200bhp K-series caterhams pretty well (until I have to stop for fuel 😳) At full chat on track I reckon its comfortably into single figure mpg! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Perry Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Mines pretty much the same, but I have had a couple of years of Gremlins, most of which are the result of components failing which should not have done (Oil pump, unhardened cam followers and valve springs that are supposedly good for 11,000 revs breaking at 8000 ) I suspect that will always be the case with an ageing engine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackbirdman Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Definitely talk to Roger King as he did all the engine work for SPR back then. Did me a very nice 1800 xflow too! He post on here sometimes, are you out there Roger? 😬 Matt Life begins at 10,000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesheep Posted April 17, 2009 Author Share Posted April 17, 2009 Yes Roger has been in touch and given me a bit of info about the engine (see his post above). Still got the original invoice from SPR for the work done in 1990... bill came to over £5000. Would still like to know exactly what they did, but looks like some records are missing. Certainly they put in new pistons, dry sump system and various other things. Anyway, soon I'll be driving it and then I'll see what it's like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezky Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 My Roger King 1700 xflow was recently tested at 150bhp @ 6500rpm. Still had power at 7k Was built by Arrowstar (remember them?) in the early 90's then modified by 7 workshop for unleaded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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