Marcos Maniacs

I think we are missing something here, the wooden chassis Marcos will not survive big engine swaps. It was designed for 130-150hp with the small rims. You cannot squeeze a v8 into a wood chassis there is no room, it barely takes the 4 cyl. motors. I've looked at the Ford Duratec, a fantastic motor, it's too tall and wide with nowhere to run headers. I would recommend upgrade your 1600 or go to the Pinto, more power less expense and loads of after-market go faster goodies, just my opinion.

John.

Good day,
 
I run a warmed over 1600 cross flow in wood chassis #1579.  It has all the power I need and to be honest I think my set up is quicker than most other Marcos.  The car is light and well balanced.  Very quick on the road or track. 
 
 IMHO - any big motor can make you go fast, but what happens at the end of the straight away is more important.  I have driven many four cylinder cars that are much faster than a lot of the ground pounding 8 cylinder cars.
 
The wood chassis cars are so unique choose your modifications wisely.  There is a lot of potential power that can dependably developed in the Kent engine series.
 
Bob M


--- On Fri, 6/4/10, Red Hot <firstredhot1@...> wrote:

From: Red Hot <firstredhot1@...>
Subject: RE: [MarcosManiacs] Bigger Motors in wooden chassis?
To: marcosmaniacs@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, June 4, 2010, 12:14 AM


  




Hi John,
I dont think you are quite correct; there were some V6 Ford powered wooden chassis cars. The wooden chassis was actually more rigid than the steel frame which was always a compromise to get it to fit under the same body.  However I agree with you that the best option for this owner is to use the original engine or a close derivative of it. Even if one could get a larger engine in the gearbox and rear axle would be the weak points.
I raced the 1500 and 1600 wooden chassis cars in Europe from 1969 -75.
Roger




To: MarcosManiacs@ yahoogroups. com
From: jaguar1964@shaw. ca
Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2010 03:39:16 +0000
Subject: [MarcosManiacs] Bigger Motors in wooden chassis?

  


I think we are missing something here, the wooden chassis Marcos will not survive big engine swaps. It was designed for 130-150hp with the small rims. You cannot squeeze a v8 into a wood chassis there is no room, it barely takes the 4 cyl. motors. I've looked at the Ford Duratec, a fantastic motor, it's too tall and wide with nowhere to run headers. I would recommend upgrade your 1600 or go to the Pinto, more power less expense and loads of after-market go faster goodies, just my opinion.

John.






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I agree - as I've said before that a V8 is probably not a good solution, but please have a look at this:

[IMG]http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt94/EcurieEcosse_bucket/MarcosAnniversary/MarcosWoodenMonicaV83.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt94/EcurieEcosse_bucket/MarcosAnniversary/MarcosWoodenMonicaV85.jpg[/IMG]

It's a wooden chassis (and an early one at that) with an OHC V8.  It's not a big block US machine but still.

Pic taken at Prescott in August...

John,
 
You said "I do think the perfect engine would be the Lotus twincam, dry-sumped of course!"
 
...and I do agree with the twin cam.  At one time my car #5179 had a twin cam installed but the Vulcan modified crossflow was substituted before the car was shipped to the States.  
 
I wanted to put in the dry sump system but have been stumped as to the oil tank size and location for the tank.  Things get real complex to install the tank in the trunk.  Have you set up a wooden chassis Marcos with the dry sump system?
 
Bob Magnotti
Blue Ridge VA

--- On Fri, 6/4/10, John Carroll <jaguar1964@...> wrote:

From: John Carroll <jaguar1964@...>
Subject: [MarcosManiacs] Re: Bigger Motors in wooden chassis?
To: MarcosManiacs@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, June 4, 2010, 3:17 PM


  




Hi Roger,
 
I do agree that the wooden chassis has great stiffness, but a V6 is still smaller and lighter then a massive honking V8, I do remember seeing a Modsports V6 at Oulton Park many centuries ago, when he accelerated both his doors opened, traced down to the wooden chassis flexing. I do think the perfect engine would be the Lotus twincam, dry-sumped of course!
Are you still racing?
Regards, John.

Hi John
I agree that most V6 engines are lighter than old style American V8s, but I think the Essex V6 used in the Marcos among others is an exception.  I know for a fact that a traditional small block Ford with normal modern aluminium heads and the T5 gear box weighs LESS than the Essex V6 with its 4+1 gear box as installed in the Marcos of around 1970. Shouldn't be possible but there are people out there actually doubting if the Essex engines are hollow at all, or if they are just massive iron all the way through :-)