Alta cylinder head

[blethermaskite]

Hi all,
I am just about ready to install my refurbished Alta cylinder head to my newly rebuilt 918cc Morris engine, so of course info on these heads is now as rare as the heads, I am casting a wide net on getting some install detail, if anyone can help me I will be extremely grateful...so (1) does anyone know what the valve/tappet settings should be? (2) cylinder head nut torque figure? (3) ignition timing?
Hope some one may know this stuff, Cheers, George

[philthehill]

Rob Thomas is the man you need to get hold of - he is the Alta head expert. Send him a PM.
viewtopic.php?t=66470&start=120

[blethermaskite]

Thanks for that, I appreciate your reply, I have been in touch with Rob a couple of times and got lots of helpful info from him, but he is really hard to get (a genuinely very busy guy) so I am just asking of anyone else on here who may have data to help me. I have been building and tuning classic car and bike engines for nearly 50 years and its not an insurmountable problem to go with educated guess's on assembly figures however others have been there before me..........Cheers, George

[philthehill]

Did you not get any follow up replies from your requests for information posts on the Morris Minor Forum?
By the way I do like the car featuring in your signature photo. Some details of the car please.
Phil

[blethermaskite]

Phil,
So the reason I am ' here' and on the 'modified minors' forum is my 'Alta head' saga, I have been on the hunt for an Alta for nearly 25 years and whilst I have nearly got one a couple of times over this period I always got pipped at the post, so I managed to get one about six months ago (at last) To be clear I don't own a Morris minor (I used to for about 7 years 30 years ago),
I own the little car you refer to which is a 1934 Morris eight special running a highly tuned 918cc sidevalve engine, hence my association with the MM minor, over the time of my extended search for an Alta I realized the best place to look was in the Morris minor world where of course the head was aimed at in the first place, I have just about finished the build of a late Morris eight series E engine the same engine that first went into the MM which was so slow it certainly needed the Alta to take advantage of how good the MM actually was. My Alta head is going on that engine hopefully in the next few weeks and I am excited to see just what it will do for the 'specials' performance.
I built the 'special' initially 25 years ago, but the old story of having kids and moving houses and work commitments all got in the way of finishing the job......but I eventually got it on the road about 6 years ago and it has been the most 'fun' car I have ever owned, plus of course it is totally unique, only issue with the car is its a bit slow, not on top speed but re acceleration, again hence the Alta head coupled with twin Amal motorcycle carbs, four branch exhaust, fully balanced and weight matched crank and rods/pistons and a lightened flywheel. (if it doesn't accelerate better with that lot it should at least make a hell of a bang when it blows up!!!).......have posted a few pictures for you, thanks for your interest. Cheers, George

[philthehill]

George
Many thanks for the information regarding your Morris 8 Special and very nice too.
Many years ago I was part owner of a Morris 8 special.
It had a boxed chassis, tuned engine, twin SU carbs, multibranch exhaust which finished in two BSA Gold Star silencers.
It was clothed in a galvanised steel body similar to a AC. I started to build a new body for it which was to be very similar to yours but then lost my storage and with one thing and another I parted with the car. Looking back I wish I had kept the car but hey ho we are where we are.
A well known Morris 8 based special was owned by Ashley Cleeve & which was originally fitted supercharged SV engine and then later with a early MG engine and had very impressive performance.
https://www.triple-mregister.org/forums ... C_ID=13540
Here is a Morris 8 Special which is currently up for sale and which if I had the room and money I would purchase.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/285545445486 ... 0667.m2042
Phil

[blethermaskite]

Phil, Thanks for your kind words and thanks for the links...... I was aware of the Ashley Cleive special and if I had not got the Alta head I was going to try supercharging the 918. Yes that M8 special up for sale is very pretty, but to my (biased) critical eye the body structure is too high and gives me (the impression) that the overall centre of gravity is also too high to make the car a good driver, however the build quality is very good with lots of 'nice bits', I for one would be scared to 'dirty it', I wonder how well it actually goes? Cheers George

[moggiethouable]

I wondered if these guys may be able to help ?
https://www.calverst.com/

[blethermaskite]

Thanks for that, certainly worth a call....."you just never know what people know".
Cheers,
George

[Blaketon]

Phil,
So the reason I am ' here' and on the 'modified minors' forum is my 'Alta head' saga, I have been on the hunt for an Alta for nearly 25 years and whilst I have nearly got one a couple of times over this period I always got pipped at the post, so I managed to get one about six months ago (at last) To be clear I don't own a Morris minor (I used to for about 7 years 30 years ago),
I own the little car you refer to which is a 1934 Morris eight special running a highly tuned 918cc sidevalve engine, hence my association with the MM minor, over the time of my extended search for an Alta I realized the best place to look was in the Morris minor world where of course the head was aimed at in the first place, I have just about finished the build of a late Morris eight series E engine the same engine that first went into the MM which was so slow it certainly needed the Alta to take advantage of how good the MM actually was. My Alta head is going on that engine hopefully in the next few weeks and I am excited to see just what it will do for the 'specials' performance.
I built the 'special' initially 25 years ago, but the old story of having kids and moving houses and work commitments all got in the way of finishing the job......but I eventually got it on the road about 6 years ago and it has been the most 'fun' car I have ever owned, plus of course it is totally unique, only issue with the car is its a bit slow, not on top speed but re acceleration, again hence the Alta head coupled with twin Amal motorcycle carbs, four branch exhaust, fully balanced and weight matched crank and rods/pistons and a lightened flywheel. (if it doesn't accelerate better with that lot it should at least make a hell of a bang when it blows up!!!).......have posted a few pictures for you, thanks for your interest. Cheers, George

That is nice!! I know there was a well known Morris Special driven by Ashley Cleeve (It was for sale a few years back). Ofcourse Nuffield did their own OHV head, for the Wolseley 8 and you have to wonder why that wasn't used in the Minor. Cost I suppose.

[blethermaskite]

When I was first building the M8 special I tried without success to acquire a Wolseley 8 engine.......not sure how well it would have responded to a bit of 'tweaking for speed' but it certainly would have been a h*ll of a lot cheaper than the Alta job
Cheers, George

[philthehill]

My father had a Wolseley 8 and it was the car I learnt to drive on. It was not a slow car and when my father was not about used to drift and hang the back out on the gravel surfaced back drive of the private estate I lived on at the time. Happy days.