FHC resto nr. 88; A new heart: or a change of plans!

When a car’s restoration takes as long as this one, there is a very high risk that plans change as time progresses. And in this case it is the plans for the engine that have changed significantly over the past few weeks. Initial plan was to use one of my top spare parts; a brand new Sprint head still in the box.

This would be either used to crown one of my best spare engines, a rebuilt Dolomite Sprint engine (VA prefix, Mahle pistons and honing marks still visible):

Or I’d use one off the more worn engines in the shed and have it re-bored to fit these oversize JP pistons ...

Then there was the offer from a friend who was willing to donate one of his RV8 engine’s … mmm …tempting. But then that same friend pointed me to an advert on the internet (Marktplaats.nl) for a second hand Sprint head that needed a bit of work. But I clicked the wrong advert and found some other items from the same seller. Including a brand new Sprint short engine fitted with Mahle pistons and an also NOS Sprint head (still in the box). A few emails and phone calls later a deal was struck. As a result of which I am now the proud owner of these parts. These items didn’t come cheap, but it might in the end be more cost effective than to rebuilt one of my spare engines. Time will tell! Biggest advantage for me is that I can now build up the engine when I want to, and without the need of specialist help. Because this would add at least 6 to 8 months to my time schedule (yes good quality engine builders are busy these days!).

And this afternoon (with a pair of hired hands) the pieces where dropped off at the shed. Time for a little photo shoot. First some overview pictures of the engine itself.

And a few details, to start with the engine’s number. As you can see it reads VA3437ESS, which confirms it is for a Dolomite Sprint. But so far I haven’t seen the “ESS” suffix on an engine. But according to some input from Belgium 😉 and a quick search on the internet, ESS probably stands for Exchange Supplied Spare or Exchange Service Spare?

But probably the best thing is that the engine is fitted with brand new Mahle pistons, all with F-tolerance mark. And this corresponds with the markings on the engine’s block!

And a few pictures of the head. As you can see there is a little bit of (what turned out very light) surface rust on a few parts. So that will get a proper oil soaking and clean before it is fitted to the engine!

The sale also included a new distributor set consisting of all three sprockets, proper quality distributor chain, original chain tensioner (in the small box) and original chain guides.

But this new addition brings its own disadvantages, or should I say challenges? As I now have one brand new “surplus” Sprint head. So it might well be that all my three TR7’s will get Sprint power in the end 😏. On the other hand that could mean that the original TR7 PI system I have lying around could become surplus somewhere in the future … choices indeed!