Speed 12 project

[Pow!]

Is that an original body or a "chopped" one or a remake?

[G1ABB]

Pow! said:

Is that an original body or a "chopped" one or a remake?

all original 100%.

Graham

[Gazzab]

oooh - come on, moer information.
Where did you source parts?
How long will it take you.
What are the chances of a S12 engine? What is your fall back engine option?
Whats it going to cost to do (ie to compare to the red one for sale)?
Will it fit in my garage!?

[G1ABB]

Gazzab said:

oooh - come on, moer information.
Where did you source parts?
How long will it take you.
What are the chances of a S12 engine? What is your fall back engine option?
Whats it going to cost to do (ie to compare to the red one for sale)?
Will it fit in my garage!?

Good questions, but I am only willing to answer one of them for now. Lets say one year to complete, maybe a bit less.

[sidewayz]

HPRulz said:

well I know I made 6 pairs of heads and John Ravenscroft blew up 2 lefthand ones

love it.

Good luck Graham, great project.

[tvrtuscans]

Graham, do you have Richard Thorpe's email......I have a 'little' project I am thinking of undertaking.

Tks Tony

PS awesome project by the way

[Gazzab]

Could mr melling design and build a s12 engine for you? Good for him and you!?

[HRG]

Gazzab said:

Could mr melling design and build a s12 engine for you? Good for him and you!?

He did enough damage to TVR with a mere six cylinders, imagine the carnage he could cause with twelve...

[rigga]

HPRulz said:

well I know I made 6 pairs of heads and John Ravenscroft blew up 2 lefthand ones

Interested to know what the story is behind that? why the left hand ones?

[HPRulz]

well if memory serves me correctly the left would have been the non standard bank, one bank was a standard speed 6 head the other was created by cutting the ends off of a standard speed 6 and welding them back on the other end. This was only possible at the time because the early speed 6 heads did not have the integral "Hockey stick" cast in oil drain so having inverted the modified bank the oil drain was drilled through then the drain tube was welded on externally on the opposite side to standard. The fabricated head was then run upside down on the fixtures thus reversing inlet and exhaust orientations. As this was the case it is doubtful you could perform the same trick with 2 current speed 6 heads. As the company that machined all the speed 6 engines is no longer trading you would be hard pushed to recreate what we did. Also back in the dawn of time there was going to be a 12 cylinder version of the AJP8 (designed by Al) but as I recall only the cam covers ever saw the light of day.

[eliot]

I saw and heard this thing at goodwood a few years ago. Even the F1 boys looked round wondering what was so noisy:
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/Very-very-fast-...

[Gazzab]

HPRulz said:

As the company that machined all the speed 6 engines is no longer trading you would be hard pushed to recreate what we did.

Hi - I notice you mention this elsewhere. Was this co still supplying parts to engine builders eg power, RG etc..? Will this impact owners?

[grahamw48]

eliot said:

I saw and heard this thing at goodwood a few years ago. Even the F1 boys looked round wondering what was so noisy:
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/Very-very-fast-...

Wow...sounds fantastic, and would be even better in a car.

Also demonstrates the foolhardiness of underestimating the driving abilities of an old bloke in a baseball cap...albeit a rather legendary one.

[andybloggs260@ho]

recovered a guy back to his home few weeks ago. he lived facing bristol ave he was telling me all the stories of the sp12 one night early hours around 3am he was woken by howling !!! looking out he saw what apeared to be 3 sp12's screaming round followed by a 4th quieter one ??? maybe a ajp engined variant of a roling test bed. 1 was dark red 1 a white one the main 1 was the all race decaled racer then the quieter dark blue maybe black he watched with little interest as tvrs to him were more common than fiestas at the time !!! then he bought a griff and how he changed

[HPRulz]

Gazzab said:

HPRulz said:

As the company that machined all the speed 6 engines is no longer trading you would be hard pushed to recreate what we did.

Hi - I notice you mention this elsewhere. Was this co still supplying parts to engine builders eg power, RG etc..? Will this impact owners?

Doubt it will impact present owners much because if you were buying parts in any quantity the firm producing them would have still been trading

[Slow M]

G1ABB said:

...if your interested I'll post something up at key stages.

Are you up to posting something yet?
Have you made decent progress?
B.

[the jollyrodger]

would be great to see some more pictures and see how the car is coming along. what colour do you intend painting it?

[V8 GRF]

NOt wanting to steal Graham's thunder but although work has started it's a long way from needing to decide what teh paint is going to be, although I know there have been discussions. I have pics that I've taken on Grahams behalf but I'll only post them if he gives the OK.

[G1ABB]

V8 GRF said:

NOt wanting to steal Graham's thunder but although work has started it's a long way from needing to decide what teh paint is going to be, although I know there have been discussions. I have pics that I've taken on Grahams behalf but I'll only post them if he gives the OK.

It is very early days and I wouldn't want to put the boys up for scrutiny at this early stage by showing pictures yet. All that is happening at the moment is a very basic dry build in preperation for fitting the engine and gearbox, before the engine goes away for further modification... the details of which may or may not be divulged at a later date. However it is V12!

Pictures will be posted in due cause. Ash's experience is also persuading me to keep stum for now!

[Gazzab]

good luck mate ! Cant wait to see more. Hope the (mercedes) V12 is working out well and you get enough power to do the car justice.