1993 Litton Corse I - Strato's Replica

I used to do autograss. First of all in a mk2 Escort, then a mk1 Fiesta (raced in the 2002 Tenby Nationals) and finally an Astra GTE 16v that I've still got in the shed. Back then was a totally different game to now. Now it's all about the money, but back then it wasn't. You made everything in your shed out of wha ever you could get your hands on. There were a lot of innovative guys out there putting together some cool stuff that wasn't supposed to be together. Even if you could buy it, a lot of people would make it anyway. These bits are probably a result of the latter. A better time in racing I feel.

In fact my Astra with 40's on has 2x36 chokes and 2x32 chokes machined to the same profile as a 36 😊

Made the spare front pulley a bit smaller.

Standard pulley on the other engine



Chop up the spare pulley



And clean it up in the lathe



Next stage make a bracket for the alternator.


I think I may also have figured out the odd timing. The cams sprockets are mounted with 3 bolts and the are symmetrical so you can mount the sprocket in 3 different places. Each position changes the timing by about a 3rd of a tooth so you can by careful selection of pulley position and mounting position advance or retard the cams accordingly.

I also measured up the lift on the stock cams for comparison with the race cams - the race cams have 15% more lift.

This Honda engine is constantly bringing up little surprises - The cam runs in the head and an upper carrier which is made of two parts - the upper part is a cast alloy spray bar with nozzles on each cam lobe - At the end of row of nozzles there is a final nozzle that points up at the underside of the cam box. This nozzle I surmise, is to ensure that the end of the spray bar is always clear and not the last cam lobe nozzle.

The tiny little push rods that operate the exhaust valves are are all hollow - The Exhausts also have adjustment on the rockers that actuate the valves and I suspect this is adjust for wear in the exhaust valve train that would not be catered for by the hydraulic tappet.

It will be interesting to see what this old exec saloon lump is capable of.

It used to be.

The engine history recap

Engine 1.

Came with the car - a low mileage stock Rover 827 (Honda C27A) engine and manual PG2 gearbox - However it also came with:

Lightweight flyweel
Full stainless Custom exhaust
Remote oil filter assembly
Large oil cooler.

Engine 2.

Part of a deal with the sale of the old bodywork - another low mileage Rover 827 (Honda C27A) engine and manual PG2 box

Just kept the box - engine had suffered water ingress during storage and internal water passage corrosion due to being left a long while - Has donated its sump, front pulley and cam covers and provided quite a few other spares.

Engine 3.

Autograss racing car - (Honda C27A2) probably from an 827 as it does not have "H" cam boxes

Rebuilt with virtually brand new bottom end
Kent race cams KC D88 316 Duration
Solid lifters
Bespoke manifold for triple IDF's
3 x 40 IDF webers
Large bore exhaust manifolds for longitudinal mounting configuration.
Large capacity sump.


Its an odd ball engine that I appear to keep falling across really odd ball tuning parts for - This particular Litton Corse is an odd ball with an even stranger history - As far as I am concerned wrapping these engine combinations into this chassis and body combinations makes it a match made in Papaya heaven.

Thanks for the update. I'd remembered the grass tracker engine but forgotten about the other two!

Too warm out there at present so time to come in into the shade for a bit.

I took the floor off today as it needs to be replaced due to corrosion and me also not liking alloy covered in underseal - Bloody hell my old DeWalt cordless is feakishly heavy, and I think its telling me it needs to brushes - old school. A couple of 4mm drill bits and a couple of regrinds and the multitude of rivets were released and the floor was off.

Vac'd out all of the debris and gave the flanges a once over with the grinder and it all looks pretty sound.







Another unfinished weld that would let water into the car





Typically when you rivet the floor panel onto cars like this you do so with a bead of sealer to act as a sealant and also to effectively stick the floor to the car for additional mechanical strength and to act as a barrier between the steel and the alloy - No sealer here - but the inside of the box sections do have some wax oil on them - rather pointlessly.

The steel panels above that are in the drives seating area I have wondered about if they were factory or builder additions, it was confirmed today that they are builder as they are fitted all sorts of incorrectly which became apparent when the floors were off.

They are 2mm steel and weight over 3KG - the floor is 1.5mm alloy and weighs under 6KG so for the same weight - We can fit a 2mm floor panel and add a 2mm alloy (4mm overall) reinforcement to both passenger and driver seat area's.

I am also not a fan of how the rivets have been done so many of the holes will be welded up. The central single row of rivets for example should really be a double row on the outer edges of that channel - and likewise at the front where we have a 2" box section that will also be a double offset row.









A bit earlier in the day I had also spent some time taking inventory of all of the storage boxes to try and log where to find things going forward.

I have a brief look online and I can get 2mm alloy sheet with one face anodised for better corrosion resistance on the underside - Hmmmm question is Black, Gold or Silver? - Same place I found also does equal angle anodised as well which is another item I need. I suspect it will be black anodised with black anodised rivets sealed on with black PU all done at night under a new moon!

Been spending the monthly Sky subscription saving.

A couple of 9" rad fans - There are actually 3 in the box as I also bought a 7" fan as well for the G15 rad so I have a couple of rad fan mounting projects to do.

And a couple of smallish UJ's for the gear shift linkage - Cables are still an option.





If the weekend is kind weather wise then there will be more welding on the chassis and maybe some first stages of paint. If any of the days are less than good then it will be onto the jobs that can be done in the garage or onto the G27 project or the flowbench work.

I have also had a TVR Tasmin project dangled in front of me but I am hoping that in stepping back for a couple of weeks it will be gone and that temptation will be removed.

Sounds like destiny calling....