Alexander manifold help

[Angrydicky]

I haven't a clue what it fits, but it's a thing of beauty!

[CreepingJesus]

Hope somebody finds an answer for this, the suspense is killing me.

 

Don't think it was asked on FB either, but what did your dad buy it to fit, or was told it was for? Just out of interest.

[Ronnie L]

Just doing a bit of lateral thinking here. Reading Barrett's thread about his Austin 7 Special, could it be one of the aftermarket kits offered for an A7? They were very popular in motorsport of the time, and often got turned into specials, as we can see.

I had thought about the Austin 7 engine as a possibility for this carb / manifold kit. The tiny Austin engine would be about the right size for this manifold. However it would need to have been fitted with some sort of aftermarket OHV cylinder head for this to fit (Austin 7 engines, like many other side-valves was a 2 inlet port design, with the ports cast into the cylinder block). The little 747cc engine was used extensively in motor sport and indeed still is by members of the 750 Motor Club, and many tuning kits were made for it over the years.

[doobietoo]

Getting into detective mode having failed to find it, firstly there is only one bolt hole in the centre so i am guessing its not a crossflow engine as  there must be an exhaust other half to the manifold face with bolts and washers.... holding them both on like on the a series.  It is also not the normal 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 inlets but 1 and 4 in one branch and 2 and 3 in the other. I am sure there is a reason for this, different firing order maybe but not really sure.  Thats as far as i have got.  

[CreepingJesus]

Works for a 1-3-4-2 firing order. That way, only one runner per pair is in depletion. Good point about the bolt arrangement though: something about it just looks non-crossflow.

[Inspector Morose]

I'm wondering if it's for one of their own heads they made.

[jonny69]

Works for a 1-3-4-2 firing order. That way, only one runner per pair is in depletion. Good point about the bolt arrangement though: something about it just looks non-crossflow.

 

Works for a 1-2-4-3 (Ford) firing order too. I think those are the only two firing orders you can have on a flat plane 4-cylinder crank. It's too small to be any of the old Ford OHV head conversions though. Looks like Austin 7 has a bore spacing of about 66mm, so my money is probably on that.

 

Looks like there's half of one here: http://mk1-forum.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7490

[colnerov]

 Hi, those are 1950s H type SU carbs and it's an aftermarket manifold. I would say as most of the suggested engines that it can't or doesn't fit have their origins from the 50s then I would say it's for an earlier engine. Nearly all 1940s post war cars were based on pre war mechanicals, so I think we need to look at 1930s engines. Another reason is the positions of the carbs may be down to engine bay physical constrainsts, which again suggests 30s or 40s. As Alexander also did OHV head conversions it could be for one of them.

 

 Thats as far as I got, then my brain hurt, because my knowledge of 1930s cars is almost non existent.

 

 Colin

[Guest Deb]

Thank you for everyone's responses - I have passed these onto my dad who is looking into it a bit more.

CreepingJesus, he bought it at a car show simply because he thought it looked beautiful.... I'll never understand you men!   I don't think the guy he bought it off really knew either. My dad sat having a drink and people kept coming over to have a look at it and he kept telling them that if anyone could tell him what it was for, he would buy them a drink.... No-one could though.

After all the information we have gathered, he is plumping towards Triumph.... 

[Junkman]

I think it's for a Holbay 1725.

 

[MrDuke]

he bought it at a car show simply because he thought it looked beautiful....

 

You have shoes, we have car parts...

[doobietoo]

I think it's for a Holbay 1725.

 

 

Good call but the bolt hole is in the wrong position

[seth]

After all the information we have gathered, he is plumping towards Triumph.... 

 

Why is that? I can't find any Triumph engine that had that port layout.

 

Junkman, I don't think anyone would take the twin Webers off a Holbay 1725 (circa mid sixties) and put this pair of ancient 1950s SUs on.  Apart from that bolt hole being in the 'wrong' place I have just been outside to eye up my ally headed engine with a ruler.  The overall length between the outer port centres is approximately that shown on the drawing Deb posted in her original query but I can't really tell the inner port spacings.  I've already been to look in the shed for a spare manifold gasket but I don't have one.  I don't know if the earliest Rootes alloy heads had that bolt in a different place but I suspect not.

 

Ooh, just found this photo of an Alexander manifold for a Rootes iron head which is also cool.

 

 

My money is on it being a special to suit an ohv head conversion though why you'd go to all that trouble and not make it a crossflow I'm not sure.  Carb positioning does seem to imply some space limitations though.

[Albert Ross]

Perhaps to clear a Macpherson strut/inner wing intrusion.

[MrDuke]

I'm not too familiar with the company, but is it possible that they'd have made a one-off, if the customer was paying enough? In which case there are way too many variables to consider, including a similarly unique and maybe home-made 'special' body, or even a hybrid engine.

[forddeliveryboy]

I found a forum page with a guy who'd worked there in the 60s, the net went down last night and I lost it... will try and refind.

[forddeliveryboy]

Ok, found this one - http://haddenhamplus.forumchitchat.com/post/alexander-engineering-5034470- from last night and this one too. http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2456999

 

I'm itching to know a bit more about the engine this fitted.

[jonny69]

This guy seems to know quite a bit about Alexander products (and quite a few other tuning companies): http://mk1-performance-conversions.co.uk/alexander_eng.htm

 

There's an email link at the top.

[Guest Deb]

Hello,

It's been a while guys.... and no, we still don't know what it's for! 

I have contacted classic car magazines, posted on facebook pages, e-mailed a few people.... (Jonny69, thank you for your recommendation - unfortunately the chap is none the wiser either). 

 

Now I'm going to try and get in touch with Bernard via the links that Forddeliveryboy has given us.... then I'm off to look at pretty shoes!