This 1951 alloy body Lea Francis Special example, chassis number 8822, initially started life as a saloon. A tuned versions of the ‘14’ engine was fitted to a number of racing and sports cars, notably the first Connaught's. And just like the Connaught this car has the 1767 twin cam motor built mine by ‘Yarrow’, the late Steve O’Rourke’s Le Mans mechanic. Briefly: Twin 1.5-inch with twin SU carburettors. Sports upgraded head skimmed to raise compression to 8.5 to one.(7.25 as standard), Ported and flowed, larger 60 thou inlet valves, hardened seats, new exhaust valves, bronze valve guides. Modern style valve stem seals, 10mm spark plugs not 14mm to allow valve clearance. Lea-Francis double valve springs (sports spec), 7/32 diameter pushrods. Block lined and pistons machined to fit 3mm wide rings. Crank crack tested and balanced and new bearings fitted. Lightened flywheel, now 18lbs from 26lbs. Electronic ignition. Electric water pump, 4-2-1 exhaust manifold. About 5,000 miles since last build. Fitted with a modern oil filter rather than the old piano wire filter. Around 100 bhp and very brisk performance reportedly topping out at around 95/100 mph. Needs nothing doing at all. A great choice for road or classic and vintage Hillclimb's/sprints. VSCC events and UK/Continental rallies. Fabulous road car – sweet to drive, nice gearbox, brakes and steering, engine has plenty of torque as well as top end. Everyone smiles, waves and thumbs up. I even going shopping to Sainsbury’s its great! Included a few useful improvements such as an alternator and a more efficient radiator core, cooling fan.
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Classicmobilia