Ruddspeed head on ebay

[asneddon]

I suppose the head could have been a full port/polish one, in which case it could be worth about £800 if in good condition. If it needed guides/seats and a grind, then probably still worth £500.

The problem is it could just as well have been a simple high compression head with the plate rivited. In that case I would have thought £20 for a buggered one would be fair. Getting a head planed is pretty damn cheap (About NZD20 last time I had one done).

Oh well, happy the guy made some money from it. Hopefully someone is happy with the head they bought.

[amaz'in]

Hi Asneddon,

The guy told me the head wasn't really useable, so I was being uber geeky(read sad #;''23) and bidding for the plate, nuts really, Amazon cars Ltd said the original Ruddspeed Heads were so good they could only make marginal improvements.

But they did make improvements! I popped to see them on Friday to collect some new seat webbing and asked how much it cost's to have a head Gas flowed etc and Emma told me around £400.00, which is actually not quite as much as I thought.

Sure it won't say Ruddspeed on it, but an 1800 head would have been no good for my B20B and even if someone found a useable head, how much would it cost to have it re-polished up, new guides etc on top of the purchase price?


Now what we really want is for someone to find some Alconi heads etc, wonder how much they would be worth? (come on South African members).

Alconi, were still tuning late cars where Rudd's seemed to be mre prominant in the early to mid 60's, I guess we all have the road-test on the 1970 Alconi dyno-tuned B20b? he got 135bhp (sae) using the original cam, but polished and ported, 44mm valves etc.

James

[asneddon]

Interesting that Amazon Cars quoted me £800 for a ported head. Thats the same as Tony Barrett tried to sell me one for.

thats before I knew the head on my car was a Ruddspeed. I dont actually know if mine is ported or not. I can always dream.

[amaz'in]

Hi Asneddon,

I hope I didn't mislead you on costs? my Ammo had a totally re-built engine less than 4000 miles ago by Amazon cars for it's 'then' current owners, an odd thing to do on a genuine two owner car having covered just 72,000 miles.

They owners thought there was a head gasket problem, but it turned out to be a heater valve problem etc, but they 'believed' they were going to keep the car for years so whilst there thought they would have a complete engine re-build.

This was going to cost in the region of £1,600.00-£1,700.00 but as ever with these things added a few things to the list along the way, such as uprated 3 core radiator, Calix engine heater, fast road cam, rear set belts etc.

Their Bill was £ 3,047.00 in the end!, the head was of course prepared for unleaded fuel, and I asked Emma how much more money would it have cost to Gas flow at that point in time to which she said £400.00.

I found it odd they didn't opt for 44mm valves (no extra cost, I believe) but anther few hundered for gas flowing I can understand when a Bill had grown somewhat larger than they originally planned for (of their own doing they admit).

Anyway, glad the Bill wasn't mine but am mighty pleased they had it done all the same.

I will most certainly be keeping this car (my 5th Ammo) for many years, and recently found out it's the second youngest Amazon known in the UK (currently), thank's to Brian on this one.

James