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Big head saves money

5th September 1975
Page 47
Page 48
Page 47, 5th September 1975 — Big head saves money
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Improved fuel economy and performance frc modified cylind head for Bedfol CF

by Tim Hoare SINCE February owners of petrol-engined Bedford CF light vans and trucks have been able to fit, on an exchange basis, a modified cylinder head which is claimed to provide worthwhile improvements in fuel consumption together with a slight increase in power.

The head is available through 23 Vauxhall Sport Dealers and costs £49.40 excluding fitting charge. It has been developed by Bill Blydenstein from the experience he has gained tuning single-overhead-cam Vauxhall engines (as fitted to the CF) for road and racing.

The modifications are very few, consisting of the fitting of larger "stage 3" exhaust valves and careful flowing of the exhaust ports. For vehicles fitted with the 2279 cc engine in place of the 1,759cc en1 there is also a hotter-ope thermostat.

We have just completed consumption and perform; tests with a 22cwt CF w was fitted first with the Bly stein economy head and with the standard head. vehicle is fitted with 2279cc engine and is c ated as a parts delivery by Mamos (Greenford) Ltc the Vauxhall main deafer the area. Mamos also car out the conversion work us.

The vehicle had covered over 26,000 miles at the ginning of the two-part and was loaded on each o sion with an identical 8] (16cwt) load. On each o sion the vehicle was take] MIRA where steady speed sumptions were recorded with a Petrometa fuel measuring device. Acceleration times through the gears were also recorded and the vehicle was then taken over a test route selected to provide both motorway and A-class road running.

As can be seen from the accompanying table of test results the vehicle showed a consistent improvement at steady speeds when fitted with the modified head. By the time 96 km/h (60mph) had been reached an improvement of 15 per cent had been achieved.

Consumption improvements on the road were not so dramatic with an improvement of 7.8 per cent being recorded for the A-class road section of the test route and 6.5 per cent for the M-way section.

Impressive

Although an increase in power output is not the main object of the modified cylinder head Blydenstein does reckon that power on the 2279cc engine is increased by about 3.7 kW (5bhp). The acceleration figures that we took would certainly seem to bear this out. What was more impressive, however, was the increase in torque at low engine speeds. With the modified head it was possible to pull away in top from about 16km/h (10mph) with no trouble at all — a feat not possible with the standard head. As would be expected top speed remained the same, 118.4km/h (74mph), with or without the modified cylinder head.

1 would consider the cylinder head to be worthwhile for operators covering high mileages, some proportion of which involves motorway cruising. Perhaps the most sensible way of obtaining and fitting an economy head is to do so when the vehicle's engine requires a top-end overhaul.

Provided the old cylinder head is in reasonable condition and does not need oversize valve stems, the deposit of E30 required by the dealer will be refunded.

Further details may be obtained from DTV Sport headquarters, 18 Lower Cherwell Street, Banbury, 0X16 8DS.

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