Cosworth Vega 2L [Circa 1970]F2 engines

Has any person on this forum any info on these engines.....

One was installed in a Martin F2/FAt chassis and was hillclimbed & sprinted very successfully winning the Scottish Hillclimb Championship just a handful of years ago.

I'll contact one of the cars previous owners and ask about the engine.

I could be sending you in the wrong direction here so best to check if anyone else agrees with me but I think these engines were later than 1970

They were widely used in the UK by the rallycross fraternity who were looking for more power than the BDG - the Vega head, I think might have even fitted the same block

As I said treat all this with caution - may be worth posting something on the rallycroos board - if there is one - someone on there might know

Were these the ones with the early lining of some sort that weren't very successful as the lining had a poor life - maybe like the Nikasil of BMW V8's in the early nineties - allegedly - this relates back to the Reynolds involvement with Can-Am McLarens perhaps too - of course this may be all total rubbish....

Chevrolet Vega:

1972, Type EAA, 1995cc, 275bhp. Based on USA Chevrolet Vega light-alloy cylinder block. 16-valve, belt driven, double overhead camshafts. Designed for F2 and sports cars but only really adopted by the sports car guys. Let down at first by a lack of cylinder block strength.

Later productionized producing 122bhp, built by Chevrolet for use in the Chevrolet Cosworth Vega of mid-1970s.

Source: Cosworth, The Search for Power, by Graham Robson.

My old F2 ran a Vega in 1973 and I looked at putting one back into the car. There are not many about (that I know of) and BDA/G power is in my opinion a better route.

You are exactly right about this block being a direct discendent of the Reynolds Can-Am block. The blocks were made with an alloy that had a high percentage of silicone in them, then a chemical process was used to remove the aluminum in the bores which left the silicone exposed. The process was very inovative at the time, the down side being that once the cylinder was worn/tapered etc. it was a very expensive (almost impossible) job to restore it. A normal hone or bore job would remove both the aluminum and the silicone, almost no one in the field had the ability to re-etch the aluminum only. This wasn't a problem with the race only engines but for a street vehicle it meant an engine that was virtually un repairable in the "real world" (field).
A great number of these engines were rebuilt by putting steel sleeves in them. It really was a shame because the cylinder head (the part designed by Cosworth) was a beautiful piece. I am pretty sure that I still have a shop manual on these somewhere in my archives(a rather glamorous term for a basement crammed full of treasure/junk.)

One only as far as I know over here , purchased and installed in the delightfull Barry Lock constructed Kaditcha 2.0 litre sports racing car now undergoing rebuild with the assistance of Barry [ ex McLaren ] by Terry Simms in Sydney , he has the Vega engine which will be re-installed, the car having been fitted with all sorts of nasty rotary things.

Bryan.

John Nicholson ran a Vega engined March in 1976/7 [??] with a fair amount of help from the legendary Vince Piggins ...... the Cosworth Vega was a disaster mainly because of the strict smog which strangled it !

It was 1976, in a Group 8 March 752.

From Jerry Sturman who ran the Chevvy Vega in the Martin BM16 for sprints and hillclimbs:

The engine was a 1995cc Cosworth EAA, a 16 valve twincam unit based on the Chevrolet Vega magnesium alloy block - known as the 'Cosworth stumbling block' ! Designed for F2 and sports car racing, it only did one sports car race and was never used in F2. Tommy Reid, however, won the Northern Ireland Hillclimb Championship using one in a Brabham in 1972 or 1973.

Our engine, and the Martin BM16, which was originally built for Richard Brown in 1977, came from Tony Brown (not the Mallock driver, but a director of Spirax Sarco in Cheltenham) who had shared it with Alan Cox. Don't know who built it originally, but we had it rebuilt by Ken Snailham at QED, who dynoed it at about 268bhp from what I remember. The problem with the engine was that the blocks used to crack - even on the dyno - although we never had this problem. The main problems we had were due to an occasional misfire (almost certainly to do with the Lucas Opus - commonly known as Lucas 'opeless!) ignition system. After Clive Harris bought it from us, Ray Rowan put it back on to contact breakers, I think. Dave Robertson in Scotland had it next, and then of course Stuart Robb, who won the Scottish Sprint Championship in it. Co-incidentally, it's now in the hands of a guy in Newington who is in the process of rebuilding the whole thing.

Tommy Reid still has his` in a BT38 he has had from new.

How does this engine relate to the Derek Lawrence 1978 F3 motor ? He used that without any success in a Chevron B38.

I've always believed that Guy Edwards used an 'EA' in his Group 6 Lola at the Silverstone Martini event in '72 (that very, very rainy event where Arturo Mezario won and I got my feet wet up to my armpits).

Any more detailed info on the use of this engine in F2 or 2 litre sports cars? It may be a viable engine for vintage races as it should be quite a bit cheaper to build than a BDG. Anyone have dimensions?

I have a workshop manual (a proper GM one) for a Vega/Monza as I built a Spyder V8 for racing (bit of a disaster and bit the dust at Lydenn but thats another story). Anyhow there may cover the engine in there as I have definitely info somewhere on the thing, I will dig it out and have a look if you like.

Thanks, Al. I would be most interested in the overall dimensions of the engine.

Thanks, Al. I would be most interested in the overall dimensions of the engine.

Charles, I sent you a PM

Jim Keller