LCGB Forums

What 185 top end would you recommend for a small block?
I don't want to buy the £70 kits off eBay and I haven't got the money for the gt kits
What I'm looking to buy is something in between that is a good reliable head and barrel kit with good clean transfere posts etc
Cheers

Most of the decent 185-200 small block kits are between £400-£550 plus the extras you may need to fit , you may be better looking for a second hand one or try
getting your esxisting set up ie 150 tuned and ported by a reputable dealer .

Agree there, you're looking at decent money for most upgrades from a 150, unless you go for a half decent 175 thats been sorted properly, or the other alternatives a suzuki conversion second hand, you should pick one up for less than £100 if you can find one.

Harry Barlow usually has some sorted sub 200 kits at Wicksteed for decent money, Suzuki etc. He's worth having a chat with.
info@pro-porting.com
0116 2871285

There are some 185 Alloy kits that some dealers are re working to make them usable. I think Buzz Solomoto does this. A few people have had good results from them.

Rich'

Isn't one of the problems with the cheap 175/185 alloy barrels with iron liner that the liner itself is soft, and wears fairly quickly?

Steve J wrote:Isn't one of the problems with the cheap 175/185 alloy barrels with iron liner that the liner itself is soft, and wears fairly quickly?

Yes, but in my experience it also depends on the rings. I had one set of rings which were totally destructive to an SR barrel whereas a Racetour piston and rings were relatively OK

there was a massive thread on the old forum about the 'SR' kits and how they can be made to work..

however you will need to be handy with the dremel or pay someone who is handy, I run one on my TV175 and it works very well (touch wood!!)..

alternatively just get an iron barrel bored, ports opened and use a clubman and 22+mm carb, it will give a reasonable boost to performance at a moderate cost..

On a tight budget I'd agree with Lofty. Get the original barrel bored to 175 with ports matched to manifolds and use a quality clubman and a sorted 22mm Jetex.

Paul

Get your casings sorted to take the 200 stud configuration (costs £150 ?) then use a stage four 200 barrel and piston (£100 ?).

Thanks for all your help and advise.
I have now bought a very good second hand imola 186 kit

just following mickyork,s comment about casings,the old forums had some good threads on this,recall there was a good video clip aswell.anyone got any recommendations for the work.
cheers

There you go. Oiltek, based in South Yorkshire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3EmdUUFpzc

nice one mick