David

In the past i've had all types of twin carbs go out of sink. And nomaly is'nt a fault in the carbs them self. Something has to be worping or shifting. In the dcoe webber and dhla delloroto with gravity working on it even when at rest seem to be the biggest problem. The rubber gaskets behind them tend to compress and deform. But the two gaskets never deform at the same rate. regardless how even you do the mountings up. The heavier and deeper the aircleaners you mount off these carbs will also increase the rate these rubber gaskets deform. If you look at the last of the factory hillman hunter twin dcoe setup it has all the answers. There is a brace off the block to the trumpet face, taking away some of the leaverage action when the motor is shacking around. also getting rid of those thick rubber gaskets and putting a thin gasket in it's place to prevent gasket deformation. Some people get a bit upset about the idea not using those thick rubber gaskets. As they are intended to prevent fuel shuffel in the fuel bowl. and I agree in a single carb setup they are the best thing. But seem to make more problems than fixes in twin carbs. Also a brace across the trumpet face of the two carbs is a good way of stopping them twisting in differnt directions.

I've milled the hunter alloy head down so far before. It starts chewing into the side cover mounting area with no problems of head gasket blowing. The 1725 alloy head is very bad at stepping on the deck surface. As it's cooling design is a bit slap dash and has uneven operating temps across the deck. A non-circular fire ring in the head gasket also makes the fire ring very weak. Blowing into the kidney shaped water jacket is nearly always the course of head gasket failure. One easy way around this problem. If you have some spare motors lying around, just nick all the head studs, nuts and woshers out of them and throw away all the stretch head bolts. you may need 4x motors to collect these all up, as most 1725's only have 2 or 3, and generly only put in where a heater hose clamp is required. you will also note these studs will need to be trimmed down to fit under the rocker gear assembly. ( these studs are very hard and you will have a good work out cutting five of them by hacksaw ) Dont use a grinder or anything that may heat the stud when cutting it as it will retemper the steel and lose it's high tensile properties. I've also in the past put a lock nut on top of all the studs to prevent the head nut from creeping undone. If my memory serves me well, most "ae500" head gaskets on the market do need to be retorqed after a short run in time. so waiting till after this time to put a lock nut on would make sense.

Yea the cams are different and not compatable. the inlet and exhorst lobs are in a different sequence.

There is plenty to up the power output of the motor. fitting some twin strombers, kelford f12 under cut cam grind and lightened flywheel will double the tractable power and not be too hard on the drive line. This is as far as you can go with out coprimizing reliability with an older motor. Think cam grind was about $120, lightened flywheel $50 and twin carbs on manifold $50 At this point the lowering blocks will be a curse as the rear leaf springs will coil and make the rear axle tramp under acceleration. and need to be driven with a light foot or anti tramp rods put in. (If the car isn't lowered then this isn't a problem) My motor has been taken way past this point and it's a mish to keep the drive line in order and stop breaking things. Turns into a hobby just keeping it on the road. but a lot of fun to drive.

As for the front end I shortened the struts by removing the shock out of the tube and cutting 2" out of the tube below the spring base and welding it back together and fitted a toyota gas insert back in the tube (these tubes are a standard diameter so plenty different hight shocks are avaliable). and did'nt change the springs. The front sway bar may bind the front end up when lowered by 60mm making a very solid ride. I machined the rod between the sway bar eye and swing arm down to bring the sway bar back the normal angle. Also putting twin sway bars in the front when lowered, prevents the large bodyroll that didn't matter a full ride hight. also cuts down on nose dive when braking. doing the front end well transforms the car's ride will make it feel like it's running rails but the 2.5deg camber after lowering will do that and kill tires.

Hi just new to this oldschool link. and had a look threw your messages. Ive been playing with hunter's for years and noted your having problems with the back end just like every one else do'es. I use a MK2 escort sport assembly and replaced the metric studs with Mk1 escort 7/16" studs to keep the 4x108 and 7/16"RH stud pattern. These back ends are a lot easyer to pull apart than the rootes assembly and a lot more gear ratio's avaliable. There is a bit of fun fitting it. a custom handbrake cable needs made and cut some spring mounting points off a rootes housing and welding them to the escort housing. the Mk2 also has a sway bar in the rear that can be mounted to the hillman under body. This also makes the back end norrower. by about 2". this lets me fit 14x8" crager's with 235x50x14 eagers on them in the rear. With a little guard rolling.