Beef up my 1300 (make it more powerful).

[laserjim77]

Hey all. I want to give my lil ol' 1300 engine a little more boost. Nothing crazy, just some minor adjustments to bump up the HP. I just need advice and some suggestions, please. One person I talked to suggested "headers and a bigger carb". But unfortunatley for me I dont know much about engine upgrades. Where do I get headers, how much are they, is there a certain type or size I need. Whats a bigger carb gonna do. Call me a newb if you will but just help me out. Thanks!

[DC-Dubs]

Laserjim,
This is only my opinion... But finding new Dual port heads for a 1300 cc engine is nearly impossible in the US. In other parts of the world the 1300cc was available with dual port heads as an option I think starting around 71'. So they are out there but hard to find. You would have to change out the cylinder head tins and the fan shroud and oil cooler to do that change anyway. If you are going to go that route and change out the heads you could more easily upgrade to 85.5 mm pistons and cylinders which will get you to 1600cc and then finding dual port heads is simple. In effect all of this would basically increase your horsepower from 44 to 56hp.
So my Opinion is if you want the easiest hp upgrade assuming your engine is bone stock, you could replace your stock 30PICT carb for a H30/31 carb and see a little boost in horsepower. Also a good tune up is probably the best thing to make sure your getting all you can from your engine and keep it running efficiently. That would include adjustment of the valves and checking your timing setting and point gap, checking the condition of your plug wires cap and rotor and plugs. Hope this helps!

[fatalifeaten]

Bolt on a pair of 34mm Weber ICT's. Adding dual carbs will make it drive like a completely different 1300. An exhaust upgrade can't hurt, but I think 1300 SP heads need specific headers, so do your homework there. You can also check into ratio rockers and play with the valvetrain geometry a bit.

IMO it's not worth the effort to track down 1300cc performance goodies unless you're looking to stay with some vintage speed themed stuff and pay out the ears for it (think Okrasa-style here). Slugs and jugs are 250 bucks, new 1600cc dual port heads are about 225 each, you could put a new top end on it and have a much better performing 1600 dual port for less than what it'll likely cost you to find performance goodies for your 1300 as-is.

Do you know 100% it's still a 1300 and not just a 1300 case? My 1641 is in an H0 case, which would be a 1500cc normally. There's no way you can tell just by the engine serial.

[Blue Baron]

The easiest thing to do is to switch out the 1300 for a 1600. You're getting about a fifth more displacement with the reliability of a stock engine, and you can keep the 1300 if you ever want to return it to stock.