So, I recently became aquanted with a chap who worked for victa around the turn of the century, and during conversation today, an interesting annecdote came up in relation to the change in cooling fins that the powertorqes suffered around 05...
He was no longer there when the fin number was halved, but he remembers specifically those fins being a massive point of contention...
It indeed was a cost cutting issue, but the cost of metal for the engine block was not the key issue, it came down to the Die's... The intricate nature of the cast moulds around those find was cause for them to wear out much faster in that area, and the dies themselves reguarly required costly and annoying replacement, however, the engineering side was persistent that such fin density was best for adequate cooling... Something my old wirk shop agreed with, many overheated later engines, a problem seldom seen in the powertorques built in the 90's!!!
So just a little tid bit of historic retoric to shed a little more light on why those fins were so quick to dissapear when production moved off shore!!!
