Morris Minor Owners Club

Re 16V head onto 131 block:

You need to block off a couple of oilways in the top of the block. I just drilled and tapped and put on a grub screw.


My 16V Fiat with 280 degree cams, 10:1 CR, pretty much stock head makes 185bhp at 6000 rpm and 179lb/ft at 4,500 rpm the flywheel. I can drive at tickover in 3rd and 5th at 30mph.

Not strictly necessary to tap and blank the redundant oil feed holes in the block, the head gasket and head will blank them off anyway, gasket is under the same pressure whether oil flows through a hole with gasket or if it is a dead end. Certainly never had any issues with this on my engines.

interesting reading there, beardmore brothers have a morris with the lancia 16v head conversion; http://www.beardmorebros.co.uk/website% ... _page1.htm

lots of good info there with pics, and advice on the conversion which is giving 187bhp and fitted to a widened morris mm. makes good reading.

there is also an article on superchargers http://www.beardmorebros.co.uk/website% ... arger.html

again well documented and thought out article, enjoy!

Rather depends on just how important the max bhp is to you. If for road use I see no point in going over 200bhp as you will seldom use the full power and it will determine that every other aspect of your cars structure and running gear is upto the job. Doing this can cost thousands, and then you need brakes and handling packages to cope.
I'm sure Martin will agree that its very easy to spend serious money on these projects, much of which will be wasted unless you do trackwork.
Drivability is the name of the game and a well set up 100bhp car could easily compete with a poorly set up mega powered motor.

Cheers for all responses above -

I saw your post Jonathon and when it disappeared thought I had imagined it

TBH I'm showing middle-age here the most appealing thing about the 16v head was the possibility of 40mpg.

Very useful to hear that over 200bhp on the road doesn't add much to the road experience. I know that with 140bhp ish my car felt almost overly urgent, not particularly relaxing compared to standard. On the other hand, I'm always thinking of more power, less weight, lowering further. The thrill seems to be as much in the tinkering or fantasy tinkering as the driving.

On the contrary Darren, I see no real point in having more than 200bhp, but if you did it would certainly add to the road experience.
Yes posts were removed as ithey were deemed to be advertising ho hum

I totally agree with Jonathon, no point in having more than 200 ish bhp on the road. Yes you can spend a lot on this sort of thing but only really worth it if you are going to use it properly i.e on the track. My Morris is ok on the road but quite frustrating really as I can't use anyway near the power it produces, and everyone goes round corners so slowly on the road which makes that frustrating as well, plus the speed cameras etc.....

I always remember that James Hunt used to drive a standard A35 (van I think) on the road as he could drive it absolutely flat out without getting done for anything.

Is this 200bhp figure for a Minor because of its design limitations or for any car? Ok, I can see that 200bhp on a heavy Merc would be different to 200bhp in a motorbike. I'll rephrase, is it the power to weight ratio of 200bhp/weight of Minor that's the key or 200bhp in a Minor-based chassis?

Actually, John Beardmore's green spaceframed Minor is running less than 200bhp, Martin, you're on 350ish?, Jonathon/Richard are at 320ish?- whose car is fastest round a track generally? Realise I might be stirring something up here.

We are back down to 220bhp Darren. The reason I suggest 200 to be sufficient is largely that the cost of the running gear to support higher amounts of power can be prohibitive. Over 200bhp on the road will only show itself in a straight line really unless you have re designed much of the Minors suspension.
I'd say that Martin will have bragging rites re fastest lap as its a well sorted package. Not sure about John's as I haven't seen it in the flesh on a track.
We do have 2 trackdays booked one at LLandow and the other at Castle Coombe, I'd be very pleased to see either or both Martin and John there.

Sorry John forgot the 'h'

I would expect Martins car to be the quickest due to the development he has put into the car, the power and wide slicks.

In theory mine has the potential to be quickest due to the weight distribution, very stiff chassis, track and large wishbones, though on the downside is the weight (approx 900kg). But bear in mind that the running gear/ chassis can hardly be considered a Minor.

My car has only seen track times at hillclimbs and runs on 195 road going Michelins (tyres will make a huge difference)
My times :
Harewood: 68.64 secs (to put this into perspective a modified 1.4 litre Peugeot 205 on road tyres ran 68.45secs. He was the class record holder)
Curborough: 36.64 secs

John

Johnathan -


Those cameras look really good, have you got any other videos taken with them or an ebay link?

Also when are you at castle coombe? I live 1 junction down the Mway away.

They are good arn't they. Still waiting for my delivery

Here is a site devoted to them

http://chucklohr.com/808/

Also have a read of

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... mid=202977


Castle Coombe will be in sept sometime

Err, over 400 more realistic

Camera ordered.
Looking foreward to visiting the Coombe when your down there.

Mine arrived yesterday. A bit hit and miss to get it to record, but the pic quality is stunning considering the cost.
Looking forward to burning more rubber, literally

As I bought one on your advise I feel its only fair to see some samples of it
im sure you dont need an excuse to get a car out and have a play ;)

Drove home with the camera taped to the dash, took the scenic route, for 'drama' and interest, plugged the usb device into the puta and zilch will try again and see what happens

DOH!

Theres another plus for Mega squirt, live laptop linkage!

Do you have the ECU already , I can strongly recommend Omex, with a good discount

Ive not got it yet but I like the idea of mega squirt because I like building stuff and the open source aspect is very appealing as I am not sure what this engine will be when finished, it might be NA or FI.
I like the idea of being able to tweak the map in real time. Ive had a look around and there are quite a few Base maps about for the VR that I could use as a starting block. As I understand it I will need to upgrade the output transistors on the HT outputs but them I can run the OEM Coilpacks in a tripple wasted spark configuration. There is an application that you can run which will moniter the output from a lambda sensor and tweak the map accordingly.
Ill be looking to buy the brains within the next few months. Ill admit that I have been fairly closed on the topic as Mega squirt was one of the first I read about and it ticked all the boxes while being cheap (Im a northener you know ;) )

What will the Omex do for me? if it a fit and forget solution or can I delve in to my hearts content?
I am still open to other options at the moment so please hit me with everything youve got lol