Morris Minor Owners Club

I'm looking to tune up/modify my minor and have found an MG Midget stage 1 tune up kit but im worried that the exhaust manifold wont fit on my engine. I've got a gold seal reconditioned 948cc engine. Also, alot of the modified articles ive read see alot of people tuning up the 1098cc engine or just go larger with the 1275cc, is there any particular reason for that or are most just going for the extra power? Cheers[frame][/frame]

A midget exhaust manifold won't fit a minor without some major modification. If you wish to get an A series with the most power/tuning potential, the 1275 is the one to go for - but you really must upgrade brakes and suspension to match.
Whilst the 948 is possibly the sweetest running of all the A series engines, there is no substitute for cc's.
There is plenty advice on tuning the A series available - the David Vizard book is possibly the best reference to look at.

Pete

Cheers Pete. I'm actually waiting on his book to arrive!! As much as I would love to have the bigger engine I unfortunatley don't have the money at the moment! I'm mainly looking for simple bolt off bolt on changes to my car i.e air filter, fuel pump, sparks and leads and the exhaust system then most likey do the brakes and possibly suspension. Would you know of any performance exhaust systems that would fit nicely on my engine without any/too many modifications? Thanks again mate.

To be perfectly honest, unless you upgrade the cam shaft, gas flow the head, and add a larger carb you aren't going to see any increased performance with just an exhaust. If it's just a meatier sound you're after, then just replace the existing silencer with something like a cherry bomb (straight through). This will entail some fabrication as the bore of the minor exhaust is really small.
If it were me, I'd far rather spend my dosh on better wheels/tyres, then suspension upgrades then brakes. After doing this, I would then consider fitting a bigger engine rather than waste dosh on the 948. Having said that, 948's can be made to go quite quickly, but it ain't cheap.

Pete

dont waste your time with the 948 and build up to a bigger engine like plastic orange says

I agree that better wheels and tyres (and larger front brakes) are a high priority - but the 948 CAN be made to produce significantly more power quite inexpensively. Just fitting the camshaft and cylinder head (skimmed 60 thou) from a 1098 engine - with a single 1.5" SU carb on a good alloy inlet manifold with give almost 50% increase in power at the rear wheels...and useful improvement to acceleration. The standard Minor exhaust is ok at this level of power - although it is then probably the 'next' thing to be upgraded.