Where would I start to get a little more HP.

Hi everyone, I'm new to BCF.
I have a '79 MG Midget that is for the most part stock. I was wanting to know where would I start first to get a bit more skip in my step.
1) better intake
2) headers
3) carbs and which one ( down draft / side draft / two barrel )
4) nice paint job ( that would make it go faster 0-60 )
I would very much love any input you might give me. I just don't have a clue where to start.

So... bolt on without changing engine internals? I'd guess a header with dual SU carbs.

LOL, alum head.

Thanks for your input. That's kind of what I had in mind.

Any ideas of where I would look besides Moss or LBCCo.? Those are the only ones that I know of. I'm sure you know heaps of places off the beaten path. Or is Moss the best place to get items?

dbshubin

Cam-headers and twin SU

British parts northwest is pretty good to deal with.

m

If you're daring, MS is supposed to give great results. ( Mega Squirt)

What does MS do? Or better put how does it work and does anyone ( the average person ) even use it?
David

What does MS do? Or better put how does it work and does anyone ( the average person ) even use it?
David

Mega Squirt is swapping out the carb for fuel injection. A few around here have done it - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MegaSquirt (not me - though I have thought about it)

You are facing two challenges.

1. you live in California and, it is my understanding that you have to keep all the smog equipment that the car originally came with so that it can be periodically checked.

2. You have a rubber bumper 1500 car (like me) this means that you have the lowest powered engine these cars ever came with (the Spitfire 1500 smog equipped)

In England, our cars (rubber bumper) were called the first true 100mph car, and they were, but, they had 9:1 compression, no pollution stuff & twin SU carbs.

Here, you can
1. increase compression.
2. put twin carbs on (though you will have to cut a notch on the passenger inner fender - I refuse to do this so I have a MGB HS4 in place of the Zenith Stromberg Carb)
3. fuel injection
4. super/ turbo charge?
5. build a rocket https://www.mgexperience.net/phorum/read.php?3,1479404
6. 5 speed (T9 Ford for now - cutting required
7. new engine - including RX7 rotary, or Zetec (both around these boards)

certainly I'd check your local smog requirements before trying too much. welcome and good luck!

I think you might be able to get away with MS in CA on a RB car. If done right it'll look stock. The biggest thing would be the cat. I'd knock out the innards and put a straigh pipe through the cat body, but reccomending you do so might be illegal. I'll find the link of ol' boy overseas who MS'd his RB and it started snapping axles.

JP, I think I found a way to install the euro carbs w/o cutting. I was working on it until I found the 5 speed, so I've been a bit distracted. I need to get on it again. Just the euro manifold and HIF's shouldn't be a problem.

Dave, MS is a fully programamble fuel injection system you build yourself. You'll have to build a complete fuel system from stratch, so you'll have to at least be willing to be handy. If you don't have allot of mechanical background, or just don't wish to bother with something that'll take allot of time, then a carb swap would be in line. The euro SU's are pricey (for what they are)and may be hard to find, but allot of folks recommend them. The biggest bang for the buck, IMO would be to swap to a Weber DGV.It's a bit cheaper than the su's. Some folks don't like them but I have one and it' does o.k. If you go that route, make sure you get a BRAND NEW kit, not a used carb. Bottom line you're not going to make any HP with the stock manifold unless you turbo it....and there'sa guy who's been through the wringer doing that. You can swap to another carb with your intake, but the intake is the bottle neck and chokes the car above 4K. ( but I usually never rev higher than that.)

Cheapest, easiest route would be put a Harley muffler on it and ditch the cat. VB has a pipe for that pt# 6-067 for around $40 or so. You should notice a slight difference, at least it'll sound better. Make sure to knock out the center baffle.


My car already had the smog stuff removed, but if it were me, I'd disconnect the vacuum retard, bump the timing up to 12-14 degrees BTDC, ditch the cat and put a Harley muffler on it for starters and do something about the stock air cleaner.

All this being said, I have a DGV and I'm swapping over to su's for now for milage and the fact I can easily adjust mixture. The only reason I bought the su's was I got a great deal on them and they came with all the stuff I needed to install.

You are pretty hosed having a '79 vehicle in California. If you do any mods at all then you will have to undo them completely every time you go in for a smog check. Also, from my experience, even having everything intact does not guarantee a "pass", since these things ran on the ragged edge of the the emissions requirements when new. I had numerous fails when my BGT fell within the smog requirements, usually fixed by fiddling with carbs and timing.

How about if you put the car on craigslist and replace it with a '75 or earlier. That way you'll have no smog to deal with and can do whatever you want.

Is it true that in California the car must be fitted with all standard equipment even if it can run cleaner with other equipment?

Up front, I'm a Healey guy and as such, know little to nothing about MGs.
Oh, I DO have MG-B GT seats and a Spridget R&P steering unit in my Healey.



Speaking to getting more power... I think that one of the simplest and cheapest things that you can do that would give you the most bang for the buck would be to add a supercharger. Typically, superchargers give an additional 65-75% HP.

I don't know if you have room for this or not, but I was at a local race track a couple of weeks ago and saw a great looking MG-TF on the track.



What was unusual about this TF was that it sported an Eaton supercharger from a 90's Ford Thunderbird SuperCoupe.



The owner said that he had to change the all pulleys to surpentine and make adapter plates for the SU to S/C and the S/C to the stock intake manifold simply by drilling holes in 1/4" aluminum plates. You can see the carb to S/C adapter in the picture.

These S/Cs are all over Ebay and are in the $350-$450 range.

As for ME, I installed a 300 HP Ford 302 V8 and 4-speed automatic overdrive transmission in my Healey. I am now switching from a 4 barrel to 4 HD-8 SUs. I have also removed the up-front distributor and gone to a Ford Electronic Distributorless Ignition System with a MegaJolt computer.

The work is still going on, but here's an IN PROCESS picture.



Tim

Trevor Jessie said:

Is it true that in California the car must be fitted with all standard equipment even if it can run cleaner with other equipment?

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I'm pretty certain that if you replace any of the emissions equipment then you need to have the modified car certified by the air board. This is an extremely costly process.

Right...so in California, when you can no longer find replacement parts for your car's emission equipment you must scrap the car and thereby pollute the environment more by creating the need to manufacture a new one and recycle the old one. Makes perfect sense.

It seems that we should focus our efforts more on reusing and less on recycling.

Trevor Jessie said:

Right...so in California, when you can no longer find replacement parts for your car's emission equipment you must scrap the car and thereby pollute the environment more by creating the need to manufacture a new one and recycle the old one. Makes perfect sense.

It seems that we should focus our efforts more on reusing and less on recycling.

Click to expand...

That makes too much sense for the Gov't to understand Trevor.

So you believe my best bet is to sell this car and to buy a new one. Ok let's say I going to get a new one. What year should I look at? Which one is the best that I can tweek? Which one has the best ? that I don't even have a clue about yet? Which one would you suggest?
David

If its a nice car, buy a pre 75 hulk for the title and serial plates and make it a pre 75!!!

Kurt.

If you get a pre-'74 then you will get a 1275 engine which is much tougher than the 1500 and easier to get more power from.

I think what Kurt is suggesting is illegal, but probably a common crime and rarely detected.

If you are limited to the carbs and emission equipment, then you would need to change the cam and increase the compression ratio to gain any noticeable power and stay "legal".