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A- / A+ Engine Terminology Question

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NardisCNC

NardisCNC

Senior Member
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Hello, I'm a newbie with many questions. In the meantime I've been reading Daniel Stapleton's book "The MG Midget A-H Sprite High-Performance Manual".

My question is this: He keeps referring to either A- or A+ engines. What is the difference?? Did I overlook something. I could not seem to find it in the book. Besides this and other forums are there any other recommended books to read on the subject of Midgets?
 
A+ was a later version of A series. Used in transverse orientation only I believe. I'm guessing it was only in the Metro's and late minis(not imported to the US).

I think Hap rebuilt an A+ engine last fall.
 
The A+ block is primarly used in FWD tranverse application, and was the latest evolution of the A-series block, is has a more renforced block, and the crank had larger rod journals . You can convert a A+ block for inline use, but it a ton of work, the front and back of the block need a few drilling and tapping for the inline engine plates, then you need the the main caps for a inline 1275, a inline 1275 crnakshaft, a set of A series connecting rods, and of course you have to line bore the block for the new main caps. IMHO it's not worth it, if SCCA racers can explode the normal A series block at 15.0 to 1 at 9000 rpms, thats a pretty good example of how good they are to begin with, and worthy of the wildest street performance builds.
 
NardisCNC said:
Besides this and other forums are there any other recommended books to read on the subject of Midgets?
Click to expand...

David Vizard's "Tuning The A Series Engine" by far the most in depth book ever wrote on the subject of A series engine, I don't subcribe to everything wrote in the book, but it is best one ever written on the subject.
 
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