MGB Superchargers - what sort for a MGB MKII 1970?

[al1978]

I have a mint condition MGB MKII with 70,000 original miles. I am looking to supercharge it. I have seen 2 kits which are rediculously expensive and I am trying to do it as cheap as possible. I have seen the Moss kit & few others by capa.com and hiflow.com but they are well over AU$4000.00
Basically I want to buy a second hand one for about $400. Does anyone know which superchargers will suit my engine? I might get one off ebay then rebuild it.

Also I am running a Kent Fast Road Scatter Cam & 9.4:1 compression ratio by skimming the head. Any idea if this cam is suitable for supercharging?

Cheers
Alastair
Western Australia

 

[swift6]

Generally super/turbo charging need lower compression ratios. Newer cars are running higher CR's with forced induction but they also have very sophisticated knock sensors and incredible control over their timing compared to LBC's. High lift cams also tend to be problematic with forced induction. Building an engine to be a fast road engine with natural aspiration and then adding forced induction tends to get expensive on parts and labor. As in blown engines unless you stay with extremely low boost levels and add lots of electronic watch dogs. One defeats the extra power idea, the other blows the low cost option out of the water.

Good luck. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/driving.gif

 

[Steve_S]

Re: Superchargers - what sort for a MGB MKII 1970

I've heard of people using superchargers from modern Minis, but there is no kit available so there is a lot of fabrication and planning involved. Keep us posted on your project!

 

[al1978]

Re: Superchargers - what sort for a MGB MKII 1970?

I still have the original cam, I was thinking of putting it back in then supercharging it. Also just using a single SU

 

[kennypinkerton]

Re: Superchargers - what sort for a MGB MKII 1970?

you'd be pretty much recreating the Moss setup. But, I for one believe that the bolt-on from moss is worth the money. For one thing, what are you going to use for a timing retarder? And there are another hundred questions you'll have to answer and R&D yourself to come up with something that works reasonably good. Why not just spend a lot less time, and a lot less money and buy one that works and has already been thoroughly researched and developed?

 

[Dave Richards]

Re: Superchargers - what sort for a MGB MKII 1970?

And for what really, except a fancy thing under the hood, you can get a whole lot of good engine mods for higher performance for $4k. Just IMHO.

 

[al1978]

Re: Superchargers - what sort for a MGB MKII 1970?

I dont want to spend $4000. Superchargers force air into the engine, there is nothing complicated about them... Why should they cost $4000!!! I will just buy one for $300 and spend a bit more time fitting it and save my money.

 

[swift6]

Re: Superchargers - what sort for a MGB MKII 1970?

Part of that cost is for their R&D and recovering that cost must be spread out amongst the units they expect to sell, which isn't many. If they had 3000 orders for the kit you could see the price drop drastically. As it is, I doubt Moss is really seeing much profit from their kit after you factor in the cost recovery for development.

Why should you pay for their R&D? The devil is in the details. You can't just bolt an appropriately sized supercharger onto the stock manifold. Are you going to make your own manifold or have someone fabricate it for you. Then there are the mods to the belt system to incorporate the belt drive for the supercharger etc... Your $4k buys more than just a supercharger at Moss. It's a kit that is supposed to have all you need in one box to make the swap. Theoretically allowing you to 'supercharge' your vehicle over the weekend. Doing it by bits and pieces can be done but will take you a load of time and in the end might not save you that much money. It's a balancing act of your time or your money. Up to you to decide how much money your time is worth.

The pieces are also new which should mean that their performance should be predictable. If you pick up a used supercharger then you have added a huge variable. Remember that just because a used part is new to you, it's not 'new'. Has it been abused? How are the impeller seals? etc... Will you have to spend more money on the used supercharger to equal the effect of a new supercharger etc... Why is the good deal such a good deal? There are deals out there, and if your willing to spend the time on a lot of fabrication you can do it. Who knows but you might even be able to improve on their design. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif


The other question is that the system as its designed (for stock cams and stock compression ratios) yields about a 40% increase in power at the flywheel. With your cam and compression increase, your probably already close to that. So why would you want to supercharge? If you force feed your current engine at its current compression ratio you'll end up spending money on a new engine before long.

Just some thoughts to pass along. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif