>Mich,
> My stable of 1974 to 1977 MG-B's have very little of the seat
of the pants
>power feel that my 1966B had in England..In fact, My newer B's seem
to have
>about that same 20 less BHP than did my 1966.I wonder why?
> Yours,H4(Howard)
Howard,
Going on memory and assumptions, I can only give a few reasons
as to why. I think the European cars used a cylinder head with
bigger valves, and I think the note on your BGT alluded to the same
head. Also, the '66 was a 3-main block - I don't know what the
addition of two extra main bearings did to HP, but others say that
it reduced the car's ability to rev.
Let's think about your cars now - if they all have 18V engines,
they have a different cam than your '66 would have had. Given that
your RB cars have a catalytic converter (or HAD one for some time),
this adds to cam wear. The heat put off by the thing allowed the
oil to thin out on the cam a little bit faster; at least that's what
I've heard. Chances are, the '66 also had a higher compression
ratio, which could help out a little. Factor in the air pumps and
emissions stuff - your cars are all post-'74 and should have the air
pump, which takes down the HP by, what is it guys? Something like
between 5-9 HP?
I'm going to go out on a limb here in saying that you owned the
'66 when it was newer than any of your other cars. On the same
limb, I'm going to guess that you haven't had the time or money to
rebuild the ENTIRE drive line, from engine, to tranny, to
driveshaft, to rear end. If you did, forgive me. If not, figure in
the amount of slack and slop that's in any 20+ year old car. I
won't kid you, mine's in the same category. Everything works
without defects, but is not as tight and efficient as it once was.
That'll drop the HP that you see and feel down just a bit too -
something that not everyone considers. I'd almost be willing to bet
that you'd lose about 5hp alone right there, and that's assuming
your engines alone are in like-new shape.
I've taken a few liberties in the condition of your cars, but
you can see that there are many, many factors that come into how one
car reacts from another.
Michael S. Lishego
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/3706/
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