In a message dated 8/30/00 11:44:11 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
owner-mgs-digest@autox.team.net writes:
> One such statement IN THE CATALOG (at least in a sales flyer)
> that used to bother me about a dozen years ago was the assertion that the
> early MGB cylinder head could be considered to be a performance upgrade for
> the MGA. Yes the 18 head has larger valves, but it also has a larger
> combustion chamber that will lower the compression ratio considerably.
I remember that one - it made me think that they really didn't know what they
were talking about!
I remember a hillclimb many years ago when a young guy had a Twincam roadster
with a pushrod in it, and had exactly the same situation - an MGB head with a
1600 motor, and he wondered why it wouldn't pull very well!
And all those gullible guys that buy a Weber (sidedraft) jetted for some Fiat
and bolt it on and wonder why it doesn't run well (even jetted properly so it
would run, they only get a couple of horsepower, if that, on a stock engine,
for their money). But hey - it's racy, and the vendor wouldn't steer them
wrong.
I won $20 from a garage owner that thought he knew it all once. He'd done up
a customers MGA driveline with an MGB clutch. His minion had just bolted it
together and I bet him the $20 that the engine wouldn't turn over (they
hadn't tried yet). As I expected, he told me I didn't know what I was talking
about and then proceeded to demonstrate that it was he, not me, that was up
the creek - he even went so far as to grab the breaker bar to turn it over
("Maybe it's just stiff..."). The fact that it happened in front of a local
sports car club meeting did nothing for his temper.
Moral - you can't use a diaphragm clutch in an MGA bellhousing without
grinding some reliefs, about 4 out of 5 times (I got lucky there).
And the very expensive race shop that charged my friend a lot of money to
buiild his engine, and managed to use a late set of rocker stands (with
offset oiling hole) on an early head. Said friends wouldn't listen to me -
he'd just paid a lot of money for the engine, and those guys were 'pros'. He
didn't say much and I didn't rub it in when the rocker shaft had to be
replaced a couple of races later, and the correct standards fitted.
So don't believe everything that someone who wants to sell you something says!
Bill
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