I have adopted the politic that it is better to enthusiastically agree
with any who claim great power for their car or great prowess behind the
steering wheel. It is a sure way to make friends and not offend people.
But, (there is always a but") if we are talking just amongst us
ourselves, the first thing on a power comparison is to establish
appropriate parameters. Any car without its original engine block type
is no longer considered by any racing authority or concours as a member
of the original marque. This is sad but true. I could find a way of
squeezing a Cadillac Northstar engine into my mog if I stopped at
nothing but should I then be considered a mog or just a hot rod?
Similarly, if I removed the bumpers, the wings, the windscreen, the
seats, all the lighting, the doors, the bonnet and changed the
suspension, slapped on vented disk brakes front and back...am I still
driving a Morgan?
The racing in England for Morgans defines classes in an extremely
detailed fashion and I think that is necessary to even the playing field
and protect the integrity of the marque. Even, my car is considered
"modified" with only a mild Crower road cam, duplex timing change,
racing lifters, springs and valves, a K&N, a FSE regulator and flow-thru
dual exhaust and the extra cooling stuff. There is no rebores, new
crankshafts and the like.
So let's assume we are talking of a road prepared Morgan of the three
different models and let's assume that they have the motor appropriate
to their year and they run on gasoline/petrol.
A Plus 4 SS is a great car and on a power-to-weight basis faster than
some Plus 8s. For example, with its light weight aluminum, it weighed
1736 pounds and put out a little less than 120 bp compared to the 1920
pound 1969 Plus 8 putting out 160 bhp which gives the SS pw of 138/tonne
compared to the Plus 8 at 166/tonne. The SS, of course, has its tuning
upgraded already and the Plus 8 engine hadn't been touched. These
figures varied of course with the ebb and flow of emission regs and
engine/fueling upgrades of Rover.
By the time the first injected Plus 8 had been made WITHOUT cats,
lambdas or any emission stuff the car's weight had even dropped, and the
power had jumped to 205 bhp without tuning according to JE Engineering
dyno testing (NOT guesses by the Works). This gave a power-to-weight
ratio of 217/tonne. With the mods I have mentioned, my car is at 244 bhp
in road form and 253/tonne on a good day (smile) in racing tune. That
brings it up to 268/tonne.
To match these figures a SS would have to be producing about 238 bhp or
more than double the bhp AFTER the LawrenceTune's mods that won at
LeMans.
A 60s 4/4 has a better chance of making it to high power-to-weight
numbers because of its extremely low weight..but here too we do want to
keep it a Morgan. Even at 1456 pounds the standard 75 horsepower would
have to be increased to 192 bhp (!) to match a mildly tuned early EFI
Plus 8. It is impossible for a 4/4 or Plus 4 to beat that much more
capacity especially if it is not restricted by emissions controls.
This is not to say that all Plus 8s were originally powerhouses and they
are susceptible to power sapping problems that many owners never
address and make them sluggish over time.
I love all Morgans and enjoyed many 4/4s. They are light, reactive, full
of fun and you feel like you are going like the wind. That's all that
matters, isn't it?
Lorne
1984 Plus 8 Vitesse EFI
///
/// morgans@autox.team.net mailing list
///
|