In a message dated 97-10-14 02:33:24 EDT, jruwaldt@indiana.edu (James Charles
Ruwaldt) writes:
Jim:
> The engine is the car's heart and soul. If you put a
> different engine in, you've totally altered the whole car.
I don't disagree with that. Swapping in a V8 does indeed alter the whole
character of the car. Does it ever!
> There's just something mystifying about small, high-performance
> European engines that big American V-8's just can't match.
I also agree with this. I watched a F1 race on TV the other day - The cars
sounded like a herd of angry mosquitoes on steroids!
> I really feel the only reason people like the V-8's is that they have the
idea "bigger
> is better". I definitely think this is foolish thinking that isn't
> conducive with our fascination for British cars.
While you and I may disagree on this, one thing I am NOT is foolish. If you
and I were to have a discussion about engines, I am quite confident that I
could up hold my end of the conversation. Before you can determine if
something is better or not, you must define your criteria. If your criteria
is more power, then it is a well established fact that bigger is better. This
fact is firmly established beyond debate. What ever else you do to an engine,
increasing its displacement will produce yet more power. It this were not
true, why would virtually every race sanctioning body in the world put a
displacement limit on the competitors? If you add other criteria, such as
weight, size, economy, etc, then bigger is not always better.
Increasing power by increasing displacement has one very significant
advantage over most any other power enhancement technique. Virtually any
other method adds power at higher RPM, often at the expense of power at lower
RPM. Adding a peformance cam, for example, can sometimes make the car
undrivable at for normal street usage. Adding a cam mild enough to retain
streetability will produce little gain - adding a cam which produces a large
power gain will seriously detract from low end torque and streetability.
Refering again to the F1 cars, the 1.5L engines in the pre '94 cars produced
over 700 HP, and operated at 16 thousand RPM or more. Try going to the
grocery store with one of those. Increasing displacment increases power over
the entire RPM range, and has no efect on the drivability of the car. It may,
though, have an impact on economy, but so does just about any other
significant performance enhancement.
I guess our biggest difference of opinion concerns your statement "...our
fascination for British cars." I don't have a fascination for British cars -
I have a fascination for cars in general. I just happen to to think that
Britain produced some of the nicest little cars around. In stock form, they
are a ton of fun. I don't suggest that everyone add a V8, but I do suggest
that if anyone has a desire for more power, a V8 swap is a very viable
option. There is nothing that can be done to the stock TR6 engine, completely
disregarding reliabilty and drivability, that will produce as much of a
perormance gain as swapping in a V8. Handling will NOT be adversely impacted
by the swap, if it is done well, because the V8 weighs LESS than the stock
engine.
Please, enjoy your car your way, but let me enjoy mine my way.
Dan Masters,
Alcoa, TN
'71 TR6---------3000mile/year driver, fully restored
'71 TR6---------undergoing full restoration and Ford 5.0 V8 insertion - see:
http://www.sky.net/~boballen/mg/Masters/
'74 MGBGT---3000mile/year driver, original condition
'68 MGBGT---organ donor for the '74
|