From this I would say that the MGB, though it had a factory tuneup, wasn't
operating to it's best. I'd bet that with the low compression, the burn in
the combustion was inadequate and the up-market ignitions fixed a
problem. The problem was probably more related to carburation than
ignition, but better ignition could easily have fixed the problem. The
whole point is that an MSD or other electronic ignition won't help unless
the system in place is inadequate, for whatever reason. I personally have
no problem believing that a 1973 MGB needs help in the ignition department
- but that a new(ish) vintage race motor, with high compression, race gas,
new distributor, coil, plugs, etc., may not need as much help.
Brian
At 09:15 AM 7/13/01 -0400, Mapes, Glenn wrote:
>This is from the April 2001 Grassroots Motorsports magazine. The purpose of
>one of the articles was to see what could be done inexpensively to improve
>the performance of a 1973 MGB-GT. All testing was done on the dyno at Baker
>Engineering in Nunica, Michigan. 15 different tests were performed, twice
>each, to see what worked and what didn't. The distributor advance was
>checked for proper operation and the car tuned to factory specs. The
>resultant HP was 56.8. Next, a PerTronix Ignitor ignition was added and the
>test run again. The max HP was 61.1, an increase of 4.3HP. Then a MSD 6A
>system was added, giving an additional 1.6 HP for a total max of 62.7 HP.
>
>Any comments?
>
>Glenn Mapes
Brian Evans
Director, Canada
MCI Wholesale Internet Services
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