One can always do something to squeeze more power out of what is already
there. I don't remember where I saw it, but I believe I recently saw a
dyno test of a supercharged B. It did a lot of improvement, but as the
numbers were at the rear wheel (not the enging) it was not nearly as
impressive as I had heard. I do know a guy that has installed one for a
customer, and has driven that car, and he said it was great!
Anyhow, in general, any of the following ways improve power on any engine:
- displacement - whether by bore or stroke - which will effect whether it
is torque or horsepower, and upper end or lower end power.
- compression ratio - higher gives more power, but also has detonation
challenges
- cam timing - again trade offs in upper end power or lower end power and
smoothness come up.... The key factors are duration and overlap. Valve
size will also effect how effective this is.
- nitrous - this is a big power booster, but not easy to do, and can be
damaging to engines if not done well
- turbocharging - typically all upper end power, with a lag - can be fun
though. Too much boost or compression and you'll blow and engine pretty
quick.
- supercharging - similar to a turbo, but has more lower end power than a
turbo.
One can change to a different format engine - v-8, v-6, inline 6, v-10, v-
12 etc, but the above are always opportunities for power improvement on
the different engine too. And a lot of times that bigger engine weighs
more. Low weight is always better (except in snow or mud). As you can
see by the list of cars I own (below) I've messed with pretty many
configurations.
For my dollar - if I ever replace an engine with a non-stock unit (which I
probably won't), I'll use an inline 6 or a V-12 (or a flat 6). They have
inherent smoothness to their running charactistics that no other motor
has. One can smooth out a V-10, a V-8 or a V-6, but it takes counter
rotating shafts, additional weights, etc.
Phil Bates
'58 MGA - inline 4
'67 MGB - inline 4
'75 Jaguar XJ12C - V-12
'69 Porsche 911T soft window Targa - flat 6
'59 Wolseley 6/99 - inline 6
'67 Citroen DS21 - inline 4
'66 Land Rover 88 - inline 4
'52 MGTD replica/VW chassis - flat 4
> on 10/7/03 7:39 PM, Don Malling at dmallin@attglobal.net wrote:
>
> > I was wondering how long it would take for the blower to come up.
> >
> > Seems like a no-brainer to me. Build a stock engine, throw another $3K
> > at it, get the Moss SuperCharger, and, if you believe Moss, 5 hours
> > later you have doubled the HP at the wheels.
> >
> > Must be the Rover V8 does lots more than double the HP? Just curious,
> > what is the HP difference between the Rover V8 and the Moss SC? For all
> > the extra work, must be a big difference. 200 -- 300 HP for the Rover?
>
> Try 135HP for the stock configuration (though it is apparently not
difficult
> to get considerably more out of it).
>
> But the supercharger option has only been available recently -- it's not
> like it was "competing" with the V8 option all along.
> --
> Max Heim
> '66 MGB GHN3L76149
> If you're near Mountain View, CA,
> it's the primer red one with chrome wires
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