The alarm was set to 4:40am – but I woke up a few minutes earlier anyway. It was a short night after fiddling around with the HIF4 carburetors the evening before. While I had prepared and packed the car before I went to bed, a few items came to my mind during the night that might be useful. That meant another stop at the garage and no time for a cup of coffee.
A fire extinguisher, a torque-wrench and the 12-teeth nuts for the ARP studs (just in case head gasket change might be required) were things that I would rather have with me on a quick trip to the UK. In the garage I also decided to take the compression tester with me – just in case. I was quick and got onto the Autobahn a few minutes after 5am.
The new engine just ran about 1000km and I was comfortable now to take her on the Motorway. The drive was easy – in hindsight I should have started an hour earlier to avoid the morning traffic around Brussels at 7am. But I got to the Eurotunnel by 9:30 – ahead of time.
My first planned stop was First Motion Transmission in Baldock – right around the corner of Brown & Gammons MG. During a short stop to get fuel at the Folkestone services I noticed that the rear right tire is losing air. It wasn’t completely flat but just 1.5bar left. But a mobile compressor is part of my standard kit I will take along on longer road trips – so from there on I had to top up the air every few hours.
I left my Ford T9 with Paul on my last trip with the Saab earlier this year. He did a marvellous job overhauling it – it looks better than new. He also showed me all the parts he replaced. New bearings, a new layshaft and a FM298 1st gear with heavy duty spec will transform Maggie acceleration for sure. If you have a MG or Ford gearbox that needs repair I recommend First Motion Transmission.
The next stop in my list was MED Engineering in Lutterworth. And on the small roads between the A1 and Brogborough on the M1 the new engine started to show where it is performing best. A fast road spec is meant for roads like these. I arrived just after 3pm and Lee from MED was already awaiting me. The parts I ordered were ready to pickup and he offered me to wait while be was balancing the Mini crankshaft. A new MED Damper and Verto ST1 clutch and flywheel kit (among other things) will give Miffi’s engine a similar Fast Road setup like I have in the MG engines.
Instead of the Travelodge in Alfreton I decided to stay at the Boundary Inn in Broadmeadows – a 5 min drive away. The attached pub is a benefit. I planned to check and set the valve clearance again in the morning when the engine is cold. This took a few minutes but a bit of a tapping sound was what Peter heard right away. Instead of 14 and 16 thou of the intake and exhaust – he says the Piper HR270 requires 16 and 18 thou. I somehow messed up on one valve and ended up with 23thou – resulting in the mentioned tapping sound. While the saying is “a tappy valve is a happy valve” Peter and his son corrected this right away.
Their method of finding the tappy valve is nothing thin-skinned people should watch. While the engine is running Peter’s son is putting a 12thou feeler gauge between the tappets. The German in me immediately thought about if any safety regulation would possibly approve this. But I have to admit – that this is a highly effective method. It took them a few seconds to find the incorrectly set valve.
Peter also found the issue I had with my HIF4 carbs. While they were synced alright – one of the linkage screws was too loose. All my concerns were unnecessary – turns out I did a good job with the carb rebuild and setup after all.
On the topic of the somewhat slower oil pressure built-up Peter believes that the cup of the enhanced Moss relief spring might be the root cause. As the engine has excellent pressure when it is running – we ruled out issues with the pump and gaskets. If those would be faulty – no pressure would build up at all. He gave me a steel ball and spring which I should test out to see if it makes a difference.
Now it was time for the first baseline test run. Peter set the configuration for the rolling road. After bringing the engine to temperature he increased the revs in intervals. The monitor shows the horsepower at the wheel and for a brief moment I saw a 89 on the screen. When he stopped the car shortly after he was quiet for a moment. The torque figures made him double check the config settings – but the 133NM turned out to be correct.
The result for the baseline was already far above anything I had planned and hoped for. When choosing the parts I followed Peter’s book “How to powertune the MGB 4-clyinder engines” closely. My expectation was something around 110-115 BHP with 85-88 arriving at the wheel. The JE flat-top pistons attached to Maxxpeeding Conrods obviously increase the compression. Paired with a lightened Fidanza flywheel, the Piper HR270 and Peters FastRoad spec head are a good power recipe.
First change Peter recommended and tested were different spark plugs. As always I used NKG BP6ES for the build. He recommended testing out BP7ES. And sure enough – this change alone brought up the next run to 123BHP, 92 at the wheel and 135Nm. Next we looked at the ignition timing. The CSI Pro distributor makes it drop dead easy to change the advance curve. We reduced all settings above 2000rpm by 2 degrees – keep the max at 31°. This brought us to almost 126BHP with 94 at the wheel and an incredible 137Nm torque figure.
Needless to say that I am over the moon with the result. It was my first complete MGB engine rebuild. A lot of time and -oh well- money went into this. I hope to be able to repeat this my Miffi’s engine. As I rather spent my money on parts – I took the Goodwood Revival stop on Friday off my trip list. Instead I headed to MGOC Spares on Thursday afternoon for a new clutch kit and then onwards to London to see my son.
On the trip back many ideas and thoughts crossed my mind. The upcoming project list is long – more on this to follow.
Fixing C6622 
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