I know that, being on the digest, I am probably late on this and am just
prolonging a thread beyond its natural life span but:
The MGA actually has quite a bit of room in it. However, the doors are
very small. I have some damage to my left knee and have lost motion. To
get into my car, I have to physically pull my left leg to a tighter bend
(only hurts for a second) to get past the A post. Once in, there is plenty
of room although, if you have wide feet, you will occasionally get the
brake and throttle at the same time. For the record, I am 6 ft, 200+
pounds. You do have to make a choice between arm room and leg room due to
the size of the steering wheel.
When I here about someone who adapts a junkyard FI system to an engine, I
am not surprised when they find no real difference in performance. Why
would an FI system not tuned to a specific engine perform better than a
carb that was tune to that engine. People who do this are usually
motivated be the challenge, not the expected performance gains. As far as
peak horsepower goes, A properly set up FI system has absolutely no
advantage over a properly set up carburetor. The advantage of FI is in
fine adjustments at lower load settings.
I could see where siamesed intake ports could complicate port fuel
injectlion installation but I still think that a properly set up port FI
system would allow easier tuning on just about any engine. These systems
are expensive, however and, when judged by the performance "bang for the
buck" yardstick, are big wastes of money unless you have a really radical
engine. A good FI system can tame a wild camshaft at lower RPM better than
a carburator since it can be tuned to ignore the wild fluctuations in
manifold vacuum at low speeds.
So, if you want to be the first on the block with FI on your LBC, I say go
for it! Otherwise, buy a few needles for your SU and spend the money
elswhere. The gains will be greater. As to why street rodders use FI on
their cars, it is because they look cool and they are the latest trick and
that is what street rodding is all about, isn't it?
Oh, and Bob Allen, I drove the MGA today to prove that, contrary to your
opinion, I can drive and type on the same day ;-) Although you are right,
not having anything to fix has given me more time to think. Something
better break before they have to cart me off to a rubber room!
Regards,
Bill Eastman
61 MGA waiting patiently in the parking lot as I type this
|