Robert Allen wrote:
>
> Hert wrote:
> >
> > The improvements I'm looking for are in a) handling, or more precisely,
> > roadholding and b) power. My wife's priority is replacing the Rostyles with
>wire
> > wheels, but I'll leave that for later.
>
> Handling: The top four things you can do for your car to improve
.......
> The next thing you can do is rebuild the front end. Everyone hollers the
> praises of stiff, nosity, vibration-prone metal V8 bushings but any good
> quality bushing set will give you much more precise steering.
>
> Power: Sell car and buy a minivan.
>
Bob addressed to a degree the handling so I'll talk a little
about power.
First Off I highly recomend the pamplet "Performance MGB"
by Moss UK.
A note on performance the first 10 % increase is easy to get
the cost/ease of obtaining gets increasinly difficult/expensive.
Also as you get more perfomance don't forget to address
braking, handling etc.
The top things you can do for performance:
(I'm asuming a dual SU system here)
Other than #1, these can be done in any order.
1) Insure you car is in tune etc. I.E. wires, plugs
distributer cap, points etc. Carbs in good working
order. If not forget about the rest!!!
2) K & N free flow filters (cost $100)
Note do not use pancake filters. These may look nice
but you loose abount 5 H.P. on a stock engine doing this.
(This gets air in easier)
3) Competition Style exhaust with Long Center branch Header
I bought mine in stainless for about $400 for the complete
set up. Came with lifetime warranty. (I needed a new
exhaust so I went with this)
(This gets air/exhaust out easier)
4) Polish Ports on head. Take an afternoon with a die grinder
or a dremmel and some sandpaper rolls (available from eastwood)
and polish the ports on your head. Cost ($20 for rolls
$10-20 for new head gasket)
(This gets air in/out easier by cutting down on turbulence
Note you don't want to polish it too much as some turbulence
is required)
5) Electronic Ignition kit. I used the crane/allison kit
but the new in the distribuiter type looks nice too.
(cost $100) I also used a sport coil ($40)
(More power to sparkplugs)
After you've done this you probably want to change the carb
needles on your SU's to something slightly richer (I can check
on the number I used if anyone's interested) A friend with
an exhaust gas analizer helps :) My car has all the above
done on a rebuilt engine with .020 oversize pistons, and
a shave off the block and the head. It has plenty off
snap for a B, and I can't justify the cost of doing much more.
Now if you want to spend more time and money we can talk
about alternate carbs, a lot more head work, crossflow heads,
cams etc. But IMHO, most of this is not worth the
performance/cost ratio. Not to mention the fact that you
can end up with something that is less than drivable.
If you want a porche (argh) go buy a porche.
Good luck.
--
Gary Burrell
Design Engineer
Pentek Inc. One Park Way, Upper Saddle River NJ 07458
Phone: (201)818-5900 Fax: (201)818-5941 Email:garyb@pentek.com
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