<"All this talk about substantial performance gains over the 1500 beg the
question as to whether or not the intake manifold/carb assembly would have
been hospitable to the installation of another MGA period accessory, the
Judson supercharger. How many twin cams are still on the road? I don't
recall seeing any at shows or for sale ever.">
The heads are totally different, so of course the Judson blower for the
pushrod motor, which includes an integral intake manifold, will not fit the 4
port Twincam motor. In any case, the last thing you'd want to add to a high
compression engine (10:1) is a blower.
When I said the Twincam was a totally different engine, I meant it. NOTHING
is interchangeable between it and the pushrod except miscellaneous fittings
and fasteners, and the oil pump and flywheel.
The only similarity is the stroke and bore, the fact that the block was
derived from the pushrod motor.
The reason you never see them is twofold - they were exceptionally rare even
when new, with just over a couple of thousand made, and they often fell into
unskilled hands which resulted in damage and being taken off the road.
Picture your average Ferrari being overhauled by a blacksmith and you have an
idea of what many Twincams experienced after the sadly few early years when
there were still dealerships with mechanics that knew the engines. After the
mid 60s, the dealers and the factories simply wanted to forget that the model
ever existed.
Many cars still exist in hiding, waiting to be restored, but unfortunately
far fewer engines are around. Before it became known what caused the piston
problems, many engines were removed and replaced with pushrod units. There is
some very expensive land fill out there somewhere - one I know of was
anchoring a buoy off the north coast of Oahu. The fix for the problem was
never widely known and even today, many owners are not aware of the problem
(until it bites them!).
There are a (very) few people that race with the engine, myself included, and
we really appreciate what they were and what they can do. I suppose the
amazing thing is that Thorneley ever persuaded the managers to let them
produce the engine at all.
Bill
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