John McEwen wrote:
>
> Hello John:
>
> You have made some excellent points. However as the one who is "talking
> out of his armpit" you have agreed with my point regarding the durability
> of the engines. The MGB engine was improved by the addition of the extra
> bearings in 1965, after a very short production time in this car, and it
> subsequently became among the most rugged and simple British engines ever
> built. The Triumph engine was increased in size steadily until it reached
> a point where it became unreliable due to its design. Follow this list for
> a while and you will read many horror stories about Triumph 1500 engines.
>
> This tendency to make "too much of a good thing" out of British engines was
> not restricted to automobile engines. One only has to look at the balls up
> in the British motorcycle industry where old designs were continuously
> enlarged beyond their design limits until they became rough, overstressed
> and unreliable. Good examples of this are found in the 750 engines of
> Norton, Triumph, BSA, and certainly the largest engines of the others.
>
> I am not unfamiliar with British engineering having owned and restored all
> or part of the following machines:
>
> '57 AJS Model 20
> '67 BSA Spitfire
> '70 Norton Commando
> '71 Triumph TR6R
> '49 Austin A40
> '50 Standard Vanguard
> '54 Jaguar Mk.VII
> '55 TR2
> '57 Lagonda 3 Litre
> '58 Wolseley 6/90
> '61 Jaguar Mk.2 3.8
> '62 Sunbeam Alpine
> '65 Austin A60
> '66 Austin A60
> '66 Rover 2000TC
> '70 MGB
> '70 MGB
> '73 MGB
> '76 TR7
Well, John, that's great, but I think you're overstating the
"unreliability" of the 1500. Maybe it's an overstroked version of a
smaller engine, but the worst engineering oversight with regard to the
block internals that I've seen is the thrust washer situation -- and
that's not a problem if you're paying attention to your car. Nor is it a
problem with my 1500, which has not been rebuilt in 24 years, and with
85K on it, still runs like a dream. (Of course, I do treat it well.)
But I truly don't hear people crucifying the 1500 with any regularity.
Now -- if we want to continue this aimless thread a little longer --
let's talk about the MGB vs. the TR6, or the MGBGT vs. the GT6. Same
classes, right? In a standing 1/4 mile, the Triumphs rule, now don't
they? Woo -- let the fireworks begin!
--
Martin Secrest
74 Spitfire
73 GT6
|