Moss supercharger - MGB

[Billy Hunt]

I seem to be obsessed about forced induction for MGBs with the threads I keep making

Anyway, after seeing a particularly pretty MGA with an MGB engine + a supercharger for sale it got me researching and looking into the Supercharger conversion offered by Moss for the B.
After reading an article (which I shall post a link to at the end of this post) it would appear that running a supercharger on a standard engine (at a cost of £3,000) will bring the horse power up to 88 BHP at the wheels and 0-60 in around 10 seconds. With extra modification to the head, cam, different size supercharger pulley etc the 0-60 comes down to around 8/8.5 seconds with 101BHP.

Pretty good you might think, but going by this article and current supercharger costs it costs around:
(Supercharger only) £3,000 - 0-60 10s - 88 BHP
Supercharger £3,000 + Port & polished head £400 + 270 cam £230 + Adjustable timing pulley £130 = £3760 - 0-60 8s - 101BHP

But looking into K series engine conversions going by the information I was given by Frontline it costs approx £3500 for all of the parts for a K series conversions plus an engine and gearbox (this is how the email is worded so I assume £3500 doesn't include an engine and box). So say an engine costs £450 (eBay) and a 5 speed Sierra box costs £200 (eBay) this brings the K series cost to £4150.

So going with the figures Frontline gave me:
K series conversion £4150 - 0-60 6s - 160 BHP
K series + 'bolt on modifications' (offered by frontline) £4500(est) - 0-60 5s - 190BHP

For more BHP you could instead use a 1.8 K series turbo engine at a cost of around £600 from eBay (unsure of BHP and 0-60s for this engine).

As well as the extra power gains the K series also offers a weight saving of 128KG giving improved handling + lighter steering, fuel injection for better control of fuelling and therefore increased MPG.

The £ per BHP boils down to £37 for the supercharger + mods and the K series with mods comes in at £24. Obviously fitting the supercharger alone or with mods is not so much work but in my opinion for the amount of money the BHP and 0-60s are slightly disappointing.

This thread is more me thinking aloud, so does anyone else share my way of thinking that the K series is a better modification or would you rather have the Supercharger?

Article:
http://classicmotorsports.net/articles/superchargi...

[SlowStig]

I would agree that on paper that the K is a much better value for money, however the supercharger kit seems to be aimed at owners who want to keep the car as original as possible without the added problems fuel injection could bring.

The K series come in these variations:
1.1 8v - 55bhp
1.4 8v - 76bhp
1.1 16v - 76 bhp
1.4 16v - 103bhp
1.6 16v - 111bhp
1.8 16v - 118bhp
1.8 16v - 135bhp
1.8 16v VVC - 143bhp
1.8 16v VVC - 160bhp
1.8 16v Turbo - 160bhp
1.8 16v VHPD - 190bhp

Those are roughly the main production variants of K series, the 135bhp 1.8 and 160bhp VVC are engines which use a later engine management system and some other additional mods to make the extra power over the other versions of the engine.

Personally, I would be dubious about putting in the K series to a MGB due to the amount of work that is involved and the amount of problems which are potentially created(not to mention ignorant people spewing the old HGF crap) as well as the amount it will cost in the long run, with custom ECU's required as well as remaps costing £300+ each time....

[Billy Hunt]

I think the ECU is included in the £3500 quoted by Frontline although obviously re-maps aren't.
Going by the amount of time they seemed to spend in the article getting the mixtures just right I would think you'd probably be spending near £300 there as well.

[na]

you might be better asking on here - http://www2.mgcars.org.uk/cgi-bin/gen5?runprog=mgb...

[Huntsman]

About 4 years ago I sold a Healey 100M and bought a MGA 1500.

I liked the MGA very much, a much nicer and lighter drive and equally as pretty for half the money.

However, it really just didn't have enough legs for me, so after a lot of reading the mgaguru site I came to a plan.

I bought a tired MGA1800 5 bearing motor, rebuilt it to standard spec except for some port polishing and conrod and piston balancing, fitted it with a 5 speed ford conversion, rebuilt a 3.9 diff.

One weekend I pulled out the 1500 and fitted the new engine and box and diff.

Car went like the clappers with the ability to relaxed cruise at over 70 if needed.

The only downside was that the MGA does not really handle weill enough to be that quick.

Its a very nice conversion.

[mattius]

Your biggest problem with the k series is going to be laying that power down on the road, dave "sideways" powell has one in his spitfire and couldnt get the power down without spinning its wheels in everything up to 4th gear.


That ecu is way overpriced, im sure dave did his conversion for 2 grand or so, mind you he was running it on carbs, but megasquirt would cost you much less.

If your really into the k series check out daves forum sideways technologies im sure he'll give some pointers.

Edited by mattius on Tuesday 21st June 15:54

[DazBock]

Saw a B with a 1.8 K Series running 118bhp two weekends ago at a rally.

It looked very pretty and made a nice noise but I can't help but feel it would somehow spoil the fun of owning the car in the first place?

[IroningMan]

For those sorts of costs you'd be better-off with a V8 - and it's a period conversion, too boot.

[TVR Sagaris]

IroningMan said:

For those sorts of costs you'd be better-off with a V8 - and it's a period conversion, too boot.

Exactly.

Or just rebuild your current engine to a decent spec. How often are you going to drive the B and what sort of driving will you be doing? A fast B engine won't be as easy to drive as a K-Series conversion, but you can get a good amount of power out of one and it will feel and sound right.

[alfa pint]

The cheapest way of doing it is to buy one off someone who's already converted their's.

I have an immaculate solid B, worth what mebbe 6 grand? You can buy an equally solid V8 conversion for about £9k, and there's even a few scruffy ones around for about £5-6 k.