MG Sports Cars

engine swaps and other performance upgrades, plus "factory" and Costello V8s

Go to Thread: PreviousNext
Go to: Forum ListMessage ListNew TopicLog In
Goto Page: PreviousFirst...124125126127128129130131132133134
Current Page: 134 of 134


BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: MGB Roadmaster
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: May 31, 2022 03:40PM

Cruise: The 60 ohm inline resistor in the "ON" line is not needed. I tested the identical system in my car and it works fine without it. Same actuator, same switch module, same wiring. Problem may be in the speed signal. I think we are taking that off the MegaJolt controller. On my car it came from the GM engine controller. That may need some tweaking.

Jim


BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: MGB Roadmaster
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: June 01, 2022 10:46AM

Ran the full battery of tests on the cruise, it all looks good but then.... you know, it's funny how it won't work unless the cable is connected to the carb. All good now.

I'm still seeing a little oil deposited on the valve cover but maybe that will go away after the engine is run in a bit, and the oil has been changed as it is a little overfilled.

It just started a lean spit at very light throttle so I'll reset the fuel pressure regulator and see what that does. Definitely fuel related though.

But next I need to mix up some silicone rubber to pour into the ash trays on both cars and finish out the job on the cruise.

Got about 140 miles on the clock.

Jim


MGBV8
Carl Floyd
Kingsport, TN
(4511 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 11:32PM

Main British Car:
1979 MGB Buick 215

authors avatar
Re: MGB Roadmaster
Posted by: MGBV8
Date: June 01, 2022 10:56AM

"I need to mix up some silicone rubber to pour into the ash trays on both cars "

??


BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: MGB Roadmaster
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: June 02, 2022 10:13AM

I should be posting some photos later today, time permitting.

The Monroe load levelers came in yesterday, I'm working up a jig to measure the spring rate then those need to go on.

Jim


DiDueColpi
Fred Key
West coast - Canada
(1365 posts)

Registered:
05/14/2010 03:06AM

Main British Car:
I really thought that I'd be an action figure by now!

authors avatar
Re: MGB Roadmaster
Posted by: DiDueColpi
Date: June 02, 2022 09:57PM

Are you measuring the springs or the shocks Jim?
I just use my hydraulic press, a digital bath scale with a piece of 3/4 plywood glued onto it, and a tape measure.
I have a shock stud bolted onto the cross bar for the ram and a 2x4 with a hole bored into it screwed to the plywood on the scale.
I use it mostly for measuring gas shocks and air springs. Never thought about load levelers.

Cheers
Fred


BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: MGB Roadmaster
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: June 02, 2022 10:59PM

Almost exactly my setup Fred. Looks like the spring rate is 60lbs/in which stiffens up the coilovers nicely and the second shock is also very helpful. But far too light to use 4 coilovers plus there would be no height adjustment.

Here are the ash trays

IMG_0001.JPG

IMG_0007.JPG

The load levelers are mounted and I'm set to adjust the height tomorrow, very much like we did the weekend we set the toe-in.

Fuel pressure is at 7.5psi which is right for Rochester Quadrajets. About the limit of what they will take without flooding.
I've tweaked the advance map and will upload that tomorrow to take care of that low speed spit. Wasn't that smooth of a map anyway. I had to pull several degrees out in the sub 1500rpm range. Apparently the stock cam is more efficient at filling the cylinders at those speeds.

That should be pretty much everything. If I get the chance before go time I may put the AC gages on and check the subcool and superheat just to fine tune the charge.

Oh, and maybe I mentioned I replaced the breather on the intake with a tube up into the air cleaner housing, I added a flame trap to the tube. I'll try to get a few more miles on it and then change the oil and filter.

The number for the load levelers is Monroe 58575

Jim



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2022 11:01PM by BlownMGB-V8.


MGBV8
Carl Floyd
Kingsport, TN
(4511 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 11:32PM

Main British Car:
1979 MGB Buick 215

authors avatar
Re: MGB Roadmaster
Posted by: MGBV8
Date: June 03, 2022 09:50AM

"Fuel pressure is at 7.5psi "

Keep an eye on it. That is on the high side. 6-7psi would be fine.



mgb260
Jim Nichols
Sequim,WA
(2461 posts)

Registered:
02/29/2008 08:29PM

Main British Car:
1973 MGB roadster 260 Ford V8

Re: MGB Roadmaster
Posted by: mgb260
Date: June 03, 2022 11:51AM

Jim, How about a pic of the load levelers installed?


BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: MGB Roadmaster
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: June 04, 2022 11:44AM

We've been running 7.5psi for the last couple of years and it's been fine so I didn't see any need to change it.

Here are a couple of shots of my car, it's identical to the Roadmaster loadleveler setup.

Jim

IMG_0011.JPG

IMG_0012.JPG



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/04/2022 11:45AM by BlownMGB-V8.


mgb260
Jim Nichols
Sequim,WA
(2461 posts)

Registered:
02/29/2008 08:29PM

Main British Car:
1973 MGB roadster 260 Ford V8

Re: MGB Roadmaster
Posted by: mgb260
Date: June 04, 2022 12:15PM

Jim, Thanks!


BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: MGB Roadmaster
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: June 10, 2022 10:36PM

We ran into a small issue, but it means the car won't be making it to Wytheville next week, just a minor little problem with a couple of cam lobes going round. Fortunately the vendor is sending us a new replacement cam and the lifters and gaskets won't be a tremendous expense but there's the small matter of labor time and scheduling to deal with so the car may not be ready for another couple of weeks or so. Disappointing but there it is. Sometimes flat tappet cams just fail and this time we got to play the part of the victim.

The ultimate solution of course is to convert to a roller cam but those don't come cheap and for a big block Buick I think the cost wouldn't be far south of a grand and not likely to be something we would consider. (At least they are available.) But the upside if we did would be the ability to use just about any generic oil in the engine and not worry about wiping out another cam. That *almost* makes it worthwhile, and for many of us is a pretty good argument when building a new engine. I certainly bought into it on my stroker 300.

Anyway, we'll have the car up and running pretty soon and get it back out on tour. Hopefully we won't have any problems with the next one.

Jim


BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: MGB Roadmaster
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: June 30, 2022 09:56PM

Steve came up last weekend and we did the cam swap on the car and a few other things. Ken Nicks bought a set of Melling lifters to match the cam so that all the parts came from the same manufacturer.

We pulled the pan and then discovered it was a great challenge to get it out of the car and I couldn't for the life of me figure out how I had removed the pan with the engine in the car last time. In retrospect I think I have it figured out. The confusing part is that we put the car on the lift to remove the engine for the refresh and Dan asked me where I wanted him to put the driveshaft, Steve and I both remember that clearly. So we thought the transmission must have still been in the car. I think now that we were mistaken about that. I think I had simply shoved the driveshaft back above the differential, and had removed the transmission, bellhousing and flywheel and that was why I was able to get the pan out before we pulled the engine. Maybe If I had read back in these notes I'd have found that. But no matter. We did manage to make extra work for ourselves but as Ken noted, we now know that the engine is nicely cleaned out inside.

As it turned out the cam wasn't bad. Well let me say maybe it isn't bad since nobody has measured it and he is remarkably unreliable about these things. We did find a couple of collapsed lifters and those would have produced the same symptoms. We briefly considered just swapping in the new lifters but any time you replace a lifter you take a chance that it will wipe out the cam lobe so we chose the surer path of replacing all those parts. We treated the cam lobes with some of my ever dwindling supply of unobtanium (concentrated Molybdium Disulfide engine assembly lube) and let that soak in, followed by comp cams white cam lube and then Melling red assembly lube on the lifters, and finally a pint of Lucas flat tappet oil additive in the crankcase, and precharged the oil supply. On startup we held 2K for 15 minutes and then went on a 45 minute road test. There were some minor oil leaks, one at the front of the pan which I think I've taken care of, and the valve covers of course. I'll tackle those tomorrow, it requires draining the coolant down enough to remove the top hose.

We replaced the water pump. It was wobbly and undoubtedly was the source of the noise we had been hearing. Odd that it didn't leak though. We found that we cannot use the water pump for the AC application as it is too long, it has to be the non-AC one. We also noticed the coil wire for plug #1 shorting to ground so we'll need to keep an eye on that. A set of custom plug wires may be in our future eventually and we will need help with that because of the EDIS coils. A set of usable wires seem to be hard to find for some reason. We found a Mr Gasket 710 at O'Reilly's that we could slightly trim and use to plug the front bung hole in the rocker cover so no more wrestling with the PCV cap at the rear when adding oil. And, Steve trashed the dipstick, so I had to make a new one. Again. This is getting to be a habit that I don't very much care for. And I think Steve has maybe earned a new Spurious Name.

Ken also donated a new Edelbrock carb but we used the old Qjet for the break-in as it was a known quantity. Should be able to fit the new one sometime in the next couple of weeks. I'm going to put some miles on the car, looking for any potential issues and maybe by the next Happy Hour we'll be ready to discuss getting it back out on tour. In the meantime I'm going to enjoy driving it and comparing it to my roadster. Both are fun cars to drive but for very different reasons.

Jim


BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: MGB Roadmaster
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: July 05, 2022 02:23PM

Adjusted the AC charge yesterday and improved the performance.

A few weeks back we made a change over from R134a to R290 refrigerant. For those not in the know, that's propane which is a far superior refrigerant to r134, has larger molecules, and isn't as prone to leaking out of the system.

At any rate it was working well with a minimal charge so I adjusted it upwards to see what improvement I could get and wow! Not what I was expecting at all. With head pressure around 250psi (r134 can run up to 350+) and 20-30 on the suction side I was getting 20 degree air out of the vents with the fan on high and the evaporator thermostat was cutting out the compressor occasionally with it cranked all the way to cold. Superheat/subcool numbers were high, in the 30/60 range indicating the need for even more refrigerant but with those vent temps I just didn't feel like pushing it right then. If it turns out to have an issue with freezing up I'll try another 25psi but I don't think there's any rush.

I may be able to swap out the carb next week.

Jim


MGBV8
Carl Floyd
Kingsport, TN
(4511 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 11:32PM

Main British Car:
1979 MGB Buick 215

authors avatar
Re: MGB Roadmaster
Posted by: MGBV8
Date: July 08, 2023 03:56PM

Been awhile.

The 750 Edelbrock carb was a nice upgrade from the old Quadrajet. It worked pretty darn good right out of the box. Needs just a slight tweaking.

Max Fulton even managed 23 mpg on the trip back to Florence, KY for the V8 meet in Monticello, IL!
Goto Page: PreviousFirst...124125126127128129130131132133134
Current Page: 134 of 134


Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.