Under Construction

September 29th, 2008

Please pardon our dust while we improve the website over the next few days.  If you need anything please feel free to call 616-301-2888 or email Mike.  Thank you!

Q & A: Wire Wheels, Upgrade Engine

Saturday March 16th, 2002
Q & A, MGA, MGB, MGC, MG T-Type, Midget
John,

Greetings from the windy city. I had called you last week about a wire wheel conversion for my Magnette. You had said that the half-shafts needed to be welded - but I wasn't sure exactly why - we had a rushed phone call during your "tech time". I imagine there is a length issue with the half shafts/wire wheel hubs. I'd rather not weld a half-shaft, and having some pretty damn good machinst friends with some big-ass lathes - I'd rather have a set of half shafts made - or maybe even several sets and talk some guys in the Z register into going in on this with me. At any rate - what measurements and where from - would I need to take to tell someone what size modified half-shafts to make?

Also - with a modified "originality!" battle cry - I would like to extract a little more oomph out of the original three-main 1500 that is currently in "Maggie". I am completely against a five-main conversion or anything radical - don't like to confuse the next "care-taker" down the road, when they have to figure out why some parts don't fit! Anyway - what can be done in the course of a normal re-build? Are oversize pistons and rings available for the 1500 block? Would a small compression ratio bump - say to 9.0 or so be too much? My plans are basically this - if possible :

1) Overbore to remove any cylinder wear to the next higher diameter for which pistons and rings are available.

2) A slight compression ration increase (9.0 to 1 or therabouts) and matching ports with manifolds.

3) Possible flywheel lightening and balance of reciprocating parts.

4) More ambitious cam shaft timing (again, nothing too radical I want a nice idle too!)[? 5) Larger S.U. carb/manifold set up with a less restrictive exhaust (it doesn't look like there's too much room to put a MGB exhaust manifold or any other larger diameter system on a Magnette with that firewall clearance)...

And that's about it, John. Your thoughts? And by the way - yes - the brakes are completely rebuilt and up to snuff!

Cheers Octagonally,

Tom

TOM!

The major difference between the MGA diff and the Magnette diff is that the Magnette diff is "much" wider. By much, it's probably 1-2 inches on each side. That is the reason you cannot simply fit an MGA diff ... read more