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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - Twin Turbo V8 - help with fitting EFI

Hello,

Right I've just bought myself a new track car and I need to fit EFI. It's got a Rover SD1 3.5litre engine with two stonking great turbos bolted to it :-)

I'm wanting to fit EFI with MegaSquirt and need to know what parts I need exactly. So far I've managed:

Inlet manifold, injectors, fuel rail and sensors, fuel pressure regulator.

I'm planning on running a single front-facing throttle body (for the intercooler pipe) and hence will be having a custom plenum chamber made.

Does it matter what type of inlet manifold I use? Do I need the trumpet plate thing as well? I'm a complete novice when it comes to this so any advice would be appreciated!

cheers
OT Hayter

hello, you bought that off ebay a few weeks back than?? is it a kick to drive? jim
james madson

OT?
I am familiar with this car it belonged to a guy fairly local to me and was a customer of V8 Conversions at Farnborugh Kent.
There are going to be several different answers to your question and which route you take will probably depend on how much money you are prepared to spend.

Firstly I wpould recommend getting the latest copy of
Tuning Rover V8 Engines by David Hardcastle, the earlier edition had a good chapter on Turbocharging and also on fuel injection and will give you some background information.

I would think that the most cost effective way of adding EFI is to find a good complete standard set up probably off e-bay I've seen complete systems from as little as £125,00 including all the hardware loom and ECU, a hot wire system would probably be the way to go. From then on you will have to decide on how much power you want to make, as this will determine how the system needs to be developed and also whatyou will need to do to the bottom end of the engine.
If I remember correctly the engine is basicly standard SD1 and if you are going to up the BHP you will have to do some upgrading if you want it to stay together.
A company that can probably help with developing a system is Emerald there web site is http://emerald3d.com/em_ab_em.html
Have fun,
Kevin.
Kevin Jackson

OT you need to hit the MS forums.

www.msefi.com

They will have answers to your questions about parts for Megasquirt. (GREAT CHOICE BTW, I am doing that myself right now on 2 vehicles)

Check out DIYautotune for MS parts, they are great guys, quick to ship, good prices etc..

Congrats on the new toy, sounds like a bruiser!
Larry Embrey

You could always try the dual plenum from the Vitesse as it would make connecting up the turbos very easy - these come up on ebay from time to time.
Stuart Robson

The link should be'
http://www.emeraldm3d.com/em_ab_em.html
Kevin
Kevin Jackson

I bought the car from a guy who had it featured in Retro Cars a month or so ago, not eBay.

Can't use the dual plenum because of the position of the turbos. I'd actually thought of buying a complete set up cheap then wire in the MegaSquirt just to get it up and running. Hotwire seems to be the way forward too.

As for the engine, I've got an entire spare one already stripped down. I'm not planning on going for silly power (yet) so it'll be about a year until I start with the internals. Just gonna have some fun in the meantime. Eventually I want to have one of the fastest MGBs in the UK if possible . . .
OT Hayter

"Can't use the dual plenum because of the position of the turbos" There was a dual plenum on ebay not that long ago which had 2 conventional plenums cut in half and welded together lengthways giving a plenum outlet on each side. Didn't go for much considering the standard of the TIGing

Stoo
Stuart Robson

OT
What are you planning on doing with the car?
Are you goin to race it or stick to track days?

Mark
Mark

I'm wanting to do both: start off with some track days then race, although I'm not sure what category I'll be elegible for (if any)! In January I'm joining the Liverpool Motor Club and they do a good few tracks days over the year, but a friend has recently started racing his classic Marcos and I'd like to get into that arena too.

As for the plenums, yes I've considered cutting and shutting two standard plenums but that would only work without an intercooler. I'm converting to EFI and definitely want to run one, and the piping is just going to get in the way, hence the custom plenum idea! If, for whatever reason I can't fit an intercooler then I prob will use that method, combined with water injection it should be ok as long as the boost isn't stupidly high.

However I do want to own a very fast MGB . . . !
OT Hayter

What sort of power are you hoping for and what plans have you got for the suspension to make it go round corners? How about brakes, are they standard?

Sounds like its gonna be awesome!
Mark

The rear axel is an SD1 item with a Phantom Grip LSD mod to the diff. Standard SD1 hubs with mercedes discs and sierra calipers - I'm going to uprate these to Cosworth items.

Front brakes are Jaguar vented/x-drilled discs using Jag 4-pot calipers, so there's plenty of stopping power.

Bad thing is the suspension is pretty standard at the moment, but I'm going to fit a 5-link set up to the rear and full coilover conversion to the front as soon as I can get some spare cash together!

Power output at the moment is an estimated 250bhp, but I don't actually think it's that high. After I fit EFI, intercooler and water injection it will probably go up a bit. After that I'm gonna go for a meaty fast road cam and at least stage II heads, plus a lightened flywheel to aid revving and bigger cosworth injectors. That should be good for 300bhp+ I hope!

Not bad for a 1971 MGB!

OT Hayter

OT
Just spotted that RPI have some reconditioned 3.9 blocks on e-bay, at a buy it now price of £390.00 could possibly come a bit cheaper.One of these with a balanced bottom end and ARP stud kit (Essential)would form the basis of a great engine. Re the cam you do not want to anything with a lot of overlap or you will be just blowing fuel down the exhaust pipes, a standard cam would probably be fine or talk to Janspeed or Turbo Technics to see what they recommend.
Cylinder heads, again no need to go too wild,just mild porting with the valve throats opened up bulleted guides and a three angle valve job with the ports matched to the manifolds. If you intend running higher boost levels you will need a decent set of pistons and probably no more than about 8-1 compression ratio and that with an intercooler and adjustable wastegates should give you what you want.
One of the advantages of turbocharging is that you do not have to go to high RPM to make the power so are not exposing the engine to its inherent weeknesses which can be expensive to address.
Hope this of help.
Kevin Jackson.
Kevin Jackson

Cheers for your comments Kevin. I've actually got a spare engine (well, block + internals) that's already stripped. I'm planning on eventually getting a lightened and balanced bottom end and forged pistons, but that's a long way off! In the meantime I'm going to play with the fueling, fit an intercooler + dump valve (for sound effects lol!) and go and have some fun. If it blows up I've always got the spare engine :)
OT Hayter

OT,

Was your turbo B-V8 supposed to have been profiled in Total MG before it stopped publishing in the wake of the MG-Rover collapse?

This car had an all matte black finish with Sebring flares. Very industrial, hardcore looking. All business.

I was really anxious to see and read about that car.

I hope Total MG will still publish -- they have my subscription fee for a whole year. I renewed the month before MG went bust. I suppose the trade magazine was funded by the company. It always had a glossy show-room advertisment feel about it, but I still liked it; particularly, how they mixed the new with the old, attempting to trace lineage and pay hommage.

Does anyone know about the status of Total MG?

OT, Would love to see some pictures of your car -- do you have a website or can you post some pics here?

Thanks!

Johnny
john wells

Hello,

Yeah I have a website (actually a private club website) and a load of pictures, infact I have the complete set of photos from the Total MG photoshoot! I'll try and get them uploaded soon but unfortunately my engine went bang this weekend so I'm gonna be busy fixing that :(

The car was also featured in Retro Cars a month or so ago.

Thanks
OT Hayter

This thread was discussed between 26/09/2005 and 03/10/2005

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