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[Martin_1962]

Just thinking aloud.

I hate carbs, nothing but hassle

What is the chance of retro fitting a MS system onto an older car?

Also rough prices of kit (ie from to would do).

Almost certainly would be a 4 cylinder whatever I find.

[albitz]

Im surprised at a lover of retro cars like you Martin. Nothing beats the intake roar of a pair of twin 48 dellortos or webers on at full chat.

[Vamps]

Im surprised at a lover of retro cars like you Martin. Nothing beats the intake roar of a pair of twin 48 dellortos or webers on at full chat.

I will second that..........

[Kevin Wood]

Im surprised at a lover of retro cars like you Martin. Nothing beats the intake roar of a pair of twin 48 dellortos or webers on at full chat.

.. or the frustration of trying to find out which bits have fallen off them causing it to run as rough as a bear's @rse!

I found a jet cover from a 45DCOE sandwiched between the inner and outer body panels on the Westfield last year. It hasn't run carbs since 2003.

But.. I digress. Megasquirt (one variant or another) will run practically any petrol engine. No worries there. From my memory alone it has run everything between a Briggs and Stratton mower engine and an Allison V-1710 28 litre aero engine in an air racer.

As to cost.. The basic MS1 you can build from a kit for £150-£200. The latest MS3 that does sequential injection on 8 cylinders, COP on 8 cylinders, etc. etc. probably around the £500 mark.

You won't believe the difference even just a mapped ignition system makes to an engine that runs a mechanical distributor.

[maracus]

Im surprised at a lover of retro cars like you Martin. Nothing beats the intake roar of a pair of twin 48 dellortos or webers on at full chat.

I will second that..........

Going from an astra sport, big derv mig (both with a modded airbox) and a cav turbo with a pipercross viper, I STILL thought the sound of my 1ltr nova was... Awesome!! Even after a summer of usage!

[Martin_1962]

Im surprised at a lover of retro cars like you Martin. Nothing beats the intake roar of a pair of twin 48 dellortos or webers on at full chat.

Twin Stromberg 150 are a real PITA

Still managed 115bhp approx (90 at wheels) from a 1600

[Martin_1962]

Im surprised at a lover of retro cars like you Martin. Nothing beats the intake roar of a pair of twin 48 dellortos or webers on at full chat.

.. or the frustration of trying to find out which bits have fallen off them causing it to run as rough as a bear's @rse!

I found a jet cover from a 45DCOE sandwiched between the inner and outer body panels on the Westfield last year. It hasn't run carbs since 2003.

But.. I digress. Megasquirt (one variant or another) will run practically any petrol engine. No worries there. From my memory alone it has run everything between a Briggs and Stratton mower engine and an Allison V-1710 28 litre aero engine in an air racer.

As to cost.. The basic MS1 you can build from a kit for £150-£200. The latest MS3 that does sequential injection on 8 cylinders, COP on 8 cylinders, etc. etc. probably around the £500 mark.

You won't believe the difference even just a mapped ignition system makes to an engine that runs a mechanical distributor.

Thanks

Sort of info required.

An Allison though

Biggest upgrade to that would be a Merlin

[Andy B]

Just thinking aloud.

I hate carbs, nothing but hassle

What is the chance of retro fitting a MS system onto an older car?

Also rough prices of kit (ie from to would do).

Almost certainly would be a 4 cylinder whatever I find.

Throttle bodies from motorbikes seem to be a common way of injecting an older car.

Or another was I saw was the other weekend at a car show, where the owner of a Morris Minor had bolted a K1200 motorbike cylinder head to the block of a (1400?) Marina engine!  :-?

[Martin_1962]

Reasons why.

Emmisions and MOTs I remember the closeness of squeezing the Sunbeam through, hot cams ect.

Looking at an older 70s or 80s car, to restore for child use in 4 or 5 years, thinking classic for insurance, learning maintenance, and coolness.

The list is quite open, but will need to work a cam and crank sensor as would like sequential.

Thinking of bike TBs or similar on a 40DCOE type manifold, lots of engines have these as an option.

[Kevin Wood]

Throttle bodies from motorbikes seem to be a common way of injecting an older car.

Yep. they are a great intake upgrade for a tuned 4 pot and they sound almost as good as a pair of sidedraught carbs. Not quite the same but they bark nicely.

Or another was I saw was the other weekend at a car show, where the owner of a Morris Minor had bolted a K1200 motorbike cylinder head to the block of a (1400?) Marina engine!  :-?

I've heard about that conversion. The bottom end is an A series. Why they don't bin the whole A series instead of just the head I'm not sure.

[Kevin Wood]

Sequential injection isn't worth bothering with IMHO. You won't notice the difference.

If it's an old car emissions shouldn't be an issue on carbs or injection if it's been set up well. Injection will be fit and forget, though, whereas carbs do need a tweak periodically.

What will improve dramatically is performance (particularly low down torque and off-cam behaviour), and fuel consumption (I went from 120 miles on a tank to 170).

[Martin_1962]

Throttle bodies from motorbikes seem to be a common way of injecting an older car.

Yep. they are a great intake upgrade for a tuned 4 pot and they sound almost as good as a pair of sidedraught carbs. Not quite the same but they bark nicely.

Or another was I saw was the other weekend at a car show, where the owner of a Morris Minor had bolted a K1200 motorbike cylinder head to the block of a (1400?) Marina engine!  :-?

I've heard about that conversion. The bottom end is an A series. Why they don't bin the whole A series instead of just the head I'm not sure.

A series - quite an antique - I am not a fan of them.

The ports are quite poor, the crank design is not good, yet it is worshipped.

[Kevin Wood]

Throttle bodies from motorbikes seem to be a common way of injecting an older car.

Yep. they are a great intake upgrade for a tuned 4 pot and they sound almost as good as a pair of sidedraught carbs. Not quite the same but they bark nicely.

Or another was I saw was the other weekend at a car show, where the owner of a Morris Minor had bolted a K1200 motorbike cylinder head to the block of a (1400?) Marina engine!  :-?

I've heard about that conversion. The bottom end is an A series. Why they don't bin the whole A series instead of just the head I'm not sure.

A series - quite an antique - I am not a fan of them.

The ports are quite poor, the crank design is not good, yet it is worshipped.

Good. Because they're the devil's work when it comes to fuel injecting them with their siamesed intake ports. Useful only as a door stop / boat anchor, etc.

[Andy B]

.... .....
I've heard about that conversion. The bottom end is an A series. Why they don't bin the whole A series instead of just the head I'm not sure.

It wasn't the prettiest of engines. The cam belt was completely exposed, and although you had a nice shiny top end, the lump still looked like it was 40 years old - cos it was! 
Apparently the idea came from America where a bloke who raced Minis wanted more from his engine & wanted more valves etc. He wandered round engine workshops with an A series head gasket to see what looked similar. It's not a direct 'bolt on' conversion - various holes in the new head need drilling & others need filling in, just 3 are exactly the same. But it seemed to work OK 

[Martin_1962]

Sequential injection isn't worth bothering with IMHO. You won't notice the difference.

If it's an old car emissions shouldn't be an issue on carbs or injection if it's been set up well. Injection will be fit and forget, though, whereas carbs do need a tweak periodically.

What will improve dramatically is performance (particularly low down torque and off-cam behaviour), and fuel consumption (I went from 120 miles on a tank to 170).

Thinking of low RPM when interesting cams are in use, fuel consumption and some performance.

I have had experience of long overlap high lift cams and while giving a good boost in power - idle not so good. Emmisions were fine under load but idle bad.