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MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG Midget and Sprite Technical - 7 Port Head

I see Mini Mania is offering what appears to be a really nice cylinder head for the A Series engine. Has anybody used one and if so how is it. The price is pretty good. The Arden is much higher.
Tom
TCW Tom Westcot

I think they must have just started caring those, I certianly wasnt aware, And Im always on there site daydreaming over parts I want.

Im not overly wild about the valve size, id want bigger valves I think it also still needs alot of port work If i recall...But 4 HS4 carbs (or 2 pair of HS4 carbs)should bolt directly on if you dont want the webers, but you will have to play with the linkage a bit.

Still how cool would that be....I wonder if santa knows I was a good boy this past year...LOL

Prop
Prop

Or a set of Jenvey's and ECU ...... Now Prop will have to have been a really good boy this year :D

David


David Hunt

Tom - there has been a couple of 7 port designs over the years, most are based around the DKM head from the 60's. There is a company in the UK called MiniSport who have been advertising for some time....I placed an order and after 9 months of dodgy castings thought better of it.

The idea is nice as you get an x-flow head but as always its never going to be a bolt on; you would need to invest in an ecu and throttle bodies to make it worth while (or get 2x 45 DCOE which is about the same cost!).


Don't forget that the cost is for a bare head....I would be seriously interested to who owns the casting rights and who did the casting...
Toby Anscombe

Hey Toby, how is your bmw/A-series engine doing, is it in yet, your driving it?
Arie de Best

Hi Arie - engine is in, exhaust is made (wince at the price) but real life has got in the way over the summer. Now got a clear run through till Christmas so will be out in the garage most weekends and a couple of evenings a week....

or thats the plan, I am sure that SWMBO will have other ideas as to how my time should be spent ;-)
Toby Anscombe

Toby,
Any new engine porno-pictures to drool over?
Guy Weller

No, but a very nice man (who may have written a book) sent me a link to a mirror shine cam cover last night...

Thanks Daniel; Available in all good bookshops and some rubbish ones as well ;-)
Toby Anscombe

Toby,

Maybe ready for next year's MG's on Track day on the Silverstone GP circuit? That would be a real sight!

Richard
Richard Wale

is this the pierce head?
since it is aluminium it has some advantages over the minisport one.

But since i have noticed that you can do EFI with the siamese ports my intrest in 7 ports has declined rapidly
Onno Könemann

I've got some of those Pierce alloy heads. Nice, but I'm not sure I'd have paid the normal asking price for them. Any idea what the UK price for them is now that the dollar is up?


rob multi-sheds thomas

"I've got some of those Pierce alloy heads."

Eh! What you just found them under the bench? bought them down the pub?
One for sale then?
Tarquin

I received 3 in an exchange deal about 5 years ago but I've never used them. 2 would be for sale but I've no idea what they cost these days. Are they still made and does anyone sell them in the UK?


rob multi-sheds thomas

the one at mini mania looks like the Alden, the one rob has looks like a westlake, I went to the pierce website....they did have a 7 port but I cant find it now, I was thinking a bare head was around $1800.

Dont worry about the dollar rising, its only doing so based on the rumor that the fed wants to raise intrest rates, from 0 % to a 1/2 % they are charging banks to barrow money....one way or the other the rise in the dollar is tempoary at best.


Prop...DUH!!!! already falling agian
Prop

$1800?
Thats about € 27,- nowadays isnt it? :)
Arie de Best

Dont be silly arie,

the conversion is around 28...LOL
Prop

The seven-port head from Pierce is aluminum and has the intake manifold for the dual Weber carbs cast-in (no vacuum leaks there!). Larry Miller installed a prototype (yet another benefit of living in the Monterey area) and was very impressed by it. I think that if I were to undertake an EFI project, I would start with one of these.
David "still like my SU carbs..." Lieb
David Lieb

I dont know guys, for the kind of money they are asking, I think there are far better options, namely the BMW motorcycle head is a good choice, or go with a good proven A-series copy that already has a cross flow head ... AKA the ford kent engine, a good tune and you can turn out 120 hp, and the thing is almost a drop in bolt and go engine, the last option would be a K-seris rover.

By the time you get the carbs, valves, springs, high lift rockers, and all the other hardware...you can hit $4000 really fast, and thats just the top end, and if your going to drop 4K into just the head, might as well drop another 5 in the lower end ....then you just need heaverier brakes, uprated suspension, paint, wheels, exhaust, where does it end?

Trust me...Im stuck in the middle of this cycle with no way out.

Prop
Prop

http://www.burtonpower.com/technical_1/kent_crossflow.aspx

see what I mean...

Prop
Prop

ford a bolt on goody that is a good one prop!

yes there are other ways to ge more power but easyer?
staying with the stock engine block has some big advantages

and for EFI you don't need a crossflow head...
Onno Könemann

Mine aren't 7-ports. These are mine.
http://www.minimania.com/web/Item/C-AHT345/InvDetail.cfm
Currently $1495 for a bare casting. If someone wants one in the UK, I'd sell for £800? IIRC, they are 14lbs lighter than the stock head. You can lift it with your little finger.
rob multi-sheds thomas

Hi Rob ..Need contact details for you ..Roy
R Mcknight

The Ford Kent engine is very heavy so the fact that it makes slightly more power than a well tuned A-series doesn't give it any credible advantage. If this wasn't the case it would have been a popular conversion decades ago.

Even the Ford Zetec is heavier than a K series.

The key advantage of any aluminium head is the weight saving which is why I fitted a Pierce head to my Sprite.
Daniel Thirteen-Twelve

Dave Shannon used to have a Kent Engine in his midget before he went racing in the Midget Challenge

It was an 1800cc Kent about 170bhp... this is how he got on at Wiscombe in '91...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rq-gTHLJBE

I drove it at Wiscombe that year - it was quite the worst handling Midget I've ever driven... But it was bloody powerful...

The same Midget was rebuilt with a 1426cc A series race engine and Dave won the A class of the Midget Challenge in it in '95
J A Bilsland

JA.

I LOVE that video, there was a guy on here a couple years ago that had just got a car that looked exactly like it and was complaining about the handling so i posted that vid and said well heres your problem, I think the guy melted right there in front of the putter...granted it was a long shot that it was the same car, but funny just the same...good find!

I had forgotten that deb had mentioned that it was a heavy engine but really how much heaverir can it be then the A-series, its not exactly a rubber band motor, Id think an aluminum head would help make it more reasonable

Prop
Prop

Roy, I'm at tessa dot thomas@tesco dot net


I built 2 Midgets with Fiat 132 Twin-cam 2000cc engines/boxes. Nice in a straight line (faaaaaast) but I'd not done anything fancy with the cornering. The first had a GRP front and a battery in the back but number 2 was all steel with standard bodywork and bonnet.
rob multi-sheds thomas

Prop

An aluminium head on a 711M Ford block is called a BDA... Cosworth made 'em for a while... ;o)

Amazing motor but not a cheap, drop in, alternative power source for a Midget... If I was going down that road I'd probably do the K Series thing. However in the Midget Challenge over here we have to use the good old A series and we're not allowed alloy heads. 1380 and 130bhp is still pretty quick in a 600 kilo race Midget on slicks :o) enough to upset this Clio Cup car anyhow...

James


J A Bilsland

Seems like the passenger is driving the Clio James :-))
Robert (Bob) Midget Turbo

That's cos the driver is so short he can't see over the dashboard...
J A Bilsland

This thread was discussed between 04/11/2009 and 08/11/2009

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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