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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - MED Head - worth it?

Gathering components together for my "warmer" road engine build, I have my eyes on a used race MED Clubman head - offset valves 37 / 31 mm. - from a trusted racer, and described as "excellent".

Trouble is, at half the price of new, it's still pricey for me.
I'm building a 1430 with probably 286 cam and a single 1.75 HIF - would this head be the crowning glory, or will my off-the-shelf MG Metro head be good enough?
Steve Clark

A 1430 will need to breathe more than the std head would allow, due to smaller ports/valves. The extra timing and lift from the 286 will help, but given the head is the major limitation for the Aseries, you will surely surely be down on power. The 286 should allow the engine to rev to make power, but the head will limit the airflow so your torque will drop off before a good peak rev/power is reached.

I guess you could try the 1430/286 engine on the standard head, and stick with it if you're happy; the head upgrade would then simply be a bolt-on (plus needle and timing adjustment).

A
Anthony Cutler

That'll be the one on Pistonheads then? With the 11-stud set up that requires repair? Do you know why stud holes 10 & 11 need sleeving? Has it damaged the water jackets? Do you know anyone that can do the job?
M Tyler

GEZ Steve,

At your stage of the game (1430cc) Id go all the way and try for a westlake or aldon 7-8 port head,

that or a BMW motor cycle head like what toby is building

with only aa 5-7 gal. gas tank and an engine like that, are you pretty much realigated to the driveway, or can you actually make it to the end of the street block and back??? LOL.

12 feet to the gallon..LOL

prop

Prop***The End in 2012

Whats wrong with an Eaton? that'll get it going proper :-) i've recently evil bayed one for 87.00 GBP, just got to get the bugger to fit.
Brad (Sprite IV 1380)

Max,

Yep, that's the feller.
Yes, water jacket at one end has broken through, so would obviously need a re-sleeve - I thought this should be a straightforward job, especially as I was reckoning on sticking to the 9-stud midget install.

Am I wrong? - is a re-sleeve particularly tricky or expensive? Would welcome your views.
Steve Clark

Steve,
I would be more inclined to sleeve the head properly and drill and tap the block for the extra studs. If you are going to extract enough from this lump to justify the cost of the head, you might as well be prepared to make it as bullet-proof as possible.
David "Haven't done mine yet..." Lieb
David Lieb

9 studs on a 1430, Hmmmm....

You could call it the Ph-art master 1430, So you like changing HG on a regular basis, : ^ P

prop
Prop***The End in 2012

Steve,

I'd be inclined to ask around with people who might do the repair and find out how successfully the head can be repaired. My concern would why has the head gone at that point, internal rust?, if so the rest of the head could be compromised as well. I had a head, that I ported, go at the bottom of the inlet port into the water jacket, a point that had only been cleaned up and not seen major metal removal as can be done elsewhere in the port.

My concern regarding sleeving would be that it might compromise the strength of the pillar in the head that takes the compressive load from the upper head face to the gasket face. A thin sleeve would most likely be OK in that it would seal but not reduce the pillar strength much and allow the extra bolt, 10th & 11th bolt, load to be spread around the head gasket in that area by the original pillar, but a thicker sleeve straight through the head , while it would handle the compressive load would not spread the load around the gasket as the sleeve is not an integral part of the head.
David Billington

I would suggest that it would be ok to go down a size of stud to permit the bore to be sleeved without, enlarging it. Given that most A-Series run without the 2 additional studs would suggest that there is only a marginaly need for more clamping in that area.

I would also suggest that the reason rover used a common stud size with the others would have been to reduce line-side complexity in the engine plant.

Regards,
J E G Eastwood 1

Rover/BL didn't use a common stud size. Although the rear stud was a 3/8" like the five 'outside' studs, the Cooper S used a 5/16" bolt at the front, which was tightened to 25lbs/ft IIRC.
Dave O'Neill 2

This thread was discussed between 24/02/2009 and 25/02/2009

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG Midget and Sprite Technical BBS is active now.