Hello everyone; I'm new to the board, but am a long-standing Morgan enthusiast!
I have a Morgan +8 that my late father purchased new in the UK in 1970. Although it has always been a fun car, and only has 40,000 miles on it, it had begun to show some problems that severely detracted from its usability. The Rover V8 was prone to severe overheating, and its power output (180 bhp nominal) was badly degraded by the detuning required to get it to run on present-day fuel. The fuel tank was corroding on the inside, requiring the filter to be replaced about once a month. Furthermore, wear in the front suspension caused severe shimmying at highway speeds.
After considering various alternatives, I decided to ship the car to Isis Imports in California to have the Rover engine and Moss gearbox replaced with a 4 cylinder 2.4 L General Motors Ecotec engine and 5-speed gearbox (think Pontiac Solstice / Saturn Sky). Other work to be done included rebuilding the front suspension, replacing all four shock absorbers (dampers to you Brits), and completely refurbishing the brake system. A new Morgan fuel tank was fitted.
The car came back last week, and it's fantastic. The power output of the new engine is 177 bhp, and in the 1900 lb. car it provides lightning acceleration, even with a self-imposed break-in rev limit of 4500. The Morgan weighs about 1000 lbs. less than the Solstice, which in standard non-turbo form does 0-60 in 7.2 seconds. Based on that, I estimate the Morgan's 0-60 time to be well into the sub six second range. The most surprising thing about the new engine is its torque. Thanks to modern-day variable valve timing, it pulls strongly from 2000 RPM in 4th gear, and if you change down to 3rd, hang on! The suspension work has eliminated the shimmy and substantially improved the ride, and the new gearbox is a delight compared to the cantankerous old Moss unit. The car is altogether much easier to drive and far more comfortable at freeway speeds than before. Oh, and it sounds great (of course a lot different from the V8).
Everyone I have showed the car to has been impressed with the quality of the conversion. It still needs paint and upholstery, but that can wait. It's just great to have the old car (and family heirloom) back in its present form!
I was going to add photos to this post, but I can't seem to figure that out. I'll try links instead.
(Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Isis Imports other than as a very satisfied customer.)
