It is interesting on this board particularly, that some should assume that everyone wants or needs, to change gear all the time and is unable to do it, either mentally or physically, or that it is what tuned engines are all about and has to be accepted. For road use, and I stress that, a high reving engine is not what you need, unless you are a boy racer [this does not refer to age but to style of driving btw]. In normal road use, in give and take driving on our relatively crowded roads, even down here in the West Country, changing down one gear to overtake is acceptable and fun, having to change down 2 gears and be using upwards of 5k rpm to obtain any meaningful acceleration is not - fine on a track where the revs will never drop below 5, in fact they will be between 6500 and 7500 all the time, this is where the power band is on the ARp4 Cosworth engine, I would humbly submit that this is not the engine for this car, maybe in a Caterham or Westfield weighing in at 500kgs it would work, and indeed I have had many such cars in my 50 years of driving, but changing driving style, although I am more than practiced in all the black arts of gear changing [ie double d'clutching, rev. matching, heel'n'toe, block changing, left foot braking, front to rear dynamic balance, etc. etc.] is not something that I want or should need to do on this car, and as much as I should perhaps, sell it and change to a Roadster, it is not going to happen and anyway, there is no other car in the range which I like as much as the ARp4.
Hence my opening post, although of course I know that fitting a bigger engine isn't ever really going to work for all the reasons which have been given, for which many thanks to one and all, the only thing left is to modify the existing engine or drive in a way I do not want to, which will annoy me every time I have to change down 2 gears to get to the power.
A couple of weeks ago I was in Northern California with My +8 Bitsa. Now with a 3.9 engine I bought from Bill Fink. Came out of a Morgan and is not modified. On the North end of Hiway 1 from the Ocean to Hiway 101 there is a very steep, twisty segment of about 20 miles. I was chasing My friend in a 2005 3.0 Roadster. We were travelling as fast as this road would allow. As I said it was steep and the curves are tight. I could hear the Roadster shift constantly. The driver was keeping His Roadster in the Power Band (or on the Cam as We Americans call it). On the steep sections I left the "Bitsa" in 3rd, relying on the low torque. I had great power to 4,500. On the tight curves down to 1,500. I was pushing this Roadster quite a lot. Now this Roadster Driver is super competitive. He would of left Me in a "heart beat" if He could of. I know Him well having raced Him in sail boats years ago. But the light weight of the Bitsa (1,800 lbs + a little) and the aftermarket brake system I installed because the old Morgan issue were inadequate gave Me quite a lot of edge. I am also using a 3.7 rear axle ratio. This coupled with a T-5 gear box with .67 5th also make for a great Touring Morgan.
So I am a fan of Modifications. What a delight. My "Junk Yard Special" out performing a very expensive (in the U.S.) Roadster.
BTW: I have a video of this. But it is too long and frankly boring.
