MOR404, if I read you correctly your car is running fine, though a good condition and properly tuned standard engine should run smoothly at circa 750rpm, though an engine that has been tuned may not run smoothly at low revs. A change of camshaft can alter where the maximum power is generated in the rev range.. If a higher performance cam has been fitted then perhaps higher compression pistons too also the distributor advance curve may also have been adjusted to suit, though if any or all of that has been done I might expect the carb would have been changed for one with a larger throat(s) and jets, though if it had been tuned to that degree I would expect it would be wearing a pair of sidedraught Webers.
Trying to determine which cam might be fitted to an engine may not be too easy to determine exactly.. Fitting a degree disc to the crankshaft and measuring the amount of lift and duration of one of the inlet valves and likewise for one of the exhaust valves, can be then compared to a chart of various camshaft types that one might expect to find in a Kent engine from the cam grinders of the time, such as Piper etc.
When you say the timing marks are off.... you are using a strobe, but first to be sure one would ideally confirm the static and pulley marks do indeed determine Top Dead Centre TDC... But we are getting into things you are unlikely to be involved in..?
I am guessing your mechanic swung the dizzy to get maximum revs while idling then perhaps backed it of just a tad to get the engine running as it does at present, though did you check the mechanical operation of the bobweights in the dizzy and of course the vacuum operation too...I take it that you also lubricated the dizzy centre spindle ...? Have you carried out a compression test, to compare the cylinders against each other for balance.(similar readings).?
Mr Button, I have no idea if all the V8`s Morgan received were from the Land/Range Rover production line or if some were picked up from the Rover SD1 production line which may have a different cam and carb set up from the mud plugger, more so if any came from a Vitesse SD1 I suspect a check of the engine numbers may give a clue as to the state of tune, including compression ratios...?
