Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Big bores and difficult decisions

Power is an issue above 60mph and going up hills in wales and switzerland.
What weight would you remove?

Mudgaurds, bonnet and boot could be made of plastic,
Smaller lights.
The car frame cannot be light due to the engine.
but what else?

I'm with Michael & SBM, the only time I felt need of a bit more power was 2 up on a 14% incline. I'd be concerned the transmission would be under even more stress.

Tim.

I think it would be a good idea to get the reliability sorted before worrying about more power. Would the internals of the engine cope with a power increase. If you really want more power easily why not add a nitrous system or if you are an engineer why not try supercharging the engine, a good winter project for someone.
I do not know if any of you belong to the Morgan 3 wheeler club in the UK but they used to /still have some b. clever tuners who used to race 3 wheelers regularly and they were very fast. Just a thought.

How much money are we talking about for these upgrades, and will there be a discount if ordering new with upgrades from Morgan directly? It appears that S&S will spec a new motor however requested, thus saving potentially thousands over retrofitting hardware. If so, these savings should be passed on to buyers if spec'd on the initial purchase. If this is the case, I'd be more apt to opt for them when I am ready to order. I wouldn't think that a stage 3 upgrade (big bore) would cost more than $1.5K USD if spec'd that way, maybe $3k if you throw in an oil cooler and a diff exhaust setup, but I'm getting the impression it's going to be much more than that. Does anyone know what's included in the different stages? I haven't seen this published anywhere.

Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3889/14978359556_cda323e561_c.jpg
courtesy of warbird

note that the sports exhaust of the stage 1 to 3 upgrade is a totally different sports exhaust to what has previously been offered (which was only a noise difference).
The whole exhaust has been redesigned to be straight thru for stage 1 to 3 and uses s&s derived baffles etc. The exhaust is then put together in the uk.
note when Morgan use the term "exhaust silencer", this is the long section from the clip backwards. This does not include the pipe curve or the catalytic converter.

-the CNC also looks effective.


yes you could go to another fitter and potentially save a few thousand pounds but then...
- you loose value in the car not being a true Morgan system anymore.
- you do not have the correct ecu settings. (the ecu on the m3w is read only so you have to get a whole new ecu system. this may not even pass emissions regulations)
- you have no leg to stand on if the thing goes wrong
- you probably won't be able to race it now, or in the future due to stuffy club regulations or circuit noise control.
- the time spent researching a reputable engineer will have to be considered by me.

the compensator is now sorted i think.

gearbox;
i see the mx5 can put out 140ftlb. or 190Nm of torque.

i see the 132 cubic inch exceeds this. at 143 ftlb
The 128 is probably in a sustainable region.


I don't know about the bevel box, prop shaft, but my main fear is that the belt will not have enough interface with the rear sprocket, because i have an early m3w, which has an offset.
My belt is very tight, but still slipped on the Brooklands hill climb last week.

I may ask Morgan to part fund helping to solve the offset in return for the full stage 3.
I wonder if it is a frame offset or swing arm problem.

Ok, so from this side of the pond am I remiss in thinking that I should just go to my local S&S dealer directly for these items as they would be a fraction of the cost. Did I read that right, nearly 8K pounds for the 128 big bore upgrade alone? Doesn't the entire X-wedge engine only cost approx. $10K USD stateside?

I'm thinking the Stage 1 would cost about $1k USD, and Stage 2 would be about $1500 USD, and Stage 3 maybe $3k USD if done stateside through an S&S dealer, or am I totally off base.

As to the note about it not being a true Morgan system, what's Morgan about S&S parts that aren't even rebranded/labeled? Other than a build sheet I think you'd be getting the exact same product.

I read elsewhere on the list that one member replaced the fuel injection system and ECU with a carburetor and electronic ignition system and raised the top end to over 130 mph using the stock displacement. Possibly "bigger" is not the only path to more power....

Roland in Arizona

It would be nice if Stage 2 gave you 115bhp and 0-60mph sprint time of 4.5 sec, as was flaunted at the M3W launch....

If I lived in the land of the free I would copy atlante, however over here in the uk, we are emissions tested yearly.