Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Intake & Exhaust Upgrade for GDI

I have been following the MTW Garage 56 thread with interest and the improvement in torque and power looks impressive which prompted me to think, doesn't happen very often.
The GDI has a very convoluted intake and although the intake starts just above the radiator it then snakes over the exhaust manifold turns 90 degrees right into the air filter, across the back of the engine bay and then turns again before eventually feeding into the engine.
The exhaust manifold appears to be a mass production low quality cast item, looks horrible, then almost immediately feeds into a close coupled cat of unknown, but probably dubious, efficiency.
A well engineered intake kit, exhaust manifold and less restrictive cat should release a similar percentage increase in torque and hp and my experience with the Blacktop Zetec supports that. This could increase the peak hp from 154 to around 180 with a corresponding increase in torque and hp across a wide Rev range.
I would love to know if anyone is working on such an upgrade or even if one already exists as it appears to offer a cost effective upgrade path. Any comments?

I have a new +4 (purchased Nov 14 - I think a few moths after you) and often wonder about the exhaust manifold - it is, well, amazing in shape and design - especially from No 1 cylinder. There may, of course, be a reason for this.

For those who may not have seen the GDI manifold



From looking around I notice Librands have done a Duratec +4 sports exhaust manifold and catalyst from 2006 - but I do not know whether this would fit or is suitable for the GDI. I believe the GDI engine block is the same as the prior Duratec range but I am not certain. Back-pressures etc would also need to be good for the GDI.

I would also be interested to hear of any development in this area (it may also take the 1o cat out from the engine bay to the under wing location as the Duratec mod did).

I'm surprised Williams haven't designed a sports exhaust for it yet....together with a remap! Or perhaps they are!!

I believe that the exhausts ports differ from the Duratec, perhaps Lawrie can confirm....so you wouldn't be able to fit an earlier manifold. The cat is placed where it is to improve its efficiency and therefore emissions. Not sure if meeting emissions would prevent a sports system with the cat moved further downstream.

Thanks Jay - I didn't know but suspected as much...

I do like the way the car warms up, incredibly quickly, in the cold weather and would prefer that to remain the same if possible. I also like the torque characteristics of the engine which is why I am keen on a freer flowing intake/exhaust that would give me more of the same without altering the basic feel of the engine. Not sure about emissions as I don't believe Morgan test the cars for emissions and either use the engine suppliers figures or make them up. Otherwise I would have expected a GDI engine that Morgan praise for efficiency and improved environmental impact to have a stated CO2 figure lower than the Duratec, and it doesn't.

It would be on Librands list of products , ring them to find out if they are doing one anyway !

I suspect a remap of the GDI would be very difficult. The system is much more complex than the previous system and I have been told it requires multiple timed pulses of fuel to sort of layer in the fuel air mix during the stroke.

A sports exhaust system may be possible but I see that the manifold is very short and the cat quite close to the engine. My feeling is that disturbing this setup too much is just going to create problems for fairly limited gains. In any case the exhaust manifold doesn't look too bad anyway even though it is very short. Perhaps a 200 cell cat and a more open silencer may render some small gain in torque in the mid range, and very little at the top end (without freeing up the intake). I feel there is little to be done on the intake side, which would release some top end ponies, until some very clever and sophisticated work is done to provide a throttle body kit.

I've been told that modern/current fuel systems no longer use a separate pressure regulator, but instead have a more intelligent pump which can adapt the pressure to suit.

The thing I struggle to understand with a remap, is that I can see that the fuel pressure can be varied (maybe not with a fancy pump), and I can see that the duration of the squirt can be modified, so more fuel could be introduced at a certain point in the rev range to increase torque lower down the range for example. But apart from that, what else is there to change?
Timing maybe? Advance curve?
Maybe I'm missing something.