Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Aero 8, 2012< Plus 8, SuperSports, Coupe & Aeromax BMW V8 - The future?

Reading a bit this morning has gotten me pondering.. what the future of the n/a BMW V8 is for MMC. They are very fortunate to have such a relationship with BMW (who only produce the n/a V8 for MMC) but eventually I am sure emisisons and regs will put an end to it.

In which case then what? Will Morgan fit a BMW V8 Turbo instead? Or will they be forced to seek something else for the Aero/Plus 8's?

Regards,
Nick

My two pence worth.....

MMC want/need to improve their overall average emissions level, so whilst they could keep the big V8 (It is Euro 6) it is effectively unsaleable outside the UK, Germany and Sweden because it has CO2 levels over 250gm/km.

So they need something with about 300bhp and a CO2 level of something like the B48 which is a Turbo 4 that can produce 250bhp as fitted to the 730 and and in a car of the size and weight of an Aero would give CO2 levels about 130gm/km, making it attractive in many more markets.

Perhaps the related straight 6 would fit, this is the B58 that is used in the M240 and gives 335bhp and would still be less than 190gm/km....

Aero 4 and Aero 6 anyone?

Six please.

I do love a throttle bodied Four as a little rorty monster but the Aero chassis would benefit from the smooth sound of a six. I think that like the auto box it offers a more "smooth" experience which befits the retro-modern thing going on with an Aero.

I would still worry about the huge slug of turbo torque that they seem to design and program in now a days (too make it feel like a turbo deisel perhaps !) and how that would effect the traction and driving style of the car. We might find a few more in ditches if we are not careful.

I am assuming Nick that Morgan are simply plugging into the BMW spares supply to get the V8 engines in which case they are likely to be available for some time. After all, BMW need to supply replace engines for BMW cars for some time after they stop selling the cars.

Barring a radical leap in combustion efficiency of the sort seen in F1, CO2 output relates directly to power output. Getting cars below the magic 200 is as much as function of tuning just for the test as anything else. Carefully chosen gearbox ratios and the use of anything up to 9 speeds. Small 4 cylinder engines with reduced pumping losses helped by turbos also brings an improvement.

Morgan have a wide field to play. After all, they use Ford as well as BMW so it could be any configuration when the day comes except perhaps a n/a v8

Some interesting thoughts, I didn't think of the BMW parts supply so perhaps it won't be as much of an issue going forward.

I also presume the E3W will bring down the total C02...

I do love a big V8 however, and would be very sad if the Aero's stopped using them. Nothing sounds better when firing it up.

Ford also do a very nice small block V8 these days but the cost of re-integrating all of the electronics and type approval would not be justified I suspect.

Also the volume of V8 Aero chassis is not that high so I would imagine that the numbers being discussed here are at the ultra low end of a large vendors shopping list.

I was interested to read in 'Octane Oct issue'that the 370 bhp BMW V8 is the engine selected by Bristol cars for their new Bullet speedster.
£250K I understand, which makes the +8
quite a bargain.
John

I thought that Morgan bought a batch of BMW V8 motors years ago and were going to produce plus 8's and Aero 8's until their stock runs out as there are no more available. I thought there were circa a couple of hundred left a few years ago.

This was my understanding also.

I believe the 'next' engine, when existing supplies run out will be the 6cyl twin scroll turbo, more powerful, more economical but probably without the V8 'sound' ? We'll see ....