Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) I think I am beginning to get it!

You might be thinking of me, Howard. Although I did more than change throttle bodies and ECU, I changed the whole engine. I went from the old Ford CVH engine to a Vauxhall/Opel Ecotec Z18XER engine, courtesy of Kevin Vernon. It's a fantastic engine for the Morgan, light, powerful (165bhp), no problem with ground clearance, and no cat issues either as it's integrated with the exhaust manifold.

But I agree with other posters, of all the recent trads I think the Duratec +4 is the pick of the crop, especially a pre 2006 model as the Euro 3 emissions standard gives a bit more scope for tuning without falling foul of emissions issues come MOT time. In standard tune they are powerful enough to be fun whilst being astonishingly economical when touring.

Pre-2006 for emissions/tuning flexibility or post-2011 for the MX5 gearbox... choices, eh?

Rather like mine then.....

What era car is outside the Euro 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 etc emissions nonsense. In other words at what age can I tune my car how I want?

Mind you if you can adjust your own ECU I guess you can retune for the MoT test just like some people remove the cats and replace them for the test. Some bikers take that approach with noisy exhausts and funny plates though I have never bothered.

225 bhp , imagine that !

With a correct tuning and decent cat (ie big enough and of good quality) you should be able to get around 200hp out of a Euro 5 Duratec 2.0 and still pass an MOT.

You can't. Even on an old crock you have to avoid visible smoke




The idea of 'tuning' an engine and ending up with poor emissions is a bit of a contradiction in terms. To extract the most power you can out of any given engine, you need to get it burning fuel as efficiently as possible. A well-tuned engine will always run as clean as possible, and a catalytic converter works to clean up the emissions even further. They do tend to absorb a bit of power doing so, hence the need some people have to fit Cats which are not as efficient, as they think they can make use of the extra power.

There is an approach to tuning which tends to go for maximum power at any cost, so you go for more capacity than you need, chuck in more petrol than you need, and go for the biggest bang possible. Engines 'tuned' like this tend to be the ones than run dirty.

I am a tinkerer. A potterer. And my instinctive reaction to the EU or whoever telling me that I cant or shouldnt do something is to do it.

The EU have either already brought in rules to force manufacturers to prevent you "chipping" your car by locking the ECU or they are about to do so. Which is a very good reason for playing with the ECU.

Actually EFI is fun to tinker with. One of these days I will put one of them on My Morgan. My problem is figuring what the Computer does and does not do and How it does it. Not being Electronic Literate is no help. At present I am trying to understand the "NODIZ" Ignition only while using DCOE carbs. I, am at the moment, using two dimensional timing. Not running good. I now have installed a TPS, so I will be three dimensional timing. Time will tell.

Just passed 60,000 miles in our +4, should be run in soon . I get stiff these days in any car after a long run and it's no different in a +4. Record in a day is Dijon to Dunkirk easy enough on French toll roads although we were tired at the end of it. UK motorways are much harder because of the traffic but we still take the mog for holidays; The Dales 2 weeks ago and the Hebrides planned for the end of July. We will take a few days to get to Oban for the ferry.