Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Wolf Performance 2.0 Duratec Map

yep, and a head-up display speedo

I think we should all keep in mind that tuning a 2.0 Duratec is an extremely well trodden path.

As such, here are some facts:

1. With a half decent exhaust manifold and system upgrade, expect +20hp, so that's 145 + 20 = 165hp

2. Add a better inlet manifold to see a further 20hp, so 165 + 20 = 185hp

3. Add a pair of stage two cams and release a further 20hp, this ends up as 185 + 20 = 205hp

4. A Duratec Plus 4 weighs 877kg, so 205hp gives you 234 BHP per tonne

There will always be people who want more, but if we study the trad Morgan there's strong evidence to support the theory that 234 BHP per tonne is more than enough to put through such a simple chassis and ancient suspension setup.

I looked at the 3.7 Roadster but decided a Plus 4 was simply the more authentic Morgan experience, and because the Duratec has such tuning potential I could buy and tune a Plus 4 to deliver enough power for a lot less than buying a 3.7 Roadster.

To support the above and update everyone who's been following my Plus 4 Duratec power developments, my research is complete, my five stage Monty tuning recipe has been set, and I'm well underway with delivering the project.

Stage One - The Fusion Fabrications Super Sports replica exhaust project is complete, well tested, and was a great success. I haven't had the car on a dyno yet but the new system definitely gave a very noticeable increase in power, I would say it easily delivered the 20hp lift I'm quoting above, and anyone looking at the following comparison with the standard manifold you can certainly see why.






Stage Two - Following the success of the exhaust the car is now back with Matt at Fusion Fabrications for a custom version of his proven Duratec inlet manifold.



I looked closely at the option of fitting throttle bodies but what people don't tell you about ITBs is they come with a series of challenges, behaviors and compromises that are not in line with my design brief.

* The short runner manifold that always accompanies ITBs means less torque, this is unavoidable

* Due to a lack of a reliable vacuum signal in the very short inlet you can no longer use a MaP sensor, ITBs force you to tune in Alpha-N, this and the short runner inlet both conspire against delivering my objective of producing a nice street drivable Morgan with good low and mid range torque

* ITBs do demand fine balancing, and they do often go out of balance demanding regular adjustment

* Fitting an idle valve is not possible, in my experience, unless you run DBW throttle bodies you will always suffer cold start and warm up idle issues with ITBs

There are no such issues with Fusion Fabrications inlet, by sticking with a plenum setup but increasing the length of the runners the new manifold will produce more torque in the RPM window where you actually drive on the road.



This manifold not only produces more low and mid range torque due to its long runners, it also breaths way better too, this is largely because Ford's very restrictive swirl flaps are deleted, but also because it uses four embedded velocity stacks that have the added benefit of delivering the wonderful sounds you get with throttle bodies, just without the headaches and challenges that come with ITBs.



I've heard suggestion I can expect a 30hp peak increase from this inlet manifold, to be honest I'd be pleased with 20hp as I'm more looking for the low/mid range punch I'm confident it will give.


Stage Three - After much research on what can and can't be done with the Visteon Ford ECU as used by Morgan, in the end I decided it would always be the limiting factor, so I pulled the trigger on the following ECU Masters plug-n-play solution.




The ECU Masters EMU Black ECU slips right inside the Visteon Ford ECU enclosure and comes with the short converter loom to connect it to the stock connector making it a true plug-n-play stand alone engine management solution, this completely removes the need to build and run a new loom with all the headaches and cost that go with that.

Ultimately the the EMU Black puts the control back in my hands allowing me to add the extra fuel needed to match all that extra air Monty's engine will be shifting with the exhaust and inlet manifold changes, it also opens the doors to adding a pair of camshafts with more overlap and lift without suffering the idle and drivability issues that would ordinarily come with a set of even mild fast road cams.



Stage 4

Newman Phase Two cams.



When I spoke with this with Northampton Motorsport about this next step, I was told they could give me an additional 30hp with these cams and with no loss of torque or drivability, but only if they can talk to my ECU, and they couldn't, hence my decision to pull the trigger on the above EMU Black PnP. Again, I'd be happy with a more conservative 20hp uplift, the Newman Phase Two cams are actually quite mild, they really just eliminate the power loss emissions friendly cams inflict due to having very little overlap, so just as Northampton Motorsport suggested Monty's drivability should be unaffected.


Stage 5 - The following Titan CNC machined EN24T steel light weight flywheel, I haven't been able to establish the weight of the standard Duratec Pus 4 flywheel yet but I suspect its somewhere between 7kg and 12kg, the NC MX5 crowd go down from the standard 7kg flywheel to 4.5Kg in a car that weighs 1150kg with no issues at all, so think a 3.2kg flywheel will work fine in the far lighter 877kg Monty without the car suffering any low speed drivabily issues.




I paid £105 off eBay which was a bargain, it just needs a light reface as any used flywheel would, my local machine shop will sort that for £60.00, so that's a £420 Titan lightweight flywheel for just £165.00.

A 3.2kg flywheel should help Monty's Duratec spin up nicely, obviously I will also be fitting a clutch at the same time and my current favorite is the 40% lighter (mass) stage 1 organic clutch kit made by Exedy in Japan, apparently the pedal weight remains close to stock but this clutch is designed to take 200 lbs/ft at the flywheel which should be plenty as I am not expecting to exceed 180 lbs/ft.

https://www.mx5parts.co.uk/clutch-exedy-stage-organic-mk3-35-speed-p-1807.html


So what can I expect from all of the above?

Well, it's +20hp from the exhaust, +20hp from the inlet manifold/plenum, and +20hp from the cams, this delivers a 60hp uplift on the stock 145hp to give me 205hp. However, what I'm trying to achieve here is so much more than a peak horsepower number, TBH I'd actually be very happy with 195hp if I can ensure the drivability remains as good as a factory Plus 4 while at the same time achieving a big improvement in low/mid range torque and significantly improving Monty's throttle response.

Well, that's the plan

Notes on stage 2 above refer to swirl flaps. I have always understood that Ford stopped putting swirl flaps on the Duratec in the early noughties. Be interesting to know if you have them when the inlet manifold is removed.

I'm following this with interest. Do you have a picture with the fitted manifold?

Kind regards,

Steve.

Hi chaps,

I'll have plenty of photos to share and the answer to the swirl flaps question when I get the car back from Fusion Fabrications in just over a week.

The waiting is killing me


However, while I'm waiting I thought it would be useful to prove just how well trodden the 2.0 Duratec tuning path is. Firstly let’s look at the two (well three actually) Caterham models using this excellent engine and how they tune them, it’s actually two very simple recipes. This makes sense as porting cylinder heads and adding forged internals is an expensive business, so if you’re making cars you really just want some simple ‘add ons’ to get a bit more power out of your bog standard Ford crate engine.

1. For both their 380 and the more Morgan like Super Seven 2000 models, Caterham just take a 145hp crate Duratec from Ford exactly as Morgan did, but unlike Morgan who left the engine as it was, Caterham simply add their own plenum/inlet manifold and decent long tube exhaust manifold to make 180 bhp @ 7300 rpm.

In the world of naturally aspirated tuning that's an impressive gain for only an exhaust and an intake, and just goes to show how easy it is to get the Duratec to start breathing properly, but it's the emissions friendly cams with their next to no overlap that hide further gains, and significant gains too.

2. So to create the 420, Caterham take the exact same 380/Super Seven 2000 recipe and fit a pair of fairly mild performance cams, in doing so they add 30hp to extract 210 bhp @ 7600 rpm.

Unlike Morgan who used the Visteon/Ford ECU as found in the Mk3 Ford Mondeo, Caterham wisely uses an MBE ECU to run their Duratec powered cars.


Another vehicle that runs the 2.0 litre Ford/Mazda Duratec engine is the Mk3 (NC variant) Mazda MX5, millions of these things were made and being a sports car people tend to tune them. When you look at tuning the MX5 you soon find the market leader in the UK is BBR, they offer five naturally aspirated packages no less and delivering the following power levels:

1. 175hp

2. 180hp

3. 185hp

4. 200hp

5. 225hp

Sure, to get to 225hp they use throttle bodies, but all their other tuning packages retain the Mazda factory plenum/inlet manifold, which is better than the Ford one by the way, BBR also achieves this using the superior Mazda ECU. By all accounts their Super 200 package is much like how Caterham turns a 380 into a 420, BBR just takes their 180/185 package and adds a pair of fairly mild performance cams. From what I've read, more often than not, a Super 200 will actually produce 205hp so that's just 5hp shy of Caterham's claim of 210hp for their 420 model using an almost identical recipe to the BBR Super 200.


So as we can see a bog standard 145hp 2.0 Duratec from Ford can be easily taken to the 180/185hp mark with just a good exhaust and a decent plenum design, then simply add a pair of fairly tame fast road cams and the engine will consistently deliver 205/210hp. To be fair the Fiesta ST150 community have been doing exactly the same thing for many many years now and all this evidence just proves the hidden potential of this excellent engine.

However, back to our Duratec Plus 4 it seems apparent that much beyond adding a decent Super Sports type exhaust like the one I had built by Fusion Fabrications which will likely take you from 145hp to 165hp, the Visteon/Ford ECU starts to become the limiting factor. If you then add a better intake manifold like the one I've selected (also from Fusion Fabrications), and you really need a bit more control over your fueling to release the full potential and stay safe under full load.

Once I'd made the commitment to go with the Ecumasters EMU Black, I also realised it would open the door to a pair of fairly mild performance cams. Then after studying the results achieved by Caterham, BBR and the ST150 community and just how consistent their results are with each other, it suddenly dawned on me that a reliable and nice driving 200hp Monty was well within my grasp.

Watch this space for results