Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Monty Gets Cams

Dear Montegue

thanks for the comprehensive and mouthwatering description of where to go...

Ours is a '98 Zetec Silver Top and I think they may be a little more difficult the flash the ECU. Certainly going through the various 'fast ford' tuning sites they seem to be less flexible. The ECU also hangs on to the revs far too much for the car to be enjoyable (I've cleaned and check every pipe and sensor) so in terms of drivability thats high on the priority list to get sorted. Thought about the programmable ECU replacement as with every upgrade change I may have to revisit the map - would welcome your thoughts on that.

I'll talk to FF as a first step and I'll also talk to Libramotive on exhaust side options. I know that my manifold is on the opposite side to yours. Do you have anyone at FF to talk to so I can say "I know you've done Monty's Morgan...." Would be nice for the car not to sound like a Ford Fiesta too.

On the inlet manifold side I'll talk to FF. I've looked through the Burton Power tuning guide but they are focused on fords with a bigger engine bay to play with. Interesting as Burton Power list cams as the first thing to change...

Our old (1983) Morgan had Kent Cams, a weber twin choke carb and was polished and ported - it made a reputed 140hp (when it was young...) and was a perky drive. That perkiness seems to be missing with our new (to us) '98 Zetec even if the newer car is far more 'planted' with additional anti roll bars. So it's less up 'upgradeitis' and more about 'perkiness' if that makes sense!

Of course await the next episode of Monty's journey with bated breath!

Hi M748,

Talk to Matt at Fusion Fabrications on 07568 598716, the inlet and exhaust will be all custom work so built on the car, this may present a challenge for you as your profile says North Yorkshire and Matt is in Oxfordshire?

https://www.fusionfabs.co.uk/

The Zetec is a good engine and very tunable, however, your ECU much like my old Mondeo Visteon will hold you back causing frustration, as you say even if you can find some who can work with it you'll be going back to them for another calibration every time you make a change to your engine engine setup. I've had quite a bit of experience with different aftermarket ECUs, and once you've experienced a good one you will never want to go back to the bad old days of being locked out of an aging OEM ECU.

If you're already having challenges with your current ECU I definitely advise switching to a modern well supported standalone and I can highly recommend the EMU Black, speak with Greg at Ecumater UK (Road Race & Rally) in Kimbolton.

https://rrrshop.co.uk/

There are lots of people in the UK who sell and fit Ecumaster's products, some good and some bad no doubt, but RRR is the UK importer so I went straight to the source. Greg has now done all the development work on my Duratec Plus 4, this involved Monty being in his workshop for a few days while he decoded the CAN protocol and got all his gauges working.

So while any Morganeer can now buy an EMU Black for their 2.0 litre Duratec Plus 4, fit it in 20 minutes, and simply drive away, I'm afraid to say it's not going to be an easy plug n play solution for an earlier Zetec car because for a start your loom will be different, you'd need to visit RRR and leave the car with Greg for a few days as I did.

For Duratec Plus 4 owners reading this, the EMU Black really is laughably simple to fit, and within minutes you can re-fit the old Ford/Visteon ECU should you choose to do so, although for the life of me I can't see why you would want to go back to being locked out after experiencing such an excellent modern and fully programmable engine management system?

Monty,
Fascinating reading about your journey developing the Duratec. It's so much more complicated than in my day. We would skim heads, polish and balance the chambers, fit higher lift cams and experiment with different jets in the Webers, and all that on student money. No ECUs to play with.
We were lucky to get 80-90bhp out of our Ford 1500 engines.
my tin top (Volvo V60) produces 250bhp from a very quiet 2l engine, whereas my 1956 +4 with a 2l TR3 engine produces about 75bhp and is relatively noisy. How things have changed over those 60 years.

GrumpyPa ... I wonder if your Volvo will still be around at 60 years old for anyone to know what noise it makes!! 😁

K

I doubt it. The mechanicals could last, but it is a moving PC and we know how quickly they go out of date. I definitely won't be around then anyway.
I also suspect most Morgans will have gone with the remaining few in specialised museums. I doubt there will be many around with the skills to maintain them.

OK chaps, so here's a little early reviw of the new cams, on the way home I noticed the speedo and handbrake warning light weren't working, this is because James' fuel (VE) and ignition tables have interferd with my CAN.This is not a big issue as Greg from Ecumaster has the protocol safely on file, so the solution is just a phone call away, no doubt it'll be sorted in 10 minutes on Monday.

On the way home from M2R Motorsport I was using my Ecumaster Bluetooth App that connects my phone to my EMU Black ECU, this displays lots of data without having to run the laptop in the car so is a useful monitoring tool. I noticed my AFRs were displaying 13.0:1 on cruise and 12.5:1 under load when accelerating, James' 440cc Green Giant injector VE table is clearly quite rich, it does give excellent throttle response and probably best power but its a bit fat for best economy on the road.

However, I've saved it as its actually perfect for my upcoming hill climbs, I then went out mapping and developed a good VE table for the road, I'm now idling at 14.7:1, cruising at 15.3:1 and seeing 13.2:1 under load when accelerating, the bigger injectors still giving improved throttle response over the standard Mondeo items. I've also reinstated my previous ignition table, the engine can tollerate more timing on James' rich VE table, but my leaner road calibration dictates more conservative timing numbers to stay safely out of detination.

While I was out I was able to take Monty to 7,000rpm and above a few times, and boy it's intense, over 4,000rpm the engine really builds revs at a frightening pace, and from 5,500rpm to 7,250 its like a whole additional engine on top of what I had before. I now need to be careful because the last two thousand revs are gone in absolute flash, you need to be on your game ready to dip the clutch and pull the next gear fast or I can see the engine hitting 8,000rpm in a blink of an eye

However, I actually think the best result is the drivability and idle, amazingly both have been completely unaffected by the cams, if I'm honest I was at least expecting to have to lift the idle speed by 100rpm or more, but no, Monty still idles sweetly at 850rpm. Pulling away from junctions remains smooth and controllable, and I can still modulate my road speed through town on the throttle between idle and 1,500rpm.

It does seem the Newman Phase Two cams have no downsides which is very unusual, just benefits, over 3,000rpm the car takes off like scolded cat and the rev counter needle flys round the dial at an almost cartoon like speed, especially over 4k!!!

Happy with that

Heres a snapshot from this evenings log recorded while I was out mapping Monty. As you can see I hit 7,500rpm at 34.5 degrees BTDC and at a safely rich 11.42:1 air fuel ratio. AND CHECK IT OUT.... I'm still only at 88% load, Monty is clearly still making power as he rockets towards 8,000rpm





And my new monster 440cc injectors aren't even taxed, the highest duty I'm seeing now is just 64%



What a weapon, and super safe one too, I was already seeing 80% duty on the original Mondeo injectors before the cams, and that was at 100% load at just 6,250rpm.

The Green Giant 440cc injectors were clearly essential, as we're the beehive valve springs because Monty is now an 8,000rpm Morgan

Ok chaps, so the reason I'm still only at 88% load (MaP), and despite being at 7,500rpm!!!!



Is because...... I'm only at 82% throttle opening as circled in green above, yes that's right, at 7,500 rpm there's still a massive 18% more throttle opening to go

And because my new 440cc injectors are still only at 64% duty at this point, theres still masses of headspace to continue to keep supporting that aditional 18% of air with fuel... and all the way to 8,000 rpm !!!!!



This demonstrates just how well a high port Duratec cylinder head shifts air, and how well the Fusion Fabrications inlet manifold and Supersports replica exhaust manifold are supporting that amazing cylinder head.

An internal combustion engine is just an air pump, and this proves with the right parts the Duratec 2.0HE is a very efficient air pump indeed

What have you done to the bottom end to support the extra power and revs you are getting now?

Is the standard engine safe to 8000 rpm?

Sorry if I missed this in your earlier posts.

Thanks for all this Montegue and the myriad of data supporting your improvements. Great progress and how good is this to help realise potential of a solid block?

Thanks too for the contacts - I'll be in touch with them. Have a mate who lives in Oxfordshire - I'm sure he'd look after the car for a bit! Not managed to get through to the ECU guys yet, but I guess they are pretty busy.

The data readouts are amazing to read, and I'm having to 'upskill' in how to interpret them. Helped me clear my thinking on the need for a quicker programmable ECU. The current 'brain' is doing what it can with 1998 computer power. A new brain can read an react so much faster to sensor inputs and make a few more interpretations; giving more flexibility. I found this Movie on Youtube quite instructional - '90s technician guide for the modern 'EMU"! The link starts at the early EMU then goes through to our era at about 40mins. Shows what the EMU reads, and how it has evolved.



Fascinating that the 'mechanical' computer of the new cams makes such a difference. The ratios machined in steel to open and close valves - I'm sure the engine wouldn't be able to make the most of them without the free breathing inlet and exhaust side or an ECU that can judge and fuel accordingly. Having had an injected motorcycle from the 90's and now one from the 21st century the difference huge - even with similar underlying mechanics. Can see how any base engine would benefit from more brain power.

Looking forward to a Youtube update from you soon. Drive Monty safe in the meantime!