Zero compromises so far, the power delivery of a four cylinder engine is exremely linea and forgiving, even in Stage 3 tune Monty's Duratec is perfectly happy and capable of smoothly moving the car along through town at just 1,500rpm.
My 4.0 litre TVR Chimaera made 233hp at 5,500rpm, but also had 260 lbs/ft of torque, 90% of which arived from more or less nowhere, TBH I've completely moved on from this sort of power delivery in a light sportscar becuase not to put too finer point on it,
it's bloody dangerous!
These days I'm into modern high eficiency twin cam 16 valve four bangers that rev to the moon; sure, my Chinaera made a wonderful noise, but after 12 years of tge big lsxy V8 I started to crave the opposite. The port injected 2.0 litre Duratec is an absolute peach of an engine, it's zingy free revving nature makes for an increadably engaging drive, it's also very light, so for me it's the ideal powerplant for a small open sportscar like a Morgan.
Handling wise Monty benefits from the Mulfab front wishbone conversion that I've further enhanced with fully adjustable Protech coilovers, so the front end is absolutely pinned! The geometry chosen by Peter Mulberry was also clearly better concieved than my TVRs similar unequal length wishbone and coilover setup. Monty has less dive under braking and a lot less roll, this despite the complete absence of a front anti-roll bar.
At the rear Monty still runs leaf springs, while ride quality is never going to be what you'd call 'refined', the zero camber change offered by a solid axle does actually deliver very predictable handling. On lift-off Monty tracks straght and true, under the same conditions the TVR's theoretically superior independant rear end had some interesting and often unpredictable habits, including sudden unloading of the inner rear wheel. If this happened while the tyre was trying to deal all that torque, which TBH was ever present, bad things could happen.
While admitedly Monty's rear end is crude, solid axle handling is very often way more predictable than an independent set up. Predictability gives driver confidence, if you remove the fear of being unpredictably and violently spat into the ditch at any moment, you are now free to start playing with the car. Not only does this make you faster, the reduction in stress simply makes the car more fun.
Sadly, the standard of the rear suspension components chosen by the Morgan Montor company when they built Monty in 2012 was comically bad. The original dampers were toy shop quality, and the bubblegum bushed AVOs that someone had replaced them with were'nt much better. The leaf springs Morgan fitted were worse still and only springs in name which made the job of the woefull dampers even harder, finally the hard rubber pads Morgan called bump stops were an absolute joke.
To fix all that I fitted Bilstein dampers, BCC anti-tramp rear leaf springs, and polly TR3 rear bump stops; all of which worked together to litrally transform Monty's rear end. Even with 174 lbs/ft of torque there's zero tramp, Monty whips around the twisties with surprising speed and even the violent axle bottoming out thing that lifted Monty's tyres clear off the road is now largely a thing of the past.
TBH, now I've resolved the 'Death Hop' under severe compression I think Monty could easily take 220hp plus, but only if the power, and especially the torque delivery is super linea and progressive. A Plus 8 or Roadster just takes me back to my deadly dangerous TVR days and that's not what I want these days, for all the reasons I've covered above I remain convinced a four cylinder engine is a far more suitable pairing for a trad chassis Morgan.
Looking at the dyno graph for that ITB converted Caterham 420, swapping the Fusion Fabrications inlet for a set of Jenvey individual throttle bodies is starting to look like a no-brainer. It does look like I'd end up with all the torque of Stage 3 Monty, but with another 50hp on top, that's a no compromise option that's hard to continue to argue agsinst!
A set of Jenvey ITBs is also a third of the price of the Rotrex supercharger option, so while ITBs will deliver 50hp less than a blower they will give me my missing top end just as Dale Bladen said they would. TBH, I've often thought 220 - 230hp is the sweet spot ceiling in a Trad chassis Morgan, but only as long as the power delivery remains linea and the engine will rev to 8,000rpm.
I did promise myself I'd stay away from ITBs, but I'm on a journey here and with all the evidence suggesting I need to get over my predudices, it may be time to reconsider my position? I do know my cams and cylinder head are easily capable of 230hp, so they've got to be worth a try, furthemore as I've already invested the right ECU to make it all work, at a third of the price of a supercharger it would be rude not to listen to the experts.
Individual Throttle Bodies here we come
