WI MGA Twin Cam was successful?

[Riain]

The initial high-compression MG twin cam engine was nightmare which ruined the reputation of this obstensibly good engine, whose problems were later solved after the bad repuation was set. As a result only 2110 MGA Twin Cam cars were built between 1958-60.

This contrasts with the slightly later Lotus-Ford Twin Cam engine which was successful and some 34,000 were built between 1962-74 and put in an array of road and race cars.

So WI the Twin Cam cam out in 1958 with the 1960 spec of low compression etc? Could it have had a long production run, been developed for the MGB and been used as a proprietary engine in various other road and race cars? Would this have made much difference to MG, especially in the 60s when the pushrod engine was showing its age?

 

[phx1138]

So WI the Twin Cam cam out in 1958 with the 1960 spec of low compression etc?

Health warning: I know almost nothing about the MGA... However, this proposal makes me wonder if you don't undercut the MGA with a low-performance engine.

I also wonder what the real issues were in the twin-cam getting a bad rap in the first place. Was it poor quality control? Or was it drivers unfamiliar with it & abusing it? If the former, how would you address them? If the latter, you might be able to educate owners through the magazines & through ads or service bulletins or some such.

 

[Riain]

There were a few things; poor valve stem seals, no cam followers, 9.9 compression forcing oil up through the rings and SU carbs leaning out which burnt out the plugs. The final spec dropped power from 108 to 100 bhp, not too bad for the road car and of course race cars are expected to be tempremental so many of the problems will be avoided or accepted in race tune.

 

[phx1138]

There were a few things; poor valve stem seals, no cam followers, 9.9 compression forcing oil up through the rings and SU carbs leaning out which burnt out the plugs. The final spec dropped power from 108 to 100 bhp, not too bad for the road car and of course race cars are expected to be tempremental so many of the problems will be avoided or accepted in race tune.

Some of that can easily be dealt with in the initial engineering, & some on quality control on the line. Do that, I don't think you'd need to sacrifice performance much.

Do you still get issues with low-grade fuel that late? I seem to recall reading the E-types did.

 

[Riain]

They had dodgy fuel on the Continent which didn't help, also I don't know about you but I don't like paying for super.