MGB: MGB Power Mods

The latest Grassroots Motorsports magazine has the first of several articles on getting more power out of your MGB. They made changes and then ran the car on a dyno to see what worked best. Very interesting.

Dan, where do you get the mag? Is it at newstands (Barnes & Noble, etc) or where?

Well, the local B&N here in Houston has it. Try:

They'll even send you a free copy of the magazine.

Not if you live in Canada.
:(
We always get the shaft... Is it worth it to subscribe? The price is pretty cheap, do you enjoy reading the magazine?

C.

Craig,

I really enjoy this magazine. As the title implies, it is "grassroots," and that seems to mean low-budget, which appeals to me :-) They have lots of good articles on buying used cars and upgrading them, what to look for, etc, etc. I highly recommend it. They are also friendly over the phone, and I have ordered back issues a couple times. There was a good article a couple of years ago on how to improve cars using junkyard parts that had a section on MG's.

Dan

For the benefit of us Canucks, could you summarize what the key points were?

- Terry

How many Canucks do we have here that want copies? Maybe we can work something out?

I am a Canuck and would like a copy
:)

C.

Well this is what I will do-I am going to the newsstand tommorrow. I will pick up extra copies and mail them to those of you that will promise to cover my expenses. I am under the assumption that you fellows cannot get this mag in Canada. the catch is that I need to know by Tue morn! This is also depentant on my finding these at the local newstand.

Gerry,
As soon as I find out my credit card balance [too many damn parts bought as of late] I'm going to get a subscription to the magazine. We [Canadians] can get a subscription, but no free trials. :(

I'm getting kind of sick of reading the same thing in the major mags [Road & Track, Car & Driver, Motor Trend]. They always say the same thing, nobody ever trashes any of the cars for fear of never getting any more test vehicles from the manufacturers. They hardly do anything fun [I once read about them installing a Jackson Racing supercharger on a Miata... once in a blue moon]. But I guess they're aimed towards the new car buyer... and confoming to the automotive industry...

I've been buying [and my girlfriend has too for me, since they're not available where I live] MG World since the October/Novemeber 2000 issue. I like the how-to articles, and the different features. If Grassroots is like that I know I'll like it.

My ramble for a little while...

byebye
C.

I like it. They're into grass roots racing, low budget type stuff. They also have a lot of advertisers of go fast parts.

They took a 73 GT with a rebuilt, tuned-up engine and put it on a chassis dyno. Then they added a Pertronix ignition, MSD 6A capacitive discharge system, plugwires, and K&N filters. All of this was done in stages with dyno runs in between. The end result was 10 hp at the wheels. All for about $300. They say they will cover airflow, different carbs, distributors, exhaust, etc. in a later edition.

GM is a neat mag. They have had some Brit cars in the past. One that comes to mind was the Spitfire that they stuffed a Madza rotary engine in. It was a bit much for me but they did a lot of interesting mods. They have had Triumph TR3 and a Porche 914 in other articles. I should subscrib but just haven't got around to it. I do get British Car and MG World-both are great but MG World is real expensive because it has to be imported.

I don't suppose they identified the horsepower increase associated with each modification?

The one I'm waiting to hear about is the rimfire valves. Those things sound too good to be true!

- Terry

P.S. I can do without the actual magazine if someone will post a synopsis of the findings as they come out.

... is one of the things that alot of us do here, wether it is MG related or not.. and that is what is so cool about here.. it is ok to ramble... me, i have been on a few ramblings myself... and i am starting to ramble..
as a matter of fact, one of my first cars was a rambler. hmmm wonder if it was faith.. naw.. faith did not care for the rambler.. she liked the all the others, but not the rambler.... oops.. rambling again about youth.. sorry

Terry, I will paraphrase the article and send you the info by email in a couple of days! From what I have seen so far it is pretty basic stuff with each chang getting a dyno run so the change can be compared with other steps.