MG-Cars.info

Welcome to our Site for MG, Triumph and Austin-Healey Car Information.

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MGF Technical - Pistons

Does anybody have any standard 1.8 pistons that they dont want/would consider selling on?

Rich.
R T Jakeman

Hi Rich
Best person to try in my opinion is Dave from DVA power in milton keynes. DVApower@aol.com, This guy is a fountain of knowledge
Matt Huggett
M Huggett

Dave's just gone on holiday for a month so don't expect a early response to any inquiry's

Stu
Stu Dickens

is it important to you whether they are new or not?

mike
mike roberts

Rick,
Chris Betson has them on offer by the moment.
Have a look at www.octarine-services.co.uk

Hope this helps

Ralph
Ralph

Hello, thanks all for your input.

Matt - I spoke to Dave last week just before he went away, unfortunate that my engine should blow just as he's going away for a month.

Mike - I'm not holding out for new ones. I thought some of you might have upgraded at one stage and still have your standard pistons knocking about?

Ralph - I could only see B series parts on that site?

Rich.
R T Jakeman

Hi Rich,

that's why I was asking...

I've got a complete bottom end that I have no further use for, it does have a broken crank, (hence the 'no further use')but it's 'only' broken just behind the flywheel, so the pistons should be ok.

I haven't stripped the engine down yet, so I can't confirm this, but if you're intersted, let me know.

cheers

Mike
mike roberts

Hello Mike,

I could definately be interested in this as I've decided that my block is also scrap. The liners were uneven heights and on removing them its apparent that they have all sunk 4 thou on one side of the engine (inlet side) not really sure why this has happened.

Depends of a few things really:

How many miles had the engine done?
Where abouts in wales are you?
And, how much do you want for it?

Thanks

Richard (rjakeman at gmail dot com)
R T Jakeman

Why is your block scrap? You can get new liners matched to the block, and linish the block so that the liner heights are nice and consistent. Shouldn't cost the earth to do either (as I am planning a similar exercise on an old 100k K-series that was scrapped following HGF...)
Rob Bell

Hi Rob,

My liner heights were uneven not only from one cylinder to the next but from one side of the liner to the other. I didn't believe that the head face of the block was flat so I had it ground, asked them to take 4 thou off.

Put the liners back and they were still all over the place. So I measured from the top of the block to the liner shelf in various positions with a depth mic and it shows that the liners have sunk unevenly. So much so that there is a burr on the edge of each bore (part way round) which makes getting the liners in and out quite difficult. If I took more off the block and liners and matched them, then what would happen when I clamp the head down as when I measure them now they're only sitting on the high spots of the liner shelf? Seems like a bit of a design flaw to me, they’ve cut back the liner where it seats to allow for sealant but this just gives the block a space to distort into. An O ring in a recess a bit further down would solve this? Maybe it gets too hot down there for that as the liner is only wet at the top….. I’m not an engine designer as you can probably tell.

I seem to get about three thousand miles out of my car before having the engine out at the moment so I’m reluctant to put it back this time without being 100% sure about it.

Rich
R T Jakeman

Rich, it does sound as though there has been a fair amount of liner movement in the past - I'd have thought it would be possible to sort out the liner's landing in the block by getting these machined too - although whether there will be a material issue of the remaining metal is another question?

One option to think about is going the whole hog and talking to Scholar engines (http://www.scholarengines.co.uk) - their 1.9 litre block conversion appears remarkably good value, and well worth considering. Especially as they'll take your block in part exchange (I think - unless they re-work your existing block? Either way, fitting Renault Languna liners requires a fair amount of machining of the K-series block, which ought to mean that the current liner alignment issues can effectively overcome).

The best thing about this plan is that you end up with a 1.9 litre K-series as opposed to a 1.8... which even before thinking about anything to do with the head, ought to result in some useful improvements in the torque curve! ;o)

The silver lining! There's always a silver lining when playing with MGs LOL
Rob Bell

Rob, what exactly is essensential in the 1.9K transformation.
Only their (scholar) EVO2upgrade page works

CYLINDER HEAD MODIFIED 150
MODIFY BLOCK 350
PISTONS 495
CAMSHAFT KIT 369

that´s hefty!
David Peters

I had a look and decided that you probably need the work on the block (which on its own is good value), pistons and probably rods depending on what their setup it like, then mapping. So you could probably do it for £1300 (plus bearings and gaskets etc.) if you built it up yourself.

Apparently it gives 9% increase in torque with like for like head & cam modifications. Would be nice, but its way out of my impoverished student price range.
R T Jakeman

You're right - there is a a lot of scope for project creep and mounting costs going down a 1.9 or 2.0 block conversion. If I am honest, I wasn't thinking of the additional costs involved in modifying the cylinder head - and I had thought that the cylinders themselves could be had a lot cheaper than that... certainly not a tight-budget option.

Undoubtably the cheapest option is a second hand good block, but the point is that a block needn't be scrap even if the liners are all over the place. :o)
Rob Bell

Bump - incase Mike is coming back.
R T Jakeman

Hi Rich,

Sorry for my disappearance, haven't had a spare minute over the last month or so...

Consequently, the engine is still in the same corner, untouched.

Please mail me, and we can discuss further

cheers

Mike (mike.roberts at bd-w dot co dot uk)
mike roberts

This thread was discussed between 17/08/2007 and 23/09/2007

MG MGF Technical index

This thread is from the archives. Join the live MG MGF Technical BBS now