Special Feature by Ian Norton: One owner from new, an MG Midget with added Eight Port !

Well, nearly 31 years on since acquiring the only thing I wanted (or I could afford) at that time with four wheels, I’ve finally got the “period” modified engine that I’d hankered after ever since I saw those “8-port” bits listed in Leyland ST tuning catalogue back in the mid 70’s. And I only just got the car I wanted too! Six months after placing my order (accompanied with the due £10 deposit!), the dealer had forgotten all about me, and with the new rubber bumper model looming in October, it was unlikely I’d get the car I’d been saving hard for. But after the old man had had a few words with the dealer in Birmingham, a car was eventually dragged off a boat destined for Australia! Wrong colour, wrong wheels, but at least I had my car. And with the addition of a factory fitted oil cooler too, something not fitted to UK cars. 

It was great, roof down; open top motoring, just the job! But, the old 1275 was really at the end of its life in terms of performance, and was easily out done by just about everyone else on the open road. But it was just such a great car, and I couldn’t let it fade away into becoming just a quaint “old timer”. So, what to do? Well, the last section of the owner’s handbook references Leyland ST tuning modifications! So off I wrote to get all the technical stuff. And back came a tuning booklet for the Midget. It’s just great! Flywheel lightening details, heads, cams, wheels; you name it. Being an engineer (Physicist actually), I was hooked! And so began an episode of finance starved experimentation of making the old timer go a bit quicker. I really wanted one of those 8 ports, but they were just too expensive at around £300!! And with all the other bits and pieces it would certainly have broke the bank. So modified 5 porters was all I could afford. The final, and best engine was from Oselli and which now resides in my Frogeye and delivers a reliable 86 brakes at the wheels, which is good fun in a tin can with no brakes!! But this left me short of an engine for my Midget. 

However, by the early 90’s it was due a little TLC and so off it went to Brown and Gammons for some body work. This was followed rapidly by a house move and my spare time and funds were drawn in different directions, and the MG sat in a friend’s garage for 6 years! Finally time became more available and a rearrangement of the garage enabled the MG to return home where I could begin to refit all the bits and pieces I’d stored in plastic bags. But what should I do for an engine? Well, onto the net and search around. I remembered seeing years before some 16 valve overhead cam heads, but the bonnet would need a big bulge! And anyway, I wanted something period. So the Arden 8 port was the way to go. It was quite tough finding the link to Bill Richards but I got there eventually and well, here we are!

I wanted a car I could drive in the middle of town on a hot summers day. Something I’d found a problem with when it comes to modified 5 porters! But a visit to Bill’s place and a friendly chat, defined the project, which I think Bill was quite excited about it, as his normal work is Mini based, and the inline variety was novel! Well, Bill soon got going once the funds arrived! And after 6 weeks or so I trundled off, trailer in tow, to pick up the finished item. Amazingly not a single hold up on the M1, M25 or M20! Bill greeted me on arrival and pointed to the other side of the workshop where my engine sat. It was just as he had described it (which I cant repeat here!), but suffice it to say it was awesome. Immaculately painted and built with those two, twin choke Webers on the special inlet manifold really looking the business. So, after a chat and a few hints from Bill, I set off home to begin the installation. 

Dropping the engine in turned out to be the simplest task as the biggest problems were associated with re-locating the many of the other engine bay components, not least the heater matrix. This was of course due to the fact that the carburettors were now on the other side of the engine, making that side really, really busy. I wanted to make a decent job of things, so it was some months before everything was sorted and I could get the car back to Bill for the final stage of fitting an exhaust system and catch tank. I hired a trailer locally and once again set off South, this time however getting snarled up in traffic just about all the way there and on the way back after dropping off the car. 

After a couple of weeks, Bill said it ready and off I set once more to collect my car. I didn’t want a noisy exhaust, and the exhaust system Bill had constructed was magnificent and it sounded brilliant! A traffic jam delayed my trip home and meant I couldn’t return the trailer, which actually turned out to be a spot of good fortune, as I just couldn’t start the cat at all (I’d unknowingly managed to flood the engine!). I used the trailer next morning, on route back to the hire company, to take the car to my local garage where the problem was diagnosed, to my embarrassment, and an MOT issued. 

I picked the car up at the next opportunity eager to see how it felt to drive. Of course, it was running in, so I wasn’t going to drive it hard, just a gentle run around. The first trip was into town to fill up with some decent fuel and that was my first pleasant surprise. The car was just so well mannered around the town in all that stop start traffic, smoothly rolling along at 1000-1500 rpm with not a hint of snatching, just so different from my 5-port. Then off I ventured onto the A roads to put a few miles on the clock before checking for fluid leaks etc. Bill had set the distributor timing for 31 degrees of advance through the rev range, which later proved to be a little too much for the engine. However it just meant the car felt a little cammy up to 3000 where it just took off even with the slightest of throttle and where one felt it would just keep going! But the initial impression was that the engine was really strong, smooth and taught, and I couldn’t wait to get some miles under its belt to enable the final tune up at Peter Baldwin’s rolling road. 

After about 500 miles and an oil change I made the appointment and set off to Cambridge for the tune up. That was quite an experience in itself; driving on the rolling road and observing Peter do his stuff. He soon diagnosed the timing issue, but Bill’s jetting was spot on! The distributor was adjusted to give 26 degrees of advance at 5800 rpm where the car delivered 140 bhp. That’s about 30 up on my 5-port! Well, the trip home was quite exciting. Although the engine was quite flat at low rpm, being now 6 degrees retarded at idle, once it got over the 3000 rpm mark it really wanted to go and keep going. 

Since then, Bill has reworked the timing so that there are 6 degrees of advance at idle with a further 20 degrees through the rev range. This has done wonders for the power distribution and the cam effect is drastically reduced. The car is just great to drive, however you want to drive it; easily lives with modern day traffic, and can show a clean pair of heels to most of its contemporaries! In my opinion, the Arden head should have been a natural factory upgrade to the engine, at least in inline format anyway. 

Great job Bill!