Martin's view of Phil's GT

Carrying on from where Phil left to go off studying in Australia, I offered to play babysitter for his GTK, as it had become known, K as in Kompressor!  Although the supercharger was fitted by Frontline Costello, I had been involved with this car since April 2003, and assisted with fitting the Fiero seats, pulling and refitting the engine, and playing sounding board to Phil on his various ideas - so naturally I was keen to look after it for him, and to get to try out the performance.  Luckily, as the engine is a bit of a test bed concept, I had a green light from Phil to "push" it and see what it could do.

I first saw the finished article at Silverstone 2004 when it was fitted with a dirty great orange air duct to get cool air to the supercharger as in the photo below.  However, I knew that Phil had been on the rolling road and had had a measured 110bhp at the rear wheels, but a consequence of this visit was that on his return home, the car had started blowing smoke trails at certain times after sustained motorway speeds.  In addition, the car was suffering carb icing, as in Winter, too much cold air was getting in around the radiator (the surround had been removed as part of the install to cure the hot running), and into the carburettor itself.  On a brief visit to Chester in November 2004, Phil had refitted the radiator surround and removed the ducting temporarily which cured the problem, but the smoke issue was traced to oil on the heat wrap on the exhaust - the problem was not knowing the source of the oil leak.  Also, on this weekend visit Phil discovered a worn UJ on the front of the prop-shaft - as yet, we don't know whether it was accelerated wear from the s/c, or just normal wear.

Anyway, Phil duly delivered the car to me in February 2005 prior to setting off to Australia.  I used the car a few times, but I have to say I was somewhat disappointed.  The best bits were the handling and the seats, and I was somewhat under-whelmed by the s/c!  In fairness, this may have been because the car felt somewhat rough, and was leaving a smoke trail that even Q would have been proud to have designed!

Then one afternoon in March 2005, I was out in the car with Matthew Kimmins, and a strange ticking sound started emanating form the engine bay.  At first, we thought an exhaust gasket had gone , but investigation revealed air chuffing from the area around #1 piston near the spark plug.  We limped home the last few 100 yards and shoved it in the garage, whereupon I broke the news to Phil via email with the following options:

1. Trailer it back to his mother's...

2. Fix head gasket, and get rid of s/c, and refit carbs etc...(oh, and get rid of the evil number plate beginning HGF!)

3. Fix head gasket and cure source of oil leak at the same time.

Understandably, Phil leapt at Option 3!  So with Matthew's help the head came off to reveal a blown gasket and compression ring on #1 piston as shown below (the gasket viewed from underneath).

Whilst there was no apparent detonation problems that one can expect with running a theoretical 12:1CR the head revealed some interesting details that we believe are linked to the inlet design.  Note the inconsistency in mixture between pairs 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 in the photo below (#1 at left in photo)!

Discussions amongst the s/c cognoscenti on the MG Enthusiast BBS suggested that unless the gasket is a Payen unit, it won't hold up.  The gasket that was removed was definitely not a Payen, so we're hoping that that had solved the issue for now.  However, it was also suggested that ARP studs and nuts be used for the head, but at £150 a set, I settled for the advice of Osselli Engineering to use 'A' series head nuts with the built in load washer  on a new set of standard studs.  So far it is holding up.  However, worse was to follow:

The photo shows the followers on #'s 1 & 2.  Strangely, #'s 3 & 4 were fine as was to be expected at only 6-7k miles since the rebuild.  Chris Betson, immediately despatched a new set which also turned out to be faulty, and again despatched a new set which fitted perfectly.  It was nice to be able to work with a chap like Chris as he was quick to assist, despite the fact that his rebuild of the engine was not warranted for s/c fitment!

Then, we discovered the cause of the oil leak:

Somehow, no doubt as a result of the crank case pressure, and, I hasten to add, not the quality of Chris Betson's rebuild, the rear tappet chest cover gasket had got pulled away from the block on its lower side, resulting in pressurised oil spray blowing onto the exhaust wrap, and creating the 747 vapour trails!

Needless to say, with all these issues sorted we were able to refit the head.  I removed the exhaust wrap and made two new heat shields, using plumber's soldering mat as a cheap alternative to heat wrap.  I made sure the matting was riveted on the side away from the exhaust manifold, and on the shield below the s/c and carb, it was riveted on the underside.  I worked on the basis that this would act like a double insulating layer, and would mean the large orange tubing would no longer be necessary.  This has subsequently proven to be the case, and now needs a more permanent and professional installation.

We left off the heat wrap on the exhaust as the head showed signs of distress around the exhaust ports , but the aim long term is to fit a ceramic coated exhaust manifold to prevent heat soak.

Having torque'd the head down, it was necessary to reset the tappets and then time for a test drive...

This was the email I sent Phil after that first test drive - his reply was to the effect that he could smell the excitement and adrenalin coming off the screen at his end!

21st April 2005 - 

"Anyway, only one word to describe your baby - awesome, orgasmic, superb, sweet, ok, a few words then.........I have just about had to start smoking again to calm myself down!  Grrr! 

The car is transformed, Phil, it drives so smoothly, there's no roughness, she just walks away from 3000rpm like it had a V12 under the bonnet!  Superb, still creaming myself as I type, you may get the impression I am just a little excited by it all - Phil, your car has come together now - it drives like no BGT has the right to, it handles so superbly, so confidence inspiring - thrice on the A41 I pulled out to overtake into what seemed like oncoming traffic in a normal BGT, but in yours with such confidence that the s/c would pull the car through!  Crikey, sorry, if I am rattling on a bit here, but I pulled down the slip-road and tried up to 5000rpm in each gear - way too fast before I knew it!  

The best news is this - never a sign of the smoke after an hour's driving, and not even run-on when I shutdown after the run!  Oil Pressure held at 60-70psi (occasional flicker 40-60psi at idle) and temperature was about a 1/3rd across the scale (i.e. two thirds of the way from cold to normal).  The amazing thing is, standing at traffic lights it just never seemed to lose power.  OK, it was reasonably cool tonight although I was in shirt sleeves with both windows open to listen to the noise, so say about 12-16°C and when I opened the bonnet in the garage there was no sign of any heat build-up under the bonnet and the fuel bowl was as cold as when I set off!  I think we have the heatshielding cracked!  Jet hot coated would be good, though!

So, with no smoke trails, awesome acceleration, cruising at >80mph, handling like a go-kart, you have the automotive equivalent of Kylie Minogue, and I'm the one that gets to service it and ride it!  Sorry, pal, but I really think you should plan on being a while in Australia in your 4x4!!!! 

I just wish you could have been with me tonight, we saw off a few tailgaters that thought they may get the better of me, but if the head has held after tonight's run, I suspect we have it cracked and you should be looking at the s/c cam next!  BTW, I think I also have the drift thing conquered, your car is so well balanced through corners, I felt like Fangio or Moss through North Wales!

Well, I am truly sorry if this is making you a little bit jealous, but I have to say you have done a superb job!  I don't mind admitting I was a bit sceptical previously, what with the smoke etc, which put me off enjoying the car properly, but now, hey it's a credit to you, Sir!"

Subsequently, the car has been used monthly to give it a run whilst I stay abreast of my own GT, but apart from a flat battery, it has never failed to impress me every time I take it out.  The smoke trails briefly re-appeared but this only seems to happen after sustained speeds on the motorway.  Discussions with Roger Parker at the MGOC have centred around this being a common problem on forced induction engines, and therefore the next planned modification is a larger bore breather from both tappet chests feeding to an oil catch tank.  Apart from that a few small jobs need doing such as fitting an indicator stalk with built in hooter to resolve the problem of the poor fitting of the centre boss on the Mountney steering wheel.

Other than that, the car has once again found fame!  Apart from being featured in AutoExpress prior to the s/c, and then in totalMG last year after the s/c install, it has once again been photographed for a forthcoming issue of MG Enthusiast magazine.

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