Moss Motors, Ltd

THis past fall I installed a Moss MGA Supercharger kit on my MG-ZA Magnette which shares the same engine.

The results are great and the car has been totally transformed.

 It now accelerates like a modern car and sounds like a fighter plane!

I get lots of smiles and surprised looks from people driving boring modern cars.

Here is the text of a post I made on the MG Experience forum.

I thought that other Moss blower owners would find it interesting as it shows that the Moss blower

can be smog legal (at least in British Columbia) with no changes required to the specification.

________________________________________________________________________________

Now that's a WooHoo!

Third time was the charm.
Today I took my Moss/Eaton blown ZA "Ginty" through our local smog test. The car has the original 1500cc motor with a new 45D distributor with Pertronix ignition. The oil and spark plugs only have a couple of hundred miles on them, and the timing is at 20 degrees at idle.
For the first test I didn't even adjust the carb on my blown engine from the Moss pre-settings and the readings were off the board. Failed all of the categories, CO, Hc & NOx at idle and driving (rolling road) As it turned out the carb had some problems and Moss replaced it on warranty. (Great service from their tech dept!)
I was a bit worried as I knew that the local MG shop had had to rejet a blown MGB and spent quite a bit of (expensive) shop time getting it to pass.
For the second time through I adjusted the mixture on the new carb and set the idle to 950rpm. This time Ginty passed all but the HC at idle test. which was well over the limit (1766ppm/1056ppm)
I read up on the emissions testing tips on the Canadian Classic MG Club site and this time, just before entering the test I set the idle to just below the maximum allowable limit (1100rpm/max1150rpm) with the lights and heater blower on. The extra load gave me a much larger throttle opening at those revs and improved the mixture.
This did the trick and Ginty passed. Not by much (1011ppm) but that was enough.
Now, with the test in hand I can apply for the Provincial "Modified Collector Vehicle" status which will give me collector plates and a hefty (about 75%) discount on my auto insurance. Even better, I won't have to do the smog test again while I own the car. WooHoo!
Made My Day!

Cheers,
Rich

---

Life is too short to go slow-Safety Fast!

Sure glad I don't have to contend with that crap here in PA.  So far Classic & Antiques are exempt plus I live in a county that is exempt from the emission gestapo.  Probably won't last forever though.

---

72 MGB 80 TR8
Pittsburgh PA

Interested to know what benchmarks the BC bureaucrats use for smog tests on a 50 year old car (and how they arrived at them).

The standards here for older cars are pretty lax, and as much as it has been a PITA getting my old car to pass it certainly is running better than it was. I am just lucky that the engine was in good shape to start with or it would have cost a fortune.

The emissions testing has been so successful here thet they are going to discontinue it by 2010. Apparently the failure percentage has dropped to such a low level that they don't see it as being cost-effective anymore.

Surprising  grip on reality for politicians isn't it!

 

Rich

---

Life is too short to go slow-Safety Fast!

Rich,

I'm a bigtime Magnette lover. My first car was a '58 ZB (Black/oxblood) as was my third car. I currently have one I'm hoping to restore soon. Smog aside, my question is about the installation of the blower. Did you encounter any difficulty with the application? Did you have to install a header? Surely you increased the exhaust diameter. Yes?

---

Motorbill
From Lola to Land Rover, If it's British and has wheels, it's likely I've bloodied me knuckles thereupon

The blower installation was quite straightforward. I used the Moss MGA kit and it fit without any interference with other components (M/cyl etc) or body panels. There were a couple of challenges, The Magnette uses a rod throttle linkage which operates with a push action as opposed to the MGA which uses a cable system with a pull action. I was able to solve this by fabricating a bellcrank system to convert push to pull. The other main complication was the lower rad hose which needed to be different to the MGA solution provided with the kit. I ended up using parts of both the kit and my existing lower hose setup to build a "Frankenhose" which does the job just fine in spite of using two cast elbows, 3 sections of rubber hose and six hose clamps. It works fine but I am searching for a neater installation.  I also had to lower the rad 1/2" for the lower hose to clear the idler pulley. This was accomplished by elongating the rad mounting holes. The exhaust incorporates an MGB 3 into 1 header and a custom 2" exhaust which was fabricated locally. For full details of my conversion check out my thread on the MG Experience Magnette board entitled "Ginty Gets A Blower" I am also working on an article for Gunter's MGCC Magnette web page as well.

 

Cheers,

Rich

---

Life is too short to go slow-Safety Fast!

Hey Rich,

 Congratulations on passing your smog test. Here in California, not only do we have to meet tail pipe numbers, but also a visual inspection. So, even if you have the cleanest running car on the planet, you still fail if the car does not look stock.

 Cheers,

Robert

---

Robert Goldman
VP Business Development
Moss Motors, Ltd.

E-mail: rgoldman@mossmotors.com

In Arizona we have two smog areas: Area "A" (Phoenix/Tempe) and "B" (Tuscon). The rest of the state is smog-exempt - so far.

According to ADOT, cars older than 1982 account for about 1.5% of the smog in Phoenix and about 1.8% in Tuscon. This is from a total of 26,000 pre-1982 vehicles. This is apparently enough for ADOT to start considering more drastic measures for older car emissions - even well-maintained stock motors.

As I live outside of "A" and "B" I'm not worried yet; however, there could be problems ahead. Arizona has three categories of collectable vehicles: Historical Vehicles, Classic Vehicles and Horseless Carriages. Historical vehicles are any vehicle manufactured over 25 years ago. That's what the MGA is considered, and this is the category that is being targeted.

Classic vehicles are any vehicle that is designated as a classiv vehicle by the Classic Car Club of America (www.classiccarclub.org). They stipulate that a car is a classic only if it is older than 1941 and is either limited production or demonstrates a significant advance in automotive design. These vehicles may be exempt from smog:  for British car enthusiasts like us, it's a moot point as MGs are NOT considered classics.

The final category, Horseless Carriage, must be manufactured prior to 1915. Also not British cars as WE know them.

The problem is that cars that are 40-60 years old are going to be classified along with the 1983 rust-and-purple, smoke-belching wrecks that are still running in Arizona. As there are only 26,000 vehicles (not enough to lobby), and the majority of the problem cars are the 1970-1980 group, I'm afraid that we're going to be relegated to trailer-only status before this decade is out.

Well, I suppose I can always move to Eastern Europe...before the EU gets there... 

---

"Time machine: you get in, turn on the engine, and you're 17 years old again!"

Robert,

One advantage that we have here is that most of the workers at the testing station don't have a clue what they are looking at. When I was driving the ZA onto the dyno the tester asked me if the car was front or rear wheel drive! With the Moss blower the only thing that gives it away as not being period is the air cleaner. Before I installed the blower I converted my oil bath air cleaner to take a K&N. I am tempted to make an adaptor to fit it to the blower just to really confuse people!

Another note: Our provincial (British Columbia) council of car clubs lobbied the government motor vehicle branch to extend "Collector" plates to non-stock collector cars as well. As you can imagine hot-rodders aren't involved in many accidents and they were choked that they didn't get the same insurance benefits as the owners of stock old cars. The lobbying worked and now we have a "Modified Collector" class. That is what I have applied to insure the ZA under. Previously, the rules were so strict that you couldn't even install a non-stock radio!

 

Cheers, and thanks for the great products and support!

Rich

 

BTW: Brett-We have the same problem here to a certain extent. People have realised that a bone stock old beater meets the government's definition of a collector car and they are registering them as such to get the insurance discount (we have a government insurance monopoly) That is one reason that the gov. is so sticky about originality and condition. (technically a torn seat cover, paint chips or a non-stock radio can disqualify a car from collector status) To get the Modified Collector status you have to submit a safety report, receipts for the modifications, a smog test, and 10 pictures of your car, inside and out, to support the application.

 

---

Life is too short to go slow-Safety Fast!

That's interesting information about insurance, Rich. I keep forgetting about that aspect of the car: since we keep our policies at a single agency - have for 15 years - and have two motor homes as well as the cars, our incremental cost for the MG was trivial. I keep liability only on it: in other words, if it gets stolen or wrecked it's my problem. If I want replacement or repair insurance, I will need to go to Lloyds - my agent offered to connect me with the guy he uses there for specialty risks. Their policy is a "pay-for-protection" deal: if you want $12,000 of coverage for a year, it costs you $1100 a month - $1000 toward your coverage and their handling fee. He recommended buying a 5 year policy so that the monthly payment is lower, but it amounts to the same thing: as savings account for paying the repair. Not a bad idea (more honest than the usual insurance dance where you pay a lot for nothing) but I can save the replacement amount myself and only need worry about defense against other driver's suits.

Speaking of which, Arizona is one of the US states that uses financial responsibility as the primary test for assigning premium rates. This means that your insurance premium is determined mostly by your credit rating. A bizzare concept on the face of it, but data analysis shows that people with the poorest credit are the biggest abusers of insurance...so these people are given the burden of payment. Is it "fair"? I don't know: I spent most of my adult life on "assigned risk" due to transgressions I made at the ripe age of 23, so for once I get a break! 

---

"Time machine: you get in, turn on the engine, and you're 17 years old again!"

We are lucky here in terms of insurance cost. Our basic (liability) auto insurance is a government monopoly but is fairly priced in comparison to other Canadian provinces. Optional coverage may be purchased privately. It currently costs me anout $1200./year for liability, collision and comprehensive (glass/theft etc.) That is for pleasure only driving. after I get a 43% discount for claims-free status. Once I have my Collector plates I will be able to buy the same insurance for around $300./year. It's nice that they recognise that collector cars are less likely to have claims and price accordingly.

 

Rich

---

Life is too short to go slow-Safety Fast!

Here's a short update:

I received my collector plates. It only took a total of 3 weeks and my insurance bill for a year was only $215.00 for liability, collision, and comprehensive (glass breakage, theft etc.) plus a $35.00 plate fee for a total of $250.00. Happy, Happy!

Now I am working on my front disc conversion, and have pulled down a 3-main 1800 for rubuild for the Magnette.

 

Cheers,

Rich

---

Life is too short to go slow-Safety Fast!

"""""""""Congratulations on passing your smog test. Here in California, not only do we have to meet tail pipe numbers, but also a visual inspection. So, even if you have the cleanest running car on the planet, you still fail if the car does not look stock.""""""""""""

 

there is a cutoff of 1974 and earlier for smog checks in California so the above statement might be not relavant.