Moss Motors, Ltd

  Hi everyone I'm looking for any tips on 1500 midget performance upgrades,

  special tuning tips or any other information you might have.  thank you very much    

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Forest Smith

What condition is the car in now? Stock carb? Stock ignition?

Usually, first step is a Weber carb, header and free flow exhaust, and a good ignition system. Of course, a proper tune up ( compression test, valve adjustment, etc.) is in order first to make sure the engine is in good condition. The external oil line to the rocker shaft is also a good idea on the Spit motors as they lack enough oil at the rockers at high speed.

Let us know more about what you have now.

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"Cogito ergo Zoom"
"Love your freedom? Thank a Veteran"

Mike has covered most of it. The 1500 has a reputation for having oiling problems resulting in rapid wear on the thrust bearings and the number 3 rod bearing. Before considering anything more than the 'bolt ons' he mentioned make sure that the lower end of your engine is 'right' and that the oil pump is withing specs. The Weber carb is a popular swap, but some are fitting the twin SU manifold and carbs from the British or Canadian market cars. These show up on e-bay from time to time.

These engines had pretty low compression, so if you're doing a rebuild I'd consider installing flat top pistons to get the compression up to around 9.5 :1 which will still run on regular grade pump gas if the timing isn't too radical. Speaking of timing, I'm beginning to realize how few of us get our distributors recurved to match our performance upgrades. As you build your engine consider sending your distributor to someone like Jeff Schlemmer at Advance Distributros for some work. He'll match the curve to the build of the engine to maximize power and drivability. http://www.advanceddistributors.com/

The 1500 can be a reliable power plant if assembled correctly. My good friend and fellow club member drives a 1500 Midget with raised compression, a cam  change, dual SU's and a header. He fitted a Spitfire O/D transmission and routinely cruises at 70+mph without problems and runs times comparable to some of the Bs in our annual acceleration timing event.

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'73 Midget (V6)
'59 MGA (I6) under construction
'73 Lotus Europa
'52 MG TD kit car body project.
'98 Jag XK8

"There is a fine line between a hobby and mental illness"

stock engine, carb and ignition

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Forest Smith

Make it run right stock is very good advice. You don't want to throw good money after bad on hi- performance parts when you've got a worn out engine.   Some low cost performance ideas include synthetic motor oil of the next lowest weight recommended for  the engine and synthetic oils all the way back to the rear wheels. Some kind of cold air induction for the carb makes a difference. For each 8 degree drop in air temp you get about a 1% increase in power. It gets mighty hot under that hood !  Also, keeping the fuel cool helps increase the density of the intake charge.  Wrapping the header with exhaust wrap insulation lowers under hood temperatures as well. It also helps with exhaust scavenging in the cylinders by keeping the exhaust hotter, longer which keeps it moving faster. If you have to re-do the clutch spend the money getting the flywheel lightened or go for an aluminum one. The energy the engine had to spend to get that thing turning will be transferred to the rear wheels instead. this effect will be multiplied by the gearbox. Also, these little cars are very sensitive to the horsepower to weight ratio of the car to the engine. Anything you can do to lighten the car will be very noticeable in performance. Try emptying the trunk and the change in your pockets. Spitting works too!  Having properly inflated tires makes a big difference also by decreasing rolling resistance.

good luck! 

 Thanks for all the tips I'll post back with the results

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Forest Smith

Hey F Smith- From the looks of the picture of your car that you have posted it looks like you took my weight saving tip to heart! No doors, hood, or front fenders will definitely help in those zero to sixty times. However, at speeds above that aerodynamic drag might come into play!

lcjutila 

I just replaced a stromberg carb with a WEBER WK054 -32/36. I was getting 21.5 mpg with the stroberg, and now I'm getting 31.8 mpg. I'd can easily see why the WEEBER is so popular.