Fast Marina Magazine

Hey folks,

I'm looking into getting myself a new classic as a daily driver. Have always liked the look of the Marina, its a bit different, not 'done' very often and seem to be cheap compaired to other 'practical' classics.

However i'm not to keen on the idea of running a standard one, want something a bit different that will not only be practical on modern roads but will be a bit of fun to.

So-

Modifications-

Can they be made to handle well with off the shelf items? Included with this is lowering them, ive heard front suspension is easy peasy to lower, is the rear just a question of bolting in lowering blocks and off you go? Does lowering these cars have a posotive effect on handling?

Secondly, performance mods. Whats the easiest way to make Marinas 'go better'?
Most cars out there seem to be 1.3 A series motors. Do 1.8 B's bolt straight in or is there lots of work involved, diffs shafts boxes clutches and all that paraphanalia?
Alternatively how well can the 1.3 be made to go? Mini mods bolt straight on, twin carbs, how cams, hot heads etc? What are the 'usual' mods in this case, carbs, manifold, dizzy, cam produce what...90bhp or something?

Thanks guys,
Graham

Blimey! Lots of questions!
I would suggest looking through the modification section as may of your questions have been raised on here already and some may well be answered.

You are correct about the suspension but not having driven a lowered car you will need to talk to someone who has like Martec or Balmy who has only just lowered his 3 inches.
I think many mini items will fit to a 1.3 engine but again I have a 1.8 B series so you need to talk to the right person / people
Loads of people on here have extensive knowledge of these cars and years of experience.

Welcome to the mad world of Marina's

Paul.

Kilroy has lowered his by about 2 inches, and with 7" rims and 205/60 tyres transformed the handling. 8)

The 1.3 will take all the 1275 Mini and Sprite/Midget mods. Cooper S spec is 78bhp iirc, so 90 bhp easily with off the shelf parts. 8) Check the David Vizard A+ tuning bible for details.

The 1.8 is effectively an MGB engine (with a weaker crank), so lots of off the shelf parts for 100+ bhp. 8) TC had 95bhp as standard iirc.

There are subtle differences between 1.3 and 1.8 (diff ratio, gearbox ratios), but most parts can be swapped over easily. Have a read through a workshop maunal (try your local library), that'll give you a good background.

As Paul said, I've just lowered mine by 2"-using escort lowering blocks-not too much to adapt to make fit. The front came down on the adjusters-thought I might have had to turn the torsion bars around but thankfully not. I have also just fitted 13x7" superlites with 185/55/13 Pirelli tyres. Havent long been fitted but you notice the better handling straight away-will report more once I have driven it.

Power/engine wise I think the TC is plenty powerfull enough for '70's brakes, handling and lack of crash protection! :shock: However I intend to breathe a few more ponies out of it soon. 130bhp with good midrange torque must surely be achievable right????

The 1.8 is effectively an MGB engine (with a weaker crank), so lots of off the shelf parts for 100+ bhp. TC had 95bhp as standard iirc.

I thought it was the other way round! MGB had weaker crank as they only had 3 bearings and it was the Marina engine had the 5 bearing first!! :? MGB then change to the 5 bearing!

I may have got that wrong though and if I have please correct me.

Only very early MGBs had a three bearing crank, everything from about 1966 from memory, has a 5 bearing crank. The strength diference in the cranks was that MGB used forged steel and Marinas used cast steel, cos it was cheaper.

On some of the MG websites they say that very late MGBs used the cast steel version as well.

The B series tuning book says unless you are going bonkers with the tuning the cast steel crank is perfectly OK.

130bhp from a B series won't be cheap. It will mean big bore (1950cc), v lumpy cam, high lift rockers, radical head mods and big valves, Weber 45 DCOE etc.. I have some tuning recipes that can give you an idea of what you will get for given mods. I believe that the top MGB racers are only getting around 180bhp and the engines are so peaky that they would be undrivable in traffic on the road.

The things is you could get up to 130bhp from a tuned A series and the car will handle better with the lighter engine.

Well I have learned some more now! Cheers Chris.
I must admit if the B series crank is not made of strong stuff, I think they need to beef up the block before the crank as the crank in mine looked like new but the block had certainly been round the block!
It needed to go 2 sizes up on re-bore to loose the wear and the crank only needed a very light polish so I think you are correct when you say it is OK unless you go bonkers tuning it!

Cheers for the info guys, nice to see there is so much room for playing with these cars. Sounds like you can make quite a sleeper.

I have now found the modified section, its crazy, i spent half a wet afternoon going through the technical and general section but totaly managed to miss the mods area :roll:

Cheers guys