Practically Classics Forum

Just seeing how people feel about modernising there classic engines .I love classic cars and personally think there is no reason why they cant be used daily with the addition of a good alarm and immobiliser and for those that dont want to be worrying about points, distributors and carburettors maby the addition of a good ecu driven ignition and injection .what are peoples thoughts on this ?

PC did it to an imp a while ago. I have thought about a megasquirt kit to put on my Range to get rid of the dizzy but that isn't a classic by anything other than the boot badge.
Everyone has their own ideas on what mods you can do, personally I think there is room for everybody's taste and seeing things other people have done even if you don't agree with them is always interesting. I wouldn't fit EFI to my morris minor as it would spoil it but I would be interested in seeing how someone had done it. Any changes as long as the car isn't ultra rare and they are reversible aren't going to spoil the car or it's value so build yourself a mega squirt and have a go.
As electronic ignition is an invisible upgrade I have no problem with fitting that to any car. Just my opinion but I think disc brake upgrades are all but essential on any daily that left the factory on drums or has had a power upgrade

My cars on points and will stay that way - no particular reason I just prefer it that way

thats a very shiny morris in your avatar terry

Thank you, that was fresh from a respray about 10 years ago. It will look that way again when I am gainfully employed and have put enough pennies on one side to have it done professionally

I've fitted electronic ignition in the past, but I've always kept a set of points in the boot in case it went wrong. Points may need a lot of maintenance but you can fix it by the side of the road when it goes wrong. I went on a road trip to France with the Matra Club in May. The only car that didn't make it was one that had been fitted with a Honda engine and a proprietary ECU. These things are all very well when fitted by someone who knows what they are doing, but it's a bit of a bummer when you're sitting in a French motorway service station and the only person who knows how it works and has the software to diagnose it is in Basingstoke.

I am in two minds - there's something nice about a truly original older car (even if it has points!), but practicality comes into the equation and things like points are best thrown away and forgotten about; especially if you can get a nice electronic system that doesn't show! On the other hand, I can't see anything wrong in a more modern engine with decent brakes and suspension if that's what the owner wants - and it is done properly. The car wouldn't win prizes for originality, but not everyone wants a show car and, having slid around on bench seats and had sore thighs after driving in one or two now-classic cars, decent supportive seats make for a much nicer drive. I used to get a bad back after a long drive, but more modern car seats are a lot more supportive and comfortable and I don't seem to suffer now.

However, there are always those that throw a more powerful modern engine into a car without changing anything else. If I wanted a more powerful car, I'd start with sorting the brakes, steering and handling before I even thought of changing the engine. I've been "wasting time" on eBay in case that essential classic appears. Some of the "upgraded" cars make me a little frightened - the car may be good, but so many say something like "mileage unknown because the speedo doesn't work" and when I read the description it's something like "Fiat engine, Ford 5-speed box and Riley 1.5 axle". No wonder the speedo doesn't work!

Worse still are the "90% finished" projects that people have "lost interest" in. These being the cars that have had so many mods, I suspect DVLA have said they need what used to be IVA test and the owners can't afford to do the work required to make them pass (or they have failed the test but the sellers aren't admitting it).

There are a couple of guys on the MGC forum who have fitted EFI to the C series engine - and airconditioning, EPAS, IRS etc. Each to their own and I am all for mods that make it easier to use and maintain - I've had electronic ignition on mine for 25 years now and it has been 100% reliable.

tractorman wrote: If I wanted a more powerful car, I'd start with sorting the brakes, steering and handling before I even thought of changing the engine.

If I wanted a more powerful car I'd go out and buy one. There are currently talks going on between the government, the EU and the FBHVC about the definition of a "historic" vehicle. The EU are talking about a vehicle which has its original "technical characteristics" unchanged. Quite how these characteristics are defined, how they are checked and what degree of change is acceptable doesn't seem to have been thought through, but I'd be pretty sure that a change of engine would fall outside the definition of historic. The consequence is likely to be that radically modified vehicles would not be entitled to any taxation or roadworthiness testing concessions that may be introduced in the future.

Personally if I wanted a modern car I'd buy one ready made rather than going down the megasquirt/jolt or engine swap route on an old car....I just can't see the point. The charm of an old car is in it's olde worlde features- dynamo, carbs, etc.

Having said that I do have an electronic ignition unit, but I fitted that more because of the rubbish quality of Lucas boxed ignition parts available a few years back than any particular dislike of points. Since fitting a hall effect unit I've had no further trouble but If the quality was there I'd have just stuck with points.

I still have a dynamo- it's adequate enough and although an alternator would be an easy fit and I seem to have a shed full of various alternators it just wouldn't look right.

My car also has a ghastly kenlowe fan fitted by a previous owner around 25 years ago- that will go as soon as I can find a proper fan boss. Vitesse/GT6 fans are still relatively easy to find but the pulley adaptor boss, that's a different matter! (for those that don't know, the Triumph 6 pot fan bolts to the crankshaft pulley via an adaptor rather than the more usual water pump fitting) The kenlowe is more trouble than it's worth- cars of this age had small rads suited to constantly running mechanical fans rather than intermitent modern electric ones, and the thing's constanly whirring away......

I remember a while back PC doing an article on what was purportedly an Escort Mexico, it was the cover car, big pic, everything, but it had a zetec motor, modern running gear from something or other else, a modern transmission, it was as far as I'm concerned a pastiche, like those modern Fiat 500's and beetles- lookalikes only, but most definately not the real authentic experience!