• BMTA Member Moss Motors Chooses Mikuni Carburetors as Centerpiece for MGB Conversion Kit

    by  • April 4, 2013 • BMTA News

    Goleta, CA, January 2013 – SU and Weber carb upgrades have been popular in the MGB market for years. Recently quality control and higher costs became issues associated with the SU carbs and the Moss R&D team began research for a new option. Seeing that the Mikuni brand had an excellent reputation for street and motorsport performance, Moss R&D focused their efforts there.

    Primarily used in motorcycle applications, off the shelf Mikuni carbs won’t simply bolt onto an MGB. The Moss R&D team did custom jetting work and other specific pieces like custom throttle shafts. In motorcycles the carbs are gravity fed, an MGB stock fuel system runs the same type of pressure (1-3.5psi) making the Mikuni a perfect match.

    Much of the draw of the Mikunis is in their over-all build quality. They are designed to run on today’s ethanol blended fuels without issue, unlike SUs which are prone to leak and need maintenance and lubing. Because ethanol is a cleanser and degreaser today’s fuels simply degrade the lube that SUs require, which is an added level of maintenance. Mikunis do not need lubing and therefore are maintenance-free. Other benefits of the Mikunis are their tight quality-control and use in modern motorsports environments. The Moss R&D team was impressed by all of the internals designed to not leak and also to stay in-tune once a tune is achieved.

    According to Tech Services staff Ken Martin after he did a test install, “This installation was amazingly easy, nothing at all like all of the ‘fiddlin’ you need to do with SUs to tune them. The customer should never need to retune their Mikunis, and they will not need maintenance.” And once installation is complete, the customer can expect to find these Mikuni carbs will provide 100% ease of drivability. A PCV valve kit for fumes is available for those cars not originally equipped, meaning no more “stinky old car”.

    As is always the goal when Moss builds a conversion kit such as this, everything that is needed for installation is included in the kit. The customer is not required to do any fabrication. Included installation instructions are thorough and include pictures. A person familiar with MGB engines and carburetors could expect to install this kit in 4 hours, with only 10 minutes to tune the carbs.