At 08:45 PM 8/13/03 -0500, Mac Askari wrote:
>"Let me know what you think of the supercharger kits being produce by a company in Australia. Look them up at http://www.hi-flow.com if you haven't already."

Note: The Hi-Flow subercharger is out of production by late 2021, no longer available new, but till servicing the old ones.

    Write in all of the standard disclaimers and admonishments. Speed cost money - how fast do you want to go? How much are you willing to compromise the life expectancy of the engine (and the rest of the drive train)? If you're thinking about vintage racing, read the rule book first, as this would certainly get you banned from certain vintage race groups, or at least get you bumped into a faster racing group where the car may likely not be competitive.

On the other hand, if you simply swoon over the sex appeal, have a bundle of extra cash to spend, don't expect the engine to last more than maybe 50,000 miles tops, then it looks like good clean fun. At least until the first time something breaks and runs into an expensive repair. The supercharger kit complete is certainly cheaper than building a naturally aspirated race engine with the same power output. The supercharged engine should also be more civil, easier to drive, get better fuel mileage (maybe), and maybe longer lived.

Moss Motors started selling a SC kit for the MGB in August 2003. Check here:
https://mossmotors.com/supercharger-systems
The Moss unit is de-tuned for a little less power than the HPP unit from Australia, because Moss expects them to be used extensively on street engines and would like to retain some reasonable durability for the engine.

Oh, one other thing, sort of ballpark or rule of thumb estimate. For the price of this bolt-in SC kit I could build two complete slightly warmed over 100+ HP engines good for 100,000 miles each. If a supercharged engine would only last 50,000 miles, then you would need four engines and the supercharger to go 200,000 miles, so figure on hardware expense to be about six times higher by the mile when running the supercharger, and more than double the amount of repair and maintenance labor time.

Well, maybe that was a little extreme. For casual street use the engine should hold up quite well. Fairly frequent goosing of the supercharger may reduce the life of the engine a little, perhaps a reduction of 20% or so in engine life miles. Bit think of all the fun you can have in the meantime.

In winter 2003 a couple of our local club members installed the supercharger on their MGB GT. For the installation and road test report, check here:
www.chicagolandmgclub.com/driveline00/1203/jasw.html

In Spring 2004 Moss Motors released a supercharger kit for the MGA. Check here:
https://mossmotors.com/supercharger-system3
I'm already salivating. Can't wait for a test report on this one.


In August 2004 we got the picture(s) for the Moss supercharger kit designed specifically for the MGA. This one was spotted on Jeff Zorn's car (Little British Car Company) at the UML Summer Party Reunion in Grand Rapids Michigan. These things are intended to turn out big torque at moderate engine speed, no need to crank out obscene engine revs. The stock camshaft is recommended for good low end torque and best fuel economy. If you keep the compression low you can have more boost and power (at a slight loss in fuel economy). Now maybe you don't have to get burned off by a Honda Civic. "Hey mister! Wanna dwag?"
MGA Supercharger Installation Instructions, Moss Motors (11-pg 1.5-MB pdf)

On the left is a picture of a vintage Judson vane type supercharger installed on the MGA. Click for a Road Test article reprinted from ROAD & TRACK magazine May 1958


This picture of a refurbished Judson kit complete and ready to install (same as new) was provided by Richard Kusy who was selling it in December 2021.

On the right is a picture of a vintage Shorrock vane type supercharger assembled with adapter parts for an MGA, including C75B blower, SU H6 1-3/4" carburetor, intake manifold with relief valve, carburetor pipe, engine brace bracket and pulleys. The larger pulley is a standard MGA crankshaft pulley. I have not seen one of these installed, so I don't know the configuration of the driving V-belt. I could speculate that this might be driven from a special dual pulley on the water pump with an additional belt tightening idler pulley. This one appeared on eBay from March 16-23, 2005.

Here are pictures of a Arnott supercharger with installation parts to fit an MGA, found at a swap meet by Bruce Dixon in South Africa. This type was more often used on earlier MG MMM cars and T-types. so I was rather surprised to see an MGA kit for it. It would be interesting to know the pumping displacement and port sizes.


Other superchargers of the era were also produced by Paxton and Vortec. These things show up on eBay occasionally.
There are some repair and rebuilding services for the vintage superchargers.
In the USA see: George Folchi - (use a search engine).
In Brussels, Belgium, see: Alejandro Martin - almar9@hotmail.com.