C-SERIES TUNING GUIDE

To best understand where the C-series can go, it’s worth looking back at where it has come from. The venerable C-series six-cylinder found in the MGC was not a ‘one-and-a-half B-series’ as is often assumed. While some of its fundamental features, like an 88.9mm stroke and overhead valve layout, suggested similarities from the drawing board, the two were, in fact, quite separate. As the late Graham Robson explained in the October issue of MG Enthusiast, there had been a six-cylinder version of the B-series, called the Blue Streak, that might have been used for the MGC but, in the end, it was the C-series that was used instead.

Unlike the B-series, the C-series is a Morris design. With a history of robust and smooth six-cylinder engines, it was natural that BMC would leave the Morris Motors Engines Branch to develop such an engine for the post-war BMC range. The 2.6-litre C-series that resulted was largely similar in concept to Morris’ existing 2.2-litre