The BritishV8 Pub

Great looking car and SLICK* install.

Slang for custom.

Welcome Don. Nice looking car!! Have always liked them.

Greetings from Nashville Tn.
Guess I am the classic lurker. Owned LBC's since 1968. My football buddy and I needed transport to practice so we collected our earnings and had his older brother buy a very tired Bugeye Sprite. Retired as a aero engineer and pilot who spent the last decades as an air safety investigator.
Current or recent cars included a 73 MGB GT, 67 Alpine, Jag, Tiger, another Alpine, MGB, several Lotus. and recently a brace of classic Thunderbird's. I consider myself a capable wrench but as you age you face limitations and motivations. Sometimes it is worth the money to just shop it out. May have seen my last restoration project.
The reason for taking your time is I recently bought a fresh, nicely restored 73 MGB GT. The Gt was important for the added head room and it was equipt with overdrive and a a/c system for her comfort. Drove it 700 miles home an it was a pleasure. A few weeks ago, was returning from a visit to a car buddy when a freeze plug departed. By the time I realized there was trouble the car was very hot and missing badly. A few superficial repairs and it runs but knocks. Compression is still good, kept its oil and pressure.
Looks like at least a wrist pin and maybe pushrods and hope the bottom end survived. But if the engine needs to be pulled then seriously thinking a V8 swap might be a viable choice. Rover engine with a 5 speed. Not looking to race, ( her Mazdaspeed Miata is a great Solo II car). If I am in for a couple of thousand for a fresh engine, maybe an opportunity something more interesting.
Is a budget of 6-8 k reasonable for the Rover 5 speed exchange in a already very nice 73 GT? Anyone recommend a kit ?
Phil
pwtrusty@yahoo.com

Hi Phil & welcome! Sounds like you'll fit right in. If you go with a Rover that doesn't need to be rebuilt same with the T5, do the work yourself, and you shop for deals, you should be able to do the project for $6-8k. Most likely the upper end of that range. The big items are pretty easy to estimate. Little things like hoses, clamps, hardware, etc is where you'll spend more than you think. No matter what, you'll be happy with the result!!

Welcome Phil, from a bit further souht than Nashville. You can google the subject and get tons of info. This site plus others can provide all info you need. The Rover was not my cup of tea, but a tired and true conversion. Use the MG Sports link and post your questions there. Others will chime in. Rob & I did the Blue Oval thing. :-)

Hello Kelly
Thanks for responding. Monday the oil pan comes off, remove the caps and look over the bearings. A spun main will mean the engines comes out and I will start collecting numbers about a swap. If the bearings are still good then the head comes off and I pull the pistons, rods, tappets.
Since I have some knowledge about the Ford 5 liter, a modern EFI and HEI motor with tons of aftermarket parts has some appeal.
When you change one system, you always change a couple more so the diffy and probably the rear suspension, motor mounts, some sheet metal mods to firewall. So not a weekend bolt-up even with the Rover iron.
Ever entered the Huntsville British Car Days show? I took a couple of Lotus ( 1 Europa and a Elan +2) several times a few years ago.
Will keep you posted.
Phil in Nashville
pwtrusty@yahoo.com

Yes, member of North Al British Motoring Society. We are inclusive of European and other car. Maybe see you at a show. You should plan to attend our V8 gathering in June at St. Louis and 1st weekend in Oct. in Townsend Tn. at Tally Ho Inn. You NEED to meet up with our group.... Dream it and generally we got it.
Loved the EFI and Ford Drive Train. In process of Learning Jaguar now :-)

Kelly
My wife's daily driver is a 03 XK8. Prior was a 03 S Type R. We are active with the Nashville British Car Club. Last entry with the Huntsville Show was a Lotus Elan +2. Which I eventually sold to a Martin- Marrietta engineer. Took a trophy or two and met the club pres. ( Dan?) a local independent shop owner. Nice guy.
Excellent show but the "European" part included Ferrari and Lambo which made everyone else look lame.
Just finished rebuilding a second Sunbeam Alpine. Nice enough but I miss the Toyota 5 speed that was in the previous one. Will need to install a Laycock, a 5 speed or just sell the car and make room for the MGB GT. Still grieving over selling the Tiger..one I should have kept.
We relocated to her "forever " retirement house and I lost my lift in the move. Have become a major nuisance to my friends who do have lifts.
Happen to have any pictures of the tranny cross member and engine mounts for your 5.0 conversion ? Dont make a special effort..
Phil
pwtrusty@yahoo.com

Major newbie here. Am interested in the MGB GT V-8 (factory original). Main question is whether these cars make good daily drivers under todays driving conditions? Are they reliable? Do they handle well? Where would be the best source to find a good one? I live in the Boston area, is there a way to search for members in my area? Thank you.

Welcome to BritishV8, Garrett!

The factory MGB GT V8s were reliable and handled great by the standards of their day. You can read a huge archive of articles about them here: [www.britishv8.org] - and if you do, I think you'll see even the least generous reviews criticized only their harsh leaf-spring rear suspension and their high cabin noise levels.

In retrospect, the factory V8s didn't exactly have an excess of cooling capacity - better radiators and fans are readily available now. Conversions often have better fan shrouds, etc. The factory V8s had weirdly complicated induction systems - obviously a four barrel carburetor is easier to tune or rebuild than a pair of SUs. The factory iron exhaust manifolds were restrictive and surprisingly fragile. The factory-installed engines easily could have been tuned to produce more power, but for various reasons the factory chose conservative specifications. (Example: low compression ratio meant you could run them on very low grade gasoline. MPG was a big concern at the time because the factory V8 was introduced just after the Arab oil embargo.) If sales had been better, perhaps the factory would have offered higher-spec options later.

Only eleven left-hand drive factory V8s were produced. (Some might quibble about a 12th or 13th.) And, I think only one of those eleven is located in North America. FWIW, I personally wouldn't consider any right-hand-drive car suitable for daily use in a North America urban setting. I'd instead recommend you consider a well-sorted converted MGB V8 complete with electronic fuel injection. If you're patient and lucky, one will come along.

Good luck!

Hello everyone, I'm Dave from Coventry UK and came across this site purely by accident but it looks really interesting.

Apologies to the Moderators but I completely missed this section when posting "Hello from the UK" in the main pub forum so feel free to delete my post from there!

I've got over 30 years experience in engines and automotive in the UK, having worked for an F1 engine company (Judd), Cosworth, Lotus, JaguarLandrover including SVO and now I reside in a small engineering company in Coventry UK where we specialise in engine conversions - up to now just for Landrovers - but as part of my role I was looking at potential for putting one of our engines into classic british cars such as Marcos, TVR etc and during that search in the UK, your excellent site came to light.
Hopefully I might get a feel for what kind of thing appeals to you guys by reading the forums and will help guide me down the correct route here across the pond.

Anyway, I'm pleased to be here and hopefully I'll get to contribute something of value as well as learning a great deal from people such as yourselves.
Have a great day.
Dave

Re: Hello from the UK

Posted by: rficalora
Date: July 08, 2020 10:31AM

Hi Dave, and welcome!

This is a great site with TONS of information sharing. You'll find most of the activity is V8 swaps into MG's & Triumphs, but also some other marques & some other motors. Most of the V8's used are BOPR (Buick, Olds, Pontiac, Rover) 215+ aluminum block variants. Another popular choice is Ford 302. Some Chevy 350. 60* GM V6 is another popular choice and more recently GM LS motors are gaining popularity. Turbo'd I4's are less common but always interesting.

My 2 cents though, if I were building or expanding a business around this topic today, I'd be seriously looking at packaging electric powertrains for classics. I'd do that in addition to gasoline motor swaps -- e.g. a 2nd product line. And, I'd do high end restored turn key but also basic turn key & also kits for DIYers (which this site mostly caters to). I'd pay attention to suspension & convenience upgrades too. I think materially modernized (in terms of handling & comfort) classics whould have a strong enough draw to support a small company. And, sacrilidge, I'd also look at Miata's & other "classics" as the market continues to move!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/10/2020 09:29AM by MGBV8.

Thankyou for the warm welcome.
I agree, an electric alternative does seem to be the most sensible route but then I see websites like this and think "really????"
I'm too much of an age where gasoline engines, and big ones at that, became the staple diet of any motoring enthusiast.

I'm incredibly lucky to be of a generation where we've produced some exceptional engines and cars/bikes in the world. I grew up as a kid reading books about people like Don Garlits, becoming fascinated with the (simply quite mad) powertrains that were being installed into the rails at that time.

In the UK, the older Rover V8 seems to have become the kit car / specialist car (as in TVR/Marcos, Morgan) engine of choice but I'm now looking at where I could shoehorn a Jaguar AJ engine and that was my main reason for looking at excellent sites such as this.
Unfortunately most of those engine bays don't lend themselves to a double overhead cam V8. Doesn't mean to say it's impossible though...

New member here! My name is Chuck and I am located in the western Chicago burbs. I've had several LBC's on and off for over 40 years. I am currently well into a rustoration/repower on a '69 MGBGT. I also have a '79 roadster in need of some lovin'.

My goal with the GT is to end up with a highway cruiser (not a corner carver) that will serve me for many years to come. So far, I have taken care of all (?) the rust. I have new floors, new sill assemblies, replaced inner rear fender, the normal dogleg repairs, lower front fenders, front trumpets and much much more. I am currently making the necessary mods to incorporate A/C, EPS, 3.4L GM L32 with 4l60e trans. and cruise.

I do practically all my own work on a shoestring budget. In the past, I have rebuilt engines, done complete restoration and brought a few cars back to life from the dead and near dead. Fabrication is not new to me. I have built a rotary powered Locost (Lotus 7 homebuilt replica) and did all my own work including some design and fab using mostly an angle grinder, a drill press, a few hand tools and a MIG welder.

I used to be active on the MG BBS back in the day, I've been semi-active on the MGExperieince board over the years, and I am currently a member of the Chicagoland MG Club. This is my first powertrain mod, so I decided to join here. I hope to learn a lot and perhaps share a bit of what I know along the way.

Hi Chuck, good to see you over here.

I used to hang out on the MG Enthusiasts BBS back in the day, as well. Still peruse the archives on occasion. Your local LBC club has a great website.

Welcome Chuck. I'm actually planning to be in Chicago in early/mid August - although we're going to cancel unless our son tests negative for Covid. He's up there doing an internship for Motorola and his roommate is positive. Should have son's test result tomorrow.

Thanks for the warm welcomes guys.

Rob, I would love to meet up and possibly show you my project. What car guy wouldn't? The Motorola campus in Schaumburg is about 1/2 hour away. Under the current Covid-19 conditions, I think it best we delay that until things are more under control. I hope your son tests negative.

Chuck

Rob PM sent

Hi everyone
Well trying to post up my new projects but having problem !
Please help.

Gerald, easiest way I've found to resize pictures is to get them on my phone. I use Android and there are a bunch of free apps. I use one called "Photo and Picture Resizer". If the pics are on my PC, I'll just email them to myself, open and resize them on my phone, and then email the small versions back to myself to get them on my PC. Don't know for sure, but I'm confident there are similar apps for iphone too. It's a bit of a hassle but it works.