Project Journals

Owner: Richard Lilly
City: Oak Hill, VA
Car Model: 1958 MGA
Engine: Buick 215


Engine: 1961 Buick 215 V8, Bored 30 Over, Decked 10, Crower Camshaft, 10.5:1 Pistons, Edelbrock 1404 Carb (down jetted for 215),

Cooling: 1965 Ford Falcon Radiator (new), Remote Oil Cooler w/ Fans (from a computer)

Exhaust: Custom Stainless Steel

Transmission: WC BW T-5 Five Speed Tranny from a 1988 Camaro, used original MGA shifter adapted to T5, Custom driveshaft from a 1988 Camaro,

Rear Axle: 4.33:1 Stock MGA (looking to changing this out for better highway use.)

Front Susp.: Stock

Rear Susp.: Stock

Brakes: Stock w/ all new brake lines
(master) 3/4" cylinders
(front) Drum (going to rotors)
(rear) Drum

Wheels/Tires:

Body Mods: Frame - Clam-shelled & Reinforced front transmission cross-member, lowered and moved engine position aft. Installed lower frame rails in order to mount body panels. These had either rusted off or been ground off. All sills had to be replace and new ones welded on. Body - Dog legs and all lower parts of body panels had to be replaced. Bought new drivers side door to replace rotted old one. Pulled Radiator duct panel to straighten so the grill would fit. Replaced broken windshield. Working on new top from rusted and broken old unit.

Interior: Handmade wooden dashboard from cherry wood, Mazda Miata seats, 3/4 in. marine plywood floors, aero-gel paint for heat and sound suppression, designed new interior firewall to help seal interior from engine bay, bent pedals to left a bit to allow for widened T5 tranny.

Electrical: Advance auto electrical system w/ drop down system.

Original engine donor car 1961 Buick Special hauled home from Pennsylvania with 42,000 miles on it per the owner (or 142,000...)


Successfully moving car into Garage (well it did break free from the come-along and slam into the back of the garage but the mission was to get it into the garage…)




Engine out, son takes a pose with the engine


It’s a family affair, daughter pitching in to clean the engine


Torq’ing in the Crank


Pistons going in


Engine pretty much set, time to find an MGA


Found a 58 MGA (or boxes of a couple) in North Carolina. Turns out the doors were from a different car. Mixing and matching on these cars causes problems in alignment which I am still dealing with. The front fenders and body had been in a wreck which was discovered after stripping it down. None of the interior was usable. But the chassis was in very good shape.


Time to start stripping paint. Took it all down to metal. Bottoms of all fenders were rusted out and new dog-legs and new lower fenders had to be welded on, But actually not too bad.








Boiled out and resealed the fuel tank


Trying to keep frame modifications to a minimum. Clam-shelled the front transmission cross member and reinforced it to allow the proper horizontal angle for engine and transmission assembly. (A friend giving a hand with some grinding.)




Fabricated rear transmission mount to the proper angle to allow for angle in Chevrolet WC T5 transmission


Rolled steering rack forward and down. Added slight extension.


Ran the fuel line, set proper angle for driveshaft. Bell housing from D&D Fabrications


Lots of body work to be done




Get someone else to do the bodywork…it is still wearing me out...






Smoothing out the welds




Starting to look good.


Balancing the engine position in order to set the hand made motor mounts correctly




Now to make sure it still all fits under the hood




(hold for Tranny tunnel fab.)


(hold for New fabricated firewall in place)

Mini starter in place


Need to paint the interior space in order to keep the project moving.
Wrong color – too orange


Wrong color – too plum


That'll work


Get a good friend to paint the primer and the interior








Priming the master cylinder


Undercoating the inner wing. On reflection may not have been necessary.


More to come



Edited 11 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2013 11:06PM by Richl705.

/