MG Sports Cars

I have heard from Dale and will picking up the heads this Wednesday.
We have only six, count them six, t-shirts ordered so far.
I plan to place the order with the company the first of May. If you want something bigger than x-large, let me know.

Steve

I sent you another check this morning, Steve.

XL works for me.

XL works for me as well....BTW Curtis.....please ignore the "report this thread" notice you just got....I'm used to hitting a "reply to this message" button. Oops. rki

Apologies for not posting an update on the weekend sooner.

First off: Steve, Dave VanWyck would like 2 extra large shirts. I'll take 2 XL and 2 XXL as we discussed. Guys this shirt will be a unique design. It is different from last year's and will be different from next. So it's a one time deal and if you have extras a couple years down the road they will be valued, so buy an extra one and don't be saying, "I wish..."

Roadmaster Weekend went well but not without a hitch or three. Steve and I are now perhaps the only people in America who have ever rebuilt an MGB lower steering column bearing. Turns out that despite the cheap construction it actually is a pretty good bearing, if more than a little weird. Uses 29 balls and a convoluted process to get them in place. The steering feel is now quite good.

We weighed the engine using a beam balance of my own design with a 10:1 ratio and a 50 lb electronic fish scale. The reading of 44lbs 9 oz (or 44-1/2 lbs) gives an engine weight of 445 lbs. This is with aluminum heads intake and water pump, mini starter, damper, stock distributor and engine mount brackets, but without the flywheel, carb, alternator, pulleys or brackets. Let's see, 100 lbs for an extra 345 cubic inches.... hmmmm. Yeah, I think I'll take that trade.

We massaged the gas tank and also the skirt behind it, whatever that panel is called, so that we could get the tank to go in with the IRS in place, and cut a new hole in the floor so we could center it. Plus we finished assembling the engine. It will need a custom set of pushrods, figure about $65 cost. Once we got to adding the tranny we hit the third great challenge of the weekend. Our dimensions did not stack up as we had hoped. We have a 11" diaphragm type pressure plate, Corvette application, common as dirt. But, as luck would have it the short GM throwout bearing that came with it has only a little more than the required end play when assembled. The Howe HTOB is almost a half inch longer and is 1/4" too long according to our measurements. With no ready solution, we punted. We assembled the car without the HTOB and sent it to Dave on Sunday. That problem will have to be solved when it comes back. In the meantime, one of my reference books shows 3 different length GM TOB's and states that the intermediate length one is used with a Borg & Beck pressure plate. A ready solution may have presented itself, if the B&B TOB is at least 1/4" longer. Keeping the fingers crossed on that one. On the down side, the PP will not be balanced to the engine. Another compromise I'm prepared to accept. If someone has a good 11" B&B PP they can trade we would be happy to exchange the new 11" diaphragm style one for it.

Jim

I talked to Dave yesterday and he's made pretty good progress on the exhaust. He sent me some photos last night. These photos should give a pretty good idea of what we will have when he is finished. It will be a log manifold system and will give good clearances pretty much everywhere we need it. The system will run just inboard of the jack attachments (which will very likely go away), come back outboard of the front brace for the IRS and then loop over the half-shafts in the space formerly occupied by the axle bump stops. I believe he is running 2-1/4" tube and some or all of it may be stainless. Some people will say that is small for a big block but I think it will compliment our install by offsetting the lower rpm torque loss of the cam we're using. According to Jim Weise an acknowledged expert in the field, we should expect to see 450-475 hp with a 5000 rpm redline and torque that is greater than stock (500 ft lbs) in the cam's operating range, roughly anywhere over 3000 rpm, and slightly less than stock below that. The exhaust will enhance the lower end of that range and shouldn't hurt the upper end much at all if we stay with that redline. So it should end up being a pretty tractable package.









Dave also has a GT with fiberglass fenders which he would like to convert back to steel and he'd be interested in trading them to us. That might take a few pounds off the front end and sounds like a good idea to me, the only problem being that our fenders are mismatched and the right one has a splice. The ones on the green car are also spliced and kinda rusty. But if we can come up with a fair trade I'd like to go ahead with that. I'll be taking a closer look today.

As far as getting the engine running and making the car operational, there is still a lot to do, and only 34 days left to get it done. Part of that time I'll be gone. Longer pushrods need to be ordered. We need to resolve the pressure plate issue. Question: Is a Borg and Beck at least 1/4" shorter than a diaphragm PP? Someone here should know that answer. The driveshaft has to be made, radiator mounted and plumbed, front drive built and installed, oil pump installed, distributor rebuilt and installed, carb installed and set up, fuel pump, throttle linkage, air cleaner drilled, tapped, assembled and installed, hood cutout, wiring sorted, dash installed, seats installed, brake master cylinder installed, front brakes sorted out, brakes bled, and maybe then, if nothing critical has been overlooked the engine can be fired for the initial break-in run. Realistically, I can't see it happening at this point. The car won't be back here for another week, and even if it was sitting here now I'd have my doubts. 2 or 3 weeks just isn't enough time to get all of that done and I've been having a little back trouble which doesn't help matters. So, I will concentrate on just making the engine run and if that is achieved will consider it a victory.

But since I've mentioned my back, I'm now going to ask if there is anybody who can help me get this car to the meet this year? I am obligated to make a trip up into Iowa the last week of this month, about 900 miles each way, and between that drive and the one to Durham I'm expecting trouble. I know everyone is taking their own cars to the meet, but if there was a way I could avoid doing all the driving because of towing the car it would really help a lot. I don't know if there's any help for it, but I though it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Jim

Exhaust looks good, Jim!

I'm guessing that there will be very little engine torsional twist?

I'd expect that to be correct Rick, based on our front engine mounts. Here are some new shots of the headers:









Dave is hoping to be able to finish the exhaust system in the next few days. I'd say it's a pretty elegant design for a compact tubing manifold and should flow quite well.

Jim

Nicely done. Those will be just fine for the Roadmaster. Glad we got the aluminum heads, gave us enough room for the headers without hacking up the fenderwells to much and saved a lot of weight.

Here's a quote from Dave that I thought y'all might like:

"I wish I had a video cam in the workshop to record the dropped chins of the folks that have seen the BBB. Tonight, a friend stopped by to pick up an adapter set I made to space out the wheels on his old John Deere. He looked under the GT (up on the hoist) and stated "I didn't know that MGs ever had IRS." I told him to go look at the front end and his eyes just bugged out. It's been fun!" Dave

We should have the car back down here Tuesday or Wednesday.

Jim

VBG....wait til they hear it/see it run!

Photos:

More photos:

Wow, that's pretty. Nice work Dave. It's getting closer Jim. You guys have done an amazing amount of work to get this far. I'm really looking forward to seeing it in NC running or not. We're going to have to get a recording of the sound that big block makes when the time comes so everyone can hear that rumble.

Is there anything needed that we can physically do to the Brute when it is at the V8 meet with the limited resources that will be available?

YES!!!

I'll need to make a list. But what immediately comes to mind.... dashboard, wiring, electronic ignition & rev limiter, struts (again, but I don't have a portable drill this time) seats, and various other odds and ends, correct lug nuts, bleed brakes (assuming I get the front calipers on right this time). Maybe's.... throttle linkage, radiator hoses mounts and wiring, grille, and the biggies.... B&B pressure plate (& bleed HTOB) and driveshaft.

I will try to get the pushrods, get something going on the driveshaft, rebuild the distributor, set up the front drive, mount the alternator, mount the carb, mount the air cleaner (it is painted now) cut the hood opening, see if the brake calipers will fit, and if I have time, try to do something about the pressure plate. Oh, and build the oil pump and install a filter. I did get a chance to port the lower housing that Carl sent.

I really did enjoy the break while Dave has had the car. Gave me a much needed chance to straighten up and clean up. My place will never be one of those TV show garages, but clean and neat is sure nice.

Dave is a wizard with tubing. I suggested to him that we might run the exhaust out where the bump stops had been and he did the rest. I really like that location a lot. It's a long distance away from the brakes and that's a real plus. There aren't all that many sharp bends so it's pretty free flowing, and it's almost completely out of the way of everything else under the car. I think he's done a masterful job on it. He's also looking at what can be done to connect the stock gas tank filler to the relocated tank, a rather difficult task. We have scheduled the next exchange of the car for Sunday afternoon, then he will be concentrating on his own V8 conversion.

If we do not manage to get it running, we will at least be so close that there's a good chance we could finish the necessities and fire it up at the tech session, provided we have access to the things we may be needing. (such as running water) That would certainly be a high point.

Jim

Dave has finished the exhaust and the car is back in Florence. It's a fine looking system, made from a special type of aluminized stainless tubing which is nearly indestructable. So as long as we're happy with the sound and can avoid dragging the mufflers it's good for life. The first thing I did once it was back was to check again to see if the front brakes might go on with these wheels. Same result as the first time, no mistakes and no dice. Next I swapped the GT front springs in place of the yellow springs and picked up a little height in the front. Not much, maybe 1/2 to 1" but that will help and we'll know how it sits with 30 yr old stock springs.

I called Zoom and they told me a diaphraghm type and a B&B would both have the same finger height. That leaves two possibilities. Either the Corvette pressure plate we have is taller than a random GM unit, or we need a shorter HTOB. I'll try to contact Brian to get his input but it's doubtful we can resolve this by the 7th.

The air filter came in but I need a carb base gasket before proceeding with the intake system. Maybe tomorrow I can make some progress on the pushrods, pulleys and such. I'll be gone from the 26th to the 31st. We'll just have to see how far we get.

Jim

Here are the photos we've all been waiting to see. I'm afraid any thoughts of making it a sleeper just aren't in the cards though.

Jim

Looking good!