MG Sports Cars

[kansascity.craigslist.org]

Has anyone seen this? Just ran accross it looking. If this link doesn't work right, go to craigslist k c mo., enter MG in search, down about 3/23/11 is this car.

I don't see it.

I liked the 1953 Buick Special two-door. Didn't see the MGB/GT.

Try this link: [kansascity.craigslist.org]

Quote:

The car is a 1967 MGB-GT powered by a SBC driving a Corvair transaxle rear-end using a Crown conversion to put the power in the front.
It was built by a guy in AL back in the 70s with a 283 and has changed hands a number of times. I got it two years ago after it sat in a barn for about 9 years. The motor was shot so I put a nice 350 together (new pistons, rings, bearings, Comp Cams Thumper cam and lifters, timing set, L98 aluminum heads, roller rockers, Edelbrock Dual-Quad intake and carbs, MSD billet dist. 6al box, one wire 100 amp Alt, Billet pulleys, aluminum water pump etc.) for it. The motor was installed for fitting (getting the hole right for the crabs) and then put back on the stand (has not been fired). .

Bodywork has been done with the side molding removed (really cleaned up the sides) and the mounting holes welded. The drivers side fender had a rust spot cut out and new metal welded in and then it was shot in primer / filler. I had hoped to add Sebring flares so paintwork was not completed.

It will need the wiring redone, as its way old English (junk), should all be replaced with something like a Painless Wiring system. The interior really needs to be redone due to age.

Basically everything is there to finish, just don’t have the time.

Looking to trade for a 22 to 26 foot enclosed trailer ramp back door.

Email here put "MG question" in subject or it will be deleted, sorry to much spam.
or call 816-694-2150

I've heard of this car over the years, but never seen decent photos of how the ex-Corvair mechanical parts were integrated.

I've heard about this car as well over the years.
It's not a front wheel drive. It uses a Corvair transaxle flipped around so that it takes the engine in the front making this GT a sort of mid engined car. Crown originally made this conversion to put mid mounted v8s into the Corvair. Having built one back in the day I can tell you for sure that the Corvair trans won't handle v8 power much further than a freeway on ramp.
My introduction to the GT was while doing turbo work on the Panther 6. The Panthers owners wanted to produce something similar along side the 6. But like the Panther nothing ever became of it.
Could be a pretty unique car for the right person.

Cheers
Fred

If that uses the stock Corvair transaxle then the transmission would hang off the front of the differential and the engine would be behind it, meaning that SBC would seriously intrude into the footwells. I wouldn't want anything to do with this one.

JB

Jim and clan, as Fred stated, "transaxle is flipped around", ie. rotated 180 deg., and ring gear is flipped,(Corvair engines turned ccr). 66'-up t-axels were stronger, but "flipping" the ring gear=weaker.The "Art Silva" swap, was nice for the era. BOP., turning ccr., rear mounted.Rear weight was increased approx. 30 lbs. This was before German t-axles came into vogue, ie. 914, Audi, Boxter, etc. Were I, to build a "mid" car, MR 2-Turbo, would be my t-axle(transverse), of choice. Cheers, roverman.

This guy used a Corvair trans axle but mounted the engine up front and the trans axle in the rear. Very similar to what Pontiac did on the original Tempests, even the first year GTO had a rear transaxle as I remember.
From Wikipedia:
Despite sharing some of the Oldsmobile's sheet metal, the original Tempest featured an innovative drivetrain — a rear-mounted transaxle coupled to a torque shaft arcing in a three-inch downward bow within a longitudinal tunnel — coupling the forward engine and rear transmission into one unit and eliminating vibration.[1] The arrangement, known as "rope drive", had been previously used in the 1951 Le Sabre concept car.[2]

The combination of the rear-mounted transaxle and the front-mounted engine gave the car very nearly an ideal 50/50 front/rear weight distribution, enabled four-wheel independent suspension, and eliminated the floor "hump" forward of the front seat which accommodated the transmission in a conventional layout, such as the front engine/front transmission used in the Tempest's Buick and Oldsmobile sister cars.

John Z. DeLorean, designer of the Tempest, was the division's chief engineer and a Packard veteran who would later become the division's head and later still would become widely known for founding the DeLorean Motor Company. The Tempest was Motor Trend magazine's 1961 Car of the Year. Road & Track praised the Tempest as "exceptionally roomy" and "one of the very best utility cars since the Ford Model A."

Power came from a 195-cubic inch (3.2 L) straight-4, marketed as the "Trophy 4," derived from the right cylinder bank of Pontiac's 389 cu in V8, the standard powerplant Pontiac used in its larger cars, such as the Bonneville and Catalina. The engine was advertised as a gas-saving economy motor for thrifty consumers, but Pontiac also saved money because it could run the engine down the same assembly line as the 389. There were three versions of the engine: an 8.6:1, low compression, single-barrel carburetor; a 10.25:1 high-compression with single barrel; and a high-compression engine with a four-barrel carburetor. While the single-barrel version produced between 110-140 horsepower, the four-barrel was capable of 155 hp (116 kW; 157 PS) (SAE gross) at 4800 rpm and 215 ft·lbf (292 N·m) of torque at 2800 rpm. All three versions had a fuel economy ranging from 18-22 mpg, and the engine was generally reliable though it had a reputation as the "Hay Baler," a derogatory label applied by dealer mechanics (ostensibly from farm states) who experienced the violent kicks it could produce when out of tune.[citation needed]

Another departure, lesser but still notable from the other Y-body cars, were the wheels. Both Buick and Oldsmobile had standardized their Y-body cars on an odd 9.5-inch (241.3 mm) brake drum with four lug studs on a 4.5 inch-diameter circle (a "four-on-four-and-a-half" bolt pattern), with 14-inch (360 mm) wheels, shared by no other GM cars at the time. Pontiac went with a nine-inch (229 mm) drum, but used five studs on the same bolt circle ("five-on-four-and-a-half") and 15-inch (380 mm) wheels. This was a second configuration shared by no other GM cars but would be identical to the wheels on the Ford Mustang when released some four years later in mid-1964. Perhaps only coincidentally, the Pontiac plant that produced the Tempest's undercarriage was in Los Angeles, across the street from the Ford plant where the Mustang's was developed.

Of particular note is that the innovative aluminum Buick-built 215-cubic inch (3.5 L) V8 was optional in the Tempest in 1961 and 1962. (This also had first appeared in the LeSabre.)[3] It is estimated that just 3,662 Tempests were ordered with the 215 engine, or about 1 percent of production. This motor produced, in its various incarnations, from 155 to 215 hp (160 kW) despite weighing just 330 lb (150 kg) installed. The Pontiac 215 blocks are distinct from other Buick 215 blocks because in addition to the factory Buick markings they were hand-stamped at the Pontiac plant with the VIN numbers of the individual cars they were installed in. Thus in 1961 all Pontiac 215 blocks begin "161P"; the 1962 cars, "162P." Further code numbers told whether the car had an automatic or manual transmission. In 1961 this would have been either a three-speed column-shifted manual with a non-synchromesh first gear or a two-speed automatic controlled by a small lever on the dash to the right of the ignition. This automatic, called "TempesTorque" in company literature but unmarked on the unit itself until 1963, was a type of Powerglide similar to, but sharing very few parts with, the one in the Chevrolet Corvair. (The next year a floor-mounted, fully synchromesh four-speed manual was added.) At the introduction the Tempest was only available as a four-door pillared sedan and as a Safari station wagon. A pair of two-door coupes, one of which was named LeMans, were added at the end of 1961, both in the 1961 body style.

By the time the 1962 models arrived, LeMans, primarily a trim package upgrade featuring front bucket seats, also came as a new convertible. There were now a total of four models: station wagon, sedan, coupe, and convertible. All four came as Tempest; customers who wanted a more deluxe coupe or convertible could pay extra for Tempest LeMans. There was no LeMans station wagon or sedan. And although Oldsmobile and Buick had pillarless hardtops in the higher-option Cutlass and Skylark respectively, there was no pillarless hardtop LeMans. In 1963, the LeMans became a separate series, reaching nearly 50 percent of all combined Tempest and LeMans production.

The 1963 version, slightly larger and heavier than the previous two years (now designated a "senior compact"), and with a redesigned transaxle that improved handling, offered a high-performance option much more powerful than the scarcely ordered 215. The 215 was replaced by Pontiac's new 326-cubic inch (5.3 L) V8, a motor with the same external dimensions of the venerable 389, but different internals, designed to produce more torque. A new version of the automatic transmission (now officially stamped "TempesTorque" on the case) was designed with beefier internals to handle it; the four-speed was not, so few, if any, V8 cars were built with four speeds (the three-speed remained for both motors, however). The high-compression 326's output was 260 hp (194 kW; 264 PS) and 352 ft·lbf (477 N·m) of torque. The actual displacement was 336 cubic inches, but according to lore, since no GM division was allowed to have a motor larger than the Corvette's 327, the advertised number was 326. The cast-iron mill brought weight up 260 pounds over a 195 cubic inches Trophy 4 and weight distribution changed only marginally to 54/46. Performance was strong enough that Car Life magazine stated; "No one will wonder why they didn't use the 389," and fuel economy with the 326 ranged up to 19 mpg. The V8 option proved popular: 52 percent of the 131,490 Tempests and LeMans sold in 1963 were ordered with the 326. The 326 sold in the 1963 cars is a one year-only motor; the next year the displacement was adjusted so that it was actually 326 cubic inches.

I can verify all of the above info - I had a '61 Tempest wagon w/ 4 cyl / 4 barrel, and a '63 Lemans convt w/ 4 cyl / one barrel / auto. I also had a friend w/ a '63 w/ 326 / auto.

One challenge, though, another friend had a '62 Lemans convt, 4 cyl / auto, one barrel / auto.

These slant four cylinder motors were the right side of a 389 - used the same pistons, distributor, etc.

And yes, I was surprised back then that Ford/Mopar mags fit on the '63!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/11/2011 12:27PM by highmileage.

Bill, you never cease to amaze me with your knowledge,,, you're a lumberjack and you're OK !!!
Dave Craddock