MG Sports Cars

engine swaps and other performance upgrades, plus "factory" and Costello V8s

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MGB-SBC-Jimmy
Jimmy Geske

(35 posts)

Registered:
01/27/2011 08:02AM

Main British Car:


The Brown Hornet! (budget build)
Posted by: MGB-SBC-Jimmy
Date: January 18, 2013 01:27PM

It's OK to laugh out loud,hehehe.

78 MGB, stock suspension, SBC with manual 3 speed.
Lotsa fun to drive but the rear gears are just to low for my taste, 3200-3500rpm at highway speed.
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MGB-SBC-Jimmy
Jimmy Geske

(35 posts)

Registered:
01/27/2011 08:02AM

Main British Car:


Re: The Brown Hornet! (budget build)
Posted by: MGB-SBC-Jimmy
Date: January 18, 2013 01:28PM

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BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: The Brown Hornet! (budget build)
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: January 18, 2013 02:10PM

No doubt that goes like stink. How about some details? Iron heads I see, what front springs? How'd you handle the exhaust? etc. Overall weight? F/R weight? Choice of radiator? What sort of trimming was required? It looks pretty well done.

Jim


MGB-SBC-Jimmy
Jimmy Geske

(35 posts)

Registered:
01/27/2011 08:02AM

Main British Car:


Re: The Brown Hornet! (budget build)
Posted by: MGB-SBC-Jimmy
Date: January 18, 2013 02:43PM

The motor is a 90s iron head (non-vortec) TBI 350 that I made my own adapter for the holley 2-barrel which is a 350cfm, The front springs are stock. I moved the motor back as far as possible which required the heater shelf to go so the trimming was pretty massive for the engine. I then reskinned the underdash tunnel area with some of it being double walled in hope of keeping interior heat down. I sectioned the original steering column by removing the crush zone and sliding the inner shaft to protrude out the other which gives you a perfect 3/4" DD end, the rest is 3/4" round shaft with u-joints snaking around the exhaust manifold which are stock iron units. The rest of the exhaust is mini glasspacks with side outlets using 2" pipe. The front motor mounts are a homemade ripoff of the old hurst style and they mount on the forward crossmember bolts. The tranny mount is a modified original. The drive shaft is a 60's chevy truck 2" diameter with an orginal mgb driveshaft yoke turned down a 16th to fit back inside the chevy driveshaft. The radiator is the china 64 mustang style. A tiny bit of trimming off the ears lets it fit between the rails very nicely. I used the original clutch master combined with a stockcar style retrofit hydralic throwout. I used a small cell in the trunk with a facet fuel pump. I love how the stock gauge holes fit aftermarket gauges perfectly. Homemade wiring harness. I installed the towbar mounts as I have one for another car and the frame rail centers happened to be the perfect width for use on it. I have some nice rims but I find it difficult to find wide 14" tires, still looking. I also added the typical bolt-on rollbar. Upgrades will be in the rear axle, Id love to just swap gears but at 600 plus for ring and pinion is hard to swallow, cripes, thats more than a third of what I have in the car,hehehehe. People often ask what color I'm going to paint it but I always reply that I want to keep it original,hehehe.........



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2013 02:47PM by MGB-SBC-Jimmy.


cgill
Chris Gill
Salmon Arm, British Columbia
(129 posts)

Registered:
08/13/2009 12:06AM

Main British Car:
1979 MGB roadster Buick 300 stroker with EFI

authors avatar
Re: The Brown Hornet! (budget build)
Posted by: cgill
Date: January 18, 2013 04:17PM

Love it! Nice work.

Keep the colour...


flitner
John Fenner
Miami Fl
(168 posts)

Registered:
03/11/2010 10:58AM

Main British Car:
1972 MGB 350 CHEVY

Re: The Brown Hornet! (budget build)
Posted by: flitner
Date: January 18, 2013 05:07PM

Nothing to laugh at here! You have done a very clean job on this car, much much better than what I started with. I hear you on the gearing aspect, I put the 3.25:1 in mine and like the quickness of it but cringe at the high rpm on the highway. If I could get a 200-4R to slam the gears as hard as my 350 does it would be done.
Nice work, I'd bet if you could make it quiet as a mouse retaining the stock look you could hurt alot of feelings with that sleeper!
Keep up the good work!


mgb260
Jim Nichols
Sequim,WA
(2461 posts)

Registered:
02/29/2008 08:29PM

Main British Car:
1973 MGB roadster 260 Ford V8

Re: The Brown Hornet! (budget build)
Posted by: mgb260
Date: January 18, 2013 06:21PM

Yeah, Good Job! Other than detail and choice of 3 speed tranny looks like a good driver. V8 T5 or 200R4 would be better. 2barrel?



Cobra Killer 72
Dave Hopson

(19 posts)

Registered:
09/28/2008 06:50PM

Main British Car:
72 mgb 72mgb chevy 350

authors avatar
Re: The Brown Hornet! (budget build)
Posted by: Cobra Killer 72
Date: January 19, 2013 10:19PM

Nice!!! going with the 350....


BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: The Brown Hornet! (budget build)
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: January 20, 2013 12:09PM

One thing we are beginning to see is that the old belief that the SBC is either too heavy or too powerful for the MGB is just not correct. A great deal depends on how it is done, but the chassis is stiff enough and the weight is within reason.

Jim


Cobra Killer 72
Dave Hopson

(19 posts)

Registered:
09/28/2008 06:50PM

Main British Car:
72 mgb 72mgb chevy 350

authors avatar
Re: The Brown Hornet! (budget build)
Posted by: Cobra Killer 72
Date: January 20, 2013 05:32PM

Shhhhh!! Keep that a secret Jim,LOL!!!

Dave



one thing we are beginning to see is that the old belief that the SBC is either too heavy or too powerful for the MGB is just not correct. A great deal depends on how it is done, but the chassis is stiff enough and the weight is within reason.

Jim


theonlyiceman53
Bill Russell
Florda
(85 posts)

Registered:
11/18/2008 06:01AM

Main British Car:
77MGB 350 Chevy with LT1 heads

authors avatar
Re: The Brown Hornet! (budget build)
Posted by: theonlyiceman53
Date: January 20, 2013 08:50PM

Come on now, SBC's are far too heavy! And of course they don't have any power and cost far too much! Yeah, that's right. Ha, Ha!

Great job on that Heavy Chevy Jimmy!

Bill


MGB-SBC-Jimmy
Jimmy Geske

(35 posts)

Registered:
01/27/2011 08:02AM

Main British Car:


Re: The Brown Hornet! (budget build)
Posted by: MGB-SBC-Jimmy
Date: January 21, 2013 11:34AM

Thanks for all the comments fellas! I didnt expect anyone would like it and it would be used as an example as to how not to do it,hehehehe. When this car fell in my lap with a blown/seized original motor and already having the SBC sitting on a stand, I knew immediately that the sbc would be the power plant, the 3 speed is something I typically threw away in years past but I love manual trannys so I went for the cheapest route and bought the 3speed for 65 bux thinking I could always go to a 4 speed in the future. All my other SBC projects are lucky to get 10-12mpg so with the MG I wanted to go for a little more mileage, hence the 350cfm 2-barrel and just about no speed equipment at all. The last piece of that puzzle will be the gearing, Im hopeing to get into the teens with mpg eventually. One of these days I will take it to the salvage yard and weigh it, my guess is 2000-2200lb range. Thanks again guys for the nice comments, this site was very important for me for ideas and inspiration and I love it! Thanks!
Jimmy
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perrymgbv8
Perry Stephenson

(188 posts)

Registered:
12/06/2007 02:50PM

Main British Car:


Re: The Brown Hornet! (budget build)
Posted by: perrymgbv8
Date: January 24, 2013 03:49PM

Thats fantastic Jimmy.. I love it :)
Are you running the stock MGB rear axle. 3.9:1 ratio ?

If so you can swap it for the V8 spec axle with 3.07:1 ratio. This will give you 100mph at 3000rpm if top gear is 1:1

D&D fabrications do a S10 axle kit that will drop straight in to the MGB.

I still use my original MGB V8 axle in mine with the drive shafts copied by Moser.

""People often ask what color I'm going to paint it but I always reply that I want to keep it original,hehehe.""

That sounds like one of my comments :)

Keep up the good work !!

Regards
Perry


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