MG Sports Cars

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

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mgb260
Jim Nichols
Sequim,WA
(2461 posts)

Registered:
02/29/2008 08:29PM

Main British Car:
1973 MGB roadster 260 Ford V8

Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: mgb260
Date: August 07, 2014 07:34AM

Scott, Look for some stock Fiero pressure plate bolts. I think they have a shoulder behind the bolt head. You may have to use hardened washers under the bolts also as the stock flywheel was bored slightly. The solid hub clutch plate may require you to slip it a bit to start out. I always used a sprung hub on the street.


pspeaks
Paul Speaks
Dallas, Texas
(698 posts)

Registered:
07/20/2009 06:40PM

Main British Car:
1972 MGB-GT 1979 Ford 302

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: pspeaks
Date: August 10, 2014 11:15AM

Thanks Scott, I'm currently working on a "How It Was Done". I hadn't planned on repainting but, as I had to replace the hood with a RV8, I might as well do some other body work as well like filling in the side lights and chrome trim holes. This done with the cooperation of my health which is been a significant road block in my little MGB adventure.


Paul


Scott68B
Scott Costanzo
Columbus, Ohio
(561 posts)

Registered:
10/25/2007 11:30AM

Main British Car:
1968 MGB GM 5.3 LS4 V8

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: Scott68B
Date: September 03, 2014 08:53PM

Wow, it's been almost a month since I posted any progress. Didn't mean to go that long. Progress has been made but the pace has slowed a little because of so much else that has been going on between work and home.

First, I did make a decision on the pressure plate issue. I decided to trust the GM engineers and go with the stock approach. I bolted up the pressure plate a few times and measured. It was centered every time. Also, after thinking about it, it didn't seem wise to add an unknown by using the spacers I made. So that phase is behind me now. It consumed a lot of time though.

The motor is bolted in and I started hooking up the wiring and doing some last minute routing and bundling. I still need to wire my wide band controller in. I'm going to try to wire the output of it into one of my unused rear O2 sensor pins on the PCM to see if I can log the wide band data along with the rest of the output. Should be an interesting exercise. I didn't get any pictures as there really isn't anything to show at this point.

So the plan is to do the following, probably in this order:

Get all the wiring in place
Bolt up the starter
Assemble the exhaust
Get the fuel lines sorted and the new fuel pump in the tank
Fabricate the throttle pedal and throttle cable bracket
Miscellaneous things like adding oil to the engine/transmission, bolting on the shifter, etc.

At this point I may try to do a first start. Then the following things are left:

Fabricate the alternator bracket and pulley mounts at the front of the motor
Mount the radiator
Assemble and mount the intake tubing and MAF
Do the million other details that have slipped my mind at the moment! :)

Progress continues to be slow but steady and the to-do list is getting shorter. Most importantly, I'm still having lots of fun with the project and learning new stuff every day.


Scott68B
Scott Costanzo
Columbus, Ohio
(561 posts)

Registered:
10/25/2007 11:30AM

Main British Car:
1968 MGB GM 5.3 LS4 V8

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: Scott68B
Date: September 04, 2014 09:38PM

Ran across this article and thought I'd share it. I found it very interesting for future reference. The LS2 cam looks pretty good!

[www.carcraft.com]


MGBV8
Carl Floyd
Kingsport, TN
(4511 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 11:32PM

Main British Car:
1979 MGB Buick 215

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: MGBV8
Date: September 05, 2014 10:04AM

Nice test. I like that they used the 5.3L for the cam comparison vs the larger 5.7 or 6.0L.

I think I prefer the early LS1 cam. Be good to lose a bit of torque off the bottom on an MGB to gain 63hp on top plus a 6500 rpm rev limit.


Scott68B
Scott Costanzo
Columbus, Ohio
(561 posts)

Registered:
10/25/2007 11:30AM

Main British Car:
1968 MGB GM 5.3 LS4 V8

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: Scott68B
Date: September 05, 2014 10:48AM

Good point Carl. You could probably come up with a good used LS1 cam for $50. It's such a versatile platform, I really like it.


TR6-6SPD
Ken Hiebert
Toronto Ontario
(255 posts)

Registered:
04/23/2008 11:43AM

Main British Car:
1972 TR6 1994 5.7 L GM LT1

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: TR6-6SPD
Date: September 05, 2014 01:33PM

Scott,
I'll be attending LS Fest in Bowling Green this weekend. Live, breath and eat LS engines Saturday/Sunday.
[www.holley.com]
(next week is VTR in Dobson N.C.)
Carry on with your conversion. Looks great.
Ken



74ls1tr6
Calvin Grannis
Elk Grove,CA
(1151 posts)

Registered:
11/10/2007 10:05AM

Main British Car:
74 TR6 / 71 MGB GT TR6/Ls1 71 MGB GT/Ls1

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: 74ls1tr6
Date: September 05, 2014 08:09PM

Sounds like fun Ken!

If anyone needs 2002 LS1 cams ....I have 2 stock one's in cam boxes that I have pulled out?

I'm running in my Ls1 and Brenda's Ls1 588/588 lift with 228/228 duration and 112 lsa. This cam is a good all round cam for the Ls1. The lower lsa brings to torque down to a lower rpm range. It still will make lots of power at high rpm. The duration isn't too high to mess with fuel mileage, and the bad idle issue with high duration cams.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/2014 08:24PM by 74ls1tr6.


MGBGT?
Artie Clark
Miller Place, New York
(24 posts)

Registered:
05/01/2014 02:14PM

Main British Car:
1978 MGB Rover 3.5L V8

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: MGBGT?
Date: September 15, 2014 01:38PM

My opinion, I would choose the LS3 cam based on the statistical gains. However, if you still stick with the LS1 I believe the later LS1 version (01 to 04) Calvin has is slightly better statistically than the earlier LS1 version.


Scott68B
Scott Costanzo
Columbus, Ohio
(561 posts)

Registered:
10/25/2007 11:30AM

Main British Car:
1968 MGB GM 5.3 LS4 V8

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: Scott68B
Date: September 18, 2014 07:24PM

Quote:
I'll be attending LS Fest in Bowling Green this weekend. Live, breath and eat LS engines Saturday/Sunday.

Ken, sounds like it could be a lot of fun, hope it was.

Quote:
If anyone needs 2002 LS1 cams ....I have 2 stock one's in cam boxes that I have pulled out?

Calvin, when the time comes for a cam selection, I'd love to pick your brain for a little bit.


Artie, thanks for the input. Maybe we can discuss in more detail in December?

So progress on the conversion is still being made but it's real hard to show in a photo. A lot of small, invisible stuff is getting done now. Here is the latest state of the engine installation.

LS4CurrentStatus.JPG

Starter is installed and wired up. Speedometer cable installed, clutch slave braided hose shortened and the slave has been clocked to fit better. All I need to do now is bleed it. Here is a picture for what it's worth.

LS4ClutchSlaveClearance.JPG

As you can see there is plenty of room.

My next minor milestone will be to power up the wiring harness and put a scanner on the OBD2 port to see what I've got. I still have to wire in the wide band sensor plug and finish the VSS wiring. Hope to get there in my next work session. I'm only getting one day a week to work on the car right now, unfortunately, and this coming weekend I'll be lucky to get a few hours in.....sucks actually. I can't think of a reason why a first start won't be possible towards the end of October but I almost hate to bring it up I'm so bad with estimating things. Anyway, I'll post another update soon.


mgb260
Jim Nichols
Sequim,WA
(2461 posts)

Registered:
02/29/2008 08:29PM

Main British Car:
1973 MGB roadster 260 Ford V8

Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: mgb260
Date: September 19, 2014 05:24PM

Scott, Good Progress! Looking forward to the start video. Did you replace the DOD lifters?


Scott68B
Scott Costanzo
Columbus, Ohio
(561 posts)

Registered:
10/25/2007 11:30AM

Main British Car:
1968 MGB GM 5.3 LS4 V8

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: Scott68B
Date: September 19, 2014 08:31PM

Quote:
Did you replace the DOD lifters?

Thanks Jim. No, that's a phase 2 task. Much bigger fish to fry at the moment. It will be fun when I get to it though.

Take care


Scott68B
Scott Costanzo
Columbus, Ohio
(561 posts)

Registered:
10/25/2007 11:30AM

Main British Car:
1968 MGB GM 5.3 LS4 V8

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: Scott68B
Date: September 23, 2014 08:59PM

Got a little more time than I expected this past weekend. I was able to get the wiring harness powered up. So far so good. I had the IAT, CTS, MAP, and TPS sensors returning data. My O2 sensors got warm, hard to tell if they are working though. My fuel pump relay was energized for about 2 seconds at key on like it is supposed to do. I had 12 volts on both sides for the ignition and for the injectors. I bumped the starter for a moment with success. I didn't have any oil in the engine at this point or I would have tried to turn it over for a few seconds. I set the alternator in the engine bay and hooked the harness up to it. When I first hooked the negative cable up to the battery, my ignition warning light came on...this is with the key off. My first thought was WTF? So I nosed around for a little bit trying to figure out how that could be. Then it dawned on me that the alternator probably needed to be grounded so I tried that and everything was fine. Light comes on with key on and is off with key off. The other good thing was nothing started burning and the marshmallows I bought got to stay in the bag. :) It was good to see the car come partially back to life. I'm kind of feeling like if I added some fuel I would have a reasonable chance of the motor firing up. I'm far from declaring success at this point but at least things are moving in a positive direction.

LS4FirstWiringPower.jpg

Next on the list is getting the exhaust in place. I've identified some leaks in the headers I'm in the process of correcting. Shouldn't take a whole long time to get them sorted. Then it will be on to the fuel system.


Scott68B
Scott Costanzo
Columbus, Ohio
(561 posts)

Registered:
10/25/2007 11:30AM

Main British Car:
1968 MGB GM 5.3 LS4 V8

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: Scott68B
Date: October 21, 2014 08:21PM

Hard to believe another month has gone by. I'm starting to sound like a broken record but I continue to make steady progress. The exhaust is getting pretty close. I got the driver's side done and I'm working on the passenger's side now. While I was at it I got my plug wires all squared away. This picture shows the finished product.

LS4PlugWiresExhaust.JPG

The 180 degree plug boots common to the LS motors wouldn't work very well with the exhaust and the space I'm working with in the engine bay. I decided to go with 90 degree boots. So I cut the 180's off of a new set of wires and added the 90's. Most all of you have done/seen this before but I thought I'd show how I approached it.

LS4PlugWire.JPG

LS4PlugWireCrimper.JPG

I used this Taylor crimper....you put it in a vise. It worked pretty good. Of course the last 4 looked better than the first 4 but all are secure and tested as good.

I've been doing little things toward the end of the day when I was tired. I got the clutch bled and it seems to work well. A little stiffer than stock but not bad at all. I mounted my PCM in the passenger foot well and I'm running my harness through the RHD pedal blanking plate and I started modifying the plate for the harness. I'll get some pictures as it get's closer. It looks like I might get a full day on Saturday to play with the car so I'm hoping to make some good progress then.


Scott68B
Scott Costanzo
Columbus, Ohio
(561 posts)

Registered:
10/25/2007 11:30AM

Main British Car:
1968 MGB GM 5.3 LS4 V8

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: Scott68B
Date: November 12, 2014 05:59PM

Wow, I just noticed that this thread reached 15,000 views! Someone must be following this project?

So the fuel system isn't "complete" at this point but it is functional. What I mean by not complete is the lines/filter are all hooked up but not permanently mounted and my v6 fuel pump is still in the tank. It won't be sufficient for actually driving the car but should be ok for an initial start which is my current short term goal. I actually thought I had more pictures of the fuel system and I will share them when I get them but here's what I have for now.

LS4FuelFittings.jpg

You can see I've used the "secure" version of the AN push on fittings. The ends screw into the fitting which keep them from popping off the end of the line. I was surprised how expensive the fuel fittings were, didn't expect it. For my fuel pump, I will be using fuel hose designed to be used inside a fuel tank and that was outrageously expensive....oh well, I want it done right. This next picture shows the fuel filter/pressure regulator I'm using. I apologize that the picture doesn't show too much detail. The one that did show the detail was too blurry to use.

LS4FuelFilter.jpg

The filter was originally specified for a Corvette and has a built in pressure regulator. If you look closely you'll see that there are two push on fittings on then end that has the supply line installed. This allows you to use a pump designed for a two line system to supply an engine using a returnless one line system. I'll for sure get a picture of it installed and show you how I approached it.

So I put some hi-test in the tank and powered things up. I didn't push the return line securely onto the fuel filter so it popped off and I had some seepage from one of the unions in the steel line. Not too difficult to correct. I got the expected 58 lbs of pressure at the rails so was pleased with that. It was pretty much the end of the day at that point but I did try to start it with no luck. Haven't had a chance to do much troubleshooting but I suspect it isn't grounded sufficiently at this point. I could hear it try to fire so that is a good sign. I will go at it full steam this coming weekend. I did take a video of the first attempt and will hopefully get one when it finally fires. I'm pretty excited at this point.

Edit: corrected wording. Said fuel pump when I meant fuel filter.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/2014 06:05PM by Scott68B.



Dan B
Dan Blackwood
South Charleston, WV
(1007 posts)

Registered:
11/06/2007 01:55PM

Main British Car:
1966 TR4A, 1980 TR7 Multiport EFI MegaSquirt on the TR4A. Lexus V8 pl

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: Dan B
Date: November 13, 2014 11:00AM

Good progress! I am excited to see your car too, Scott. You are like a Master Chef creating a gourmet.


Scott68B
Scott Costanzo
Columbus, Ohio
(561 posts)

Registered:
10/25/2007 11:30AM

Main British Car:
1968 MGB GM 5.3 LS4 V8

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: Scott68B
Date: November 13, 2014 06:28PM

Thanks Dan! I liked the way you worked the "Chef" name in there! LOL. Hope to see you soon.


kstevusa
kelly stevenson
Southern Middle Tennessee
(985 posts)

Registered:
10/25/2007 09:37AM

Main British Car:
2003 Jaguar XK8 Coupe 4.2L DOHC/ VVT / 6sp. AT

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: kstevusa
Date: November 13, 2014 06:37PM

When you guys quit blowing smoke at each other's rear, we can continue:-)


Scott68B
Scott Costanzo
Columbus, Ohio
(561 posts)

Registered:
10/25/2007 11:30AM

Main British Car:
1968 MGB GM 5.3 LS4 V8

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: Scott68B
Date: November 13, 2014 11:10PM

Quote:
When you guys quit blowing smoke at each other's rear, we can continue:-)

:)


MGBV8
Carl Floyd
Kingsport, TN
(4511 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 11:32PM

Main British Car:
1979 MGB Buick 215

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: MGBV8
Date: November 17, 2014 10:44AM

As I have mentioned in the past, making buckets of torque down low in the power curve makes no sense in a lightweight sports car. Traction will be an issue.

So, you might want to read this before picking out that new cam:

[www.seight.com]
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