MG Sports Cars

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

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mgbreis
Ryan Reis
Beatrice, NE
(203 posts)

Registered:
07/16/2008 11:07AM

Main British Car:


Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: mgbreis
Date: February 19, 2014 01:00PM

As an alternative to the bright (expensive) ceramic coating, I have had good luck with the black satin coating from Techline.

[www.speedwaymotors.com]


britcars
Phil Ossinger
New Brunswick, Canada
(346 posts)

Registered:
02/02/2009 07:58PM

Main British Car:
1977 MGB Roadster, Rover 3.5 ADVENTURE BEFORE DEMENTIA!

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: britcars
Date: February 19, 2014 02:45PM

I've ben using Tech Line coatings for many years. Good stuff. You can buy direct from them and save $$$.

[www.techlinecoatingswebstore.com]


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: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: February 19, 2014 05:24PM

I'll endorse Techline too. I've used their CermaChrome with excellent results but they have a no-polish version that would be easier and claimed to be about as good.

Jim


rficalora
Rob Ficalora
Willis, TX
(2764 posts)

Registered:
10/24/2007 02:46PM

Main British Car:
'76 MGB w/CB front, Sebring rear, early metal dash Ford 302

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: rficalora
Date: February 19, 2014 11:20PM

a bit off topic of the thread, but does the ceramachrome look like chrome - as in is it a viable alternative to plating. Plating prices seem to have about trippled in recent years.


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: February 23, 2014 12:55PM

Quote:
Carl and/or anyone, can you go into the specifics on how this would help? I can see if you aren't moving and your fan isn't running that having more heat in the engine bay might cause the engine temperature to rise faster. I don't see much advantage if you're going down the road or if your fan is running though.

In a perfect world, we are always moving down the road. No stop lights, no traffic jams, no incredibly slow drive-thrus. :) These days you can just about count on some kind of traffic issue on the interstate when traveling.

I can't state that you will have big horsepower gains with ceramic headers. Jet Hot & Swain Coatings do claim better than 50% reduction in radiant heat & surface temps of the headers. That equates to a significant reduction of underhood temps when not moving. Might help with too warm footwells in the Summer, too. For those that don't have holes in their fenderwells, the fan is not always able to push all that hot air out of the engine compartment.

In 13 years my car has never, ever overheated. Even in Texas. Ceramic coated headers & Y-pipe, engine driven fan (instead of puny aftermarket electric), & no holes in the fenderwells. Of course, my car doesn't make much HP, either.

Scott, I understand since you plan to build another set of headers. I'm sure you will be coating those. They will also last much, much longer with an inside/outside coating. ;)


Moderator
Curtis Jacobson
Portland Oregon
(4576 posts)

Registered:
10/12/2007 02:16AM

Main British Car:
71 MGBGT, Buick 215

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: Moderator
Date: February 23, 2014 04:09PM

I wish Doug Brown were still with us. (Really good guy! Sadly, he passed away shortly after attending our 2012 meet.) Doug owned Powder Tech. His guys applied an Electroless Nickel plating to my fuel rail, throttle linkage, etc. Doug and I had also discussed the idea of using the EN on my exhaust headers, after I get around to building them. One big advantage of EN is that it coats the inside and outside of a part equally. Traditional plating leaves the insides of tubes with little or no protection. As I recall, Doug felt that the EN coating would protect my headers very well indeed. However, the color of the headers would be affected by heat. (I think I recall him saying that they'd yellow more than my fuel rail, etc. Typically the Harley Davidson crowd won't accept yellowed chrome, but I couldn't care less.) EN should be significantly cheaper than conventional chrome plating. It doesn't have the environmental issues, and thus the waste disposal costs. The key to a pretty coat of chrome is prep - lots of polishing labor beforehand and more between layers - and chrome shops generally want to keep polishing in-house so they can control quality and also make more money. With EN, you'll probably do nearly all your own prep and there's only one layer. The shops that do EN are typically less concerned about getting a show quality finish, and more concerned about meeting industrial performance requirements. We also talked about how EN could be applied before a ceramic / powder coat coating. When I finally get around to building a new set of headers, I'll look into EN again and let you guys know what I find out.


britcars
Phil Ossinger
New Brunswick, Canada
(346 posts)

Registered:
02/02/2009 07:58PM

Main British Car:
1977 MGB Roadster, Rover 3.5 ADVENTURE BEFORE DEMENTIA!

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: britcars
Date: February 23, 2014 10:42PM

Carl, I used Tech Line's Cermakrome on my headers. They were blasted with glass beads after curing in an old kitchen oven. Came out sort of a semi-gloss finish. Five years old with no issues yet.
I also used their PowerKote on the piston tops and combustion chambers (Rover 3.5) and their Dry Film Lubricant (DFL) on the cam, bearings and piston skirts.



302V8
Pete Mantell
Sidney, IL
(96 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 09:47AM

Main British Car:
69 MGB 302 V8 Ford 302 '347' stroker 505HP 440ftlbs

Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: 302V8
Date: February 25, 2014 07:37PM

Your LS4 conversion is looking fantastic Scott ! Well done.
Keep the photo's coming...........

Cheers
Pete


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: February 26, 2014 07:33AM

Thanks Pete, I appreciate it. Just got back from vacation so I need to get back at it.

Scott


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: February 26, 2014 02:30PM

As we're discussing header coatings I don't think this is much off topic. I'm having my headers ceramic coated and was told even with a coating the heat has to go some place...well, that sounds reasonable to me. Apparently the hot spot is where the header connects to the exhaust pipe which is in the area of the front wheel and brake area. Has anyone experienced a problem with this or is the powder coater just being couscous?


Paul


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: February 26, 2014 03:25PM

Paul, I had both the the headers & the Y-pipe ceramic coated. Hopefully most of the heat goes out the tailpipe. :)


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: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: February 26, 2014 03:36PM

You will have a hot spot somewhere down the pipe past the header, I don't know for sure if this happens with equal length headers though and may check that out later. Anyway the hot spot is where you put your crossover pipe if you have one. The ceramic coating heat shield effect is enough to make the difference between an instantaneous burn on contact, and being able to pull away unharmed.

Jim


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: March 09, 2014 09:15AM

Got back out to the garage yesterday, finally! I was a little under the weather with a virus last weekend although I did get some work done on the wiring harness. As you can see below, I got the right hand side manifold fabricated and about halfway welded together.

LS4PassHeader2.JPG

I'm about 2/3 done with the exhaust at this point and the most of the time consuming fabrication has been completed. I hope 1 or 2 more sessions will get it there.


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: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: March 09, 2014 10:23AM

Scott, those headers look good enough that you may decide not to replace them! Most would be quite thrilled with what you have constructed.

Jim


hirot
Ian Hart
Ashbourne UK
(88 posts)

Registered:
06/01/2011 05:15AM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB GT (conversion) Rover 3947 R380 gearbox

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: hirot
Date: March 09, 2014 10:57AM

Paul, I wrapped mine, I don't think we do coating (easily) over hear yet. The headers are wrapped to the bottom of where they all join together. Initially I didn't wrap where the 4 pipes join at the top and the point between the pipes glows cherry red....worrying....wrapped that bit quickly.
The exhaust/header joint doesn't appear to go red or get too hot. However, you don't half get hot feet when you stop in traffic and I mean hot. I wrapped the brake/fuel pipes and wiring near the headers using the slide on tubing and all seems OK. You can hold the headers when the engine is hot.

Still not sure whether it was all a good idea in that I reckon the headers will corrode/crack as all that wrapped heat isn't healthy.

Scot your conversion looks wonderful.

Ian



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: March 09, 2014 07:03PM

Scott, Looking good!


RMO 699F
Mike Maloney
SW Ohio
(531 posts)

Registered:
12/09/2007 12:28PM

Main British Car:
1974 MGB Sebring GT, 3.9 Rover V8

authors avatar
Re: LS4 Into an MGB
Posted by: RMO 699F
Date: March 09, 2014 08:31PM

Good work Scott!!


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: March 09, 2014 09:27PM

Thanks for the compliments everyone, I appreciate it!


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: March 10, 2014 12:03PM

Question Scott?

Where you engine is mounted now, would there be enough room to run the header collector, down along the frame rail along with the primary tubes? I'm going to attempt this if it is possible with our GT!


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: March 10, 2014 03:05PM

Calvin,
Interesting question. Quick answer is no. Where the engine is sitting at the moment, I don't see how you'd find room for 4 pipes in any configuration. Believe me, I HATED cutting into the fender well so I thought long and hard about how it could be done. I believe I could have snaked a 2 inch pipe between the starter and the motor mount on the passenger side but only just...I don't believe a 2.5 inch pipe would fit. On the driver's side, depending on where you place your steering, there is a bit more room along side the engine. I considered building something similar to what I have now and routing the header pipe around the outside of the steering shaft and then down and out the bottom. In the end, it would have taken more time to do that and if I ever hoped to go to a real set of headers, I would have to go through the fender well anyway. That's how I ended up where I am.

It might be possible if you moved your engine rearward another 3 or 4 inches and went with head mounted motor mounts. You would still have to get creative with routing your header pipe though and you might have to go with a smaller diameter header pipe than you'd like to get it all to fit. I think it's one of those things where you'd have to try it to see if it would work. I'd be very interested to see what you come up with...hope you share some pictures with us.:)

Scott
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