MG Sports Cars

Anyone out there have any good comments about putting a MGB front end under a 1957 MGA?
Is it worthwhile doing~ or is there a better way to get discs and the ability to hold up under a smalll block V8?

The front end cost for me would be minimal.....
thanks



Note: I changed the subject line of this message so it would be more likely to be read by an MGA owner... -Moderator



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/2008 01:53PM by Moderator.

Wwo~ do I have to do it myslef and post a How-To on the site?
Or, judging on the lack of input, is it not worth doing?

I will respond, but will be no help.
I have no idea how to do that. I am not familiar with the MGA.

Steve

I don't know much about MGA vs. MGB front suspension issues...

Did you check the How It Was Done articles? John Mangles reports that he has an MGB front suspension under his MGA. You can contact him directly... he's in our vendor directory (under his business name: "All-British Car Repair"). If you're in such a hurry, why not give him a phone call?

Bill Spohn reports that he has installed MGB uprights on his MGA. Bill Young has an MGA under construction. Al Wulf has both an MGA and several MGB's. All three sometimes post here. If you don't want to wait for them to check-in, you can send them each "private messages". Use the "search box" at the top of any page to find a message previously posted by them. Then, armed with a knowledge of their respective UserID's, you can easily contact them directly. (I think Al's in Italy on vacation at the moment... lucky guy!)

Lyle Jacobson also reported in his How It Was Done article that he used an MGB suspension under his MGA (but kept the MGA steering rack) - I don't think he posts here, but you could probably learn more about his experience with the MGB front suspension by asking his son Bill, who posts here often.

you cant swap complete front ends for obvious reasons but you can swap the suspension corners, a arms, kingpins, etc... the a arm will bolt onto the pins of an mga so you can use all the b pieces. you have to use them all. the only thing that you need to find are shocks. the arms are completely different so you will have to find a hybrid shock using an mga body with b arms or do some cutting to the inner fenders to make the b shock body fit.

Man~
That is why I love this forum...thanks guys..... much appreciated!!

I will post some How To articles as I progress~

I did this to a clients MGA with all MGB parts and an MGA rack.

Its posted on Barney's site:
Brakes---- [www.mgaguru.com]

Suspension---[www.mgaguru.com]

Here is one of the articles we submitted to Barney that is Very specific to your request:
[www.mgaguru.com]

To answer your quiestion: The MGB suspension is more robust than the MGA system and should hold up. I would consider heavy duty springs since your about to drop an engine tied to a 100+ pound boat anchor up front. :-)

-BMC.

This is on an MGA with a 3 main MGB motor with a Moss 5 main supercharger. Its quite a car inside, under and out.

I dont recall if we added any additional pictures of the underside, but there are plenty of good pictures here:

[picasaweb.google.com]#

-BMC.

Thanks so much~ answered everything that I needed... much appreciated!

Marshall, sorry it took me so long to respond to your question but I was on vacation. I see Brian has given you the link to Barney's site and that covers it pretty well. I am using B uprights on my MGA project with the MGA shocks. Found that a couple of shaft collars worked great to take up the extra width between the B upper trunion and the A shock arm. I haven't cut and rethreaded the outer tie rods yet, but as it is when they're completely screwed in the front toe is close enough to move the chassis around the shop.

Thanks so much~ this is going to make it so much easier (to use the words loosely)..

Sorry I didn't see this earlier.

Another take, using MGB shocks as well.

[www.rhodo.citymax.com]

This article on front sway bars may also be of interest.

[www.rhodo.citymax.com]