MG Sports Cars

Can anyone tell me the simplest way to put a 5.0 in a CB B-GT? By simplest, I mean least amount of firewall/chassis mods? Or, put another way, how do I minimize the use of my welding/fab skills?

Thanks,
Rick

Hire Pete to do it for you.

Jim

That was my first thought too :)

Now, if you want to tackle it yourself, call & talk to Pete anyway because he can still save you some time & fabrication... at least as soon as his 302 kit is out. If I recall, he'll have
- headers
- motor mounts (which may or may not require you to notch the firewall; you'll want to ask)
- tranny mount I believe
- modified front crossmember for oil pan clearance (alternative would be FastCars IFS but if you get that with the 302 motor mount option you will have to notch the firewall unless the design has changed since I got mine)

Good luck.

The "simplest" (kind of a misnomer, not easy no matter what you do) would be to use a rubber bumper car and a fast cars x-member. You're gonna have to cut on that cb car!

Fire up the mig & start practicing.

There are lots of ways to skin a cat.

For example, one alternative to fabricated firewall mods (like Carl just posted a snapshot of) is to graft-in a rubber-bumper firewall. This approach was demonstrated on Larry Shimp's GT and on Ken Biermann's convertible.

Another neat trick is to extend the steering shaft so that the upper universal joint is on the cabin side of the firewall (well clear of the exhaust) as demonstrated by Ted Lathrop on Dan Masters' or Terry Schulte's GT's. Ted uses aftermarket GM-style steering columns. While you're at it, move the brake light switch to the cool and clean side too.

FYI, that firewall pic I posted is Pete Mantell's handiwork.

Call Pete. Or like Carl said - start practising a little. Most of these mods are well hidden - seam sealer can hide some ugly too- read a lot, look at a ton of pics and take your time.

How do I contact Pete? Who is he?

Take it from someone who has a 72 and didn't know what they were doing, CALL PETE. There is more to it than you might think, but not impossible, a lot of us have done it. 90% of the welding is tack here and tack there to keep from warping the metal or blowing holes in it; just be prepared to do a bit of grinding. For the most part I made my firewall out of mat board then used that for a template to cut the metal. You still have to put your feet somewhere so don't over do it like I did, you can always trim a little more if you have to. One last thing, if I had it all to do over again, I wouldn't let my buddy with a plasma cutter near it, I'd use my new body saw. All in all, you'll enjoy it and nothing you do can't be fixed. When you see it there with the V8 all bolted down, you'll smile a little and say to yourself, "now that wasn't so bad".

Paul



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/2013 10:54AM by pspeaks.

So Rick, you thought about B GT before you stuffed it in the Healey? What other secrets you got?

I looked at a lot of options before deciding on the Healey swap. I looked into building a Factory Five Daytona Coupe, a Monster Miata, and a V8 BGT. The Daytona was too expensive, the Miata could have been fun if I could sort through the emissions stuff, and, in the end, the Healey won out as I had already done the restoration of the car. I had wanted to do a V8 Healey since high school and finally just decided to go ahead and do it, even if the Healey motor was still perfectly good.

Rock on, Nasty Boys! :)

Get as much information as you can, take welding classes and start your project.
It is more fun when you have done it yourself. Rob F did it himself and learn how to do several things to transform his into a very nice B.

Glad to help you with any questions you may have.

Doing it yourself = Satisfaction, no one can do it better than you.

Keep in mind this "It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult undertaking, which more than anything else, will determine its outcome"

As per Carl, fire up the MIG.

I cannot address the conversion of an MG, but I am neck deep into a Triumph project, and wouldn't want to do it other than myself. I have no disagreement with any aspect of professional help, even to the point of having the entire project done by someone else. However, for me, I wanted the experience of doing it. This leads to much head scratching and measuring (several times, then cut once). In the end, will I have a Chip Foose car? Nope; but I will be able to answer all the questions with "I did it". Even the one where someone says "this doesn't look so good", to which I can reply: really? I say go for it if that is your desire, there are many examples here to consider, and there are those who have done it and will offer advice.
Dennis