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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - Choosing a car to convert

I'm actively searching for a rubber bumper car to convert to V8."Rover". Shape of the car being pretty close, would most of you guys prefer early RB or the latter ones 77-80..I've been told that the only extra work on a earlier 74 1/2 -76 would be moving the radiator forward. Thanks for the input.

Morgan
Morgan Sellgren

The 1977-1980 models do have the forward-mounted radiator and the dished upper wheel wells to accomodate the V8 headers. Moving the radiator forward is not as easy as one might think as the diaphragms and several other components are different, so you end up scrounging in the junkyards for the parts from a 1977-1980 model, spending more money and sweating the conversion. If you haven't bought the car yet, then the 1977-1980 models are the cheaper, easier way to go.
Steve S.

Thanks Steve!I was told simply welding late radiator mounts in and cutting out old was the whole job, mabe not? I was given a 79 today, but also commited to buying a 74 1/2 yesterday that I may back out of..Any preference on dash, they changed in 77 I believe, early seems more classic to me..What do you think?
Morgan Sellgren

Morgan-
Whoever told you that was wrong. It's not going to be that simple. I would suggest that you purchase a copy of Roger Williams' book "How To Give Your MGB V8 Power" from Amazon.com. Read it carefully and you'll at least have a decent idea of just what's involved. Also, our own Roger Parker has his own personal website where he describes what was involved on a V8 conversion that he did, complete with photos. The URL for Roger's website is http://www.mgcars.org.ukv8_conversions/rogv8.html

I too felt that the plastic dashboards of the later MGB's weren't quite right. To me they reminded me of something whose design had been subcontracted to Fisher-Price, so, like you, I considered installing the earlier steel dashboard. Unfortunately, this conversion is not a simple bolt-on affair. Sheetmetal work is involved. A company in Austrailia sold a conversion kit to accomplish this end, but I couldn't find the URL in the archives. However, I found a better solution. If it's a "Vintage-Classic" look that you're inclined towards, take a look at the walnut dashboard offered by Mike Satur. He made mine up to my specifications so that I could have the instrumentation and radio that I wanted. Mike has a website at http://www.mgcars.org.uk/satur/
Steve S.

Opps! That URL for Roger's website won't work. Let's try entering it again.
http://www.mgcars.org.uk/v8_conversions/rogv8.html
Steve S.

When I converted my ’71 to V8, I found the steering to be the most challenging aspect and the radiator relocation the easiest part. The ‘77-’80 not only have the radiator in the right location, they also have many parts that can save you having to source them separately. This includes the front mounted electric fans (only one in the UK), the wiring, relay and fan switch. Although the radiator will need to be modified, you may get to use both modified tanks, the core and the remote expansion tank.

An advantage to using the ’77-’80 dash is the ‘77-’80 tachometer fits and it is easy to convert to V8 or V6. A disadvantage is if it cracks on the top, the aftermarket dash top cover doesn’t blend into that design as well as the older plastic dashes.
George Champion

Steve has said it all. Go for the later car.

The post '76 rads use the same core as the V8 and can be modded top and bottom to suit, BUT V8 cooling is always a marginal V8 issuem, so a second hand rad is not a good start point. The second fan was standard on V8's and is eaily retro fitted on any other car with the same motor and fan, but with the specific brackets, these should be available from most of the usual V8 specialists.

Off the top of my head here, but post 1978 UK cars had the dual cuircuit brakes with a direct acting servo with the master mounted on the front of the servo. This master has a larger bore which is ideal when having to consider larger front brakes.

My own choice was dictated by the 1968 car which had become like an extension of my right arm, so selling it wasn't an option. (Now it is another arm!) The most recent update was to replace the conversion panels, which I created when I fitted the V8 in the early 1980's, and replace these with panels carefully removed from a basket case 1979 bodyshell which had been replac ed by a Heritage shell. Carefully removing all the spot welds was a time consuming job. but well worth the effort since they fitted well and have effectively updated my inner engine bay area to a later rubber bumper spec, with just a couple of mods to allow easy fitting of the chrome bumpers.

Of course here I am dealing with rhd and so the dash layouts were slightly different. I have actually changed the steering this time from the specially shortened and resplined original solid unit to a late collapsable one, with the appropriate changes to the mountings too. THis dictated that I must change from the original 4" main dials to 80mm dials as there isn't the space for the earlier ones.

Rog
Roger Parker

This thread was discussed between 13/10/2001 and 15/10/2001

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