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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - R/Bumper to C/Bumper X member Swap

Anyone converted a rubber bumper car to chrome bumper front cross member, It would appear that you would have to cut the pinion shaft, have it splined add in a universal joint measure cut and spine the remaining shaft and put it back together, Result proper ride height (subject to road springs) and no concern about alignment of the rack.
Any comments?

Kevin Jackson.
K.R Jackson

Ivd wondered if you could adjust for the different crossmember and rack by shimming the rack out or in and at some angle to make the it fit the u joint without needing to do all of the custom machine work.
Jake

After swapping the cross members, you can use the rubber bumper steering rack by shortening the steering shaft & cutting the mounting pads to the required angle to line up the shaft with the U-joint at the bulkhead. You will have to re-spline or change that U-joint or modify it to take the cut but unsplined shaft from the rack. There are several options. Fine shimming will be required, as will "egging out" the mounting holes in the rack to accomodate the changed mounting angle. All in all, about an hours work. I have done 3 conversions this way, driven them over 500,000 miles total in 15 years.
Jim Stuart

I haven't done such a conversion, but I have had the steering shaft lengthened to RB specs on a CB car.So I ended up with a similar situation. The places that create clearance problems are between the shaft & the #8 exhaust header (RHD) & where the shaft passes thru the chassis engine mount.I have blockhuggers, but perhaps RV8 headers would solve the first problem. I made the the shaft exit from the firewall as low as I could & ground a small bit off the chassis engine mount to give clearance there. I still ended up putting extra rubber pads between the cross member & chassis rails.At the rack, I had to "egg out" the holes slightly & use a couple of washers as shims.Adding the extra rubber pads will raise the body slightly (1/4") from CB height, but nothing like RB height.
HTHs, Barrie E
Barrie Egerton

Has anyone converted RB body to CB (ie heritage replacement body) using CB crossmember, suspension and CB steering? I'd be interested to hear any comments. I am guessing I may need to similarly modify the steering shaft to fit through the engine mount. Still working on the body however so no where near ready to try yet.
Dom

Mild panic where have the V8's gone. Thanks for your comments and advice, seems there are several different ways of doing the job, one more question, are the engine mounts on the chassis the same in both rubber bumper and chrome bumper cars?

Kevin
K.R Jackson

Kevin,
Refer also seperate thread discussing name change to MGB/GT Conversions.

RB engine mounts are lower than CB. The top of the mount is almost level with top of chassis rail. The CB mount sits around 1.5 to 2 inches higher and looks different. It was as if the mechanicals and driveline stayed the same height above the road level when the RB body was lifted to satisfy early US bumper height regs.

Dom
Dom

Dom.
Thanks for the info.

Kevin.
K.R Jackson

Ken,
Just stumbled across a good photo of the CB engine mount whilst looking for something else. Tried posting it earlier but for some reason it didn't go: <http://www.hotelling.com/mg33.htm>
Dom

This thread was discussed between 17/09/2004 and 22/09/2004

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