Engine swap ideas for my mgb gt rubber bumper

Engine swap ideas for my mgb gt rubber bumper

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J4ckwdh

Original Poster:

10 posts

71 months

Wednesday 4th April 2018
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Can someone give me a few engine swap ideas for my mgb gt, don’t wanna do a rover v8 or a or 4 cylinder, open to everything that will fit in the engine bay, and has 180-300 hp

Flying Phil

1,578 posts

144 months

Wednesday 4th April 2018
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Lots of people have put American "Small Block" V8's into "B's". Some have put Big Blocks in, but that is harder. There are some websites with more details. I believe the Ford engine is more compact but Chevrolet engines probably have cheaper parts/more upgrades.

J4ckwdh

Original Poster:

10 posts

71 months

Wednesday 4th April 2018
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And are these small block v8s easy to come across in the uk ?

Flying Phil

1,578 posts

144 months

Thursday 5th April 2018
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J4ckwdh said:
And are these small block v8s easy to come across in the uk ?
Yes - a quick look on the "Real Steel V8" website shows a range of options from £ 2000 and upwards Some alloy blocks as well.....It really depends on how much you want to do yourself - and how much you want to spend.....

Ranger 6

7,042 posts

248 months

Thursday 5th April 2018
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There's a kit to put a Jag V6 into an MX-5. I would expect one of those might fit in an MGB engine bay?

J4ckwdh

Original Poster:

10 posts

71 months

Thursday 5th April 2018
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I was looking at the jag engines but didn’t think they would fit, will definitely look into the mx5 kit tho 👍🏼

v8250

2,724 posts

210 months

Thursday 5th April 2018
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J4ckwdh said:
I was looking at the jag engines but didn’t think they would fit, will definitely look into the mx5 kit tho ????
If not wanting the Rover/TVR V8 route, the best and easiest option with best bang for buck would be the Mazda or Honda engine route. You could even consider the Ford ST220 engine too. Each engine [type dependent] will give 200+bhp in standard form + their gearboxes fit with some tunnel modifications. All of these conversions have been done before and there's good online info' about ease/difficulties of conversion. You may like to take a close look at the Frontline cars and complete a simpler conversion. Or, go the whole hog and install an LS3 straight from crate where the power is near endless, but, by time you add a complete driveline that can handle both power and torque you'll need a significant budget.

All that said, there's a big advantage going with the later Rover/TVR V8's, 1. they're plentiful, 2. multiple gearbox options, 3 same with suspension and differential options, 4. conversion on an RB means engine will be a direct fit with no engine bay mods, except exhaust manifold hole through inner wings, 6. there's huge amount of knowledge readily available with the Rover/TVR V8, and finally 6. price, they are considerably lower cost to convert and run and with an incredible spare parts supply.

And don't forget, do not to convert a B with increased power unless you include correctly chosen brake, suspension and driveline packages. The car will be dangerous and will handle like a pig. We look forward to seeing the project progress...

eta you could also drop in a Ford/Morgan V6 which come with good standard power and are reasonably light weight but you have to structurally modify the engine bay.


Edited by v8250 on Thursday 5th April 20:08

Poisson96

2,098 posts

130 months

Thursday 5th April 2018
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Small block V8 with turbo/supercharger?

Would a Boxer fit?

J4ckwdh

Original Poster:

10 posts

71 months

Thursday 5th April 2018
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I would definitely go down the rover v8 route but I didn’t think I could get one that makes enough power without spending all my money

v8250

2,724 posts

210 months

Friday 6th April 2018
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J4ckwdh said:
I would definitely go down the rover v8 route but I didn’t think I could get one that makes enough power without spending all my money
A bog std 3.5 with a few tweaks will give you 160-190bhp
A re-spec'd 3.5 on SU's will give you circa' 180-220bhp
An injected 3.5 or 3.9 with a few tweaks will give you 180-250bhp very comfortably
A near out of box injected 4.2/4.6 will give you 225-280bhp

Throw a load of cash at the Rover/TVR V8 and some crazy figures can be obtained with absolute reliability. Have you read the following two books?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Give-Your-MGB-Power/d...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-Rover-Engines-Track...

As with all engines you'll need to dyno the final set up post install

J4ckwdh

Original Poster:

10 posts

71 months

Friday 6th April 2018
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Oh god that’s way more than I thought, probably looking to do a 3.9 injected, and I’ll have to have a read of those

v8250

2,724 posts

210 months

Saturday 7th April 2018
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J4ckwdh said:
Oh god that’s way more than I thought, probably looking to do a 3.9 injected, and I’ll have to have a read of those
If 3.9, try to pick up a TVR unit from a Chimaera or Griffith as they're 220-225bhp in std form [not the 250bhp quoted by TVR]. A few small external tweaks and you'll find 250bhp quite quickly. Start with really healthy ignition system and correctly balance FI delivery, then good exhaust extract. Assuming you have a low mileage in perfect condition engine you may like to consider these as starting points:

ACT Carbon Trumpets
Upgraded Injectors from Tornado Systems
Electronic Ignition
Magnecor KV85 Leads
High o/p Coil
Carefully chosen Air Intake and Filter
St/St balanced through the wing Exhaust Manifold
...and if running with original TVR 14CUX ECU do run with Lambda Probes.

Once done, get Tornado to complete a rolling road dyno set up for you, it will transform the engine and driveability of the car.

J4ckwdh

Original Poster:

10 posts

71 months

Sunday 8th April 2018
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Great stuff !!, I’ll order those books too.

If I were to be putting 200bhp+ in a my gt what suspension and drive train upgrades would I need to be doing?

Also what’s a solid 5 speed gearbox that I can bolt to a 3.9 ?

Cheers guys this is really helpful 👍🏼

v8250

2,724 posts

210 months

Monday 9th April 2018
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J4ckwdh said:
Great stuff !!, I’ll order those books too.

If I were to be putting 200bhp+ in a my gt what suspension and drive train upgrades would I need to be doing?

Also what’s a solid 5 speed gearbox that I can bolt to a 3.9 ?

Cheers guys this is really helpful ????
1. Gearbox = R380 or World Class T5. R380's easiest to install and lower cost. Will easily cope with 200bhp and associated torque of a car just under 1tonne, same with std RangeRover R380 clutch. There's very good detail of this in the book.

2. Suspension - this is down to how deep are your pockets. If you've a spare £5k for the project, call Mark at Fisher Services who now owns the rights to John Hoyle's very good adjustable coil over set up with beautifully designed IRS. Alternatively talk to Frontline for their 5bar link set up at rear or MOSS for some of their suspension kits. If staying with live axle you will need carefully installed ant-tramp bars. If not, you'll have crap handling.

3. Brakes - again to to Mark at Fisher Services re' the combined suspension and brake kits. They supply the very well proven Brembo discs with HiSpec Motorsport billet 4pots at front, with Ford Sierra calipers to the rear. This set up works extremely for the B and fast road use. Otherwise APRacing, Brembo etc., all offer various options but be very careful not to over brake the B...it's too easy to do this, even with a balance bar, especially the back end.

You can play around with pad compounds, I have a preference for Mintex 1144 as it's near perfect from cold. I can also recommend Ferrodo DS series and Porterfield Racing http://www.porterfieldbrakes.co.uk/brake-pads.html... I'm running Portfiled in my Subaru Forester 2.5FXT and it stops on a sixpence.

J4ckwdh

Original Poster:

10 posts

71 months

Monday 9th April 2018
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Sounds great, thanks for the advice! 😁