1974 Turbocharged MGB GT (MX5 Swapped)

Oh Gosh this thread is out of date.
I'll quickly bring it up to speed, the T25 was awesome and went well until the oil drain split and emptied the sump. This was fixed and luckily I saved the engine from total destruction, I then took it to SantaPod and entered the MX5 shootout only to post a slower time than the Supercharger (In fact slower than my friends stock NBFL).



Over Winter I pondered upgrades and decided to grab a TD04 15T off another Saab but this time one that had been fettled. Balanced shaft, new billet wheel etc.
That's now installed and I have been running it for a couple of weeks, it more brutal than the T25.....Nothing, Nothing, nothing THEN ALL THE BOOST. Ive have it locked to 8PSI at the moment but 10-12 is the target ;-)





Currently fabricating up a new radiator support as the standard MGB item cannot cope with the turbo in regards to cooling, idea is to go with a Del-Sol Ally rad.

As for your question:

100% still on the go, it's always evolving ;-)
The stock rear end has shat a diff, but that was due to age really, apart from that the uprated shocks have really helped keep it planted to the ground. It's a fun car in a straight line but corners are not it's strong point even with the 8J's. I had a custom Prop made as the rear axle is standard flange, was quite cheap and rated for more power than a Forged MX lump can take.

TBH I stayed away from the body swap stuff, I wanted to retain the old feel of the MGB and didnt cut anything out etc. Currently only the engine and box is from the MX with some wiring, the engine is such an easy fit no chassis mods are needed.

Oh your truck....Do you still have the B2000 bellhousing? If so I would recommend the Mazda FE3 engine instead of the BPZE from an MX5. The FE3 is a forged block as standard, can run on the MX5 wiring loom but with an ME221 and a turbo or 2 it is capable of 500BHP +. The mounting points are the same as the BPZE it's just a 2.0 version and probably the best kept secret. To fit into an MX or your truck all you need is the B2000 bellhousing, that bolts to the MX5 box ;-)

The FE3 is easy to get hold of and very cheap if you know where to look.......one of these ;-)

MK1 Kia Sportage.
I've just started on the conversion myself in an MX, just waiting on a bellhousing (if you don't use yours I'll buy from you).

Can be done if you've got deep pockets (especially for the rear setup)

www.moss-europe.co.uk/shop-by-model/mg/mgb-c-v8/performance-tuning/steering-suspension/front-suspension-coil-over-conversion-mgb-gt-v8.html

www.moss-europe.co.uk/shop-by-model/mg/mgb-c-v8/performance-tuning/steering-suspension/frontline-developments-five-link-rear-suspension-system-mgb-53091.html

Suppose with my impending entry to RRG19 I should update this.

(I'll add the images later).

The car was overheating badly at SantaPod recently and on any 'spirited' drive when in boost, I knew the radiator was just not up to the job with the added heat from the turbo but just kinda put it off. So with show season and the better weather I decided a few months ago to redesign the lot and fit a more efficient radiator. I thought this was going to be small easy task..............How wrong I was!



THEN!


Whilst the front end was jacked up for the radiator support fabrication, I noticed a small crack in the stone chip on bulkhead. This ended up in half the car being stripped, the front wing off, outer, inner and castle rail being replaced and the rear wings being cut! Oh the joys eh? It did fly through the MOT though!

So where am I now....Well apart from fitting a full cage, upping the boost and fitting an LSD (small list) the car is just ebing enjoyed. Sure it needs a repaint at some point, but for now I'm just enjoying it.

I have recorded the process for anyone interested.

THREAD RESURRECTION!!!

August 2019, WOW which by the looks of it was RRG19 prep before all that pandemic stuff!.

Let's bring this up to speed shall we?
So back end of 2019 I was prepping for the workshop to start, this meant the car wasnt going to get used until it was finsihed, it was also Winter.
forum.retro-rides.org/thread/190223/new-workshop-build
See thread.

Well the Pandemic happened, we all had to stay indoors and the car was 20 miles away.............the workshop alsy didn't get started for the same reason. So let's fast forward to the juicy parts shall we? With the workshop done and the car at home with me I started giving her a light spruce for the RRG21, turns out you can polish a turd!


Spit and shine for the weekend..








Weekend after RRG we were away again at Statfold Classic.





Now we get to the meat of it all.
So for the past few years the cars really just had a break/fix approach as being 20 miles away and only able to work on it over the weekends tends to slow down large progress. The car is still turbo but I think since Summer 2019 I upped the boost a little to 10PSI (Clutch HATES me for it), and that about it.

As you can see on the previous pages I treated it to some new castle rails, inner and outer sills....for the second time :-p . Now if you go waaaaaay back to page 2 I think you will see around circa 2004 I fitted new wings to the passenger side, and whacked a plate over the inner sill. YES that plate has been on my mind since, 23 year old me disapointed the now 40 year old me :-) :-p, so with all the Gear and literally NO IDEA I decided to fix this area with again another set of sills and castle rail.

Now right prior to this I was on the lookout for a new project, hence the car stuffed into a corner....the owner backed out so that idea/dream is on hold (For now).

Oi wake up...we be slicing!


Up we go

No go to page 2 and see the passenger wing off....Proper red oxide, the stuff that isnt good for you had held up.































It's jumbled the images but you can see the footwell had also gone, part of the floor too! With now over 200BHP and plans for more this needed addressing........welder was put back into action, the same welder from page two also ;-).

At this point I decided to go around the whole car and sort anything it needed.
Headlamp bowls....Past it mate!





Couple of years ago on a tip to SantaPod I was flagged for a hard launch and the tank leaking........Turned out it was leaking from the top and the feed.
New one then shall we.....this is getting expensive now.


Ive built myself a 4-link and Pan-Hard kit for the car, so the front hangers for the rear axle needed beefing up. Glad I did, someone jammed a bit of steel in and hot-glued it. So that was repaied.

Axle off and the new tank painted.





A bubble on the drivers outrigger was discovered, OFF SHE GOES AND A NEW ONE INSTALLED.




With all that power and an inability to perform RINNNNNNGGGGGGSSSS LAAAAAAAAAAAADDDD, my pocket took another hit.


I'm not into drugs, but I'm into LSD :-p





Axle needs checking for wear as I'm not slapping that LSD in if the CROWN and pinion are toast...
I need a bearing THIS big.....or a hammer

Lash was within the .010 noted on the CROWN wheel.....RESULT! Just awaiting on the bearing from the USA

Anyone who's seen the car in the last 10+ years knows the paint was pretty past it :-)
Let's cause a mess and bare metal the worst parts...MAD MAX Anyone?





And we are now up to date.

Enjoy!

Update time!

With the workshop be a quite a bit warmer than the outside temps (plus being able to gold the heat), I thought best to get on with the "BackYard Paint job" ;-)

Refittied the front end as it makes for easier spraying, it really does need replacing now though (battered is an understatment).


Time to Prime









Fast forward about a week, guide coat.


Following day it was all go!














As it looks this morning with the bonnet placed on. The drivers wing needs another coat I think, but I've got the doors to isolate and prime before that.



The old paintwork was very very tired and cracking on the wings (hence the bare metal), so I'm quite cuffed it no longer looks scruffy......until I drop tools on it again ;-). It obviously needs cutting and polishing but at least it's a better start.

Love this! Perry Stephenson ran 10 sec passes at the Pod with the same rear end as you have, so should be OK. Have another friend with a turbo T16 in a BGT, it's a hoot too. I converted the Yellow Machine to a 4 bar and coilovers, but it's a different animal.

Time for another update then yes?

So the bulk of the painting had been done at this point, apart from the doors......Oh the flipping doors!



Long story short, I think some areas of the isolator were thin so when it was time to top coat them it started to react. To be honest as soon as I saw it the paint removing disks came out and I stripped them to bare metal.

As you can see, this was not without it's issues. Beauty of this thread is it's so old I can see what I did years ago! Someone (not me) had repaired the door at the top on both ends, still not quite sure why so this meant the filler was back out (I hate filler dust).



Etch and filler primer.

Glad I repainted them now, a little orange peel but that will come out soon enough.


Back on with the fish-mouth and the new springs (the Springs were possibly the whole cause for all this work!)


Front arches next

Fogs


Rebuilt axle, this was where the lift made things so much easier :-)
As is always the case, the front to rear brakeline snapped. The rear axle feed was OK but whilst it was like this there was not point not just remaking the lot!




Rather late finish in there last night, we now have brakes though!


The inside it ditched with all the dust, so that need addressing before the rear windows and doors get installed.
Once that is done I can at least put the wheels on and roll it out for a clean, also cant colour sand and glaze until it's a sealed unit.

Until the next time...Cheers.

Thank you Adam that means a lot.
You and me both :-p it was only supposed to be a small refresh.

The Man from the Ministry hes says ........ YES!
Well lets be honest it would have been something small if it had failed, after all that work!

I will admit, it was a nervous drive.


One thing that I was not happy with, the bucket seat! It's just too upgright and with no adjustment, so the leather seats are going back in.

Not a bad place to be.



Much better and in keeping with the theme.



So MOT passed what now.... Well back in the air and to test my PanHard and Anti-tramp setup. The idea was to fit the PanHard, take it on a 30 mile run to make sure it's no fouling or causing any large movement in the axle on suspension travel.



Made the most of the Sun and drove up to the folks.



I did find on large bumps I could hear a "Dong" noise, this was soon found to be the handbrake mech just clipping the PanHard rod. This was mainly due to forgetting the spacers that go behind the HB pivot and thus were placing it directly under the PandHard. Easy fix.

With that success, time to install the Anti-Tramp bars

Turns out this caused it's own set of problems as they cause issues with the lift and the exhaust. Basically there is too small of a gap between the side exit and the AntiTramp bars to get the lift pad in....

I need to build a new stainless exhaust as I am bored of the side-exit now. However for now I just added a V-band which allows me to remove the back section with ease to then put on the lift.... (First world problems eh?)

Tired Exhaust


With that the weekend is over and the cars wrapped up.


Issues that need resolving.
Throttlebody is leaking air.
Exhaust manifold is cracked.
Fuel pump is loud.
Boot needs carpet.
Knock on front left of suspension.

Ta Ta for now!