Hi Jim-
I've been running an MGB for about ten years now, mostly in Street Prepared
Class. It's not exactly competitive, but I've loved every minute of it. A
few years ago, I even took it to Nationals. . . I was 33rd out of 40. Beat
H*LL outta that guy that didn't show up. . .
If you want to tinker with a car, race it, not spend a bunch of money, and
have fun, the MGB is a good choice. Most everything on it can be worked on by
a "shadetree" mechanic. You can put as much or as little in it as you like.
That tube shock conversion is not a bad idea, although there are some
advantages to the ol' lever shocks, if you can get them properly rebuilt.
Their compression is very linear, even in small movements. That's a good
thing. I've been told the lever arm shocks are better at that than the tube
type. However, you can bolt on a set of modern shocks and be good to go.
Your call. (I've got tube shocks on the rear, levers on front.)
Under the hood, the biggest single improvement I made was putting on a Weber
side draft carb. The ignition changes are OK, but they don't give you the
kick in the arse that the Weber does. Go with an electric cooling fan, it
adds a few HP. My next experiment is going to be a header. Still got the
cast iron manifold on it, shame on me. I recently had the engine rebuilt by
JK Jackson, a friend/wizard here in Tallahassee. It runs so good now, I just
gotta let it breathe a little better.
Put big swaybars on both ends. You won't have ANY sway bar on the rear, and
only a 9/16ths on the front. I've currently got a 3/4 front and rear. It's
not bad, but I could do with more. I've got the stiffer leaf springs in back
from Vicky British and I cut about a half turn out of the fronts, which lowers
and stiffens that end too. One o' these days I'm gonna get a new set of
springs (can you say Eibach? Can I spell it?) for the front, too.
That disk brake conversion you asked about would kick you out of Street
Prepared. I personally like staying in SP, because it's wide open enough to
let me do ALMOST anything, and still drive the car on the street. On the
other hand, you could go to Prepared and make a REAL race car out of it. . .
Tempting, isn't it?
Have fun, lemme know what you do with it. I'll be glad to help out iffen you
have ???'s!
Peace, Love and Pushrods-
JD Kemp &
"Lucretia MacEvil" #13 MGB
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