John:-
I haven't had this experience, but I was also about to ask the list about
it, as well.
I have a basketcase '51 TD that is not worth restoring, but I am thinking
about making into a vintage racer. It doesn't have a motor, so my
thought was to put an early 5 main B engine in it. I believe this would
be within vintage racing rules, yet would be an enormous improvement for
racing over the TD motor. Not to mention that the engine would be
sturdier and cheaper to repair and modify.
What other challenges have you found in this conversion? Cutting out the
sides of the bonnet would not be a problem for me in a racer. A number
of TD racers don't even put the bonnet sides on the car. But how about
the length of the engine and tranny? Did it all match up to the original
fairly well (in other words, did the stick shift end up in the right
place)? How did you match it up to the rear end? Did you need a custom
drive shaft? Are you using the TD rear end or a B? Have you made any
modifications to the braking system? For my purposes, I would prefer to
put in disc brakes, but that is probably impractical. What radiator did
you use?
Tell me more about the engine mounts. Where the modifications you made
fairly straightforward or did they require major modifications?
Any other major elements to consider?
I know, a lot of questions when you were seeking answers, but you piqued
my interest!
David Littlefield
Houston, TX
'62 MGA MkII
'51 MGTD
'88 Jaguar XJ-S
On Tue, 10 Mar 1998 20:10:37 -0500 "jspeiser" <jspeiser@erols.com>
writes:
>Any listers out there have experience putting a 5-main '65-'66 MGB
>engine
>with OD trans into a '53 MGTD?
>I've modified the TD front engine mount and that seems OK. Had a bit
>of
>trouble fitting the original MGB exhaust manifold but found an
>aftermarket
>job that seems to fit with about 1/4 inch space between it and the
>steering
>column.
>Will the SU's fit? My estimate indicates that the vertical bonnet
>side
>won't close by about 1/2 inch even when I fit 1/2 size carb spacers
>(Moss
>catalog calls them "distance pieces") instead of the thicker
>originals.
>I'm not sure what else I can eliminate or shave down in order to gain
>a bit
>more room. I saw one of these conversions that simply had a hole cut
>into
>the bonnet to accommodate the carbs sticking out ... but ... Any other
>ideas?
>
>John Speiser
>Montclair, NJ
>
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