----- Original Message -----
From: James Nazarian Jr <James.Nazarian@colorado.edu>
To: Ron Howard <DigiFX@coastalnet.com>
Cc: <buick-rover-v8@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, October 04, 1999 4:30 PM
Subject: Re: Steering
> What I have designed (read as not yet built or tested) are a set of
> brachets to move the rack mounts foreward (to front of car) about 1.5
> inches on the plane of the old mounts.
Maybe I'm missing something but why reinvent the wheel when the factory
figured all of this out for you years ago. I did my V8 conversion on a '73
BGT over 20 years ago. There were only a handful of other people at that
time who had tried this that I was aware of but I had a huge advantage. I
met a Brit named Larry Loveless who was living in Morristown NJ at the time
and had his factory BGT V8 over here with him while on assignment in the US.
I crawled all over his car measuring and photographing but soon discovered
that '75 and later B's incorporated most of the changes need for a V8. I had
copies of the early and late service parts list that I compared to determine
what parts were the same and what were parts were different. I switched to a
rubber bumper crossmember and rack but dropped the ride height with
shortened springs, cut out the old engine mount brackets from the chassis
and welded in late B style ones, I used factory BV8 exhaust manifolds, and
moved the radiator support brackets forward and fitted a factory V8
radiator. I used an MGC overdrive gearbox ( Bolt circle was the same and 3
of the bolt holes lined up with the Buick engine and I welded up bosses
where needed and drilled them out. BV8 gears were used along with an MGC
3.31 rear end and MGC Girling brakes and a MGC drive shaft ( bigger U
joints). Except for some relatively minor cutting to the firewall on the
left side and the motor mount brackets, most of the job was a bolt in. Back
then one and two year old B parts were expensive and hard to get but these
days most of what you would need is readily available and relatively cheap.
Good luck with whichever method you finaly decide on.
Regards,
--
Frank
< frankgraham@msn.com >
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