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MGB MGB with Ford V-6

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jackq

jackq

Jedi Knight
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Saturday I was picking up paint from the local Dupont store when my cell phone rang..it was my buddy Bill saying he had bought another B. I just finished paint his 71 BGT last week and we're reassembling it and a few weeks earlier he bought another B roadster project. This last one has a Ford V-6 with an auto trans behind it. Apparently the previous owner had a shop do a nice install on the drive train. Haven't seen it yet but this week we're going to trailer it to the shop and see whats up with it. We'll take a few pics and see what you all think. Might be interesting...
 
Jack I think it's a marvelous idea. I can't tell you how many times I thought about droping a V6 into my BGT. You get RELIABILITY, true cruising comfort and the ability to spin an A/C compressor without feeling like your towing a trailer. Rather than an automatic, I'd like to see a T5 gearbox instead. You can keep the fun factor wayyy high then. I wouldn't do it to an MGC, but a B is fair game! I just got sick of seeing a first class engine rebuild worth squat after 40K miles of hard road use. The old girls just won't do what we can put our cars through today. ((Flame suit on))

Now let the stories fly.
 
That has never been my experience. An MG engine with a proper rebuild (including, today, hardened valve seats) is a 100K plus engine if maintained properly.

If it isn't, the rebuilder didn't know what he was doing!

Hint - checking the valves once in awhile, and changing the oil more than once a decade can be helpful!
 
Really? We must be living on different planets. When you put 37K on a stock BGT in less than 14months, call me. My car never had a chance to even cool down. I experienced NEW PART failures not imaginable in your wildest dreams. I believe the problem stems from the companies we buy our trash from. Namely the BIG 2 part sellers. 90% of the trash they sell us is chinese made garbage. Trust me, it's no better on the jag side of the world either. My part failures today result from the same inferior craftsmanship from the far east.

Hands down, (and I am NO WAY an american car fan) I would have dropped a V6 chevy in my BGT so fast and I'd send the B motor to the bottom of the lake behind my house if I had to do it again. At least when something breaks I can go back up to NAPA and stuff it down their throats. Try that from across the pacific ocean.


Hey Bill, about oil changing, There is a rest area on a famous east-west highway here in the states that has about 20 of my oil filters in the weeds. Never mind where the oil went. And I can adjust valves in the dark, in the snow, blindfolded and up hill both ways. Someday you'll wonder why your watching your valves GROW through their "hardened seats".
Been there at 2am during a tropical storm! :wall:
 
Jason - if you put 37K in a stock BGT, we <span style="text-decoration: underline">DO</span> live on different planets!

And I've got several show quality, completely rebuilt down to the last nut cars where <span style="text-decoration: underline">ALL</span> the parts came from the 'big 2' as well as some hard driven rebuilds that have 100K + on them without serious parts problems! And on none of them have I spent 37K!

Here's an example:

tdfinished03.JPG


And another under restoration:

carbs02.JPG


Sounds like, since all the parts you used were crap, that you're already at the point of sending that crappy old B motor to the botttom of the lake! Why whine about all the 'crappy' parts you got, just go ahead & do it!

...& please let me know in which state you live so I can tell my daughter not to move there - I don't want my grandson growing up in a place where the <span style="font-style: italic">residents</span> toss their old oil filters & oil out on the grounds of the local highway rest stops, polluting it for the rest of us!

Now, to the supposed 'crappy' parts you bought from the 'big 2', as you call them.....let me know when you buy over $100,000 in parts from the 'big 2' in less than a year - then you're in my league! And the percent of 'crappy' parts in my annual purchases is way less than 1/10th of 1% of them! Ask my customers who are all over the world....

You're relatively new here so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt & let you in on a secret about how we do things: <span style="font-weight: bold">we don't flame!</span> There are plenty of other boards for that. The BCF is known on the internet as the home of gentile society!

If we have problems with parts, we contact the guy from whom we got them or one of the 'big 2' reps & give them a chance to solve the problem; we don't just jump out & flame them from the 'get-go'.

Welcome to the BCF; & <span style="text-decoration: line-through">I'd love to see photos of your BGT - we're working on one right now (getting close to its completion after 5 years on the QuikLift!) & they might help.</span> (Sorry, just visited your web site & saw that you've sold the BGT in which you had, in your words, <span style="font-style: italic">"Lots of good times and many miles in this old car..."</span>.) But, welcome anyway....I've got a couple of Jag's in my stable so I'm always interested in photos of sweet restorations.
 
Ditto what Tony said. For what it's worth, Tony is an expert on these cars and is highly respected on this board. His advice is practically always correct and valued.

And, Tony is right on about the MG engine, it's essentially bulletproof if rebuilt carefully. Sorry if you had a bad experience, maybe Tony can suggest another engine builder for you. :lol:

Jason, please try to be polite here, you're not in the Chevrolet Malibu forum. We're all friends here and there's NEVER any flaming.

Polite is a lot more fun and less stressful, too. :yesnod: After all, is IS a hobby!
 
Tony:

You do live on different planets :thumbsup:

<span style="text-decoration: line-through">I see the bait, now will the fish bite</span>

How's that T figa magigie coming a long, I just got my MMM newletter this week and the drool factor was like a civ, and then you had to go and post those pictures. :wall:

P
 
To clear up a few items....

1. That was 37,000 MILES on a BGT in 14 months, not 37thousand dollars. That's just ludicrous. (I did drop over 6K on the engine alone for parts and machining, I did the assembly so I say I built a solid engine thank you very much. I sold the car after 40 some thousand miles and it didn't leak, (much) it never smoked or overheated.)

2. I have had several years all through the mid 1990's where I spent an average of 30K with both of these companies so who really cares? I owned a speed shop while I was in college in Florida.

3. I NEVER named the parts suppliers, I don't BASH so I thank you for not accusing me of FLAMING them either. I knew back at the top when I commented that this V6 conversion sounds like a steller idea, that one of you would jump up in defense of the venerable B motor. I was not attempting to "bait" anyone. My life is far too busy for me to have to sit down and explain myself to you.

4. This thread was about the V6 in a BGT. This has NOTHING to do with the reliability of anyone's trailer queen. We are talking about real miles driven in a real world. The average US driver logs more than 16thousand miles yearly. This can be very difficult for ANY car that's 30+ years old. It would be my fairly accurate guess that 75% of us here DO NOT drive these cars as our only transport. I did however with my BGT. I did not own another car. Since selling the B, I bought an E-type. Sole transport? Not a chance. That's why I have a nissan. When the jag quits because the crappy heater valve I bought from one of your 2 reps left me on the side of the highway, at least I could use the nissan to drag it home. I'll discuss part quality, but not here. PM me if you want.

5. The chevy V6 is a fine engine and is perfectly suited to life in a B. That is after all what this thread is about. It's not Blasphemy to do the conversion either, these cars aren't that rare or even valuable for that matter. I for one would love to see how they did it. I know jack and I've been to his shop. It's been years ago, but he does really nice work. Why else would someone perform such a conversion? The thought of doing 75MPH in a B without the engine screaming toward 4grand is awesome. Plus the additional power, inexpensive and readily available bolt on performance parts, and it won't break the bank; what's not to like about this scenario?

6. Prior to accusing any of us for not performing basic maintenance on our cars is insulting. Remember we are english car nuts. That means, you are a mechanic of some sort! They are british, old, leaky, and rusty and everyone of us are far too familiar with these words. If you're not?
You're not a true english car fan. The Audi guys are over in the corner;-)

Jason
 
Jason...my MGs never wear out or cause me problems, because if you remember...I usually have about seven or eight vehicles on the road at all times:smile:...By the way...where in Texas are you??
 
I had numerous british cars at one time. I think my stack consisted of a 1965 BJ8, 74BGT, 62 sprite, 79Midget and another midget. I finally got rid of everything except the BGT. Then the Jag came along and I ditched the BGT. I have only one british car now and couldn't be happier. Thank god I only have a 2 car garage or else I'm sure I'd be kicking my sailboat out for an old ferrari. My wife is already torqued she has to park in the driveway. ;-0
 
Jason - there's nothing wrong with repowering MG's, you won't get any arguement there....as examples, here's my '68 MGB GT with its 3.4L Chevy V6:

grmengine03.JPG


& here's the V8 engine waiting for my Pageant Blue '79 MGB to come out of the body shop:

boxerv8.JPG


But, properly built B-series engines don't break! There are too many of them out there proving that statement every day!

Here's my stock '79 MGB that has over 120,000 miles on it - daily driver from 1979 until 1993! Occassional driver after that; heck, for 6 months in 2004, it was the only car I had access to...& I've never opened the engine on it yet:

79btop.JPG


& here's the Pageant Blue '79 MGB that replaced it as my daily driver from 1993 until I decided to do a V8 conversion - with no engine problems.....heck, when its oil pressure dropped to under 25psi as I wore out the bearings, it still screamed up & down the interstate every day!

blue79.jpg


& my old '67 MGB GT that has right at 80,000 miles on it since the engine rebuild with no problem whatsoever:

67GT.jpg


& I have others that just run & run & run....

So, you're right, there's nothing wrong with repowering an MGB or MGB GT! But there's no reason to put the old 'lump' down either.
 
Jagboy69 said:
To clear up a few items....

4. This thread was about the V6 in a BGT. This has NOTHING to do with the reliability of anyone's trailer queen. We are talking about real miles driven in a real world. The average US driver logs more than 16thousand miles yearly. This can be very difficult for ANY car that's 30+ years old.
Click to expand...

I drove an MGA as my sole transportation for several years and put 12-14000 a year on it without any problems. We aren't talking trailer queens here. These engnes are rugged and will continue to function when half thrashed (if you let them get that way). I have too many cars to divide my attention now to put high mileage on any one of them, but the MGs with MG engines remain reliable - my 62 MGA Coupe is still running the engine I built for it in about 1978.

I also own a V6 powered MG, so I have experience both ways. I consider the stock engine as reliable as the transplant, based on high mileages with both. If that hasn't been your experience, it may be poor parts, or bad luck.

Jagboy69 said:
Hey Bill, about oil changing, There is a rest area on a famous east-west highway here in the states that has about 20 of my oil filters in the weeds. Never mind where the oil went.
Click to expand...


PS - dumping your oil at rest stops is not something I would brag about, nor will it likely make you any friends, here nor anywhere else. That you would not only dump oil but aso brag about it says a lot. Don't want to seem to be attacking you, but that one really surprised me.
 
Jagboy69 said:
Hey Bill, about oil changing, There is a rest area on a famous east-west highway here in the states that has about 20 of my oil filters in the weeds. Never mind where the oil went.
Click to expand...


:nonod: :eeek: :pukeface:

P
 
I don't really wanna get in on all this, but I've gotta say one thing: I received a large order of parts(about $1000) from one of 'the big 2' last week, most of it for the 80 MGB which i plan to use as a winter car...at at least 30-40% of it was of poor quality. I am not protesting the big suppliers...I am grateful that there is any companies out there still producing stuff for these cars, but over the last 3 years or so I've notice a decline in the quality of the parts I've been recieving. I've also begun ordering from a distributor rather than directly from the one of the 'big 2' because I felt their customer service was grossly inadequate.
 
When one of my customers notify me about a poor quality part, I first call my contact in that firm to see if there's a history of problems with that part...if not, I start a history file while I'm getting a replacement part for my customer (regardless of whether there's a known problem or not)...I also send the bad part back to my guy with an explanation of what's wrong with it so they can take a look.

Between the 2 big suppliers, I know which one to use for which parts so, if somebody gives me a parts number that's a known problem, I use that number to order from another of my several suppliers who has a known entity.....I also use other suppliers than the big 2 who I know get their parts from a different source than the 2 bigee's....unfortunately, most suppliers get many of their parts from the big guy here in the States or in the UK; so, even with another parts number, underneath its the same part regardless of the supplier.
 
Hey I never said I dumped the oil out. I've simply changed TONS of oil at rest stops. Along with changing a head gasket in a hotel room. Let's not forget about the spring on my BRAND NEW clutch disc that departed it's home while exiting on an interstate. It broke a tang that held it together. That one resulted in a 300mile tow. (NOT CHEAP)

I was attempting to stay on topic here about the V6 in a B, but you all insist on dragging this thread into the trash can. I'm all for complaining about the substandard parts I keep getting from suppliers, so let's START a new thread on the subject. We can **** and moan about it there for days. :wink:
 
Jagboy69 said:
Hey I never said I dumped the oil out.
Click to expand...

You certainly implied it, and you stated that you had tossed the used filters in the weeds, whatever you did with the oil. I'd quit while you are behind - no amount of backpedalling is going to get you out of this one.
 
<span style="font-weight: bold">Three things</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold">1)</span> Jagboy: You did state that you toss filters in the weeds. You did <span style="text-decoration: underline">imply</span> you dumped oil in a manner not consistent with proper disposal procedures (never mind where the oil goes). I would urge you to reconsider how and where you perform oil changes in the future. I'm not what you would call an "environmental wacko" but I do believe in not unnecessarily polluting the environment. My local waste transfer station will accept used oil for recycling, which is where I take mine. Most places have some place to drop off oil to be recycled. Most auto parts stores have containers that seal so you can carry them to a recycling location.

<span style="font-weight: bold">2)</span> bill: Per my rules, if you have an issue with a post, notify a moderator. If you must have words with a member, do it via PM.

<span style="font-weight: bold">3)</span> Lets get this thread back on topic.

<span style="font-size: 14pt">Basil</span>
 
I AGREE....guys, I told Jason this was a non-flaming, non-name calling forum...can we, please?

Back on topic...every MGB I've driven that had the Ford V8 transplant understeered real bad....wonder if that one does also?
 
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