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MGA My "New" 1957 MGA Convertible

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Rocketsled

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Well I'd like to say Howdy to all yall out there I am new to both this forum and to restoring British cars... my only restoration exterence is helping my father work on his 1942 Willys MB. I have reciently had a '57 mGA fall into my lap and looking at her I think she will be a sweet looking ride when I am finished with her, however I have some plans for her that are not even close to "factory" restoration. I know that will make many of you out there cringe but well I know it will make me happy and well, it's my car. Most of my plans for her however do not involve any changes that will be noticable unless you open the hood/boot. I will be posting some pictures of her once I get her tarp cleared away and the old jeeps from around her. (My father restores WWII jeeps for fun, he will be my tech support for this job, my first) I want to get her interior restored to almost perfect origional condition as the old classic look has always been popular with me. However under the hood I have been thinking about putting a different engine in her. She currently has a fully restored frame and only minor surface rust so the body restoration should only take me about 2-3 weekends of work. She has no engine or drivetrain at all leaving me with the question of finding an engine. I want to put a rotary engine from a Mazda RX-7 in her, and the though of a turbo intregues me but that may be a bit too much power in such a small car. if anyone has any other suggestions on a good engine to drop in her I would be very happy to think about anything you guys/girsl can offer. But one way or another I figure it will be cheaper (and that is rather important to me) to pick up a totaled car that has a running engine/working Tranny and drop them into her. After that I am planning on putting a High end stero system in her hiding a 7in flatscreen GPS/TV in the dash behind a false radio faceplate. The system work will be the easiest for me as I used to do tha for a living and installing the GPS and Speakers will be easy. well I am going to wrap this up for now with a plead for advice and comments on my new baby and my plans for her.

Thanks Yall,

Jon Van Breemen

[Edited to add the pics, I found them on my PC from when we put her in the back yard]

MG3.jpg

MG2.jpg

MG1.jpg
 
Jon - I edited your post to make your photos show up....could you go back into your original photos & resize them & repost (you'll see the changes I made to your photo url's when you click on "edit"

Nice start by the way
 
Looks like a solid base for a project car. My choice in engines would be a supercharged early 1800cc B-series engine. I have a non-supercharged one in my MGA and it's pretty fast. Another guy in my area has a supercharged one and it's a screamer! Plus it's a drop-in engine so no midification is necessary. The early (62-64) 3-main bearing engines are the best choice for the MGA because they look identical to the original powerplant only they offer 30% more power. Add a supercharger to that and increase another 30-40%!!!

Good luck on your project.
 
I can't get over all those sheetmetal screws in the floor - wow!

Neat project though!
 
Well you're right, I cringed a little. but,like you said, it's your car. Do it how you want.
A popular engine swap is a Toyota 4 cylinder. Most commonly the 22R with a celica 5 speed. It was used in the celicas and trucks throughout the 80s.
Staunton is a beautiful town! My aunt and uncle live in Varona. So we've been there a couple of times. I long to go back to the Mill St. Grill for some more ribs (if they're still there)
Welcome aboard. may your project progress swiftly, and underbudget. Keep the pics coming!
 
Ambitious project Jon. I'm more of a purist and would go with an MGB motor but since you're going to be pretty far out there the Toyota sounds interesting. Grassroots Motorsports magazine did a rotary powered spitfire a while back - they featured it (in great detail) over several issues.

It is interesting what you're doing. My restoration is taking forever (the hard dirty part is done) and their have been many evenings when I wished it would disappear, only to be on "Overhaulin". I don't think Chip Foose would take on an MGA, but it sure sounds like you're doing something he might try!

By the way, I'm over the mountain near Charlottesville and get over to Staunton often.

Dave
 
I don't think Year One or Edelbrock make MG parts - sad really!
 
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