The MGB will have a new engine later this year !

bigaldart · Post by **bigaldart** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 9:44 pm

Stone me Perry! £3,600 for a 4-71? Ours cost £50 many moons ago and Dave rebuilt it himself, made the manifold and the drive, everything. Still going stong after 25 years, hoping to turn it up a bit this year to 10% over instead of 5% over. Hopefully that should make the eights a regular and easier proposition. Chevy built certainly sounds like it should get the old girl lifting her skirts up

Alan

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Fri Apr 03, 2015 9:52 pm

Yes Alan!! £3600 is the price of a 4/71 mate. Thats a fresh build I hasten to add, which is what mine is.
I just hope that I can sell the whole engine as one item to be honest. If not I have to fart around parting it out on Ebay

But whatever happens I will make £5k out of the parts if thats what happens.

Then I join the Heathen chevy clan mate... and the 7's will be on the horizon for the MGB at last...

Pel

bigaldart · Post by **bigaldart** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 10:21 am

Facetious comments aside, I look forward to seeing the outcome. You might need some serious aero work to stop the old girl trying to fly before the 7's come around

Alan

Ian Anderson · Post by **Ian Anderson** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 12:55 pm

I also wonder how the chassis will hold up with all that additional torque

I would imagine it would twist (More than Perry did last summer)

Ian

ChrisJC · Post by **ChrisJC** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 5:40 pm

Ian Anderson wrote:I also wonder how the chassis will hold up with all that additional torque

I would imagine it would twist (More than Perry did last summer)

Ian

That is a concern of mine too. It looked pretty bad last year, lifting one wheel.....

Chris.

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Wed Apr 08, 2015 8:20 pm

ChrisJC wrote:
Ian Anderson wrote:I also wonder how the chassis will hold up with all that additional torque

I would imagine it would twist (More than Perry did last summer)

Ian
That is a concern of mine too. It looked pretty bad last year, lifting one wheel.....

Chris.

I overcame some of the body twist and roll by running 2psi more in the drivers rear tyre and fitting the high stall converter to take the bodyshell by surpise off the line

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVscbPHgue0

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 8:41 pm

Pel said "I do have to admit that I am looking forward to dropping the Chevy in at the end of August this year"

HA HA!! That timeframe is now out of the window and halfway to Scotland I reckon

I havent even got all the bits I need for the Chevy yet. But I'm not far off !!

The Rover V8 engine will have its last new components with me in about 10 days. THEN it can go up for sale as a build it yourself project.

I have had to buy a brand new 4.6 crank and have it offset ground to match the old crank. And I have had new Chevy rods sent in from the USA which have been modified to fit the Rover crank journals and also modified with bushings in the little end so the Rover wrist pins are slip fit whichn makes it easy to swap pistons if required. The rotating assembly work is now all complete. But I'm waiting for it to come back from balancing. To be honest I'm almost tempted to rebuild the Rover and race it again? But it wont get my 8 second timing ticket without stressing it to the max. So its time that someone else had fun with it. The repairs are running out to around £2k now for the Rover V8. But I have no choice do I ? Its either repairs cost or £30 worth of scrap ally for an engine that has cost me £8k to build !

So on the Rover side of things its looking positive. On the Chevy side of things its looking VERY positive but I still need another £2.5k to buy the last few parts I want. ie Crank, rods, pistons + cam and lifters.

I have 3 buyers on the hook now for the Rover engine. One of them just wants the block and heads. Two of them are interested in the whole supercharged engine for around £6k. I'm not living in cloud cuckoo land though. I will not be surprised if all 3 buyers drop out when the stuff is all actually ready for sale at the right price

So the final day for first start up of the new SBC in the MGB has been moved to 21st June 2016 at the Retro Show !! I'll be happy to actually fire it up and bed the cam in over that weekend next June I think.

That will be 21 months after the day I took the car off line in Sept 2014

Stuff happens eh guys? I want to build the SBC engine to the best spec I can afford so I dont have to build it again. The rotating assembly will be fully forged and capable of handling 1500hp. I hope to be chucking 850hp into it to do what I want. So I shoyld be able to kiss goodbye to my days of blowing head gaskets on the Rover and doing over night repairs in the pits etc.. If the new build goes ok I will no doubt be trashing gearboxes next

Regards to all

pel

minorv8 · Post by **minorv8** » Fri Oct 02, 2015 10:23 am

Did you get the Chevy rods modified by the manufacturer in USA or by some local machine shop ?

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Fri Oct 02, 2015 8:39 pm

minorv8 wrote:Did you get the Chevy rods modified by the manufacturer in USA or by some local machine shop ?

The rods were modifed for me to my specs by Dave Knight at Knight engine services near Milton Keynes.
Regards
Perry

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Tue Jan 26, 2016 9:42 pm

Spec creep has now come into play

The old complete Blown Rover V8 has been sold. I ended up building it myself to my satisfaction before I let the new buyer collect it and pay for it.

I have now got everything I need to build the new Chevy 383 Stroker engine. BUT!! I'm not happy with the old 4 bolt engine block I have now ?

So I have just ordered a new DART SHP block. When I looked at the parts I have been collecting since Sept 2104 I realised that (apart from 2 used carbs) everything was brand new except the engine block. The old 4 bolt engine block has been bored +60 and I'm not happy with that now.
So I'm selling that 4 bolt block to add some funds back to the project. The new block will be here in about 3 weeks. Then I need to maks a final decision on the engine build. This new block will allow me to build it between 5.7 litres up to 7.1 litres with the right selection of bore size, rod length, piston size and height + crank stroke etc etc!!
The new Dart block should be fine for 1200hp with boost and nitrous. I cant afford a new blower so it will be nos only for the next year or so. I only want 750-800hp to do what I want so I'm hoping that this build will have some longevity in it ?

Perry

Eliot · Post by **Eliot** » Wed Jan 27, 2016 6:24 am

Yeh +60 on a block isn't where you want to be starting a season on.
Have you thought about going with a big single turbo setup in the future?

Eliot · Post by **Eliot** » Wed Jan 27, 2016 6:24 am

Yeh +60 on a block isn't where you want to be starting a season on.
Have you thought about going with a big single turbo setup in the future?

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Wed Jan 27, 2016 9:33 pm

Big single turbo or even twin turbo's would be great mate. But space is an issue I already have the dual quad tunnel ram setup in the garage. And the Zoomies are also on the shelf. When I can afford boost it will be as usual via a belt driven roots type blower. BUT!! I wont rule out having two turbo's sitting above the bonnet line either side of the enigne ??

Pel

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 8:42 pm

Apparently the shipping container with my new Dart Block arrived in the UK on Friday

I'm going to call Real Steel tomorrow to make sure it is actually in the UK as advised ?

I'm liking the idea of the priority oiling system the Dart Block has!! From what I understand this Dart Block only has 1 oil feed gallery from the pump. It goes through the crank, then the Cam and then the rocker gear? Seems to make sense for a race engine eh ?

I have also discovered that the cam bearings are bespoke to this engine. The cam bearing O/D is bigger. But the bearings are the same price as stock bearings (ish) !

Also it seems the core plugs may be a different size from stock SBC but they are cheap as well.

I'm still undecided on the final paint finish on the block though! I have folks shouting ORANGE and folks shouting BLUE. I was thinking of a nice bright GOLD myself? But I'm also thinking maybe polish up the cast iron with brass brush wheels on the drill and just laquer it like that? I do have a big tin of Hammerite Blue Crackle finish paint in the garage

As the build is now taking longer that expected along with my now lacking enthusiasm to do it in the cold weather + the fact that the cold weather is the reason I havent even uncovered the MG since last winter i havent done the wheelie bars or the roll cage mods or fitted any of the new electrical srtuff inc the MSD digital 7 system.....I'm thinking this may drag on to 2017 now as I'm thinking of buying a new pair of race carbs for the engine or saving up for a blower and a big single carb for 2017?

Anyway!!
The Block is going to be ready to build in the next few weeks I think ?

Regards to all

Pel

Eliot · Post by **Eliot** » Mon Mar 07, 2016 1:38 pm

Why not go for the SBC "oem" look - which conists of coating it in old oil, especially around the rear rocker covers and then run the engine until it's hot and burnt on.