The V8 Owners Forum -

I thought I'd add this post for interest...here's a couple pix of my hybrid ZB Magnette V8.



The close-up engine pic is the current arrangement of components.


I've had this car since I was in my late teens (I'm now 55). Like my favourite hammer it's had 3 handles and 2 heads. It was first powered by the 1498cc BMC original thing, then a twin cam MGA motor that I rebuilt and had sitting in the corner of my bedroom (parents home) for several years. Sold that for a ridiculous price before they were worth a King's ransom. Then a triumph 2.5PI engine and then finally the Rover V8. It was stored for 15 years (V8 fitted).

Basic specs include: MGB disc brakes adapted to the front suspension (DBA now have new cross-drilled discs available for the MGB at very reasonable prices), wire wheels and hubs all round. 5 1/2" front wires (widened inwards). 6" wires on the rear with reversed rims (widened out). Narrowed V6 Ford Capri diff (3.22:1 ratio) with hub adapters made to accept bolt on Austin Healey splined hubs. Homemade gearbox adapter to bolt Triumph Dolomite gearbox to the rear of the Rover SD1 block. Gearbox incorporates a Laycock electric overdrive operating on 3rd & 4th gear. Specialized tailshaft to link the gearbox to the diff. Dual circuit brakes using an underdash Ford econovan powerbrake unit and integral brake pedal. Valiant 225 radiator and homemade coolant header tank with a plastic windscreen washer bottle 'coolant recovery tank' adapted from a 60s Humber scrounged from the motor wreckers.

The car is lowered about 3" and the rear guards and doors have been widened by subtly altering the curvature of the panels (not flared). The front stone pan where the bumper used to sit is from a 64 Ford Cortina (my wife's first car) sectioned and welded to fit.

The engine uses the SD1 Zenith CD Stromberg carbs with the automatic chokes. It starts quickly with a touch of the starter button...no throttle...like an EFI engine. These took me ages to sort and understand but now work beautifully.

The V8 transforms the car as do the disc brakes and overdrive gearbox. It's been a long work in progress.

Mmmm, I like that, Welcome,

Welcome enigmas. Nice car ... some committment there too...

Welcome

Nicely done, any chance of some side on shots to show the alterd profile and wire wheels.

I do love a sleeper, I bet it surprises a few people.

Kevin.

Thanks for the welcome guys. Yes, I can arrange some side photos but you'll have to wait a for a week or 2 as the car is tucked away behind some other toys at present. ~ Vince

Hi enigmas, nice car although I am probably biased.

That's some coincidences there as our race team goes under the banner of Enigma Racing, with my V8 Magnette!

It'd be great to see more pics when you can.

That is a beautiful machine with a lot of love and soul in it! Welcome to the forum mate, you'll love it as much as we do

Thanks chodjinn. Magnetteman I like your vehicle too from what's visible in your avatar. Have you turned it into a coupe. I have some sectioned front doors stored (last 20 years or so that I recall) for just that task but the rest of the vehicle got so out of hand that I needed to sort the mechanical aspects first. I'll post some side images as stated earlier. As for the enigmas tag, I've been using it for the last 8 years on a range of tech boards (some motor-bike related).
I'd like to see some more images of your car too.

Yep, I coupe'd it by moving the 'B' pillars back 10" and cutting/shutting the rear doors to make the back quarters. I then extended the front doors to fit.
It runs a 427ci smal block Chevy.

It's probably a bit cheeky calling it a Magnette as it now runs a seperate chassis but that's what it was registered as. It was originally built in the late 80's as a coupe (featured in Street Machine 1991) with the roof chooped off and moved forwards to make the coupe' shape.
The bodyshell was knackered beyond belief and the chassis was very tired so I started again and re-shelled it..


Anyway, sorry to hijack your thread.

It'll be great to see some pics of yours when you can.

No go for it, that car is a serious bit of gear...and I admire your energy. God knows how you managed to put it all back together again and incorporate a separate chassis. The double skinning on the rear guards tends to complicate matters some if you don't want to completely cannabalis or gut the body. I like the coupe theme...especially on a Magnette with a bit of go! I hope you've got the rear end tied down well.
I welded a couple of diagonal torque reaction arms to each end of the final drive housing and they run forward to the front of the inner rear guards where a pivot is fitted. I imagine your using a 4 link arrangement?

I'm running a narrowed Ford 9" with a four bar.

How have you mounted your torque arms to the shell?

Have a look through here..

http://noskooljustcool.proboards49.com/ ... 181&page=1

There are a few pages of the build up now.

That original(?) yellow Magnette dragster is quite a piece of work too. I think I've seen your vehicle with a chop top (same front) in a field somewhere on the web quite a while ago. Can't be 2 vehicles like that. The yellow coupe roof is pretty amazing too...but I prefer the look of the original (as you've done) with your version. Once again great stuff.

Thank you for your kind comments.

The car in it's old style was like that for 20+ years and, as you saw, there was really no hope of recovery for the shell.

Strangely there is another one with the same flip front. I spoke to the chap who originally made them not so long ago and he said that he made three of the fronts before selling the mold, he doesn't know where it is now.

I think the car you saw was at one of the hot rod swap meets earlier this year, up for sale as an unfinished project. It was in grey primer when I saw it but now it's a fetching shade of purple/pink.
It has the flip front and a roof chop. It's been made into a two door by welding up the rear doors much as I have but he left all the doors standard length. It's more of a sled style.

Here are few more pix of my Magnette V8. Due to the colour of the car it's difficult to see the amount of flaring, but it can be gauged by the image of the rear door where it tucks into the rear wheel arch radius.

I really like that, very subtle specially the rear arches with just a hint that this car may be a lttle quicker than the standard version.

Kevin