Mark Trosper's 1979 MGB Roadster with Rover 3.5L V8 engine
as published in British V8 Newsletter, Volume XV Issue 1, April 2007Owner: Mark Trosper
City: McKinney TX
Model: 1979 MGB Roadster
Engine: Rover 3.5 V8 (from a Triumph TR8)
Conversion completed by: Mark Trosper and Wayne Kube of 2nd Chance Garage
| Engine: | Rover 3.5 V8 (from a Triumph TR8), bored 0.010" over. |
| Intake: | Edelbrock 2198 Performer intake manifold and 1404 carb. |
| Cam: | Crower 276 degree, 488 lift. |
| Ignition: | Delco distributor fitted with a Pertronix conversion kit.
40,000 Volt Pertronix coil. NGK plugs. |
| Cooling: | Aluminum 18" x 16" (with 2 rows of 1" tubes). |
  |
|
| Exhaust: | RV8-style headers with 1.5" primaries into 2" collector, and with
ceramic coating. Dual exhaust with crossover pipe. Turbo Pro mufflers. |
| Transmission: | Borg-Warner T-5 (0.63:1 5th). Driveshaft is from an S10. (2.5" diameter
and shortened to fit.) |
| Clutch: | 10.4" heavy duty 26-spline. Hydraulic throw-out bearing. |
| Rear Axle: | Chevy S10 with 3.42:1 ratio, Eaton locking differential,
S10 parking brake with cable modified to work with MGB lever. |
| Front Susp.: | 1 inch lowered coil springs. Spax gas tube shocks. |
| Rear Susp.: | 1 inch lowered new leaf springs. Spax gas tube shocks. Panhard bar. |
| Brakes: | (Front) standard MGB with V8 pads and slotted rotors.
(Rear) standard Chevy S10. |
| Wheels/Tires: | Minilite (15x7) diamond-cut lip wheels with Anthracite finish.
Dunlop 225/50 Z-rated tires. |
  |
|
| Electrical: | Painless wiring harness. Classic Instruments "All American" 6-gauge set. |
| Completed: | September 1, 2006. |
| Miles Driven: | Approx. 750 (as 1/15/2007.) |
| Other mods: | chrome side trim and side marker lights removed. Rear wheel wells
arched and flared. Back-up lamps removed and taillights customized
to include back-up lamp functions in lieu of reflectors. Fully
functional cowl-induction hood scoop. Custom dashboard (with Jaguar
toggle switches.) Custom center console. Fiero seats. Roll hoop.
Removeable convertible top.
|
| Comments: | Thanks to Texas Auto Tops for their custom interior work (leather,
carpet and vinyl.) Thanks to Concours Restoration Services for the
custom paint job. The paint color is a 1993 Ford color called
"Twilight Blue Metallic" (basecoat/clearcoat).
|
In-Process Photos
This is the way Darla looked when I bought her from a paint & body shop.
She had no engine but did have an overdrive tranny (which I sold later to
reduce my investment cost). She was a rust free car with a fresh paint job,
but that was all to change... There were several boxes of parts that came
with her: some we used and a lot we replaced.
We removed the front cross-member and had it powdercoated, and then we
reinstalled it with all new bushings. We rebuilt the calipers and put in
V8 pads. We put on drilled and slotted rotors, and new steel braided brake
lines to handle DOT-5 fluid. At this time we had reconditioned stock
lever shocks on the front. Also had new coil springs to lower to
chrome-bumper height.
This is a box of goodies from the ever helpful D&D Fabrications Inc. in
Almont Michigan. This crate contains an S10 rear end, a T-5 transmission,
a special bell housing to fit T-5 to TR8 engine, a custom made cross-member
for the tranny, a shortened S10 drive shaft, and assorted other stuff.
This is the S10 rear end installed. It was narrowed and converted to four
lug. It has a 3.43:1 gear ratio and a Posi-traction differential. D&D
furnished an emergency brake set up that is easy to install and works well.
Not shown here, but also installed is a Panhard bar setup which works well
but required some modification to work with S10 axle diameter.
We centered the gas tank to facilitate dual exhaust. Cutting out the filler
tube hole, moving it over, and inserting a replacement piece, and re-drilling
the holes to mount the tank is all pretty straightforward. Also, the sending
unit in the gas tank has to be moved from the side to the front to allow room
for the exhaust pipe. The job of cutting out the sending unit ring and moving
it is a little more delicate of a welding job, so I had that done by a more
experienced welder.
This is the first fitting of the engine & tranny. Also a look at our
conversion from stock valve covers to much better looking Edelbrock "Ford"
valve covers. Picture of head without valve cover show the adapters we had
made (it ended up being very costly, but it's only money!) The adapter
allows you to put the four bolts in the TR8/Rover head and then put the
six bolts on Ford cover.
Close tolerances abound, but we made it fit! A large hammer was required
here and in the tranny well, just below the firewall.
This is a picture of the holes we cut in the fenderwells for the RV8 headers.
We had a spare late model MGB that we did all the trial & error fitting
& cutting to locate the holes final position. Then we made a fiberglass
mold/template on each side. With the unique shape of each fender well, it was
easy to make the template. Once they hardened, the hole was cut out of the
center of the template and could be placed in any late model MGB and correct
size holes in the correct location could be cut.
These are some pictures taken at the paint & body shop: "Concours Restoration
Services". It shows the functional cowl induction hood scoop being built. Once
again we made a template out of an old hood by determining the correct location
for the hole needed to allow room for Edelbrock 2198 Performer Intake &
Edelbrock 1404 Carb. We also fabricated and tack-welded, a rough design of the
style scoop we wanted. Also shown is the cutting, arching and flaring of the rear
fenders to accommodate the Dunlop 225/50Z R15 tires we chose.
This is a shot of the front mount bracket for the Spax Gas Shocks. The bracket
that comes with the shocks will not work with RV8 style headers. There just
is not enough clearance. Needless to say we were in a quandary because we
wanted Spax on all four corners. After considerable research & many
phone calls we located an old MGB that had tube shocks on the front and
the brackets were totally different design from current one offered by Spax.
As you can see there is barely enough clearance with these brackets. Also,
the old lever shocks are used as stabilizers with fluid removed of course.
This picture shows the dual exhaust which now has an "H" (crossover) pipe
installed just before the body cross-member. Also, the emergency brake
cable routing and fuel pump can be seen.
We replaced all wiring with a Painless Wiring Kit. My friend and partner
Wayne Kube did all the wiring. Given the new dash and its set-up, this was
a major undertaking. We went with Classic Instruments "American Six Gauge"
package. We also moved the headlight controls, wiper controls, and ignition
key from the steering column to the dash. There is a key switch to turn on
power and a push-button to turn the starter. The rest of the controls are
old Jaguar toggle switches. The dash itself is a regular MGB dash with all
the foam padding removed and an 18 gauge piece of sheet metal skin tack
welded on the dash frame. Also, between the speedo & tach are three
little holes with fiber-optic lines in them. The outer two are green to
show turn signal use and the center one is blue to show headlight high beam.
The center console had to be fabricated because of the change in the shape
of the dash. It holds the radio, heater & fan controls and also has
two speakers to balance the speakers in the Fiero seats.
We wanted to make the engine bay as neat and clean as possible. One way
was to route all the wiring for front-of-car (lights, horns, driving lights,
and fan) though conduit in the fender well. We also used conduit in the
engine bay for all wiring except spark plug wires.
We decided to come up with something different regarding backup lights.
We removed the factory lights and filled in the holes. We chose the early
model MGB taillights because they have a more unique shape and were better
suited for our idea. We cut out the square reflector area in the lens and
replaced it with an off-white opaque lens. A lot of Dremel tool work here!
We drilled a hole in the base for the bulb and fabricated a box out of
tin to fit around the bulb to keep the whole lens from lighting when in
reverse. We wired it up and it works and looks rather nice and different.
We also fabricated some filler material in the bumpers just under the
lights to fill in the void left when using the older lenses.
This is a picture of the roll bar. We purchased it off eBay. These are
still for sale occasionally. They are designed to fit an MGB as you can
see it will bolt right in on the deck behind the seat. A few modifications
were necessary to allow access to the battery the same old way but not a
big problem. They are by no means SCCA approved but they look good and
would help a little if needed. We also converted the car to the removable
top style of the earlier MGB's.
This project took a long time to complete, but it was well worth it.
The exciting part of building this car was dreaming up ideas of how to
make something a little different than the stock MGB and then designing,
creating and fabricating the many parts of this car that make it unique.
Another great thing about a project like this is the camaraderie of working
with friends. This car could never have been built without the long term
help and commitment of my two very good friends: Wayne Kube and Nick Pappas.
