New Toy - Rat Rod 68 MGB-GT - Pictures!

[makarov9mm]

Just got this thing home this afternoon.  Runs great, but does run a little hot pulling the big hill up to my place.  This car was advertised as a "Rat Rod" - It is rough, but it sounds awesome with those sidepipes.  Car revs pretty high in 4th.  Pulling about 3000 RPM's at 60.  Came with a T-5 transmission and some other misc. parts.  I traded an 89 Jeep Wrangler for it straight across.  Still not sure it was a wise decision, but this car is really fun to drive.  Has all new suspension components and brakes.  Body as you can see is pretty rough, but seems solid.  No big rust outs or anything.

If anyone has any suggestions on keeping the beast cool let me know.  The radiator is brand new, supposed to be for a mid-80's Mustang 5.0

The exhaust manifolds I think are reversed and flipped upside down.  The pipes then bend back into the fender wells.  Might add to a lot of extra heat that way.

[Moderator]

Welcome to the board! I really like your Huffaker-style fender flares. Your finned valve covers are extremely cool too. There must be a little mis-communication on the radiator. That one appears to be from a mid-sixties Mustang, but that's fine. People have used similar radiators in a lot of MGB engine swaps. One thing that might help with cooling is removing the fan shroud that's installed in FRONT of the radiator because it will block natural airflow into the radiator at road speed. Also, it looks like there's no blocking on either side of the radiator to keep airflow from just going around or over the radiator core. A couple sheetmetal shields would probably be a VERY big help. The carburetor doesn't appear to sit too high - I bet it would probably fit under an RV8-style or MGC-style fiberglass hood if you want to go that way, although you might need to install a drop-base air cleaner first.

[mgb260]

Looks good, I agree with Curtis. Also put a piece of aluminum between the radiator and engine down low. You could vent the fenderwells with louvers and bend the back lip down under the hood to vent some of the heat. Also if there is room a puller fan with shroud works better. That might even be your problem if that is a puller fan mounted in front with the fan going backwards. Rob Ficalora on this board had that problem.You need wider tires to fill those flares, a lot of guys use 15X7 or 15X8 with 225 50 15's. I think you got the better deal. You can do a search here and find out what T5 you have. Is the 4 speed shifter in the car now a little too far forward? The T5 is further rearward.

[deltadave]

Welcome!
Cool car, not a fan of the fender flares, but it's your car. By all means put in the T5 trany, but it still sounds like your running way high on RPMs, the rear must be a low ratio. I have a T5 in my TD with a Corvette rear and turns 2000 rpm at 60 MPH. I agree with Curtis about the radiator, can't tell if there is room for an electric fan behind it, they pull better than push.

[DiDueColpi]

Yep,
Fan, shrouding, etc, etc, etc.
What a cool car!
Looks like an old warrior.
I'd bet it's got some pretty good stories back there somewhere.
Put some wheels and tires on it and go pick a fight.
Cheers
Fred

[makarov9mm]

Thanks for the suggestions on the fan.   It is blowing the right way, but I can see how it would work better mounted on the inside.  I am planning on getting creative with some sheetmetal and making some kind of air dam to duct air to the bottom of the radiator that hangs below the car.  I have the old radiator he had in this thing earlier with another electric fan, will see what I can come up with.  What kind of temperature should it be running?  It got up to 230 degrees pulling the hill coming home last night and I wasn't pushing it hard.

The shifter in it now is close to the dash, but feels good.  I have long arms anyway and it falls right near your hand off the steering wheel.  I think it is a T-10 in the car now.  The extra trans was just a bonus in the deal.  Also got some extra heads for the 302 and some headers, pistons, stainless brake lines and extra misc. stuff.  I'm excited to drive it more, but don't want to ruin the motor.  It was only about 50 degrees F. outside last night (still have snow up in the hills - I live in Wenatchee, Washington by the way..)  So in the summertime in Eastern Washington it can get to be over 100 degrees.  No way this car is going to be working in that heat.  Not sure if a bigger radiator would help or not.

[Jim Stabe]

Sounds like it still has the stock 3.90 MG rear

[deltadave]

I don't like to see my cars over 190 degrees on the temp gauge. My sending unit is in the head, so the coolent may be a bit cooler than that. I also have an engine oil cooler behind the radiator electric fan on my TD.

[Moderator]

Your temp sender is in the manifold next to the thermostat, right?  205 wouldn't worry me at all, but 230 would.

Could you be running lean?

How much room do you have between radiator and pulleys? Can the whole fan/shroud combination simply be flipped around?


UPDATE: see that dimple in the radiator hose (right behind the white tie wrap) in the photo above? You might want to double check that the radiator hose can't collapse under water pump suction. Many suction side hoses have a steel spring inside them to prevent that.

[rficalora]

You can make room for a puller fan by moving the radiator forward -- all the way up to the slam panel.  That with a short nose ford water pump & related accessory brackets should get you enough room to fit a good puller fan.

And, X2 on venting the engine bay -- louvers in the inner fenders about where through the wing headers go would help.  Look at Leonard Marshall's car in the gallery - he installed some small electric fans in his so he could switch them on when he was stuck in slow moving traffic or idling.

[makarov9mm]

Good eye spotting the bend in the upper radiator hose!   I had noticed that as well and was going to try to find a better fitting hose.  Right now there are two small sections coupled together.  I really have to get the cooling system sorted out.  If the temp sender is accurate it was pushing 240 for a short time bringing it home.  Have to go from 800 foot elevation to 2500 - pretty steep hill.  Wasn't really pushing it hard.  Hoping previous owner hadn't overheated it, but it seems to run really strong.  No smoke or leaks.  Oil looks clean and same for anti-freeze.

Can't thank everyone enough for all the help and suggestions.  I'm sure I'll have more questions.   I wish I knew more about this cars history.  Supposedly it was from Montana originally.  It sure looks like it has some history.

[roverman]

There is no partial vacum, on the top hose, only bottom one. Your type of top hose lay-out,(starts out high and drops several inches "downward" to rad-inlet), caused many Land Rovers to boil, (air lock in the hose) ! Aluluminum crossflows are soo cheap now, and they'll do a better job. Non waterbased coolant will work better. Are you "sure" the engine was'nt pinging/detonating, maybe not hearing it ? If that vacum advance is hooked to "manifold vacum"= ENEMY ! It needs to be on "ported vacum"-only. Might try premium gas, for next test. Have Fun, roverman.

[makarov9mm]

The engine was pinging a little going up the hill.  Will check the vacuum port.  Went through the whole manifold vs. ported vacuum thing with the Jeep converting to a Ford MC2100 carb.  It doesn't ping on the flats.  Was figuring it was because it was getting hot.  I put premium in it after previous owner told me it probably had high compression pistons.  Will also double check the base timing this weekend.

[flitner]

Welcome to the forum David!
Looks as if you found a diamond in the rough, what a great deal you got! Unless the Wrangler was a cream puff {;o)
That car has great potential and it will definately be a fine ride when you get the bugs worked out and clean it up.

As Art said the Upper hose is discharge and wont suck shut (sorry Curtis!) , also see if you can aquire a hose from hunting through the racks at the auto part store using yours as a reference to get the straightest shot from a to b, having the arch will cause an air pocket.

Check the t-stat while youre at it and make sure it has one ( Fords Hate open flow, the water doesnt have a chance to cool if free flowing) I personally prefer a 190*  but a 180* would suffice.

When you have it hot see if you can check the rows and feel for cool spots this will give you a clue if a row is plugged up, an infrared thermometer is best for this, I've used one to check The lower tank to upper tank for the differences.

Good call on the timing, Keep in mind that some of the Ford vac.adv. dashpots are adjustable to where you can dial it in where you like with an allen wrench for smoother cruise or response.

I'll be watching the journal!!
John
P.S. Looking throught the photo gallery briefly I spotted 2 cars running the same radiator setup one is a 289 with the same valve covers and a heat dam to keep from recycling hot air back through the rad. a problem I cured the same way! If you take a look in there youll find all kinds of ideas, PM them and see if they have a part # of the hose you like.

[makarov9mm]

I use other forums and have been searching this one to see if there is a way to locate your posts or track a post rather than just scrolling through all the messages to find yours.  Is this possible on this forum?  Tried searching for my username and that didn't work either.

The Wrangler was pretty nice, but had the old Peugot built 5-speed.  I got a great deal on the Jeep so didn't feel too bad about trading this guy straight across.  My daughter saw the MG today and said "Dad its all busted up! Why did you trade the Jeep for THAT.."   Then I started it for her and she just rolled her eyes at me and went in the house.  She is only 10.  

I think it is a diamond in the rough too.  It will never be a show car though.  I'm shooting for nicer but very stripped down.  Like an ex-race car might look.  May look at putting a rollcage in it too.

[Bill Young]

David, now you're talking things that will make Curtis' heart go pitter patter for sure. He loves the race car look as you can see from his GT.
I know what you're saying about the Peugot trans, the Jeep engine and trans I picked up for my MGA project happened to be an 87 which was the year they used that transmission and it took a while to find an output yoke for that box. I probably should have just changed it out for the later trans, but I already had the mounts fabricated before I found out how rare it was.
As for tracking your posts, nothing easy that I know of, just have to rely on your memory of the title you posted under and on which board.

[flitner]

I was waken up early this morning of the little sleep I got and first thing to pop in my head was rotation of the water pump, after thinking it was a mid 80s I realized they didnt go to serpentine till late 80s, but food for thought.
As far as searching I've had luck with topic search rather than users, it narrows it down somewhat.

[makarov9mm]

I haven't seen any other pictures of an exhaust that exits to the front on the highside.  Anybody know if this is a common practice?
,
Not sure about the flares either, but they are really on there.  Also the front wheelwhells have been radiused under the flares with what looks like a cutting torch.  The rears are the problem.  I want to put 7 inch wheels on it, but it still has the stock wheelwell under the back flares.  I realize that the rear is part of the unibody.  Was thinking of cutting a bunch of relief cuts into the original fenderwell and bending it outward and glassing it to the outer addon flare.  Any thoughts?  Also moving radiator forward and getting new lowprofile fan for inside mounting.

[Preform Resources]

Dave, you could put a whole body kit on also,http://preformresources.com/gallery/PREFORM-RESOURCES-B-BODY-KITS


Dave Craddock

[makarov9mm]

The body kit looks cool, but I'm trying to keep this as low budget as possible.  The fender flares are already on there, and I think if I removed them the body underneath would look pretty bad.  They seem to be really solid thick fiberglass too.  I don't want to weaken the unibody rear fenders too much, so I'm going to try to bend the rear fenderwell out and sandwich it to the flare.  I'll post pics of my progress.  

If anyone has suggestions on wheels that fit from other cars that are wider than stock let me know.  I was able to to this with my MR2.  Wheels from Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo fit and are staggered.   Was also thinking of running wider tires in the back on the MGB.

[Spitfire 350]

The exhaust going forward is common practice on Kit Cobras, but I don't remember if they pointed up or down. I believe this usually done to set the engine as far back as possible.

[DiDueColpi]

I wouldn't call it common.
But it fits and it works, so why not.
From a performance standpoint.
The exhaust doesn't have to do that nasty turn coming out of the head. So you end up with slightly better flow.
My only concern would be the mounting.
The exhaust is coming off the engine like a big pair of wings.
Any vibration or movement of the engine on its mounts is going to break something.
Put in some flex couplings and be happy for the rest of your life.

Cheers
Fred

[mgb260]

Factory Five Cobra used ordinary shorty headers pointing forward/down and J pipe.