(http://www.britishv8.org/MG/RobFicalora/RobFicalora-AA.JPG)
With hot rods, the devil is in the details. Very few hot rods have as many tricky little details as this one! Even after selecting 110 photos to supplement the How-It-Was-Done write-up, I'm sure I missed some very cool tricks. Rob and I have been e-mailing back and forth - adding more detail here and there - and I'm sure that will continue, but I think it's high time to paste a link to Rob's MGB in the Photo Gallery and to announce it here.
Please join me in congratulating Rob on completing one of the most ambitious and exciting MGB V8 conversions ever, anywhere.
(http://www.britishv8.org/MG/RobFicalora/RobFicalora-BA.JPG)
See details here: <a href="http://www.britishv8.org/MG/RobFicalora.htm">
Rob Ficalora's 1976 MGB with Ford 5.0L V8 Engine</a>
(Why not e-mail this link to a friend or two?)
Rob's and Dan Masters photo's have been a how to bible for me. Tons of pics have helped me immeasurably!
Well done, Rob. A really outstanding build!
(http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j222/healeyrick/rsz_1happydays1.jpg)
Congratulations you deserve a standing ovation!!
Well now... I think that has to be the very best HIWD article you've written to date Curtis! OK, I may be a little biased, I admit it. But I do really appreciate the time and effort it takes to put these together and want to thank you for it. It feels like I got an early Christmas present.
No way Rob! We ALL got a early Christmas present!
When I started my project and began posting you were the first to respond to my stupid questions and I've followed your progress and your advice from the beginning. As a fabricator who has been involved in numerous custom and specialty car projects your craftsmanship has continued to amaze and inspire me. Congratulations on a beautiful well done project!
Paul
Very nicely done.
Jim
Great article Curtis and a marvelous car Rob.
Great job Rob! The journey was long but the arrival was unbelieveable!! I'm sure a few of us remember the past gatherings where you would survey various builds for your modification and final version. NOW, just lack the final touches you will discover as you drive the car. SAFETY FASTER!
Wow, that's a lot of work there! ...the results are stunning, Rob, and you should revel in the well deserved accolades.
What attention to detail, and what extraordinary results! Great effort Rob!!
Awesome Rob!! I have been patiently waiting for this article. Thanks Curtis for the writeup.
Cheers
Byron
Rob, it was a long time in coming and it is outstanding!I admire your tenacity and workmanship.
Dave
Beautiful job on all accounts, The car, craftsmanship, attention to detail and the article!
WOW
Rob,
Beautiful job !
Love the rear view mirrors. Miata or Dodge ?
Let me know please.
Werner
According to the HIWD article, they are Chrysler Crossfire mirrors
RobFicalora-AG.jpg
A fabulous job, an inspiration to all of us.
Enjoy.
Marc
Great design and well executed Rob, it fits your personality. I love the seat upholstery's two tone.
Rob
I've just started my build and the number of crib notes I've taken from your build could fill a book!!!
I think you've got the classiest B hot rod going!!! I only hope I can do half as good of job as you've done on yours!!!
Continued success,
Doug
Doug, I think I've been communication back and forth with Rob more than anyone else in the past four years and every time I look at his car I say to myself "WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT".
Paul
Thanks David. There are a bunch of awesome cars out on this board. One thing I will say is if I were to do it again, I'd do less at a time. It took me a little over 6yrs from the time I pulled the motor till my 1st test drive and then about another year to sort it out (with several months of that saving to buy replacement axles after I broke one the 3rd time out). I'd do the engine swap and enjoy driving it while I did the body mods.
When you built cars for others you have to live with a dead line and when I built my T-Bucket it was in the company shop so I couldn't take my time there either. With my MG, which is setting in my driveway right now, I can take my time and enjoy a hobby I've always loved. I sometimes feel the urge to speed up a little so I can drive it to group events, but at 70 years old this is probably my last project and I feel comfortable doing a little work then drinking a beer, smoking a cigar, and admiring my handy work. My running gear is all installed and all I have is a few support systems to do but I plan to hold the tin work to the last as well. Part of the problem is all the great ideas you guys have and deciding whose ideas I'm going steal :-)
Paul
Fantastic job, Rob! Your vision has come to life. Wish I had that level of dedication & perseverance.
My only itty bitty nit is.....why is that car not EFI? I can't believe I just said that, I love carbs. Everything else on the car just seems as it should be. A very high quality, awesome converson!
Also, you mentioned, drive more, do more in stages. That is great advice. Life is short, have fun. Some people get bogged down in 5-10 year or more projects that wind up never seeing the light of day. I should know. I have '68 Camaro that got parked when I put the V8 in the MG & a '55 MG TF that who know when it will ever get put back together.
I read in a Hot Rod mag many years ago the advice to do 2-3 day weekend projects on your car. That way the project doesn't escalate to a long term project & you still get to enjoy the use of the vehicle.
Thanks Carl! No FI frankly because it intimidated me. Plan was to run it with a carb for a few years and then switch over. Fuel system is even plumbed for it. Now that I've learned enough that I'd be comfortable switching, I just want to drive it!
I can help you with your problem though. Just send that tired old '68 over to me so have you time to put the TF back together. Who knows, you might even have time to swap in an LS for the 215 in your MG... you know you want to. See, I'm just trying to be helpful ;).
In my case, fuel injection isn't an issue, once you have worked on them and understand the basics it is pretty fun and rewarding to drive. My biggest problem is, believe it or not, TIG welding since I'd like everything made of aluminum. For years I have welded with a MIG, stick, and acetylene but, TIG is a craft all of its own, especially, when you need to weld on a show piece for the first time on your car; it has held back my project and although I'd be willing to pay someone to TIG weld in my garage, no one seems interested. I may have a very nice 250 AMPS water cooled TIG welder for sale.
Second, I like Rob's advice to do it in phases but obviously I've stretched out the time spent on too many unfinished phases or got stalled on an issue, such as, insisting on using too much aluminum depending on TIG welding.
Third, changing your mind on a design can be a project killer; that's another bad habit I have in watching the latest and greatest which also caries a financial burden and hard to recoup from. Doing a small block Ford V8 and also fuel injected will cause additional modifications and time consuming but worthy, IMHO.
I think that if I started out doing a first car and accept the learning curve of the do's and don'ts then, it would have been a lot easier applying the lessons learned to a second car, although, I do have some unique/original features on my project car.
As I lived close to Jim Stuart (one of the original meetings participant), we became good friends and, he did give me some good advise concerning universal issues affecting MGB's, such as, overheating, wiring, fuel tank, suspension and etc., which I've tried to find a solution of my own.
Having said all of the above, I do envy Rob's situation as he's enjoying riding around and, as Dan Master says under his car's comment "don't wait to long" because as you're getting older, it gets harder to get in and out of these little cars.
Trying to sell my project "as is" would be financial suicide; I often watch on TV the famous auto auction Macum or Barrett Jackson and it's nothing to see a finished car only bring in half of its built cost. Stories like Rob's car does motivate me; it has to be a feeling all of its own when you take your first run, it'll either make you cry or smile (or maybe both, LOL).
Cheers!
Don't sell yourself short on the TIG work. There are ways around the "perfect" TIG weld bead, the best of which is to blend and buff to a high shine, a skill that is very much worth developing. (This from a guy who traditionally concentrated on function over form.) There are web videos which I have found VERY helpful in improving TIG skills, and even with my shaky hands I occasionlly manage a weld bead that looks good enough to use without dressing. Usually if you aren't getting passable welds there is a concrete reason for it and the solution is just to figure out what you need to do different. If you can gas weld, you can TIG weld.
Jim
Jim, thanks for the vote of confidence, but at 60 years old, my eyes have a hard time seeing the welding puddle to dip in the filler rod and that's one of the problem(s). I subscribe to Jody Collier's welding tips and tricks ( http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/tubing-bender.html ) and I'm convinced that my eye and hand coordination might need some extra help although I use a cheater lens. Long hours of TIG welding practice on scrap pieces of aluminum is what I have to get back into until I get a feel for it. I have a serious flaw with my picky quality standards and if something bothers me I go into a stall mode which is not exactly good to start and finish a project within a timely manner.
I've often heard that it's better to be excellent at only one thing than to be mediocre at a bunch of things; I might just be mediocre at lots of things (LOL) and need to accept a mediocre product delivery?!?!?! :)
Cheers!
We are about the same age and apparently share other qualities as well. I have to wear reading glasss inside my helmet, use plenty of light, and steady my hands by resting them on something, and I have come to realize that I will never achieve the mystical "stack of dimes" so called perfect weld bead. But that is OK because I'm pretty good at sticking the metal together and if there's more weld bead than what looks good I can usually grind it off and polish it. Angle grinders, flapper wheels, die grinders and buffing wheels have become my good friends. And after rough dressing if there is a flaw it usually isn't too hard to touch that up. Fortunately aluminum cuts easily and stainless is a little easier to get a good bead on.
Perfection is nice but it is over rated. Perfection is the enemy of "Good Enough". And good enough is just a state of mind.
Jim
BTW, a quality helmet is priceless. I have a cheap helmet but have a Jackson auto dimming lens in it. It is adjustable for tint and speed and I decrease the tint for TIG work so I can see the puddle. A stand with halogen lights is also very helpful.
Thanks for the tips Jim, I think that I'm going to try the halogen light idea.