Owner: Richard Lilly
City: Oak Hill, VA
Car Model: 1958 MGA
Engine: Buick 215
Engine: 1961 Buick 215 V8, Bored 30 Over, Decked 10, Crower Camshaft, 10.5:1 Pistons, Edelbrock 1404 Carb (down jetted for 215),
Cooling: 1965 Ford Falcon Radiator (new), Remote Oil Cooler w/ Fans (from a computer)
Exhaust: Custom Stainless Steel
Transmission: WC BW T-5 Five Speed Tranny from a 1988 Camaro, used original MGA shifter adapted to T5, Custom driveshaft from a 1988 Camaro,
Rear Axle: 4.33:1 Stock MGA (looking to changing this out for better highway use.)
Front Susp.: Stock
Rear Susp.: Stock
Brakes: Stock w/ all new brake lines
(master) 3/4" cylinders
(front) Drum (going to rotors)
(rear) Drum
Wheels/Tires:
Body Mods: Frame - Clam-shelled & Reinforced front transmission cross-member, lowered and moved engine position aft. Installed lower frame rails in order to mount body panels. These had either rusted off or been ground off. All sills had to be replace and new ones welded on. Body - Dog legs and all lower parts of body panels had to be replaced. Bought new drivers side door to replace rotted old one. Pulled Radiator duct panel to straighten so the grill would fit. Replaced broken windshield. Working on new top from rusted and broken old unit.
Interior: Handmade wooden dashboard from cherry wood, Mazda Miata seats, 3/4 in. marine plywood floors, aero-gel paint for heat and sound suppression, designed new interior firewall to help seal interior from engine bay, bent pedals to left a bit to allow for widened T5 tranny.
Electrical: Advance auto electrical system w/ drop down system.
Original engine donor car 1961 Buick Special hauled home from Pennsylvania with 42,000 miles on it per the owner (or 142,000...)
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Successfully moving car into Garage (well it did break free from the come-along and slam into the back of the garage but the mission was to get it into the garage...)
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Engine out, son takes a pose with the engine
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It's a family affair, daughter pitching in to clean the engine
DSCF0054.JPG<br><br>Porting the heads (resizing picture)<br><br><br>Engine back from the machine shop. Crower cam installed<br>[attach id=13183DSCF0089.JPG[/attach]
Torq'ing in the Crank
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Pistons going in
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Engine pretty much set, time to find an MGA
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Found a 58 MGA (or boxes of a couple) in North Carolina. Turns out the doors were from a different car. Mixing and matching on these cars causes problems in alignment which I am still dealing with. The front fenders and body had been in a wreck which was discovered after stripping it down. None of the interior was usable. But the chassis was in very good shape.
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Time to start stripping paint. Took it all down to metal. Bottoms of all fenders were rusted out and new dog-legs and new lower fenders had to be welded on, But actually not too bad.
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Boiled out and resealed the fuel tank
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Trying to keep frame modifications to a minimum. Clam-shelled the front transmission cross member and reinforced it to allow the proper horizontal angle for engine and transmission assembly. (A friend giving a hand with some grinding.)
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Fabricated rear transmission mount to the proper angle to allow for angle in Chevrolet WC T5 transmission
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Rolled steering rack forward and down. Added slight extension.
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Ran the fuel line, set proper angle for driveshaft. Bell housing from D&D Fabrications
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Lots of body work to be done
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Get someone else to do the bodywork...it is still wearing me out...
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Smoothing out the welds
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Starting to look good.
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Balancing the engine position in order to set the hand made motor mounts correctly
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Now to make sure it still all fits under the hood
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(hold for Tranny tunnel fab.)
(hold for New fabricated firewall in place)
Mini starter in place
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Need to paint the interior space in order to keep the project moving.
Wrong color – too orange
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Wrong color – too plum
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That'll work
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Get a good friend to paint the primer and the interior
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Priming the master cylinder
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Undercoating the inner wing. On reflection may not have been necessary.
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More to come
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