BritishV8 Forum

No clue.

So I guess they replaced the vacuum servo with an electric servo motor?

There are a number of universal kits out there. 

Al Moor used ABSPowerbrake.com  A bit pricey.

Then of course once you have taken the engine itself as far as you are comfortable doing it we come to fueling and controls. But first, a word about where that line should be drawn.

When you're working within the B series' limitations you tend towards seriously considering any and all possible ways to increase the output of the engine. That gets top billing with durability somewhere further down the line if it's given any thought at all. Upgrade to a larger engine and that all begins to shift, curiously enough. By the time you get to the 300 and it's more powerful variants like we have here the focus changes more to reliability, durability and even economy which is natural enough but not at all obvious going in. The reason is quite simple though and harks back to the old timer's advice when buying a car to get the largest engine available in it, or stated more colorfully, "There is no substitute for cubic inches".

This has much broader meaning than just performance and I'll give two of the most important examples here. First, even though experience and service records might not do much to support the concept the larger engine is understressed compared to it's smaller counterpart and for that reason alone will tend to present it's owner with fewer and less expensive issues during it's life. Even if it doesn't last any longer (it probably will) it won't be pushed to it's limits nearly as often and we all are aware that race engines, a highly tuned and highly stressed example, have short lives. So it's an investment in the long term. The second example, again not immediately obvious is that the larger engine makes the car easier to drive, not harder. This is primarily because of the surplus of torque which makes the driver a lot less likely to reach the edges of the performance envelope where bad things happen. And as has always been the case, alternative power adders as they are called always come with an added cost and complexity, need extra room, and may hurt durability and economy. Yes it's true that a turbo four might get over 30mpg cruising the highway. It's also true that it might get 7mpg or even less in strenuous driving but we never hear about that. Just another hidden cost.

But the bottom line here is that once you have achieved the upper limits of your own personal horsepower goals there is no point in going any further. Then attention shifts more towards durability. Might be nice to take a winter off, yes? So if your selected power plant can meet your goals in an unmodified form from it's factory configuration you can well expect to exceed factory warranty limits as well and sometimes by a spectacularly wide margin depending on the engine's record.

Here the lowly Buick 300 particularly shines brightly, and the cheapest of the cheap, the base engine with a 2bbl carb, iron heads, and 9:1 compression is admirably suited to match the typical MGB owner's loftiest dreams of power. Ask an MGB owner what they'd like and you'll hear numbers like 120 as being ideal. Maybe 150 if it wasn't too expensive and involved. But the dream number? Ah, that is 200. Always has been. With 200 hp the average MGB owner can only imagine what he might do.

And there you have it. Not only does the base Buick 300 put out not 200 but 210 hp in unmodified form, it does it on regular gas and delivers 310 ft/lbs of torque while it's at it. All this in a very understressed package that was renowned for durability long before one was ever installed in an MGB and to top it all off is more than capable of being swapped into the RB car over a weekend. And if you don't think that makes an MGB easy AND fun to drive it's only because you have never tried it. Yes it does add 50 lbs or so to the front of the car (when using the alloy heads and intake, 100 lbs with iron). Practice has proven it's well worth it. And as the least expensive engine option out there this is a proven winner. Also there were roughly the same number of Buick 300 engines built as there were MGBs so finding one is about the same level of difficulty. They are there if you look in the right places.

This makes a very strong argument for drawing that imaginary line right at 200 hp, and that number puts the MGB right in the thick of today's cars out on the highway, a bit towards the upper end but obviously not in today's "performance" brackets. It will do fine, but it isn't going to fare that well against a modern Corvette for example. Still, as the above example illustrates, if that's the goal it is within reach and all the traditional methods are available. Next post will likely get into some of that, starting with engine control options.

Jim

No, do you have any info on them?

Jim

I think that I probably will Jim. When I welded on/replaced the oil pan flange, it moved it down 1/4" effectively making it 1/4" deeper. Which is one of the reasons I moved the new horizontal up 1/4". Since I'm going to have to re-mark the dipstick anyway, I'll adjust the "safe" range accordingly.

I did make a 1/4" thick spacer for the oil pick up tube. When I checked the pick-up to pan clearance, it comes in at 1/4 to 3/8".

On a related topic, my nephew has my dad's 78 MGB V8 conversion (BOPR) that he built before he passed away last year. Jake (my nephew) commented that he had been having oil pressure issues while driving. Since my dad had bought the engine already fully assembled. I suggested that he pull the pan to have a look. Jake sent me some pics and something didn't look correct with the pick-up tube. I had him send me some more pics from a different angle, and you could see that the pick-up was bent upwards about an 1" to 1.250"!

Jake replaced the pick-up tube, and all is good now. He asked me if grandpa ever had any oil pressure concerns and I told him that I didn't recall my dad mentioning it. But then I reminded him that the difference was probably because he drove it like a 86-year-old man, vs Jake who's in his early 40's and tends to drive more aggressively!

Bill

Did you consider electric brakes?

Way back in the day, I put a 7 quart Moroso oil pan on the 350 in my Camaro.  I ran 6 quarts in it.

Well then Bill, you might try running a half quart low and see how it works.

Alan sent me his email link if anyone wants to check with him on his stiffeners:
fullperimeter@gmail.com
He's working on a web site.

Jim

Makes sense, I forgot to add that my pan has been modified to increase the capacity. Basically, the notch for the exhaust cross-over was removed and replaced with a rear section from another pan. It's been a long time since I did it, but I think I used a section out of Ford Y block V8 pan, if I remember correctly.

I remember poking around in the wrecking yard for quite some time, trying to find one that was the correct width to match the 215 pan!

Bill