Hi to you all across the pond, this may be of interest for you. whilst it is not a sports car it is something that you may like.
1963 Morris minor 3.5 V8, 5 speed box,MGB front, Jaguar rear. If interested I will post record of the build.
Steve

Quote... this may be of interest for you....

You betcha......this is what it's all about!

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Wow !! .....Meerkat,

What a tremendous Morris Minor you have !  Do share more info on your blockbuster.

cheers,

phillip g

Wow, My buddy Rod will love this ,, he's redoing a  MM traveler, a guy in Port Huron is doing the wood, it will be Zetec powered.
Dave

Way cool, Steve.  Details must be provided.  

Greetings to you all, the car I wanted was this particular model a 1963 2 door I paid £800 for it as it was a runner and still had 6 months MOT certificate(for those of you not in the know, it is an annual inspection. All cars over 3 years old in the UK  must be inspected for roadworthyness and if passed a certificte is issued to make the car legal).
 
I drove the car home a journey of  some 35 miles praying that I was going to survive to my home where it would rest for the next 18 months.
then came the task of removing everything that would not be required, this also included the entire floor rust and all. I welded in some cross braces  to keep the shape of the body and stop it twisting.
 

Before I could remove anymore metal I had to build the chassis. to do this I used 3x2 box section steel for the main chassis rails onto which would be mounted the Jaguar diff which is a 3.45 powerlock. I would also mount outriggers to the rails to join to the strengthened outer chassis rail which in turn is welded to the body. with me so far!!!

The drive shafts and wish bones were narrowed so that i could get the wheels 7x15 with 215 x 60 tyres under the arches without having to modify the wings, I also tried to fit the Jag front by modifying the front clip but I was unable to get the steering geometry correct. so I used the complete front clip fron an MGB steering rack and column and grafted this into place. I wanted a v8 and the choice over here is limited, the cost for a chevy say is around the £3000, mark not to mention the fuel cost which is £1.44 per litre. yes per litre not gallon
I got hold of a 3.5ltr land rover engine which I have rebuilt and put an edelbrock inlet manifold and carb  
I used an old block to trial fit the engine and inner wings, the left inner wing was made by using the wheelarch section of the right hand wing and the right inner wing was made by using the left hand wing these were then welded into place.

The servo and clutch cyl also came from land rover

The engine went in OK although clearance for the steering column and exhaust is tight. the MGB front clip was welded in and the standard brakes with drilled discs were fitted
 
This photo shows how much metal had to be removed and replaced, and at the time I was begining to wonder if this was such a good idea, however I  was well past the point of no return and the choice was to carry on or have a pile of scrap metal sitting on my drive which according to my wife thats all I had anyway, amid mutterings of I'm not getteing into that pile of junk if you paid me. But I had a dream and on I went.

The new rear wings were welded on and blended into the body, all the rust was cut out and replaced with new steel, the wheel arches on the front wings were cut out and rased up 2" to give clearance for the steering, the gearbox tunnel was formed and the floor tacked in and the result was this before it went to the paint shop.
 

 There is still some tidying up in the engine bay and I have the interior to trim and carpet, so more photos of that when it's done and should it ever stop bloody raining I might even get to drive the car and start fine tuning.
The car has cost around £12000 without labour costs, so untill the next instalment I wish you all a Merry Christmas and happy new year, and remember
Dont let the dream stealers get you.

How does the wife feel about riding in it now?

Jim

Nice.

My son is looking forward to travelling in it, but the wife is still unsure, when it's trimmed out then she'll be ok
Steve

I love it!

Any modifications mage to the MGB clip? What size wheels and tires in the front?

Beautiful car, Steve.  Nicely done.

Thanks for your comments, the wheel and tyres are 7x15 with 195/60 15 on the front  and 215/60 on the rear. I cut out a channel on each side of the front clip to sink the chassis rails into.

I saw the channel in the frame. I wasn't sure if you did anything else like a lowering spring to adjust the ride height. Do you happen to remember what the offset of the wheels are? The angle of the one picture (2nd to last one posted) kinda make it look like the rear has a different offset.

I have a panel and was planning on using the MGB front suspension in it. I am also going to use the 1.8 motor out of a MGB as well with a performance build on it and a 5 spd trans.

I'm not sure what you mean by a panel, however I will have to measure the wheel offset but the wheels are the same. to adjust the ride height I used chrome bumper mgb springs as they are shorter. over here the 1.8 is normaly bored to 1.9 plus other bit's and you get a torquey engine with plenty of power.
The gearbox conversion which is popular over here uses a ford type 9 and comes supplied with all the bits required.  but I think there are plenty of people on this website who are more informed than me.
Try this company based in the UK. Hoyle engieering, they do replacement front and rear suspension for the mg range which is something I may do in the future to the front of mine. I must get it trimmed first!!
Steve

I think you would call it a van over there.

Well Done Steve ! I suggest you contact "Jukka", of this forum. He is based in Finland, and has a very similar build, Morris Minor. You chaps will have much to chat about. Cheers, roverman.