BritishV8 Forum

Another beautifully crafted car documented for BritishV8's How-It-Was-Done article collection!

Check it out here: <a href="http://www.britishv8.org/MG/JimDurham.htm">Jim Durham's 1980 MGB with Ford 302cid V8 Engine</a>



Post your comments and congratulations below   V

Beautiful.  Impressive that Jim did all the work himself.

Fantastic work!  I'd love to know more about that radiator and how you made it fit.

I like it, nicely done Jim!

Bill

Awesome!

Cool, Cool, Cool. You done good

WOW!  Very Impressive Jim!  And great write-up Curtis.

Very nice!  You guys are killin' me with all these magazine quality show cars.  I may have to start leaving mine at home.

That is one Sweet build !!  Respect

Sooo Nice... Love the headers

Beautiful car!  I love it when the cars have been re-engineered to incorporate all the V8 bits, but still look stock.  

The best looks are achieved when form follows function as in this car.  Great job!

Jim, Awesome!

I haven't logged in since Curtis posted this thread. I'm humbled at all the compliments. Thank you to those that like the car. I've moved on to my next project but I must admit, this car is a lot of fun.

this car is beautiful.....BUT....and I speak out of a place of concern and experience...I would shield both the fuel pump and clutch slave from heat...they are both awfully close to that exhaust!

"I speak out of a place of concern and experience"

I got an e-mail regarding your post so I thought I should reply.  2 dimensional pictures can be deceiving. The clearance between the slave cyl./fuel pump and exhaust is several inches. There has been no problem in the areas you noted. I've been building custom cars for 40+ years and have a bit of "experience" myself. Thanks for your concern.

Time for an update. My original "mild" 320HP engine developed an issue and instead of dealing with it, I decided it was new engine time and up the HP and make the car a little more nasty. The new engine dyno'd at 398.9HP and 383.2 TQ. The difference between the two engines is like night and day. Here's a short clip of it at idle - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUavLclJt9Q

Wow Jim sounds awesome, now if you don't mind how about some action shots. You know a shot of a nice smoke show, maybe a couple donuts. Just get our blood flowing.

Sure is a pretty little car to have all that power.

Just curious Jim, what dyno numbers were you aiming for, and what is your exhaust system? (Did you make your target and if not, how far were you below it?)

Jim

The goal was  400HP which would have easily been reached but the pull was stopped at 6000 RPM. It was still increasing 4-6 HP per 100 RPM so 6100 RPM would have exceeded the goal. The exhaust description is in the HIWD.

Thanks. Reason I asked is that I'm gathering data related to the use of shorty headers vs long tube headers and my theory is that with shorty headers and log manifolds, reversion tuning theory analysis will promote greater efficiency which would benefit most of our cars. I was curious to see if your build supports that theory or opposes it. Interestingly enough it supports it. I note that the canister type mufflers (the only component in your system which could generate a reversion pulse) is located as far from the exhaust ports as is possible, making the volume of the reversion chamber as large as is practical for this size car. That combined with the tube size gets it into the range I think is needed to put the reversion pulse in phase with the exhaust valves. Note that the glass packs do not create reversion pulses but act by attenuation. Do your canister type mufflers have an internal baffle, or are they straight-through?

Jim

"Do your canister type mufflers have an internal baffle, or are they straight-through? "

They are a straight through design. The inlet and outlets are slightly offset, probably about 1/2", but you can still see through it.

Thanks Jim