New project - advice required

[Graham B]

I have recently bought a new project, the car is a 1974 Morris Marina Coupe. The previous owner had the running gear and body/chassis beefed up as follows:
Front
Ford Capri 2.8 hubs and vented discs.
BMW dampened steering rack - relocated to under engine for better engine bay clearance
Custom adjustable A-Arms, rose-jointed, Bespoke adjustable coilover front struts built by GAZ in the UK onto Capri hubs
New strengthened chassis rails and chassis/bulkhead bars
Rear
Ford Atlas axle casing, narrowed to fit 7" wheels/tyres, Limited Slip Diff (LSD), Bespoke strengthened half shafts
5-bar links:
- 4 forward bars in cold drawn seamless steel tubing
- stainless steel / kevlar 1/2 inch rose joints. Full adjustable.
- Panhard rod to rear chassis rail
GAZ adjustable coilover shocks
Boot floor raised and strengthened to enable a low stance

The car looks very impressive, the previous owner Rob was going to put a 350ci LT1 motor in it from a C4 Corvette, he had the motor on a stand next to the car, initially I thought he had sold it already, but he hadn't so after a little negotiation I decided to follow his dream and bought the engine off him too.

Question is - I need a transmission for this engine. Rob had thought of fitting a TH350 but hadn't yet bought one. Bearing in mind my location in Blighty what are my options?

[Jim Stabe]

You are going to have a lot of weight hanging way out in front of the front wheels unless you plan on some significant firewall surgery.

[88v8]

Hello and welcome.

Have to echo Jim's thought. With that heavy engine it would corner like an ocean liner. If you go the V8 route, tbh I'd sell the LT and buy a Rover V8, much lighter. A 3.9 or even the 3.5 will make that car go and sound like a dream, and it will go round corners.

As to trans, what diff ratio and tyres does it have?

There was some discussion here on boxes to fit the Rover V8
http://forum.britishv8.org/read.php?6,37744

Ivor

[Moderator]

Question is - I need a transmission for this engine. Rob had thought of fitting a TH350 but hadn't yet bought one. Bearing in mind my location in Blighty what are my options?

T56 (six speed manual) was installed behind a lot of LT1 engines. Camaros and Firebirds. Some close-ratio options... (Google "T56" plus "M28" or "M29").

[Graham B]

Hi Jim,
There will be firewall surgery I'm sure.
I already have a Rover V8 in my Spitfire and Rover V8's have been put into Marina's before, so I'd like to try and do something different.

I take your point with regards to engine weight distribution though.

Graham

[Jim Stabe]

I have an LT1 and 6 speed in my MGB but the whole engine is behind the front axle centerline so the distribution is close to 50/50

[Graham B]

Jim,
Do you have a link to photo's of your build, I'm interested to see the positioning of the engine and box, and how you handled the position of the gearlever,

I know I have seen pictures of your car on here before, but now they are more of interest as I have the same engine to play with.
The Marina Coupe and MGB GT are very similar sized cars, but the firewall is quite different.
Initially the steering rack would have been the issue with the Marina as they are usually sited in front of the firewall, but the previous owner of this project had an alternative steering rack sited further forwards so that if necessary the firewall could be altered to allow the engine to go further back.
I'm considering a TH350 trans because the issue of shifter position may be less of an issue?

Graham

[Jim Stabe]

Go to the project journals on this site. There are five parts showing the build from the start.

[BMC]

Graham.

Sounds pretty neat! I learned to drive in an Austin Marina GT 1800 when I was 11 years old. Not a popular but a good car.

I highly recommend staying away from the large boat anchor all iron V8 and either go with an LSx series or more common on your side, the Rover V8 as others have mentioned.

My Dad removed the Spitfire gearbox that British Leyland, in their infinite wisdom placed behind the Austin B series 1800 and replaced that with an MGB overdrive gearbox. He said that made it into a good car. That 68-80 MGB gearbox required cutting the floor and reworking it to fit that. To fit a T5 would probably require just slightly less but a T56 substantially more. The T5 should be used on engines with no more than about 300 BHP unless it is handled with care or rebuilt regularly.

Great project! Hope to see more on this.

-BMC.