Getting Information
I started doing research in 2001 for my MGB V8. I bought all the books; How to Give Your MGB V8 Power, and The Tuning Rover V8 Books. I also gleaned much info searching the internet. I found many people That had posted there cars on the web and got a general idea of what parts they used and how they were doing their conversions. Roger Parker's article helped considerably and helped me with many of my decisions.
How I made it happen
I decided to Use the 78 MGB as the base vehicle. It was in very good shape with no rust, except for the rocker panels, and had never been wreaked. The next decision I had to make was what kind of power plant to use. Well that took about a second for me to figure out. Since I am a Land Rover parts dealer I decided on the Rover V8. I used a Borg Warner T5 transmission out of a 92 Trans Am and bought a Trans Adapt bell housing off of Ebay. I got a steel fly wheel from D&D and a clutch from Shelby Auto Parts, which is a local parts dealer. The throw out bearing for the clutch was a tough part to figure out. The Weber throw out bearing works but it is expensive. I knew that there had to be another choice. After searching for a month I found one, The Quarter Master. Quarter Master makes a hydraulic throw out bearing that is very high quality and only cost $200 and made for the T5! Next I bought a whole 89 Range Rover that had been lightly damaged but had a perfect engine that had been rebuilt a few miles ago. So now I have a fuel injected 3.9L V8. I had decided all along to use EFI in my conversion. I have a lot of experience with the Rovers electrical systems and I am right at home with EFI. I used the engine, fuel tank, and wiring harness out of the Range Rover. For the rear end I used an independently sprung Jaguar rear end with a 3.07:1 ratio and limited slip.
This is a before photo of my MGB V8 when it was still a little four.
(I knew I was going to pull the engine so I had a little fun in the mud trying to brake the poor old Four banger ... But it just wouldn't give in.)
This is the MG right before and after I pulled the four cylinder.
I turned the car on its side to modify the rear suspension mounting. I also ran all new wiring, fuel and brake lines.
Both of my MGB's; the old, and the new
