The engine first came to me with a
boatload (haha) of hardware I could not use attached. It was a
1963 Buick Skylark engine with an aluminum block and heads. The motor
weighs about the same as the original MGB 4 cylinder with its cast iron
block. The original specs had the engine putting out 200 horsepower and
using 11 to 1 compression pistons. The engine had been used to power a
jet boat prior to my purchasing it. I sold the boat headers and cooling
system to a guy through an ad on the web, and ended up with $50.00 in
the basic engine. I did not even try to start the engine, I purchased
rebuild parts and took it straight to the engine rebuilder. I was
suprised at the performance parts available for this old engine. The
following is a list of what I found and had installed in the engine
(some of the information here is machine shop work done)::
10.25 to 1 compression pistons
.0010 decked block
Ported heads (both the area beneath the valves and the intake and
exhaust
ports).
High volume oil pump
Stock Buick 4 barrel intake manifold
Stainless steel bolt kit
D&D starter nose (to rotate
the solenoid around to hang directly
beneath
the starter and clear the side of the engine bay)
Clevite 77 crank bearings
lightened flywheel
Stainless
steel swirl polished intake and exhaust valves
Isky 262 cam
Isky Cromoly push rods
Isky double valve springs
Pertronix electronic ignition (the one that fits inside the stock
distributor).
Pertronix Flamethrower coil
RV8 style (through the fender) headers, ceramic coated
The engine was also internally balanced and the heads were given a
three angle valve job.
I really should not go any further without giving thanks to two shops
that helped me tremendously on this.
Dan Lagrou and his staff at
D&D
Fabrications have nearly everything and anything you could want for
one of these engines. He also has a bunch of conversion parts to help
you get one into an MGB.
Glen Towery at Towery Foreign Car in Cheswold Delaware (
302-734-1243)
has built a bunch of V8 MGBs and is very helpful in providing parts and
advice.
Evan Amaya at
Rebornco. was very
helpful with my conversion of the Jaguar independent rear suspension as
well.
Now a look at what I started with :
And where I
am now (02/17/2005):
Problems (little irritating things that make you cuss):
I used engine mounts, from Towery Foreign car, that set the
engine back an inch and a half so an air conditionaer can be installed.
This caused the "wings" (I call them that for lack of a better term) on
the harmonic balancer to hit the rack and pinion steering shaft before
the engine reached the mounts. (See Photo below).
The only solution I could find was to
cut the aluminum protrusions off the balancer. I told several people I
had done this and they cringed, but Glen Towery told me he has done
this many times and it does not cause problems in this application.
The lip in the engine bay where the
clutch steel line connects to the flexible rubber one had to be cut off
because the engine struck it and it kept the motor from setting low
enough to reach the mounts.
One other helpful hint is that you will need to buy a banjo fitting for
the fuel line connection to the carb if you want an air cleaner to fit.
I am using a Carter AFB 400cfm carburetor, and I could not find any air
filter that would fit unless I used the banjo fitting. The good news is
they only cost about $9 and Edelbrock has one that works nicely.
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