MGB New Project

[DanStokes]

Been a busy lil' beaver - many pics to follow.

Bottom line - the engine is in the hole and more or less where it will live. The front of the cam cover is below the hood line so all the fiddling was worth it. Marine mounts are on order and once here I'll build the plates that'll bolt to the engine and support the engine.


First mod of the day: The left side pan rail hit my modified crossmember so a notch was in order as shown:





There was also some interference at the back from a protrusion from the oil filter assembly. A notch in the top of the footwell fixed it although I think I'll redo this tomorrow to add more clearance, Clarance (sorry - EPA-speak).


The notch:





And with the engine in place:





I'm going to slide in a tool mod here as I realized I hadn't posted it earlier. I use a HF engine leveler without which this engine would be almost impossible to install. When the engine is lifted fully to enter the engine bay the hand crank that they supply hits the boom of the shop crane and is pretty much useless. So I cut off the handle and welded on a 3/4" nut which I can operate with my cheap-o electric ratchet (good buy, BTW). Much easier and it works with this set-up.





A peek into the existing transmission shifter hole. As you can see, the shifter will be in an acceptable position. Feelin' good about this!





Temporary engine mounts. Don't hate - they're oak! They put the engine close to where it'll be in it's final configuration.





Not sure how well this shows but looking thru the shifter hole maybe y'all can see that the tail of the trans sits on a welded-in crossmember that MG builds into the chassis. Kinda nice for those of us build engine mounts as this puts the tail shaft close to where it'll go.

[Captain]

Excellent,
Some "Yank Ingenuity" and we are Back on the Lead Lap....

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

CAD comes to the rescue! Good looking solution. And it looks like you've got enough to trim here and there just in case...

[DanStokes]

Crossmember brace:

I spent some time aligning the side plates until they were 90 degrees to the world (well, within 0.1 degrees according to my angle finder) then I cut and tacked the crossbar onto the side plates. The whole deal came out for finish welding, a bit of grinder clean-up (though the welds were fairly decent) and sandblasting. Are here it is ready to go in:





It took some fiddling to get it installed once welded together but it's now pretty much where it goes. Just a bit of adjustment tomorrow and I'll weld the whole deal in place and hope for the best.

[DanStokes]

Moving forward today:

I added the 90 degree section to the left extension (I guess you'd call it) for the crossmember reinforcement. Note that the round areas both have an added 90 degree part to make sure nothing bends. Then I tacked them in place as shown.

Top view:





And looking from the front and down low:

I think the right one (left in the pic) may be rotated more than the left. I'll stick the angle gauge on them tomorrow and make adjustments as needed. I don't really mind if they're twisted but I want them to be fairly symmetrical.

[DanStokes]

Start of the sexy crossmember reinforcement.


Yesterday and today I did extensive CAD then transferred to metal stock and started cutting. I wanted a 90 degree bend and having no way to bending 1/4" plate I started with a section of rectangular tube.


Layout. Note the drilled holes at the 90ish degree points. Much easier to cut but probably no difference in strength as these areas will be welded anyway. Some sawsall, some cut off wheel.





Rough cut-out after blacksmithing the bent-over tab for the round area. Heat, bend, heat, hammer flat.





What's left of the rectangular tube. We're lucky to have a good steel supply place here in town and they usually have chunks like this one sitting around and they're available by the pound - IIRC, this was like $10.

[DanStokes]

... Free MGB Parts - Charleston, WV| Parts For Sale forum | (grassrootsmotorsports.com)

Good to know these are out there but I THINK I'll be OK. Thanks for looking.

[Loren]

... Free MGB Parts - Charleston, WV| Parts For Sale forum | (grassrootsmotorsports.com)

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Not thrifty. Cheap. It comes from living within my means.

You may be cheap, but never easy. I still maintain thrifty. But then what does Mongo know. Lost in the infinite, stumbling blindly following his path thru the paradox of life.

[DanStokes]

Did. But if push comes to shove I'll just pick up a replacement crossmember. There are several MGB guys in NC that have parts so I can make a run if needed.

[Captain]

Gett'n Scarry Now !!.........

Hope you saved all the pieces in case you need to weld it ALL back together.........
for Plan "C"......

[DanStokes]

A pic as of this evening. I've begun the CAD layout of the braces for what will be the permanent, weld-in brace to keep the 2 sides of the front suspension in cahoots with each other.

[DanStokes]

Kind of like the drippy car using a 3 cylinder Subaru Justy engine and 4wd CVT. On a Ranger chassis, yet! With all that hydraulic crap to boot!

Dan's creativity is only surpassed by his thriftyness.

Not thrifty. Cheap. It comes from living within my means.

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Kind of like the drippy car using a 3 cylinder Subaru Justy engine and 4wd CVT. On a Ranger chassis, yet! With all that hydraulic crap to boot!

Dan's creativity is only surpassed by his thriftyness.

[DanStokes]

Man, those final details. Then, if you've been able to keep your wallet in your pocket for much of the project, now it comes out. The price you pay for having what's going to be a super-bitchen car you thought up to do.

Thanks Loren. I always do the weird-os (215 Buick/Vega, BB Buick/C10, Mercedes Diesel/S10.....). More interesting that way. I've told many that you can put any engine in any car if you have enough time, money, and patience.