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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - MGB Lexus V8

Stolen from another performance oriented board this link gives some photos of an MGB fitted with a Lexus V8.

http://www.planetspeedy.com/jstyle/mg/

Cheers, Pete.
Peter Thomas

OK, he has a V8 engine dropped into an MGB body. It looks like it's going to take a lot more time and loads of work to get it road worthy.
Dana

Still
Looks very promising
This is an Australia site so Im delighted that someone has decided not to use the Rover V8.Not that I have anything against them( I had BV8 too) just the prices of a well built Rover motor is phenomenal over here.
And the arent too many Ford or Chevy conversions into B's over here either which is a pity too.
steve

The pics are posted just to show someone doing something different rather than the "me too" topics which seem to dominat this forum.

As Steve mentioned the Rover V8 is not exactly common here and the Lexus has the advantage of an OHC arrangement.

Apart from that the Lexus engines will become more readily available as the cars become older so now might be a good time to begin taking off the blinkers!
Peter Thomas

Lexus v8 is a very modern motor, 32 Valve quad cam,
All Alloy , fuel injection. The motor almost exudes exotic status from something from red Ferrari's and Lambo's (ok maybe a bit far there hehe) Hook it it up to a 5 speed the mouth drools.
Peter
Remember the Holden 4.2 issue, well i decided its a no goer, just too heavy and too many mechanic/workshops not interested in doing the conversion
May look at a Nissan SR20 turbo motor.
I would be very interested to see how this lexus v8 conversion goes and how hard/easy it would be to do.

Steve
Steve

Cool,
It looks like no oil filter problems and no plenum machineing to be done. Could not see any bulkhead work either. Might be the way things will go.
Peter

Took a closer look at the bulkhead.
Peter

This seems like a wonderful swap. I didn't realize the Lexus was not really much bigger than a Rover.

What do you do about a gearbox, though? Would the 5-speed from a Lexus IS work behind the V8? I really wouldn't be interested in an automatic MG!

I was wondering the other day about the twin-spark I6 3.2L from a Mercedes, for it looks like it would probably just fit. You'd have to get a getrag gearbox from Germany, though; they don't sell 'em stateside.

A Mercedes 4.3 or 5.0 V8 will not, I think, fit though (too high).

An I6 from a Merc would have been good in my XKE conversion, but I've already had a SBC/TPI prepared and begun the conversion process. I like the Merc motors a lot because they have a TON of torque down low -- ever see a Merc S320 move out? ... _wildly_ impressive for a 4,700 pound car with that size motor. It's hard to beat the simple, foolproof variable valve timing mechanism that a Merc has.

I can hardly look at a car these days without wondering whether you could use it's motor for an MG!
Ted

Ted
The Supra 5 speed box has been installed here into a few Toyota Soarers( or Lexus SC400 in the US)
There is a company in Australia who sell the bellhousing kit for the Supra 5speed to hook up behind a Lexus v8
And I always thought the Lexus V8 was too wide.
Peter
I looked at those pics again and i see he has modified the crossmember and there is still no exhaust system on it yet, could be difficult
steve

I often wondered about the suitability of the Lexus V8 engine. In theory it seemed an ideal conversion engine. State of the art, all ally,nice displacement 4.7ltrs.It was only the physical size of the engine that I had doubts about. Now I know it's way too big. Thanks for the info. Barrie E
Barrie Egerton

Stateside, 1998 and newer SC400's were 290 hp, but still the same 4.0L that they always were. Prior to that year, they were rated at 250 hp albeit with a respectable 260 lb-ft of torque. They run 10.8:1 compression, and aren't happy on anything less then high octane fuel. It's not a motor that sees much use state side. I believe the SC400 was the only rear wheel drive V8 used by lexus. (except the LX470 suv which uses a 4.7L V8) Maybe that's just a stroked out 4.0L V8? Anyway, I did another quick and dirty search on car-part.com There's a lot of them available, but as we've seen through the pictures of the car above, there's a lot of modification involved, probably no performance parts stateside, and OEM parts would probably be outrageously priced here too. (Lexus wants $300 for trunk hydraulic struts for that car, and they're 15 bucks at an auto parts place.) Very cool conversion, sometimes makes me wish I lived in Aus -- you get all the cool cars. ;)

Justin
Justin

Justin we dont have the huge range of cars down here like you guys have at stateside.Its just our population and distance which limits us.
My thoughts are it would need a lot of effort to put the Lexus V8 in.
Looks like its back to the rover v8 then unless anyone know of a mechanic doing Ford 302 conversions here in Oz?
steve

You guy's are just tugging your dicks if you think there is some point to putting a Lexus V8 into a B. A nicely tuned rangie 4.6 is more than adequate. Why spend huge wads of cash on something that really won't perform any better?

If you want a Lexus V8 by a f*cking SC400.

Jonesy

Easy, Jonesy. Gotta allow people to push the envelope ... after all, that's why our forebears were moved to -- how to say this tactfully -- well, kick the respective asses of yours a couple hundred years ago ... the Lexus motors are buttery smooth and being OHC designs (DOHC?? ... I'm not sure) they really rev. Ya can't tell us your balls-to-the-wall-John-Eales-autographed pushrod motor wants to spend a whole lotta time up above 5,500 rpm or so ... doesn't look to me like the Lexus is a much worse fit than a Ford 302; you probably have to cut away the crossmember and I'm not wild about that without quite a bit of strengthening ... but personally I think this idea is quite intriguing. (Of course, the other thing I was thinking about was trying to shoehorn the motor and gearbox from an old BMW M3 into an MGC GT shell I saw for sale ... so count me crazy!)
Ted

So, being overhead cam, I suppose this engine swap is going to require some yee-ha hood/bonnet modifications?
Dana

Jonesy
Get Lost and read the previous threads, a well tuned Rover v8 is very expensiv in Australia.The lexus v8 motor is fairly inexpensive here.The Lexus v8 can easily rev over 5500rpm all day every day!
Ted
the Lexus v8 is quad cam which is DOHC (it has 32 valvles)
steve

Dana,
The engine dimensions of the Lexus V8 is 700 mm (28") in length, width and height so it is a neat cube and should fit inside the 'B engine bay with out needing to modify the bonnet (hood>

Jonsey,
No doubt someone said something similar to Ken Costello all those years ago!
As to the adequacy of the conversion that is up to the person owning the vehicle and no one else.
The lexus is a well proven engine and has the basis to generate huge amounts of power if needed in a modified form and manages to perform very well even in the stock mode. In addition the engine has 32 valves as Steve said and is something different to the normal run of other engines already discussed at length on this and other boards.
Other than that read the posts by steve and Ted above.
Pete.
Peter Thomas

Dear Jonesy, the Lexus v8 engine design is at least 30 years younger than the Rover/Buick mill. Apart from the superior specs already mentioned,in Australia it costs less than half the price of a Rover 4.6. In future, before you accuse people of " tugging their dicks" you should aquaint yourself with a few facts. But then w*nkers never do , do they ? Barrie E
Barrie Egerton

It's gong to be a long time before that engine fires.
Advance OBII computer and....well good luck!


Dan

"that" Dan wrote:

"It's gong to be a long time before that engine fires. Advance OBII computer and....well good luck!"

"this" Dan now writes:

"luck" has nothing to do with it. It will take a little research, a little planning, and some work, but hey, since when did that scare off an engine swapper? I sure hope our hobby doesn't stale to the point that we are afraid to try new things. OBII was designed and built by people - people can figure it out and make it work.

Jeez!

It may not be practical, it may not be cost effective, or it may not be worth the trouble, but it can be done. Most likely, though, it won't be all that hard to do. If it can be made to work in a Lexus, it can be made to work in an MGB. I say go for it!
Dan Masters

Dan Masters,
Yep totally agree with what you are saying there.
The only person who can decide if this is or is not a worthwhile project is the person doing it and I honestly hope the day never comes when we are too timid to think about anything else apart from treading the well trodden path.

Pete
Peter Thomas

I think it's a good move, as rover are expsive in Oz. from the Oz kit car and custom scene a lot of guys use the lexus it's the oz equivilent of the the chevy or rover v8. All the problems with the trans and efi will of been delt with before so it's just a question of looking in the right places.

(i'm working on a k-series minget, no not rover but BMW Bike complete will 5 sequentual box and reverse)

Jason
Jason

This thread was discussed between 26/12/2002 and 16/01/2003

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