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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - MGOC V8 SuperSports

Is anyone else building their ‘B’ using a new MGOC V8 supersports spec shell?
I’d like to hear from you to share experiences, the good, the bad and the simply impossible and how the difficulties have been overcome on a painted shell. My first mistake was buying the shell painted believing that brackets, holes, captive nuts, etc would be in the correct place or at least reasonably close.
Geoff
Geoff King

Geoff,

Good idea and might be worth its own heading.

Although not building from scratch, I do consider some of the modifications used on this car. For instance, on the supersports the axle has been centered by moving the spring hangers to fit the larger tyres, and the wheel arch lip adjusted but this is probably best done before painting. Also spare wheel needs a spacer to be used on rear axle

I've found the Wilwood brakes need tweaking using a spring to hold pads in place.

Paul
Paul Wiley

On the subject of the Supersports, I imagine that most people will have seen the comparison with a TVR Chimaera in the latest (April) issue of Thoroughbred & Classic Car.

It's entirely favourable, but the carbon fibre dash and horrible leather seats seem unpleasant in the photos.
George Delves

Are there any pictures of this mgoc ss car to look at? mike
mike childress

Mike,

There are about 4 or 5 articles on how the car was built MGOC Mag starting in Jan 00 and you can find them in whats new.

Paul
Paul

Mike, here are the links in order as they appeared...

http://www.mgcars.org.uk/mgoc/emg/mgbv8r.htm

http://www.mgcars.org.uk/mgoc/emg/mgb-v8.htm

http://www.mgcars.org.uk/mgoc/emg/mgbv8.htm

http://www.mgcars.org.uk/cgi-bin/gen5?runprog=mgoc&p=emg/001103.htm
Larry Embrey

My brother bought one and thinks those MGOC SS shells are pieces of crap. Poor to horrid tolerances and fit. I think next time I build up a V8 I will just offer to fly one of those Yanks over to stay with me for a few days and rent a welding rig etc. -- what's the name, I think there is a fellow of New York USA Rob Medvinsky -- whose work I saw in the US a few years ago and really that is the way to do a conversion. Simple, very clean and powerful, with everything set up just so ... like a factory-made car would have been set up. There are a few other lads and I think the Yanks may have the know-how developed a bit better than many of us do in the UK. I think some things on the SS shell are harebrained, like the wheel setup: what with different offset wheels front and back ... a bodge from square one.
Niles

Thanks Larry. mike
mike childress

Niles,
I certainly agree with the poor to horrid tolerances and fit.
If the shell your brother has is like mine I'd like to discuss with him how he overcame the numerous problems - does he have e-mail?
Geoff
Geoff King

Why don't one of you guys who've got an MGOC shell, make a pattern of the cut-out in the filch panel for the headers before you install the engine or at least the headers.Then you could send it to one of the many web pages for future reference.I think most converters will eventually go to the RV8 style of headers.You could place a sheet of paper, A4 should do, in the corner of the bulkhead & the chassis rail & draw the shape from the outside.I assume the other side is a mirror image, so one pattern would suffice. Just a thought. Barrie E
BarrieEgerton

Barrie,
It seems I’m the only one participating that has one of the club supersports shells. If there is anyone else out there I would like to hear from you.
Too late to take a pattern of the holes for the exhaust, I fitted the engine, box and manifolds a couple of weeks ago but I can tell you that they are not the same or mirror image side to side. I can also tell you on the right side of my shell the reinforcement flange around the hole was not perfectly positioned and needed the inner wing dressing to clear the manifold so a template would not be much use anyway.
I bought the complete stainless steel exhaust system and manifolds from the MGBHive, they offered me the templates but as my shell already had the holes I didn’t need them (or so I thought at the time). Incidentally, you can’t fit the manifolds with the engine installed and you can’t install the engine with the manifolds fitted. With the engine out drop the manifolds into the inner wing holes, install the engine, then bolt up the manifolds. The lower rear bolt, steering side, is tricky due to lack of clearance.
My car is coming together but the poor build quality from Heritage doesn’t help.
Geoff
Geoff King

Geoff

The hole for the exhaust in the right hand inner wing is smaller than the left because on the RV8 the engine is offset to the left side by about 5mm (thus placing the manifold closer to the inner wing on the left and needing a larger hole to clear it). This offset is achieved by using a thinner engine mounting rubber on the left .. it also has the effect of lowering the engine by about 5mm. If added to this, your manifolds are not identical to the RV8 pattern, its understandable that there may be some difficulty with fit on the right hand side.

Barrie

As far as templates for the holes in the wings, for my conversion I purchased RV8 reinforcing rings from Brown and Gammons. They cost about £25 each. Because of their 3 dimensional shape it is fairly obvious where they should fit onto the inner wings but it is beyond my technical drwaing skills to draw a 2-dimensional diagram of them.
Geoff Richmond

This thread was discussed between 01/03/2001 and 27/03/2001

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