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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - WA Annual ABFM great V8 turnout!

July 27th was the 14th annual All British Field Meet in Bellevue, WA. Among the approx 500 vehicles netered in the show, there was a nice strong contingent of V8 & modified cars. We had 8 V8 roadsters, one V6 roadster and a Rotory powere Roadster.

Among the attendies were Bill Jacobsen with his gorgeous red Roadster and his father Lyle with his beautifull MGA V8. To appreciate that MGA you have to see it in person, in pictures the car looks black but when the light hits it you can see is is a deep metalic blue that just sets the car off in a very classy and elegant way. Truly a work of art well done!

Show awards in the V8 class went to Lyle for 1st place, Bill for 2nd and Stan from my local club for 3rd. CONGRATULATIONS GUYS!!

I was "stuck" in the V8 section all day with a constant stream of people asking about the conversions, and inquiring about link to get more information and finding parts. In all it was a great showing all around and especially for our V8 class.

I will be posting pictures of the V8 cars to my site later this week and then post to this thread when it is ready.
Larry Embrey

Larry, Where was the rotory powered roadster at? I missed that one!

Bill bill_jacobson@hotmail.com
bill jacobson

Bill,

it was a Black roaster down the lot we were in, the black GT last in line was facing him. He was down closer to the stand our club was selling shirts out of. He got there early like I did and when he said he was modified class someone told him he was chrome bumper, got down there.. Too bad to, it was a nice looking car and would have been great in the the spot we left next to Rems Buick V6!!

Like I said in the openeing post, I was really pleased with the turn-out and it seemed like all the V8 owners were around and answering questions, which really promoted the cars. Pictures of your dad's car look decent, I think the color shows well, I hope to get the page worked up today and post later if time permits.
Larry Embrey

larry, did you get any more info from the driver of the rotary roadster? i'm thinking of doing this exact swap and have only known of one other car with that same swap. wonder how the price/power/performance ratio of those are compared to dropping in an american v8?
jeff

Unfortunatly I did not find the car till late in the day and was unable to talk to him. Rotaries should be fairly easy to find, any Mazda RX7 revious to the current bodystyle will have one in it. The hardpart is tuning help as they are vastly different than pushrod motors. BUT, they produce large amounts of power for thier size and love to wind out, which make thier power curves much like a 4cyl MG motor, though more powerfull.. They are extremely small as well, and leave tons of room in the engine bay
Larry Embrey

i wonder about the heat issues though. i know that others have said that turbos in mg's don't work well because of the excessive heat. rotaries tend to run quite a bit hotter than 4-strokes. ideally, i'd like a turbo rotary. :) but i think that may be pushing the issue a bit.
jeff

There is SOO much room that I would think cooling out the bottom between the fram rails would be very good. I want to say it was so small that the front of the engine was behind the front crossmember bolts. And the motor was thin as well. I was thinking the same thing a turbo or for better cooling a blower.
Larry Embrey

I loved this guy's car. It looked completely stock from the outside except for the shifter and boot. The stock '68 steering wheel was an especially nice touch, as these often seem to have been replaced. I must say Larry's car looked very well done as well. Good day altogether although I wasn't able to pick up any of the trim pieces that I needed, and the only front fender available was too expensive. But I did find a fine Smith's voltmeter from a late TR7 to use in my B. That Seattle traffic has to be as bad as anywhere in the country though. Joe

Joe
Joe Ullman

I have seen two rotary conversions so far. The swap has a BIG hurdle: The front left hand corner of the rotary wants to reside in the spaace already ocupied by the frame rail and the steering rack where it meets the colum. I think the only elegant way to solve the problem would be to move the engine back quite far. This would put the shifter too far back.

Pete
Pete

This thread was discussed between 28/07/2002 and 02/08/2002

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