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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - What to do with the original 1800 engine?

Sometimes, like today, I ask myself are the *any* MGB's that are *not* being converted to V6/V8? ;) Anyway, it appears the old engines are not worth much on the open (ebay) market. The non-OD trans seem to fetch fifty bucks, if that. And the engine I don't really know. My engine has a DGV Weber on it. Something tells me that the DGV is worth $150 by itself. The engine with the DGV on it as a package would fetch even less $50? $100? What do you all think?
Tom Lang

Tom,
The heads do crack, and the newer the head, the more they are worth. You can sell a rebuildable head for twice as much as a rebuildable block.. Otherwise, its best to sell the motor before removing it from the car. There is always someone looking for a running motor.

A rebuildable head (untouched, but magnifluxed and checked for cracks) should be worth at least $150 USD.

-BMC.
BMC Brian McCullough

just sold a rebuilt head that had been run about 500 miles since I bought it. it sold for 250 on ebay. tried to sell the entire motor other ways for 3 months. There is a more of a need for a good head. not many people need a block or a non od tranny. 50 is a kind of high!
andy heston

I dunno guys, I got $1250 for my drive line, ready to install in a car. It was completely rebuilt with only 2000 miles on it. I gave him the exhaust, drive shaft, everything. Figured I wasn't going to use any of it, so why keep it around? Maybe I got *really* lucky on that deal!
Justin

Hi Justin,
I think its very feasable to sell a good driveline like that. Its just being in the right region at the right time with the right buyer. Did the purchaser get the chance to test the system first? As silly as it may sound, they usually sell better that way.

To all,
Rebuildable 1.8L heads are becoming harder to find. Its not like they crack every day, but if they do, then you have to find one.
The five main 1.8L blocks are not usually as troublesome, but do need line boring more often then the A series motors do... Or at least from my experience.
BMC Brian McCullough

Tom,
You are in an MG club aren't you? Just put an ad in you newsletter and I'm sure someone could use your stuff. My head got so hot that an exhaust valve seized, but no warp and no crack, but I hear stories about them cracking. The 3-main blocks are desirable and can be tough to find; the 18V blocks are best for modified engines due to the crank, among other things. Put your DGV on ebay and someone will give you some good money for it. If you figure you get $150 for the weber, $150 or more for the head (assuming its good), and give the block/lower end to someone local you have $300 - whole cars can be bought for that. As far as 4 sync trannies go, on the one hand they're very common, on the other hand you can generally count on one working ok sight unseen, maybe noisy and so forth but it will work. What I have done is buy several at about $25 each, take them apart and make one real good one out of several.
Wade Keene

Old 1800 engines are almost worthless (to me anyway). I've a block that is from runner engine that I'm taking to the tip this week. If anyone wants it then come and take it away (no head as that's the only sellable part worth me keeping).
Paul Humphries

Wade has a great point!
The three main bearing blocks are worth something because they are almost a direct fit replacements for the MG A 1500, 1600, 1622 and 1.5 DOHC motors.
-BMC.
BMC Brian McCullough

This thread was discussed between 28/11/2002 and 30/11/2002

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