My 78 MGB Performance Engine

Barry's Classic Cars

My 78 MGB Performance Engine

I recently rebuilt the engine of my 1978 "rubber bumper" MGB for high performance and am making additional imrovements on it.

, window, fuel pump, transmission, engine, manifold, wheel, tire, coil, emblem, shift, boot, seat, upholstery, Hummel, plate, frame, crystal, silver, Waterford, political, Nixon, Agnew, Republican, button, silver, foot, art, painting, Christmas, kitchen, tool, electrical, irrigation, recliner, computer, laptop, desk, luggage, bird, feeder,

model, motormint, die, cast, diecast, scale, truck, airplane, bus, ship, equipment,

A completely re-worked high-performance engine

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The engine without the cold air intake system or the exhaust cooling system; small pipe coming out of the valve cover is the oil input for the rocker oiler system

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Place the cursor on a picture & left-click it

All High-Performance Engine Components

Plus

Cold Air Intake & Exhaust Cooling

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Front of Engine Is at Left Foreground

- Details About The Picture Above -

Cold air intake box which covers carb air rams is temporarily removed (it has an air overflow valve on top)
Two 2 ½ inch cold air intake pipes which feed into the chrome air intake box are visible at left top of picture
Dual conical filters are low behind radiator - pipes below filters drop down below the radiator and have air rams to pick up cold air
Weber DCOE 45 carbs facing passenger side with UNI foam backup filters
Braided line running along valve cover evacuates engine oil fumes to carbon canisters
Tee’ed Triumph TR6 heater control at back of head
Chromed exhaust cooler box on driver’s side of engine with 2 ½ inch cold air intake pipe (has a 2.25" switched fan that comes on when idling at a stop)
Brass probe sticking out of side of chrome exhaust cooling heat shield box senses temperature to turn on several fans
Black 7 ½ inch fan near left wheel well also comes on when stopped and idling
Out of sight below black fan is a 2 ½ inch pipe with a switched 2.25" fan inside that helps evacuate hot air out the wheel well when not moving
Polished aluminum tube running from hood hinge to driver's side radiator brace is the mount for the 7 ½ inch fan and contains wiring for several exhaust cooling fans
Relay on firewall by heater switches a total of four fans for the exhaust cooling system
Radiator fans are separately switched
All fans have manual override switches below dash in cockpit
Large chromed "can" near left front is horn air compressor
Chrome canister with red top next to black fan on driver's side is racing fuel filter
Brake and windshield washing fluid reservoirs painted with special red plastic paint
Brake & clutch reservoir caps have chrome billet covers
Fuse box has been rerouted into cockpit (underdash near drivers knee) with an auxiliary fuse box for additional cockpit accessories

Overview - Creeping Elegance = Exponentially Leaping Spending!

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I sure know that feeling of "I guess I better replace this while I have it apart."

Run It Like a Business: I’m a former business executive and entrepreneur, so, when I re-started collecting Classic Cars in 2003, I promised my wife I would do it like a business. I have a separate bank account for them and sort of bootstrapped my way into it by buying a car, fixing it up, selling it at a big profit, buying two more, fixing them up, selling them at big profits, etc. Finally, I had enough clear profit to buy my two MGB "keepers" and enough excess to do some nice things to them. I knew they would be money holes... so I started fixing them up.

A Windfall to Spend: I sold a mildly customized 1950 Ford for a significant profit in March of 2006, so I had some "car fund" money burning a hole in my pocket.

Some Needed Improvements: I started off about six months ago thinking I'd like to put an alloy head and a bigger oil cooler on my 78 B to counteract a mild heat problem when driving over the many 7,000 to 9,000' altitude mountain passes around Reno.

Creeping Elegance Sits In: Then, I thought that if I'm going to do that, I might as well rebuild the engine internals... well, why not put high-performance components in to make them last longer... and, gee, a cross-flow head would give me more power for mountain & hill climbing... so would bigger & better carbs... why not take it down to the block and just replace everything... I think I'll have everything balanced... an MSX cam would do wonders... roller rockers would be nice... while I have the engine out I could throw in an overdrive to keep rev's down... a cold air intake system would increase power... an exhaust cooling system would keep the engine compartment cooler...and how about a Peco exhaust to make my 78 sound like my 70 (which already had one)... might as well lower it to make it look and handle like chrome bumper models... speaking of bumpers, I think I'll paint them spitfire red to match the car... real zebrawood dash and door facings would sure look pretty... and... and... and... so it goes.

And so my money has went!

Leaping Spending Results: It's now been $7,000 in parts, $2,000 in farmed out labor and five months of my own time working several hours a day. Counting the cost of the car, the paint job I did in 2004, the upholstery in 2005, and all the other little things over the past three years, I have one of the few TRUE $20,000 MGB's around that isn't a frame off restoration.

But It’s All Recoverable Investment, Of Course: I'm absolutely positive I could sell it for about $7,500 if I really worked on it.

The True Value to Me: But, wow, to ME, it truly is worth $20,000! When I look at what I have compared to what I'd get for that amount buying a new car, I think I have a really great buy.

My Wife’s Reactions? I keep telling my wife that... she was skeptical at first, but is beginning to come around. The approach that helped was:

"Honey, when you buy a NEW car, it loses $5,000 to $10,000 in value when you drive it off the sales lot and another $100 to $200 every month you drive it... and you're making $200 to $400 per month payments for several years. These MGB's of ours will soon be so 'fixed up' that I can quit spending much on them and they're gaining in value every month we own them. In five years, your $30,000 car is worth, at most, $5,000 - in five years, my MGB's should be worth at least $10,000 to $15,000 each."

The Real Value to My Wife: She may not really believe that line, but she knows they make me a happy, contented retired guy... and she loves riding in and driving them. She can't wait to drive the recently re-built 78 (which, although I've driven it several times, is currently on jack stands in the garage waiting for new lowering springs to arrive).

Summation: So the moral of this story:

"Keep spending, keep having fun, keep improving the value of your Classic Car, and keep on improving your psychological health!"

Despite All, Within Budget... More or Less: I can't say I stuck to my exact budget - I definitely went quite a bit over.

However, the desire to "run it like a business" made me resourceful. I bought a friend's abandoned 75 MGB project and sold off the body and parts for a considerable profit... and I still have more to sell. I cleaned out my garage of excess 49-50-51 Ford parts and am still selling some of them. I cleaned out other things and sold them off. I have a 1941 Ford 9N tractor that's been stored at a friend's farm over in northern California and I'm getting ready to sell it.

It becomes a bit of a game, seeing if I can come in at or under budget..

Original vs. Modified - A Tale of Two Cars

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Regarding my MGB’s, I keep my 70 pale primrose (soft yellow) split bumper original… but have a bit of an “anything goes” attitude to my spitfire red 78 rubber bumper one.

Key Elements - Both Major & Incremental Performance Increases

A Torquey Hill Climber with Good Street Characteristics: My goal before I started was to have:

A high-torque, high-pep hill climber (for the mountain roads that surround Reno, Nevada – with mountain passes all the way up to 8,950’)
Good street characteristics, and
Decent economy for around-town driving

Consultation from Experts: I wrote up the specs (in more detail) and sent them around to a number of people who specialize in high-performance engines – then implemented their recommendations… and then some.

Key Engine Elements: I ended up focusing on several key elements:

New, high-volume capacity carburetors

Cold air intake system

Multi-alloy cross flow head for increased compression and heat dissipation

MSX street / racing cam (optimized to the MSX cross flow head)

High compession pistons

High-performance / racing spec engine internals

Anything to warm up the oil quickly, then keep it cool once the engine is running

Engine compartment cooling enhancements

Flow through exhaust system

Any other means of incrementally increasing power and efficiency

MSX Cross Flow Head with Heavy Duty Springs

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Weber DCOE 45 Carburetors

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Pierce Manifold for Weber DCOE 45 Carbs

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MSX Cam Optimized to MSX Cross Flow Head

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Enhancements - What I Did to the Engine

Internal Engine Enhancements:

Stripped the engine down to the bare block
Bored it .020 to clean up the cylinders
Replaced ALL fasteners with 190,000 psi racing bolts & studs
Put in 190,000 psi racing lifters, push rods, piston rods, etc.
Used 190,000 psi racing bearings for the crank and the cam
Had the crankshaft and all other internal components balanced
Installed high performance, high compression pistons (more power)
Installed high performance racing oil pump
Installed high performance racing water pump
Installed an MSX high performance street cam (gives great performance without the lurching and shaking at stop lights)

External Engine Enhancements:

Added a racing harmonic balancer
Had the flywheel balanced
Installed a racing type fuel filter which filters down to 5 microns (just in case I have condensation-related corrosion in the fuel tank at some point down the line)
Purely for aesthetic purposes, color coordinated all the paint on the engine compartment, alternator, starter, cold air intake box side plate, exhaust header cooler side plate, etc.
Again, for aesthetic reasons, put stainless sleeves on all hoses

Rocker & Head Enhancements:

Replaced the rocker arm assembly with high performance Harland Sharp roller rockers (better timing of valve opening & closing and they never wear out)

Added a rocker oiler through the valve cover

Installed an aluminum high dome valve cover for improved heat dissipation – and hand-painted the area between the top ribs and the recessed areas of the MG Logo in red

Carburetion & Air Intake Enhancements:

Converted to dual Weber DCOE 45 carbs (these are what are typically used when racing MGB’s)

Custom-built fuel drip pans to divert any gas drips out and back from wiring towards the space between the firewall and the transmission

Relocated the coil away from the carbs so fuel drips couldn’t start fires

Installed a cold air intake system, using 2 ½” polished aluminum pipes which are routed down below the car to “ram” cooler air into the air box that covers the carb intake rams – the pipes have small 2.25" high-volume fans that are switched to come on when the car is sitting still; this system increases horsepower by 5 to 15%

Used dual massive conical air filters for maximum filtration

Inserted 2.25" high-volume switched fans into the cold air pipes to supply sufficient air volume when the car isn't moving

Lubrication Enhancements:

Relocated the oil filter up to near the radiator overflow tank (otherwise, I would’ve had to remove both carbs every time I changed oil)
Upgraded to a 19 row oil cooler (cools the oil better than the standard 9 to 13 row units that were standard)
Installed an oil thermostat (keeps the oil in the engine until it warms up and minimizes wear on the engine from cold oil)

Exhaust Flow Enhancements:

Installed a Monza flow-through exhaust system which has bigger diameter pipes and a header that get the gases down faster (increases horsepower by 5 to 10%)

Engine Compartment Cooling Enhancements:

Modified the radiator fans to be separately switched so that only one comes on when needed and the second switches on when more air movement is needed

Wrapped the Monza header in insulating tape – keeps the engine compartment cooler and speeds up the flow of gases down the exhaust system
Installed an exhaust cooling system which operates similar to the cold air intake system by ramming cold air in thorugh scoops below the radiator and carrying it up to the header, removeing engine heat more rapidly
Installed auto-switched high-volume fans (two 2.25", one 5", and one 7.5" totalling about 500 cfm) to move air across the header and remove it from the engine compartment when the car isn't moving

Electrical System Enhancements: Here’s what I’ve done:

Incremental Small Improvements Make a BIG Difference! Regarding performance, every little thing makes a difference – 5% here, 10% there… 5 horsepower here, 10 horsepower there.

The Overdrive Makes a Huge Difference: Also, the overdrive helps preserve the engine for when you don’t need the power, while saving gas significantly at cruising speeds.

A standard transmission in fourth gear reads 9 mph per 500 rpm's or 18 mph per 1000 rpm's.

· Thus, 2,000 rpm's = 36 mph

· 2,500 rpm's = 45 mph

· 3,000 rpm's = 54 mph

· 3,500 rpm's = 63 mph

· 4,000 rpm's = 72 mph; and

· 4,500 rpm's = 81 mph...

you won't get a B too much higher than 85 unless it has an engine rebuilt for performance.

The OVERDRIVE transmission reads 11 mph per 500 rpm's or 22 mph per 1000 rpm's.

· Thus, 2,000 rpm's = 44 mph

· 2,500 rpm's = 55 mph

· 3,000 rpm's = 66 mph

· 3,500 rpm's = 77 mph

· 4,000 rpm's = 88 mph

· 4,500 rpm's = 99 mph; and

· 5,000 rpm’s = 110 mph…

easy to do with a performance rebuild.

Important Components - Cold Air Intake & Exhaust Cooling

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Cold Air Intake System

Valve Cover Removed

Looking towards passenger side; only one pipe visible (the other is below it); Pierce intake manifold is coming out of head and attached to the two Weber DCOE 45 carbs on the right side (air rams covered by UNI foam filters); wiring relocated upwards as in older MGB’s to accommodate the air box; note the non-standard chrome billet oil dipstick near the carb return spring (this had to be modified and necessary to be able to get a dipstick into the crowded area down below the manifold); chrome oil filler cap & several other items lying on manifold

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Front of Engine Is at Left Foreground

Cold Air Intake & Exhaust Cooling

Valve cover and cold air intake box removed; one of two 2 ½ inch air intake pipes visible at front; L-shaped rocker oiler barely visible over copper-colored roller rockers; Weber DCOE 45 carbs facing passenger side with UNI foam filters; Tee’ed Triumph TR6 heater control at back of head; round chrome item laying behind thermostat cover is the valve cover oil filler cap; steel rod laying in intake manifold is for stiffening he engine-to-charcoal-canister braided line running along top of engine; piece of cut radiator hose laying on heater box is used to cover some wiring to protect from vibration when air box is mounted; chromed exhaust cooler box on driver’s side of engine

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Cold Air Intake System

TWO Intake Pipes Visible, Cooler Box Removed, UNI Foam Filters

Chromed box (removed) fits over UNI foam filters, hooking to two 2 ½” pipes at right and to red plate between carbs and air rams (covered with UNI filters); box has excess air flap; valve cover removed showing part of oil cooler supply line; braided line right behind red plate is the fuel supply line; rod laying on intake manifold is used elsewhere

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