One of the oldest hotrod games in town is performing an engine swap. You know, you remove an underperforming or a tired old original powerplant and breathe some new life into the old steed with something more substantial. Well, today, for your review, we have a switcheroo that’s not exactly commonplace. The subject is a 1980 MGB, and the swap in question appears to have been well executed. And the car, itself, now has a decidedly non-1980 MGB vibe. Alexandria, Virginia, is where this mashup hangs its hat, and it’s available here on eBay for a current bid of $4,950 with the reserve not yet met.
The year 1980 marked the end of the line for the MGB, and pretty much MG as it had been known, though the marque continued on as a sort of hot potato being passed around from British Leland, to the Rover Group, to BMW, on to MG Rover Group, and finally to China’s Nanjing Automobile Group. For its ’80 swan song, about 16K MGBs were assembled and another 4,800 coupes (GTs). Two notable features in 1980 were the preposterous black rubber, five MPH federalized bumpers, and a choked-down, emission-controlled 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine that generated a measly 63 net HP.
Well, first up, forget about that bumper bugaboo as this ’80 has been treated to Moss-supplied pre’74 chromed steel rammers, front and rear, and boy, what a visual difference! Match those up with a deep, recent two-stage British Racing Green finish and you have a real looker on your hands. The folding top appears to be in fine nick, and capping off the look are five-spoke MG alloy wheels – a perfect finishing touch.
As mentioned earlier, this “B” was originally powered by a 63 net HP, 1.8-liter, in-line four-cylinder engine – no great shakes. In what I consider to be a surprise selection, the engine room is now occupied by a thoroughly rebuilt and modified 140 net HP, GM 3.1-liter V6 that originally held court under the hood of a ’92 Chevrolet Camaro. Along with the GM engine went its rebuilt Borg Warner T5, five-speed manual gearbox. In stock form, we’re looking at a power increase of 128% but that excludes the transplant’s mods, such as an aluminum intake manifold and a 390 CFM four-barrel carburetor. There’s no description of running and driving attributes, but I have to imagine that this 2,400 lb. two-seater moves with aplomb. As for handling? Hard to say if there’s any understeer owing to the heavier engine – that’s a question that would have to be posed to the seller.
The good stuff didn’t just stop with the exterior and power train as the interior received a major overhaul too, including: New VDO tachometer, voltmeter, oil pressure gauge, fuel gauge, clock installed, GPS-driven speedometer, electronic heater control valve, interior stripped to bare metal, door panels replaced with new door panels from Moss, Dynamat sound deadener installed, new carpet, and seats replaced with used but excellent condition high-back bucket seats from Mazda Miata.” The entire environment looks new!
It would seem that no stone has been left unturned in the case of this extremely well-restored and modified “B”. It’s enough to make one wonder if the seller has gone overboard as far as having any hopes of recovering what must have been a substantial investment. I encourage all to review the listing; it is very detailed in its description of the restoration and modifications. This is one MGB that I could really appreciate; how about you?
Nice car. Get the chassis down to pre high headlight level, put good shocks and a rear sway bar on it, and go have some fun.
The price is steal if all is what it says. I also like the chrome bumper and grille conversion. I am an older guy and I am not a fan of the rubber bumpered B’s. It looks like a nice job as a great driver!!
I see the rear swaybar end links in the pictures, but I agree this car could be lower. There is some odd plumbing and disconnected wiring under hood. It needs a working PCV valve system, not just plumbing to both valve covers, and a different connector to the temp sensor. I have used multiple radiator hose bends for custom applications, but the upper looks unnecessary. That must be Lucas wiring under hood, no wonder it presents so much trouble lol! All in all this looks like a good swap, just needs some odds and ends wrapped up.
Caught the rear bar link after looking again. Good eye.
PVC system is working, plumbed to the top of the air cleaner.
It isnt working at all. One valve cover hose to the air cleaner to supply filtered air to that cover, then the other cover with a PCV valve and hose goes to a carb fitting to manifold vacuum. That creates the cross flow to remove blowby from the crankcase. The way it is now the crankcase is getting no fresh air ventilation.
And all the wires hanging under the dash. Ive got a Midget and the wiring is its biggest fault.
Now learn how to properly fold an MGB top.
I’ve owned quite a few hot rodded MGs including a V8 roadster and a V8 BGT race car. This V6 conversion is not as rare as you might think. In fact, it was done quite often by guys who had access to these nice V6s that were both inexpensive and easy to find. They could also be made to put out a good bit of power without breaking the bank. The original 1.8L MGB motor weighed in at about 365 lbs and the aluminum Rover V8 was about 30 lbs less. The V6 in this car weighed in about 10-15lbs less than the original MG motor, so not a big change for the front end to handle. The balance in cars with this conversion was very good.
Having driven both the V6 and the V8 hotrodded MGs I can tell you the V6 drives equally as well with a terrific wide power band response. It’s less finicky to deal with than the V8. Parts for it more easily gotten and cheaper and probably is the thinking man’s choice for engine transplant. We like our V8s, but this V6 is a very capable motor and a good match for this car. This car follows alot of the leads developed by previous transplants. The V6 is set back more than the original engine, T5 is a strong durable tranny that can handle a lot of power and gives you that 5th gear for cruising. Many guys changed out the rear ends to a shortened Chevy S10, but the MGB rear was pretty stout and will do the job without much of a problem.
As others have pointed out, it might look better with a lowered stance, not a major undertaking and it might have some sorting to do, but it looks like all the heavy lifting has already been done and done well.
Would be really surprised to see the price stay this low and fully expect to see it be multiples higher when the bidding ends in 3 days.
The V6 swap never had the cachet that V8 swaps did and probably still don’t. Yet the performance of the car is similar with either and the V6 is much less expensive to buy and maintain. By the way, adding the Miata seats is a common and more comfortable swap, particularly the models with the speakers in them which allow you to hear music better than hacking up the door cards to install speakers. Having a GPS driven speedo eliminates another issue common to engine swaps too.
Nice job by the builder. He put a lot of time and thought into this car…not to mention money…
Very helpful, thx!
JO
Actually the new engine is lighter than the old one. I work at a place that does these conversions and they are a great fit. You add that 5 speed to it and are fast with a lot of fun. Note: our conversions use the fuel injected engines.
I would like contact info to learn more about your swaps.
Contact him via the eBay listing.
JO
Looks like a good car. One minor quip- ad says ’92 Fiero valve covers. There’s no such thing.
The wheels are LE wheels which were also used on the MG factory V8s.
Dave that was a joke. Maybe he thought it would work like a panvac system on a drag car
OldGTracer, the other advantage to the new gauges is that younow have one that can “read ” a 6 cylinder engine. Yes, the bumper conversion was well done. As it is NOT a bolt in deal. And the Moss rear quarter extensions don’t fit for crap. So you end up with some serious body work back there. Also non-rubber bumper front lower valance needs to be changed and modified to match the existing upper body panel before installing the period correct turn signal lamps. I have not found the MGB rear diffs. to be robust. But a rear diff. from a mid ’80s Nissan 200SX is a virtual bolt in with disc brakes and a similar parking brake arrangement. It is also very cool that it uses the same wheel bolt pattern.
I have an MGB that I converted to a Cologne 2.8 V6 with a T5 5 speed. The engine is narrower than the GM. But the location of the thermostat housing is tough to work around.
No one has mentioned the fact that original manual gear box in these WEIGHS A TON! So yes, the engines might weigh less than 100 pounds more. But the American style gearboxes weigh so much less. That the overall weight is usually less!
OldGTRacer, yes, as close to the firewall as possible. (Just enough to clear the destributor. ) This also puts the shifter in the exact same place as the factory hole. The GM engine is better for getting high performance parts. I have had this engine for a long time and I spent alot of time on the heads and intake as that is the worst part of the engine. I also modified the cylinder heads for “steam holes” and it makes a huge difference in the cooling of the heads/engine. I actually have to run a hot thermostat to get it to a good running temp. even here in Nevada. The stock MGB radiator works just fine. The Datsun rear diff. uses about 3.89 gears, so close to a stock MGB. And the overdrive makes highway cruising very nice with still enough gear to pull hard even in 5th gear.
The leaf spring pads have to be moved about 3/4″ to mate up with the MGB leafs. The overall width is virtually the same. And the parking brake just hooked right up. I swapped my speedo and tach for ones out of a Jag XJ6. Oh, and I switched to the Datsun brake master also.
Wayne; I love the idea of using the 200SX rear end on a conversion and I didn’t know how close to being a bolt in it was for an MGB…and with disc brakes to boot…thanks for the information. This car has the same diff in it that was used in the later MGB GTV8s with a 3:07 and it is plenty sufficient for a V6 transplant, but now you’ve got me interested in finding a 200SX to play around with on one of my other cars.
The Cologne is a great motor to choose also and I’ll bet your car is loads of fun. I like the Chevy V6 personally because it’s more common here and easier to source parts for, though I believe it’s heavier than the Cologne.
You are also correct about the original box being heavier than the T5 replacement, so yes another weight saving there, but as it’s in the middle of the car it really doesn’t change the balance. Did you also set your engine further back into the firewall? In my experience that’s the biggest impact you can make when doing a transplant in an MG.
Looks like a good engine swap for an MG C! It would provide better balance than the C had.
Re listed!
https://ebay.us/m/bC7eaC