'73 MGB Roadster

[Darkrider]

This car was mentioned in the "What did you buy today" thread in passing as i was working out the deal on it. I officially took possession of the car and signed the bill of sale on Thursday. It will def be an interesting journey being an owner of a British sports car.



So far this is what i know of it:


1973 MGB Roadster
1800cc 4 cyl
4 speed


The car was repainted about 8 years ago as the former owner picked it up as an unfinished restoration project. The paint will need to be redone as some of the bondo has cracked and fallen off over the years. I am assuming the person he got it from did the bondo work as he is usually much better at doing paint prep and such. Granted i believe this was one of his first major paint jobs on a vehicle as well so there is a learning curve.



One mod i am doing pretty much out the gate was fitting seats from a Hyundai Tiburon as the original seats were not included with the car. There has been a great how to for seat swaps posted on my thread on the MG Experience forum. It was done with Miata seats but the general idea can easily be applied to the Hyundai seats as well. I have a pair of Honda seats i may see if they will fit in the car as well.



Anyways on to pics..

[rich_e]

Nice. I have a 1976 MGB.

[wheelbender6]

My wife drove a 71 Triumph Spitfire for a few years. She had to become a pretty good mechanic to keep it on the road.

[Darkrider]

Originally Posted by rich_e

Nice. I have a 1976 MGB.

Great looking rubber bumper MGB!

Originally Posted by wheelbender6

My wife drove a 71 Triumph Spitfire for a few years. She had to become a pretty good mechanic to keep it on the road.

I have a feeling i am in for a long working curve on this thing.

[Darkrider]

Parts are already starting to arrive for this car. The battery tray i ordered to properly finish the trunk relocation arrived today. The Clutch slave cylinder should be here by Saturday, The hose i am not so sure when it will get here. It was said to be here by the 22nd but it hopefully may be here sooner. So these three main parts will get me into a position to where it can be driven home to be worked on further. Still debating how i am going to go about fitting the Hyundai tiburon seats. Most likely will probably end up drilling holes in the floor and making sure to place washers on both sides to spread the load. I suspect this may actually end up being stronger then OE as all that was used then was threaded inserts welded to the floor pan.

[Barnone]

Many years ago I bought a MGA with a Chevy 283 V8 and Powerglide two speed auto trans. It had the orginal rear end which was a very low gear so it would top out at about 85 MPH but she got there very quick. The whole car was in very good condition. Kept it for several years often wonder what happened to it.

[wheelbender6]

Originally Posted by Barnone

Many years ago I bought a MGA with a Chevy 283 V8 and Powerglide two speed auto trans. It had the orginal rear end which was a very low gear so it would top out at about 85 MPH but she got there very quick. The whole car was in very good condition. Kept it for several years often wonder what happened to it.

What a beast! The MGA was such a looker.
-These days, they make a kit for mounting a Ford 5.0 V8 (pushrod version) in a MX5 Miata. Unfortunately, the kit does not include a bigger rear axle or bigger brakes.

[Darkrider]

Pretty much all the parts are here other then the passenger side seat, I have the car sitting in my driveway now after moving the Jeep to the storage yard. And i see i have already encountered my first snag with the car. The battery tray i chose for it looks like it will not work out in the location i was looking at putting it in.

[Darkrider]

So i have had the plate on the car for almost a week now and have driven it quite a bit actually. Learning the little things i need to deal with as they come. I have figured out a way to secure the battery after all using the tray i had purchased. I will simply cut a panel from 1/2 or 3/4" plywood to fit perfectly on the trunk floor, I will then bolt the tray to a corner of this panel and there will be a cut out in the panel for the spare tire mount. The idea being that the spare being secured down will also hold the panel clamped down to the floor.



I have also put two better tires on the car and will be picking up a couple more when funds allow.

[Darkrider]

Figured i would give a bit of an update on the old MGB. Currently chasing some wiring gremlins and thus cannot drive it due to said gremlins taking out the turn signals and brake lights. So guess who gets a crash course in using a multimeter? However i have fitted new mirrors, rear tires, and rear lenses to the car as well as properly installed the aftermarket steering wheel after i found a compatible GM wheel hub as Chevy C10s from the same year have the same size steering shaft and spline count. Turns out that Saginaw made columns for the North American model MGBS in the 70s which worked in my favour. So here is a pic from the last time i had it out which was the night i discovered these pesky lil gremlins....lol

[Bruces]

“Lucas” , ‘nuff said .

[Bruces]

You don’t really need a multimeter with Lucas ,you need glasses ,the problem is green ,as in the connections turn green because they use pure copper for everything .Clean the green and you should be good to go until you need to use the car again l.o.l. .

[Darkrider]

Sorted out the main problem and that was due to no power....Turns out it required that i needed the hazard light switch plugged in...go figure...

[Darkrider]

Bit of a further update on the old MGB aka Jinx as she is now known as.



I have decided not to finish the battery relocation in favour of returning the battery to its stock location with larger gauge wire from battery to Starter. Still deciding if i am going to drill the battery tray to accept a newer style battery hold down or see if i can make the original MGB set up work.



I will be replacing the Tiberon seats with Pontiac Fiero seats once i find a pair. The Fiero seats are a known fitment in the MGB and still give me the same lower seat height as the Hyundai seats. But they are narrower which will allow them to move back and forth properly for adjustments. Which will be key as i plan on adding a roll bar to the car as well.



The aforementioned roll bar will make it easier to fit a 5 point harness on the drivers side of the car at minimum for the occasional track day. I will more then likely fit some upgrade seatbelts to it for normal day to day driving as well. Moss sells some updated ones that are a couple inches longer.



As for other work being done. I will be deleting the stereo head unit in the dash in favour of aux gauges. Audio will be handled by the use of a headless amp like they use in side by sides and such. The actual control per se will be either a phone of ipod.

[wheelbender6]

When you drive a British car (or motorcycle), you just automatically learn to signal turns and stops with your left arm out the window.