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1977 MGB GT V8
2024 rebuild and improvement project
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The Wolfitt Racing 1977ish MGB GT V8 the moment it arrived at the workshop in
July 2024 (Dave peeling stickers off)
A 300 hour improvement project is underway, all to be done within 4 weeks
Following the significant damage done to the TVR engine at Silverstone in
June I was somewhat in a quandary about what to do given the estimated repairs
to the Ford V8 would be 3 to 4 months at least. Given that I have now sold the
Lotus Elan 26R, the only thing to do was buy another car as a temporary stop-gap
while the Tuscan is hors de combat! It didn’t take long to establish that it had
to be an already built car and ideally with a V8. An evening of browsing the
internet (literally the day after the Tuscan failed) led me to a reasonably
priced MGB GT V8 already in a CSCC Swinging Sixties style level of prep but with
a pretty much standard Rover V8 engine.
I saw it on racecarsdirect on Sunday, looked at it Monday and it was already
being stripped down in the workshop by late Tuesday afternoon. It basically has
80% of the bits needed but we gave it an estimate of at least 200 hours work and
a few thousand quid to get it ready for the Triumph Competition races at
Hockenheim at the end of July. Two weeks in and we were 75% of the way to it
being in a condition where I am happy to race it. Also we have never had an MGB
before so it was a steep learning curve for all of us.
Major work included:
- Moved the radiator 15mm further forward to correct the misalignment of
the front anti roll bar and to fit a much bigger one mounted on solid block
mounts.
- Fitted dual circuit braking system based on the early USA spec MGB.
- New full-race front springs - the existing ones were just shortened
versions of standard stiffness ones.
- Remade the exhaust system and added an additional silencer box as it was
fouling the floor and the rear left shock absorber.
- New bespoke front shock absorbers. The ones fitted were way too long so
were not limiting droop and were only 3mm off hitting the bump stops on
bump.
- New seat - the existing one was not FIA homologated and when we got it
out we found significant stress cracks in the floor.
- Fitted door bars on the cage. Not required for UK racing as it still has
steel doors but needed in all European events.
- Removed the somewhat 70s style front chin spoiler and replaced with
glass fibre Sebring type.
- Complete refit of the fire extinguisher system - ithad not been done
exactly in accordance to the fitting instructions which makes it non
compliant with the FIA; lots of cable ties had been used and the pull cables
ran the wrong way round into the trigger handle.
- Rebuilt the under-floor battery box, fitted race battery and race spec
fuel pump plus moved the pump inside the battery box away fro road debris
and moisture
Plus smaller (!) jobs
- Scraped over 3 kg of underseal off the car - who underseals a race
car???
- Several kilos of weight saving across the car by shaving bolts, removing
trim, brackets and ducts etc.
- Removed and resealed rocker box vents.
- New axle cover seal and oil the changed.
- Engine oil changed to the correct grade; new filter and oil pressure
gauge pipe and unions.
- New rotor arm and solid resin coil were fitted - oddly the Lumention
coil had been mounted upside down (which is really bad) and it failed during
the track test.
- Corrected misalignment of alternator which was running several degrees
out of true.
- Removed rear anti roll bar.
- Seat belt shoulder straps had been fitted the wrong way round - the FIA
is super fussy about this as they are actually different.
- Modified the fuel filter/pressure regulator to fit a gauge and fuel
sample outlet.
- Fitted new race spec oil pressure gauge and aeroquip pressure line.
- Fitted voltmeter.
- Fitted oil pressure warning light.
- Wired rain light to come on even if side lights not on.
- New brake caliper seals on the older brake caliper.
- New front wheel bearings.
- New engine mounts - the o/s one had split in two allowing the engine to
drop causing the o/s exhaust manifold to foul the steering column.
- Steering joint replaced as it had marginally unacceptable amount of play
in it.
- Various rewiring improvements. It will get a full rewire after
Hockenheim although it now has a powered bus tyre fuse box for all the new
circuits.
- 6 new Yokohama tyres.
- Open back wheel nuts (dome nuts not recommended for FIA sanctioned
events).
- New suede steering wheel to replace the shiny leather one.
Thanks to Stack, Dave, Roger and Jared for piling in to help get the car
ready.
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