How
to give your MGB V8 power
by Roger Williams
Veloce Publishing
£29.99 UK US$59.95 USA pp 221This
totally revised third edition of a book regarded for many years as the authoritative
guide to V8 conversions is now even better. The content
has been developed in many useful ways covering the enhanced range of engine and
suspension options that is now available and the consequent performance increases.
The book is both well written and set out so it is a pleasure to read. It is also
a book of real substance with an intelligent approach to thinking through the
range of options and strategic issues you will need to
focus on and weigh up at the outset when planning a V8 conversion of an MGB -
for example what car do you use and what engine and gearbox combination do you
need?
The Buick-Rover aluminium V8 engines are still the easiest to install
in the MGB and there are few cars you can transform so easily. The transformation
on fitting a 3500cc 200bhp engine produces a 100% increase in power without an
increase in weight or front-to-rear balance. Since the first book was first published
some 15 years ago 3900, 4200 and 4600 engines have been produced offering the
prospect of quite startling performance in an MGB. So an early chapter acts as
a guide to the radical changes needed to transmit increased power outputs to the
road and provide safe roadholding and handling.
The
suspension options for the MGB have undergone major development over recent years,
not least from the spin-off from RV8 production, but Roger Williams emphasizes
you need to think in terms of compatible front and rear suspension combinations.
Braking capacity requirements will depend on your choice of powerplant and wheel
size may be determined by a need to accommodate larger discs. Front and rear suspension
options are well covered and the Hoyle kits are described mentioning their useful
features front and back, not least the ability to fit independent rear suspension
using readily available Ford UK parts and even a Sierra LSD.
V8 conversions
are particularly popular in the USA with the ready availability of Buick, Chevy
and Ford V8 engines, so this new edition will provide just the source of information
many enthusiasts will want there.
A final chapter on "UK rebuilt
vehicle requirements" is a particularly useful section on how the system
works, not least the vehicle test details and the points system for measuring
the aggregate effect of the changes made to the vehicle. There is a natural attraction
to retaining a tax exempt status which the book covers very well.
Equally
there are complications where a V8 Roadster has been created from a Heritage shell
and
an MGBGT as the donor car, so the book provides good information on the requirements
for notifying DVLA of changes made to a vehicle. The chapter is essential
reading before starting a V8 project.
Posted:
071122
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