QuestionHi. Thanks for your time - I am an expert on here to, in the web category, so I know its a lot of work answering these. I appreciate any help.
I am planning on buying a 1979 MG. It is in decent shape, but has a lot of miles. I want to do the engine swap, and looked at the popular v8 conversion, but have seen it is cheaper and quicker to drop in a v6 and use a kit, most use a gm/chevy 3.4 or 2.8 - supposedly these come out of camaros and the engine tranny drop right in a mg.
I am havign the worst time trying to figure out what to do. Should I buy a rebuilt engine for over 1k? Or should i pull a used, possibly flawed engine out and have it rebuilt? Or should I just pull an old engine and put it in as is? I talked to a mechanic who told me those are good engines, if they crank just replace the head gasket and drop it in... but I have a hard time believing a chevy engine with over 100k could be that reliable. This will be my daily driver.
What do you think would be the cheapest/best route? Do you know about how much a rebuild would cost? I have heard only use the 3.4, the others are bad engines but the 2.8s are a lot more common and cheaper... im lost.
Answer The two most common MGB conversions I have heard of are the 302 Ford, and the Rover/Buick/Olds aluminum V8. I have seen these cars in action, and they run like a striped-assed ape, as the saying goes. Personally, I think the Ford is way overkill, but the Rover works good, in fact they sold a car like this in England for quite a few years. Of course that engine was in stock tune, which in the late '70's and early '80's wasn't exactly breathing fire, but they had a lot of torque and could use an automatic, which is a plus to some people (like me with my bad leg). That said, if there is a kit to use the 60 degree Chevy V6 (2.8,3.1,3.4) I think it would be a great idea. The 3.4 obviously has a lot more oomph than the 2.8, and they even made kits to drop a crate 3.4 into the Camaro and S10 when the 2.8 wore out. But, if it was me, I would find a Camaro or S10 donor, preferably a carburetted one that could be easily modified, and stick the used engine in just the way it is. Then I would drive it for a while and work out the bugs (believe me, no matter how good the kit claims to be, there will be lots of bugs). Once everything is going smoothly with the stock engine and trans, then you can make plans on what to hop up and when. You may find you like the power level just the way it is, and just do regular maintenance; wait for the engine to fail before you do any modification. These engines are pretty strong and durable, the 60 degree cylinder bank angle gets rid of a lot of the vibration and complicated crankshaft machining that a 90 degree V6 has, and the engine probably weighs about half what a V8 would weigh. I wouldn't be surprised if it weighed close to what the old clunker that came in the car weighed. Most of the fun from driving these cars is a result of sitting low to the ground with the top down, not from the power (my first car was a '57 MGA with all of about 60 horsepower and it was a blast). This sounds like a fun project, I envy you the good times ahead.
