David,

Sounds like a bunch of fun projects! I always wanted to put a 351W in my Maverick, but decided on this project instead. The Pinto would have been a real sleeper!

take care,
simono

 

I love the oddball swaps that guys do just to have something no one else has. I like hot rods but tire of the cookie cutter plastic 32 Fords that you can build with no more mechanical or fabfication skill than dialing a phone and writing a check.

Simon, my hat's off to you and would love to hear about what else people are putting LT1's in.

 

About 10 years ago there was a guy at the track with a volvo sedan that had a 350. He was running low 13's. It was kinda cool because it looked completely stock.

 

Love it, looks like you did a lot of work and now its paying off I wanna drive it and wax some mustangs I could just imagine their faces

 

Actually I have one that beats all... My brother and some of his ricer friends built a Yugo two years ago that had a complete B16 Acura engine in it. For those of you who do not understand Rice... that means its a V-TEC 1.6 liter turbo engine that makes over 400hp!!

Can you imagine getting your pride and joy whipped by a Yugo? It was a nasty beater on 13" dirt tires for some massive fun! We would cruise the local scene in town just taking out anything that would dare line up or run from a roll. On the freeway it was downright scarey as the potential speed was way beyond what any engineer at Yugo would have expected. At speeds over 130mph the rear of the car would literally start flying off the ground!! We would open the windows as fast as we could or pop the hatch release to disturb the airflow to help settle the car before even trying to melt the brakes.

Just thinking of it makes me bust out laughing!!

 

I'd love to see your swap some day! An LT1 in an MGB sounds like WAY too much power for such a light car.

take care,
simon

 

The MG is getting a turbo 2.3 out of a 88 Ford turbocoupe. Its practically a bolt in. The tranny even comes out the factory location!! Nothing like 300hp in a 2200 pound car with a welded up differential. Woo Hoooo!!!

 

Outstanding! What a sleeper

 

My friends keep after me to do a web site on the car. I have no idea how to do that and so far none of them has come over to do it for me. One of these days I'll get ambitious and learn how to do it.

I wasn't aware that you could have too much power or too light a car, I thought that was the whole point! There is only a little over 100 lbs of the original unibody left, most of it is rocker panels and a little of the skin. The car will have a complete tube frame with stressed internal sheetmetal panels. The final weight of the car should be under 2300 lbs full of fluids but no driver. I'm guessing the weight distribution to be very close to 50/50 with a possible bias toward the rear with driver and a load of fuel. The engine will be a fairly mild LT1 with a 224/230 cam and 1.6 rockers, mildly ported heads and manifold, shorty headers and true dual 2 1/2 exhaust, and electric water pump.

The running gear is T-56 6 speed, 3.73 rear gears, ZR-1 brakes, 11" rear wheels with 315-35-17 Kuhmo Victoracers, 9 1/2" fronts with 275-40-17 Victoracers.

The car won't be any more radical than some of the Cobra kit cars out there (about the same weight, wheelbase and HP) but it will have considerably better suspension and brakes than most and will be wider and therefore more stable. The best part is someone won't be able to pick up the phone and checkbook and have a plastic clone delivered to his driveway the next day.

 

WOW! My Volvo, as a daily driver should be around the 3450 lb mark. I didn't get a chance to visit the scales before the car had to go into storage. It isn't slow, but your's is going to be a real rocket!

If you want to send me some pictures/specs I'd be happy to slap together a brief page of your car and link it to my site. I'm not fancy in what I do, but then people could see pictures of your car.

take care,
simon