Any MGB Owners? I May Get One Just To Mess With
 

I have a friend who wants to sell me their 79 MGB. I don't know much about it yet. I have been told it is rust free, engine and tranny are solid, the top needs work and the window is hazed. It has 48K original on it.

Here is a pic that is said to be similar - same color. Love the green. The owner is a tight friend of mine and is looking to liquidate from a past life that went sour.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1295980107.jpg


Thoughts? Concerns?

That's not likely to be a favoured example, what with the rubber bumpers and raised ride height. But still a fun, simple, and cheap car to enjoiy. Moss Motors will be your friend.

be sure it's truly not a rust bucket. no frame. they're slow and drive like a truck, but if the price is super-right, then go for it. still a fun car. i kept the TR4 and sold the MGB

Mike,

My personal experience with British cars can be summed up with "if it's for sale, I don't want it".

Meaning people that have trouble free examples don't part with them.

YMM very likely V.

Late MGBs make me sad... they went from a handsome car with ~90hp to an ugly duckling with under 70hp. Even the interiors are ugly in the later ones.

I think MG lost its way when the MGA twincam flopped. The MGB was a nice enough car, but they should gave just stopped making cars in '75.

I think 79 all had rubber baby bumpers no? What would be a good price? I know thats tough without any intel on the thing - just wondering.

I don't think it would have been sold if it wasn't for a f***'d up split-up. Not sure what YMM or V means. I feel a bit slow today - not enough fiber in my morning grits!

Your Mileage May Vary.

Swore off British cars after a couple of encounters.

Then someone once GAVE me a pristine Triumph with 23,000 original miles.

Thought, sweeeet!!!!. Thing looked like it just rolled out of the showroom.

After a year I could not get rid of that possessed POS fast enough.

Don't know MG's but do know something about British trash in general. If it has two SU or Zenith Carbs, you will need a Unisync to balance the flow of the two carbs. If it has an SU fuel pump there are some tricks to adjusting the points in them to make them run right, not hard, but some tricks that you will never figure out. I can help.

Very wrench-able cars.
The suspension, although live axle out back and trunnions and kingpins in front with lever-arm shocks is quite good for the era and there are tons of upgrades, including coil-overs.
The hot tip for the engine is a pair of Webbers on a new manifold.
If you don't like that, the Miata motor will fit.
The body was basically well put together. and replacement parts (up to and including a complete body shell, last time I looked) are available.

Should be worth 3 - 4 K depending upon condition.

Have fun
Les

Easy cars to work on, parts readily available, plenty of internet support forums, relatively fun and reliable. I have had a number of them. The rubber bumpers are not as popular as the chrome bumpers, but if the price is right, you can change them out. I would not pay more than $3500 for any rubber bumper MGB in existence.

I had a ''71 GT this same color that I drove daily for a couple years w/o issues, until a drunk totaled it sitting at the curb.

It was a lot of fun; think "It's more fun to drive a slow car fast than it is to drive a fast car slow."

I've owned four British cars over the years and they were all fun, but this one was the only one that was...mechanically stable? The others suffered mostly from recurrent bouts with the Brit car trademark, "Lucas-refrigerator-warm-beer syndrome".

I agree with post #2.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1295982035.jpg

We had one years ago, it was fun. We drove from Montana to San Francisco down the coast highway, through the redwoods. That was a memorable trip. Good cars but weird engineering to them I thought. Working on the engine was like a tractor motor. I was looking at an ad for an MGB GT but I don't think I'll do it. My next car has to be a sand/salt spreader for my truck.

That depends... how much is going to pay you to take it? :p

The rubber bumper cars (and lifted -like a Jeep- ride height) started with '74.5. Midyear.

The early rubber cars still had 2 carbs. Later ones had 1 carb and lots of emissions junk.

They are unibody, unlike the TR's which are flexi-flyers. (A lot of the suspension travel on a TR is the body of the car.)

MG engine is a not a powerhouse, it's torquey at low end, though. People that raced them in the 60's and 70's often dropped in Volvo 4 bangers.

But... you can get every single part, even a new body from MOSS.

And, but... they are surprisingly fun to drive. Exhaust sound is unique and cool.

Then, there was the MGC with an Austin-Healy 6 and MG-V8 with the Rover (nee Buick) aluminum V8 - only in the GT, not the roadster. These are both very rare.

A friend had one - V8. Plowed like a tractor.

If the price is right, buy it. Get a new top and a chrome bumper conversion kit from Moss. De-smog the engine and put a header on it.

Nothing like a slow, oil dripping, british car!

nah, get a MGA...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1295993539.jpg

I've owned 2, a '71 and a 79. Very minimalistic cars significantly underpowered and with terrible understeer stock. Very easy to work on with lots of room in the engine bay. The only real issue I recall was a tendency for the heads to crack between the middle 2 cylinders do to the Siamese configuration of the exhaust valves/ports and relatively poor cooling there. The coolant would leak out from the head crack and short the distributor. Also, the fuel pumps were relatively poor.

I say: get it!
I love my '69. Just finished restoring it last June.
They are just fun cars to drive. They need maintenance just like our P-cars, but they are simple to work on. Yep, they need the zddp oil additives just like our Porsches.

Definately look over the body in all the fender wells, rockers, and floor pans, trunk, etc.

Craig

Having done my apprenticeship at a B.M.C/British Leyland dealer '69-75, I have a lot of memories of MGB's.

No, they are not "fast"!
The US type rubber bumper/raised suspension look a bit odd.
The SU carbs are not hard to keep in tune (a piece of hose and your earhole will suffice for balancing). Mixture adjustment is easy as well.
Like all A & B series engines, valve adjustment is a regular thing (we used to all have "Tappet-Rash" from the wrench slipping and removing a layer of skin from your wrist as it slid over the adjusting screws).

The #1 problem we had was the ignition timing. On 80% of them it was impossible to set at the factory setting without it "pinkinking" (Pre-ignition) even with what was then called 5 star petrol (105 octane I think).
Several years later I read an article in a car mag explaining that most of the distributors were never built properly and that a company called Alldon Automotive made replacements. So we put one on a customer car and it was fan-bloody-tastic! Aldon are still going in the UK and still making them. I would think most have been converted to electronic by now. Aldon do that as well.

If you do have to get the rocker panels replaced 'cos of rust, make sure the rest of the car is supported well, or it will sag in the middle.
As old cars go, it must rate highly if only because ever single part is still available, including brand new body panels made on the original presses, & it is so simple to work on.
I would like an early GT with wire wheels please.....

If I do bust on this one, I will have to figuer out how to get it from CT to Tejas. Road trip with my Son? How fun would that be???

I had a 65 roadster. Great fun. Noisy. Reliable. Cheap.

As for a 79, I would either lower it or pass. The tall ride height is a serious deal killer for me. It destroyed any handling the car ever had.

Larry

Wouldn't a '79 have a single carb? I had worked on a rubber bumper B a few years ago that Zenith Stromberg 175 CDSomething. Had an air pump and cat too. I had to leave the hose off coming from the air pump discharge or else it would backfire.

Yeah! Like backdating a short nose! :)

Yes... one carb. and the suspension is all jacked up to meet bumper/headlight regs. Not good for handling and you're down to negative horsepower with that motor.

Get a 74.5 or older.

The early 70's had a awful looking dash (pillow dash). The whole dash was 'tucked and rolled' and no glovebox.

Plus a CT car will rust just being parked in a garage.

Also,

Lube, you'd be better off with a car from TX, NM, AZ, CA, UT, CO... etc. Shorter road trip, less rust - it's a unibody car.

Plus one on Craig's post. Really easy to work on.. you can darn near climb into the engine compartment to work on it.

They really are fun.

Body rot is everything, if it has more than almost none then forget it. I put thousands of hours into my 78 when I was in highschool and into my early 20's.

They can be fun but don't expect too much. And for the love of all that is holy don't mod the motor, there is no point in it.

I knew every part on that car, I don't want another. :D

I would get an Austin or maybe a TR6, they are just better cars. The MGB is a poor handling slow car, but in it's own weird way it's fun.

Run!

The car is worthless and with every buck you put into the heap you will lose another.

I had a 67 and it was fun for a while. But what a heap. At least the 67 wasn't a completely worthless year and a lot better looking than a plastic bumper car.

G

I still have mine, but it's tucked in the corner of the garage waiting for floors, sills...

Neat cars but slow compared to just about everything on the road. Think Miata but not as reliable, comfy, no AC, 4 speed, solid rear.... cool car for you and the kid.

+1
I like this. The end of technically interesting MGs was the Twin Cam. The B started out as a truck and went downhill. Still an OK car for fun, but not interesting in any way. The only British car that is worth the hassle and money is a 1275 Mini.

Brilliant. My oldest son I drove from Sydney to Adelaide in an 85 928's. He was able to share the drive as he had his learners permit. It was great fun and he still tells his friends about it. It is something that he will remember forever.

I had an early 74 several years ago. Fun enough car with rebuilt suspension, wider tires on minilites. Hot as hell in the cabin in the summer, constant maintenance to keep it going. Parts availability is great. I wouldn't touch a rubber bumper car that wasn't already converted back to chrome, lowered and with the smog stuff gone and then only really cheap. I wouldn't do british again after having my SC for several years be rock solid.

Maybe this one would suit!

MG Midget - e36 M3 evo running gear on eBay (end time 25-Jan-11 14:22:51 GMT)

:eek:

Is the boy interested in something like this? It could be the perfect father/son bonding experience.

Nah, He has the Targa. I was thinking of the MGB for myself and maybe our lil girl someday. Then again, I think when she is 16 I should have my Caymen for a few years and she can have that!

Well Mike if you end up getting it I guess you'll be over a lot.

I have a bunch of oddball tools for older iron.

Interesting...

The car next to my 911E is a '67 MGB Roadster....owned now for 10+ years and as reliable as my P-car...with regular (simple) maintenace and a good battery charger.

If it checks out as a decnt basic car then doing the back date/ desmog etc are all traight forward tasks that would enhance the experience....

On which...its a 'sports car'... open, basic and its only goal is to drive..practicallity very low on the agenda..

They are not precise... even the very best leave much to be desired compared to a 911....but they are fun and friendly...simple and enjoyable in a very different way.

When the sun is shining, the roads dampled with shade and the birds singing its perfect... when I want to drive then the 911 comes out...

Drive that from CT to tejas? You have gone off your rocker haven't you.....

Flew to TX, got the truck and trailer, loaded the cars and drove straight back.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1296066258.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1296066578.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1296066317.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1296066365.jpg

Seriously, I did that drive in the Wifes Tahoe which is like a living room on wheels and it sucked.

BTW Syd, got your PM. Have been slammed but let me know the plans as you get closer.