Saw this on facebook this morning. No way I fit in it. but thought someone here would want it. And it's "sub challenge money"
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/731953803964213/?ref=feed_rhc
"1970 MGB GT. Very solid, pans are in pretty good shape and very little rust. Has been garage kept. Everything is there with additional transmission that has overdrive gear. Just have too many other projects. Great project car. Clean title."
The OD box is worth a big chunk of the asking price.
Looks to be more a victim of bad paint than the tin cancer. This could be a dirty gem
A ford 302 with a T5 and a bunch of welding would make for a do-able challenge project. You can even keep the rear end as it will last for the duration of the challenge if not in perpetuity behind the 302.
Pete
I was wondering if you would chime in.
It's local. and I'm willing to go look for people.
a 302 in this car would probably be a blast!
Just how small is it? I'm 290 lbs and 6ft 3in. So I have a high incling that I would NEVER fit in it.
There’s a guy by me who buys every MG around and parts them, says he sells OD boxes for $1000+ and that usually pays for the whole car and gets him into profit.
what do I look for Nohome?
3rd in line to look at it.
Yeah, gts are actually huge inside.
Convertible bs had 3 wipers because the windshield is wide and short. Gts have 2 wipers because the windshield is a whole lot taller.
Ok so some verts have 2 wipers but you get my point.
When I saw the USCS bumper sticker I got a woodie. That’s local!
In reply to Mad_Ratel :
Assuming you want to buy for a bomber or challenge car. If you want to restore one, dont, no need when the best ones barely command $15k.... buy one for $15k and keep another $15-20k in your pocket.
So, what would I look at...?
Rust.
Rusty sills or sills that look like they are covered in filler.
Have a look under the sill at what is known as the "castle rail" it rust mostly towards the front of the car. From the inside, look about where your left foot toes reside towards the very front of the inner sill. It might be covered in a rubber matt or carpet, but it is a vulnerable spot. Rust that you can see is 10 times worse inside.
Here is a cross section of the sills showing how it all goes together as a dual box system comprised of 4 parts. The castellated bit should be an outie not an inny as I was drawing from memory at the time.
There should be a seam in the rocker panel at the front and rear of the door.
The "Dogleg" is the area just behind the door on the rocker panels. The inner sill lies about 1/8" just inside the layer of outer metal so moisture has a hard time drying out of this space and gunk accumulates. Few MGBs have not had surgery in this area.
The dogleg has been cut off and you can see the outer sill that lies under the rear quarter panel. Spring mount is just inboard of this location.
If the sills have some minor holes but seem more solid than not, you could drive the car for another 20 years before you really had to do anything about it; these are way overbuilt
Where the rear springs attach to the body on each end.
Floors of course, but they are easy to fix or replace. Just flat steel and 500 spotwleds to replace.
If seats are trashed, Miata seats are an easy conversion and much better.
Wiring is not the horror story that legend make it out to be. If it is haked to death, an $80 hot rod harness will solve all issues and do a better job.
Buy it if it is not scary rusty you really wont be risking much as long as wife unit approves.
Pete
In reply to NOHOME :
Do you dress up as Debbie Downer at Halloween?
spitfirebill said:In reply to NOHOME :
Do you dress up as Debbie Downer at Halloween?
Eh?
Does this thing handle like a dump tru8or at least some sporting feel to it? Never really paid much attention to them.
In reply to Mad_Ratel :
One of the best handling live axle sports cars if the (lever) shocks are working. Can be converted to modern tube shocks to good advantage. Great rack & pinion steering. Limited ground clearance, they are not for off roading.Pretty good engine and very nice full syncro gearbox from '68 on. This 1970 has some one year specific details too.
In reply to Mad_Ratel :
They are a pleasure to drive. Keep in mind that they are 50 years old and of a different era, so adjust accordingly.
After 40+ years of owning my GT, having mucked with a lot of combinations and permutations, what I find to be the best result is the front suspension restored to as new at factory ride height. In the rear I settled on a 4 link coil-over from CCC that made a huge difference to ride quality.
At factory ride height, there really is no clearance penalty unless you plan to go off road.
The engines are more noise than poise, but given time and OD, they clip along in the hammer lane with no problem. The ambient noise at this point is either a feature or a flaw depending on your point of view.
Sadly,
right as the gentleman messaged me to say the other 2 people were no shows I realized something important.
I do not have the time for a large scale project such as this.
The Boxster is real partial time. I can still drive it even though the motor is hurt etc.
Something like this car will take me over a decade to finish.
In reply to Mad_Ratel :
As I mentioned, do not waste time and moeny restoring an MGB unless you are in it for the challenge of restoring a car. Below is the graph for MGBs sold on BAT. BAT does not encourge the selling of junk or non-running cars, so this should give you an idea of what a driver MGB is worth.
Starting with 2016 data, you can see that 10-12 k gets you an MGB that is in the upper echelons of what BAT sells. You can buy one of these cars, drive it for 3 years ( or more) and then get your money back. That is a cheap hobby. Restoring the car featured in this thread is going to cost you $30-35k and perhaps consume the mentioned decade by the time you are done, it will then be worth 15k on BAT. Even if you finance the whole purchase of a 12k car @ 8% it will have only cost you $3200 ish to own the car for 5 years if you sell for what you paid.
Pete
In reply to NOHOME :
Agreed. I would only consider a car like this were I do build something akin to Dan Master's V8 converted BGT, which had a lot of custom work done to it.
Since I already have two LBC's driver projects and a crusty Swede rust/custom project, a BGT will have to remain on the list of "dream" projects.
In reply to Ian F :
Funy story...
Dan tried to sell his MGB GT on the MG Experience forum for $35k. The crowd fainted at such a high asking price. So he sold it on BAT for like $60k.
Pete,
I appreciate the help. I got excited about the concept.
In reply to Mad_Ratel :
Always smart to stop and take a deep breath. Or as I do..."Wait for the wife to stop yelling" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I have this guy in the shop now for sills and rear quarter panel work. The owner will be into $1500 worth of tin work not counting parts by the time it leaves. Gives you an idea of what a rust free shell is worth as a starting point for a restoration.
Nuther funy story...and I will tell it cause I know he hangs around here. I owe this unholy rust addiction to a guy by the name of Carl Heideman. ( sp?) He runs a Brit car restoration shop by the name of Eclectic Motorworks. Years ago, when the internet was still nacent, he offered courses on how to fix your rot box MGB or whatever. Being deep into the Marque, I always wanted to attend, but time, distance and $$$ kept me away. But then, he started posting pics of cars in process on his website and I started to use those as the basis of a self taught course. Idon't expect I will reach Carl's level of profesionalism, but he is responsible for a lot of the leaps of faith I have taken into the bodywork side of the hobby.
Pete
NOHOME said:In reply to Ian F :
Funy story...
Dan tried to sell his MGB GT on the MG Experience forum for $35k. The crowd fainted at such a high asking price. So he sold it on BAT for like $60k.
I vaguely remember it on BaT. It really was a nicely done car and the build was well documented. Not worth $60K to me, but it defnitely looked good. I'm sure the build documentation helped to sale price.
Carl is a regular contributor to GRM and CMS and I beleive has posted in the forums from time to time.
I've seen so many pictures and articles that I don't fear the work needed on my car. I also accept that it will be a labor of love and I'm sure there my learning process will result in me redoing a few things.
And Apis Millifera tried to sell a really nice B-GT here for years.
spitfirebill said:And Apis Millifera tried to sell a really nice B-GT here for years.
And ended up nearly giving it away. Crazy
$1300 now. Which i think is a deal because sell OD box get almost free car, but I don't need it. Challenge starter kit for small car big engine combo?
Everyone says the od boxes are worth $1000, but I struggled to sell mine and I think ended up about half that. Just FYI to anyone interested.
Actually I had people offer to pay more if I installed it for them in their car (and they would pay for installation). But I was not about to get into that.
It's hard to prove the od works well when the box is out of a car.
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