1978 MGB V8 conversion NMNA

https://austin.craigslist.org/cto/d/austin-rust-free-1978-mgb-v8-conversion/7687873693.html

I believe this MG has a Buick or Rover V8. Not a Triumph.

Buick V8

But still a interesting car. Never seen a V8 MGB in real life

Dang that seems like a screaming deal. 

MyMiatas said:

I believe this MG has a Buick or Rover V8. Not a Triumph.

Buick V8

 

But still a interesting car. Never seen a V8 MGB in real life

 

It's (per the seller) a V8 from a Triumph TR-8. The TR-8 had the Rover/Buick pushrod engine used in countless British cars.  AFAIK, the only Triumph which came from the factory with a "Triumph" V-8  (The OHC engine) was the Stag.   

If I remember correctly back in the 90's you could purchase a kit for a MGB to install a Rover V8.  I had Googled the Triumph V8 and came up with no matching numbers of cubic inches. Just that yellow Triumph engine and that isn't the engine in that MGB.

In reply to MyMiatas :

MG actually sold MGs with the Rover V8. 138 hp comes to mind. 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

MGB GT V8

MG began offering the MGB GT V8 in 1973 powered by the aluminium block/aluminium head 3,532 cc Rover V8 engine, first fitted to the Rover P5B. The V8's 137 hp (102 kW) and 193 lb⋅ft (262 N⋅m) of torque allowed it to reach 60 mph (97 km/h) in 7.7 seconds and go on to a 125 mph (201 km/h) top speed. Fuel consumption was just under 20 mpg.[31]

By virtue of its aluminium cylinder block and heads, the Rover V8 engine weighed approximately 20 kilos less than MG's iron four-cylinder. Unlike the MGC, the V8 that provided the MGB GT V8's increased power and torque did not require significant chassis changes nor sacrifice handling.

Both chrome and rubber-bumpered GT versions of the V8-powered MGB were produced by the factory with production ending in 1976. MG never attempted to export the MGB GT V8 to the United States. It chose not to even develop a left-hand-drive version of the MGB GT V8, although the Rover V8 engine had been offered in certain US-bound Rover models. The P6 3500, however, was withdrawn from the US after 1971 and the Rover 3500 SD1 only introduced in 1980 (its engine equipped with power-sapping emissions equipment) so that during the lifetime of the MGB GT V8 the engine was not being built in a federal version. Abingdon built seven LHD examples, sent them to America to achieve certification, and brought them back to the UK to be sold to mainland European countries.[32][better source needed]

I'll forgive you being off by 1hp.  I know it was late.

I still boggle over the fact that the V8 was lighter than the four.

i haven't driven a sorted roadster. The fact that i have a GT is pretty much down to it being the first MGB i could find for sane money that wasn't awful. But at least the GT feels solid enough that it wants way more motor than the MG four.

I wouldn't swap a Buick/Rover V8 in because they're terrible compared to a host of other swap candidates. But an MGB with a Rover V8 seems like a better car than one with the four.

If I remember correctly the Rover engine is the same as a Buick.  I would imagine that there are alot of performance mods that could be done to really hop it up.  Then it wouldn't be a smogged up V8.

Lots of V8 converted Bs around with some variant of the old 215 Buick which later became the TR8 V8 and then all the Rover variants, the 3.5 and 3.9 are both pretty common. Very simple conversation on the later Bs that came from the factory with the modified firewall to accept the V8. I did a conversion a few years after college, long before the internet was a common thing and before I had anything resembling a budget to do it well. I actually stumbled on my old AOL page a few years ago where I documented the car. Lots orf swap parts readily available like the custom headers. 

Yep.  That's a really good deal 

If everything in the description is true, that is a smoking hot deal.