How (un)reasonable would a V6 MG be? Please talk me out of this.

I work at a dealership. Weird things happen at dealerships.

I was asked this morning to help solve a 7 year old problem. Allegedly, a 2002 Isuzu Trooper LS (Honda Passport by another name) was abandoned here at the body shop in 2015. The customer didn't want to pay for repairs and intended to sign over the title, but was unable to find it. This Trooper has literally been sitting in the same spot for 7 years and I was asked to make it go away. I went out to investigate and one jump box later, it fired right up where it sits. Quick research tells me the Longitudinal mounted V6 under the hood is a 205hp 3.2L.

Second half of this involves me bullE36 M3ting with another coworker about fun swaps for that V6 and another coworker overhearing us. He quickly came over and said "My buddy has an old MG that he keeps asking me to take away. It doesn't run, and I'm not mechanical, so I haven't bothered to go get it. You want it?"  Of course, I said "hellyes" immediately and now we have a half cocked plan to fetch the MG and drive the Trooper to my place. 

Am I crazy or is this just another stroke of pure dumb luck?

No MG pics yet. Will acquire some soon

berkeley yes!!!!

Honestly, i had planned to do a v6 mgb when i wound up in miatas. Which i v6 swapped. 

Torque in a light little sports car with the top down it an absolute hoot.

Be forewarned, there will be a bit of fab work. However, starting with a complete rwd donor should make your life way easier. 

It's a stroke of awesome. These engines bolt up to a GM T-5, or any narrow angle GM V6 transmission,are all aluminum, and built by Honda. No way this will go wrong. 

GM V6 MG B is a pretty well-trodden path. Why not?

So, the V6 idea is neither new or a bad idea. Most common is the 3.4 out of the Camaro with the matching 5 speed.

The trooper engine is a bit tall, so not going to fit under the hood. I know nothing about the matching gearbox or what the electronic infrastructure is going to be like or how comfortable you are with that stuff,

Where is the sump? Front or rear? Seems to have a reall wide bit at the rear.

What are the ratios in the gearbox?

Where is the center line of the crank in comparison to the MGB? 

Where is the shifter in the tunnel?

First off, that's a Rodeo, not a trooper.  There is nothing Honda about it other than they slapped an H badge on the front of a Rodeo in exchange for Honda letting them sell an Odyssey as an Isuzu Oasis.  
 

Second, through weird badge engineering fun, those have a GM FWD small V6 bolt pattern, so 80s Camaro V6 T5s will bolt to it.  
 

Make it happen! 

DOHC?  Will it fit between the towers?

In reply to Sonic :

You are correct sir, I got a little excited and didn't even catch my mistake.

No idea if the V6 will fit. Haven't checked. 

I've seen a bunch of V6 MGs on here, but not this V6. And for the low low price of "make it go away..." I figure why not?

NOHOME said:

So, the V6 idea is neither new or a bad idea. Most common is the 3.4 out of the Camaro with the matching 5 speed.

The trooper engine is a bit tall, so not going to fit under the hood. I know nothing about the matching gearbox or what the electronic infrastructure is going to be like or how comfortable you are with that stuff,

 

Where is the sump? Front or rear? Seems to have a reall wide bit at the rear.

What are the ratios in the gearbox?

Where is the center line of the crank in comparison to the MGB? 

Where is the shifter in the tunnel?

We can learn all of these things as we go! What's the worst that happens? 

Which mg?  Mgb probably ok, mg midget probably needs some serious fab work...

wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) said:

It's a stroke of awesome. These engines bolt up to a GM T-5, or any narrow angle GM V6 transmission,are all aluminum, and built by Honda. No way this will go wrong. 

It is not a Honda anywhere except the badging on a Passport, it is an Isuzu through and through.  The engine is wierd inside, I work for someone who worked for Honda when those were new, have heard all sorts of stories about their valvetrains.

My dad has an MG sitting over in Yakima and was just asking me yesterday if I had suggestions for a 2.5-3.5 engine for it.

So.... $2000 Challenge?

In reply to iansane :

If I don't end up attempting this, I'll hook him up with this one. 

Believe me, the cheapest part of an engine swap is the price of the used engine that you buy to rebuild and put in a car.  Never, ever choose an engine just because you happen across one, cheap.  Opt for an engine that has an established  history of swapping into your receiving vehicle.

Assuming that the MG you are talking about is an MGB, there have been many swaps involving the GM 60 deg. V6 family, Miata, Rover alloy V8, Ford V8, Chev V8, Zetec etc.  As the others guys said, the GM 60 deg. V6 is a path many have taken and is perhaps the easiest - you can buy a kit with all the mounts, wiring etc. to do the job.

Couple of notes:

1 - all T5 transmission are not equal. Using one out of a small pickup is a bad move - bull low gearing - this is a very useful key to what transmission came with which gearing  http://www.britishv8.org/Articles/Borg-Warner-T5-ID-Tags.htm

2 - only fools throw away decades of technology when doing a swap with a modern engine, by throwing away the injection and sticking a carb on instead.

3 - ask specific questions here  https://www.mgexp.com/forum/mg-engine-swaps-forum.40/

This is my swap - 3.4 into a 1956 MGA (rebodied, but that's irrelevant for our purposes)

PS - if you are talking about a Midget rather than an MGA or MGB, ignore the foregoing and consider a modern 4 cylinder swap.

For a Midget, I think you'd need to be looking at motorcycle engines. They're really small and the stock A series is about the size of a 5 gallon jerry can.

I wonder how hard deleting the 4wd aspects of the Rodeo driveline would be.  Probably need a different transmission tailshaft housing.  See if there's some kind of "shift improvement kit" available.  At that point, swap everything, use the whole buffalo.  

I know a manual would be more fun but this seems easier and faster overall save for the above 4wd delete aspect.

Kendall_Jones said:

Which mg?  Mgb probably ok, mg midget probably needs some serious fab work...

Keith Tanner said:

For a Midget, I think you'd need to be looking at motorcycle engines. They're really small and the stock A series is about the size of a 5 gallon jerry can.

This^^^^.  A v6 MGB is a very doable swap.  You *can* swap a v6 into a Midget, but it really helps if neither the driver nor the passenger has any legs below the knees or needs a footwell larger than an average mailbox.  Yeah, I know someone made a 468 hemi swapped Midget, but he had to make it an auto because no room for a 3rd pedal, and he literally has to take his shoes off to drive it because no room for his shoes either.  Just sayin

In reply to JBinMD :

I drove a Ford 289 engined Midget.  He had to saw off part of the oil filter pad and run hoses to a remote filter.   

wspohn said:

Believe me, the cheapest part of an engine swap is the price of the used engine that you buy to rebuild and put in a car.  Never, ever choose an engine just because you happen across one, cheap.  Opt for an engine that has an established history of swapping into your receiving vehicle.

You're giving good, sane, practical advice here. But on the other hand, somebody has to be first.

In reply to Driven5 :

This is the way.

birdmayne said:

NOHOME said:

So, the V6 idea is neither new or a bad idea. Most common is the 3.4 out of the Camaro with the matching 5 speed.

The trooper engine is a bit tall, so not going to fit under the hood. I know nothing about the matching gearbox or what the electronic infrastructure is going to be like or how comfortable you are with that stuff,

 

Where is the sump? Front or rear? Seems to have a reall wide bit at the rear.

What are the ratios in the gearbox?

Where is the center line of the crank in comparison to the MGB? 

Where is the shifter in the tunnel?

We can learn all of these things as we go! What's the worst that happens? 

I will henceforth stop replying to questions that you already have the answer to. 

Looking forward to the build thread .

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) said:

It's a stroke of awesome. These engines bolt up to a GM T-5, or any narrow angle GM V6 transmission,are all aluminum, and built by Honda. No way this will go wrong. 

It is not a Honda anywhere except the badging on a Passport, it is an Isuzu through and through.  The engine is wierd inside, I work for someone who worked for Honda when those were new, have heard all sorts of stories about their valvetrains.

What you say may be true, however, my research says Honda made all those Isuzu engines. I do appreciate being proven wrong if I am, in fact, wrong.

You need a torch, a sawsall, and a welder.  It will fit.

wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) said:

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) said:

It's a stroke of awesome. These engines bolt up to a GM T-5, or any narrow angle GM V6 transmission,are all aluminum, and built by Honda. No way this will go wrong. 

It is not a Honda anywhere except the badging on a Passport, it is an Isuzu through and through.  The engine is wierd inside, I work for someone who worked for Honda when those were new, have heard all sorts of stories about their valvetrains.

What you say may be true, however, my research says Honda made all those Isuzu engines. I do appreciate being proven wrong if I am, in fact, wrong.

If true, they are unlike any Honda engine before or since.  They were DOHC with a single timing sprocket.  Now, if you were Volkswagen/Audi or Toyota, you would drive one cam directly and gear it to the other cam.  Not Isuzu, the sprocket drove a jackshaft that BOTH camshafts were geared to.

Also, they had bucket lifters, which I don't think Honda ever used, at least not in an auto engine.

I could maybe see Isuzu contracting Honda to manufacture them, but I don't see any Honda DNA in it.

Plus it was always funny to open the hood of a "Honda" and see a GM DIS coil pack/ignition module assembly staring up at you, just like a Chevy 3100...