Going this weekend or early next week to look at a 1974.5 MGB GT, since it's the '74.5 it has the rubber bumpers and higher suspension, from reading I think it should have the twin SU carbs. Besides rockers, floors, around windows, and tail gate, any crazy places to look for rust? Oh and are these cars Lucas, positive ground cars?
He's asking $2500 in the CL ad, it looks to have been painted and does not have factory wheels.
Crawl under and look at the back side of the rockers. Take a jack and flashlight.
Didn't that model have the single, wonky carburetor. Rust on the A pillars is very detrimental and should be thoroughly investigated.
In reply to TRoglodyte:
I wouldn't say that's detrimental. Just mental. As in "you'll have to be mental to chop the A pillars off and run it with out a windscreen."
Especially on a GT. Running without a windshield would look really weird.
Prices on these seem to be all over the map. I got a completely rust-free 1971 out of California for about $4k, I was given a surprisingly good shell in partial payment for fixing a Midget and I've seen them for sale for high four digits.
70's MGs are Lucas cars, but negative ground.
thought they were positive ground?
IIRC the older ones are.
They can really rust anywhere, I remember my just about expiring one rusting in the valley between the rear fender and the tailgate surround. Nice big hole...
Go ask in the MGB/MGBGT forum at mgexp.com.
2500 doesn't sound bad. They can fold when rusty though.
From '68 on, had negative ground.
This topic should be on the CM forum, shouldn't it?
Gary wrote: This topic should be on the CM forum, shouldn't it?
Thought about posting there, but figured I'd get more traffic over here.
I've stumbled upon two rubber bumper MGB GTs in the past week. I only remember seeing one before and that was about 20 years ago. I'm kind of drawn to them.
The carb that's on there will be a crapshoot (So many people dump the stock carbs on mgbs that I think there's little chance you will get what the car came with) . If it's got the twin su's, consider that a bonus.
Look for good oil pressure once warm.
Also look for an overdrive trans (would be engaged by the stalk on the right of the steering wheel). Works in 3rd and 4th. They are highly desirable and good working ones pull nearly a grand.
I have a 67 GT and have done several shell rehabs on MGBs.
Here is the deal, if you plan on restoring the shell, you are going to drop about 10k by the time you get it painted. And then you wont want to toss worn mechanics, trim or interior into your shiny tub. You can see where this turns into a financial rabbit hole...
If the car is good enough to leave the body alone, then it can be a good deal.
Rust is the enemy. Get under the car and look at the bottom of the sills. Check the floorpans also.
Mechanically, the front kingpins and shocks wear and detract from the great handling. Budget about 1k for a complete hub-to-hub front suspension rebuild to include brakes and schocks.
TRoglodyte wrote: Didn't that model have the single, wonky carburetor. Rust on the A pillars is very detrimental and should be thoroughly investigated.
IIRC, the 74 1/2 still had the twin SUs.
If it has rubber bumpers, it has a single Zenith/Stromberg carburetor. If you are willing to rebuild the thing, they can work fine in a DD. However, with the MGB engine being basically a turd at best, its hard to resit the conversion to dual SU.
Was it different on the B vs GT? I had a 76 B with dual SUs.
Granted I bought it from the son of the local MG shops employees, so anything is game.
Grtechguy wrote: Was it different on the B vs GT? I had a 76 B with dual SUs. Granted I bought it from the son of the local MG shops employees, so anything is game.
Most people get rid of the Stromberg when it needs to be rebuilt. The stromberg is an early emissions era kludge and once worn, its no fun to rebuild.
You need an early style exhaust manifold or a header if you want to swap to the SU carbs. The stock exhaust manifold flows better than most headers.
If the car already has SU carbs on it, pay attention to the throttle shaft play; most of them are worn unless they have been rebuilt in the last 30,000 miles or so. Worn shafts let air in and make it impossible to set the mixture properly. You have to set it too rich to compensate for the air leaking in around the shafts, and then it is too rich once off idle.
Grtechguy wrote: Was it different on the B vs GT? I had a 76 B with dual SUs.
A standard MGB is a convertible. A MGB GT is a hard-top hatchback.
I'm one of few who like RB B's better than their chrome bumper counterparts. Mainly because you can paint the bumpers to match the body which IMHO improves the looks substantially. A RB GT is a great candidate for a V6 or V8 conversion and can be a nice GT cruiser and passable sports car.
Look for rust in the inner and outer rockers, floors, dog leg panel in front of the rear wheel arch, on the lower side of the rear side windows - water gets trapped under the trim. Cowl/windshield base and lower front fenders - btw, GT front fenders are different that convertible front fenders - not particularly interchangeable. Prices are all over the place. mine was $100 and pretty scruffy. Up to about $4000-5000 is project territory. About $5-8k I think you can still find nice drivers.
I have a '74 BGT. I'd sell it for $3500. Very comfortable to drive and reliable once sorted. Mine tops out at 100mph, but will pull .98g. A '74.5 BGT is fairly rare, but not necessarily in a desirable way. It will be of the same specs at the '75-'79 rubber bumper cars: single ZS carb, bad exhaust, heavy bumpers, elevated ride height, less power, smaller intake valves. There is no silver lining like some improvement over the earlier cars. It's the falling star model. That said, all of it can be fixed with back dating.
They can rust from the belt line down in the areas you mentioned - especially sills, but can also rot around the headlights. Also look for the "crack of doom" on the doors.
t25torx wrote:Gary wrote: This topic should be on the CM forum, shouldn't it?Thought about posting there, but figured I'd get more traffic over here.
Yeah, you are certainly getting quantity...
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