The LS1 MGB, loose on the streets

This is a dumb question, but what is a good source for LS motors. I can't seem to find one on Craigslist. Are you guys going to an engine supplier?

nifty

vazbmw wrote: This is a dumb question, but what is a good source for LS motors. I can't seem to find one on Craigslist. Are you guys going to an engine supplier?

Complete cars seem to be the way to go. Thats what Keith did and I did it as well. Selling off parts has turned my $3k parts car into a $600 engine, harness, ECU, etc. And I still have the rear end and shell for sale.

This is seriously my dream car. You should be damn proud, Keith.

Wow, the packaging works REALLY well. Other than the wheels not being in their original location, or size, or width for that matter- You'd almost not know what it was, if one was to stay out of the loud pedal. Not that you would.....

In reply to Junkyard_Dog:

Thanks Junkyard Dog As I look for engines, that is what I started to wonder about. You get a car with all the things you need, he can drive and determine what is right and wrong and it will be cheaper in the long run. Part out what you don't need.

Further proof that every car on the planet should be available with a Chevy V8. Hyundai Accent? Yes. Dodge Minivan? Yes. Toyota Corolla? Sure.

There's a guy locally selling an 02 LS1 camaro engine with 80k miles for $1000 on Craiglist. He was originally asking $1500, went down to $1200. I checked it out and offered him $1000 which he turned down. Now it's popped back up for $1000 and I no longer have the money in my car fund. I think in this economy expensive projects/toys are hard to unload. Good time to buy!

man, the cheapest i can find locally is a 140k mile 98 auto for $5k...

A fair bit of awesome right there.

Thanks again, guys. If today goes according to plan, I will have at least one fender flare on the car. Or I'll be huddled in the corner of the garage weeping tears of frustration. Only time will tell. The car went to the alignment shop today and squared up pretty well. One shock will interfere with an upper control arm if I want less than 1.5 degrees negative camber, the Panhard bar needs to be shaved a tiny bit shorter to center the axle the last fraction of an inch, but that's about it. Not bad really, both easily fixed. Now that the wheels are all pointing in the correct direction, it's time to start giving this car a little bit of exercise.

LS engines are all over the place. GM trucks, for example. Pick up an L33 (2005-07 extended cab 1500s) for an all-aluminum 5.3 version for cheap. I didn't do as well as Junkyard Dog did in terms of making my drivetrain inexpensive, although I did get a better deal than I would have buying a junkyard drivetrain at the time. The big difference was that I didn't take the time to part out the whole car! I liked having the ability to test-drive my drivetrain before I took it apart, allowing me to troubleshoot things like a bad coolant sensor before the big wiring changes.

Seriously... that thing's amazing, man.

<===jealous monkey

That is just awesome, Love to see it next year at the LSX swap drag event!

The rear flares are on! More pictures to come tomorrow, but here's a teaser. Hard to believe these flares were intended for a Rabbit, not an MG.

Wow, it's like a BMW M-Coupe, except built by the Allies, and better in every way.

In reply to Keith:

Wow, did you have to do any trimming?

I can't get over how "right" that motor looks in there. Pure awesome!

Very cool, yet, kinda scary.

Keith wrote: I'm having a lot of fun doing small, non-essential things like swapping out mirrors. And lighting the rear tires on fire.

win.

In reply to mndsm:

Re: size and width of the wheels, those are 14x5.5 (I think); the MG was available with 14x5. And the design of the miata wheel is meant to mimic 1960s british minilite/panasport/etc. (The track is much wider, of course)

Can't wait to see a pic with the flares on -- see how it's going to look.

Keep up the good work, Keith! -M.

Out of the garage!

I'm really happy with how they fit. Really, really happy. I'd been dreading the bodywork part of this build, but those rear flares made it easy. I simply cut the flare off the patch panel it was attached to, the overall shape was barely changed. The only modifications I made were to flatten out the profile at the top where I had to weld in an extension due to the shape of the MG body and to get rid of a little kink where the flare meets a line in the Rabbit body. I think I spent 3 hours doing both flares yesterday, that's all. For those who are wondering, they're rear flares from a 2-door A1 Rabbit.

I've got a set of flares from the front of a Rabbit as well, but I'm not as happy with their fit. I could make it work, but I think the rears will work nicely up there as well. I've got another set of patch panels on the way, but it'll be a week before they get here.

The flares have changed the car from looking pretty cool to looking badass. I can't wait to get the fronts on.

With regards to the wheels - I'd like to put a set of 15x7 Minilite-style wheels on the car eventually and run a 205/50-15 R-comp. The car's always going to be under-tired, I can live with that They'll stay with the same color scheme, black centers with polished lips. I also need to stick with a Miata stock-like offset (+45) in order to fit properly. The Rota RB fits the bill. First, I'll swap in my new RT615s and run those for a while.

Awesome.

What's the bolt pattern? I'm selling the Drag DR21's off my CRX with 6 Toyo R888's 15x7 205/50-15 on the cheap.

I think I've made up my mind. This is my next project after the Firefly (or at least own and drive one).

Want pixxors of the exhaust fromunderthere, Keither.