MG MGB GT

And I thought my turbo was a tight squeeze......

Axle brackets are all welded on so I could finally put the rear end back together.

It's looking pretty meaty

These wheels don't quite (understatement) fit under the Sebring rear fenders so I do have some other wheels with slightly different fitment sitting in my living room. I need to get the tires swapped over before I can check clearance again and find out if I have to modify the fenders or not. The 275s are going to fit one way or another.

In reply to Nukem :

I would not mind seeing this in my rear view mirror:

Nukem said:

Stiffness + Lightness per Time Dollar

ah yes, the Time Dollar. As I have aged, the value of one Time Dollar has increased dramatically.

Just re-read this thread start to finish. Highly inspirational work here, thanks for posting!

someone here taught me a trick for aluminum welding: crank the AC Balance way over to the cleaning side, then go over the intended bead path with torch only, sometimes more than once, to get it really clean before resetting and welding. That technique helped me more than once.

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

Thanks Angry, that means a lot coming from you. I'll have to try that TIG tip out next time I'm feeling confident.

Removing that panel for the turbo helped. I think it might even be possible to install it once there is an engine and junk in the way!

I also cut out a little window to give me access to put a clamp on this silicone join

Hood clearance? There is none...

I think that's solvable with a little fiberglass work on the hood though. I'll probably want some sort of combination hood bulge / vent so that the turbine housing doesn't try to light the hood on fire and burn down the whole car.

I've also got to figure out a safe way to do the oil drain. How un-kosher would it be to route that through the passenger footwell?

In reply to Nukem :

Hide the drain behind a sheetmetal cover and it's all good. And yeah, you're gonna want to vent the hood around the turbo.

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

Cool I was thinking something like that might work.

I was also floating the idea of a scavenge pump for the turbo. Maybe I could package such a pump in the same passenger footwell area.

Anyone know of any OEM applications? Would be cool if I could repurpose something from the junkyard .

British Leyland was kind enough to give me a an access hole for the turbo oil drain

And some hood adjustment:

My temporary bracket to hang the turbo is now in the way, but I think this will clear.

I'm thinking a laser cut vent panel in that corner to give the turbine housing somewhere to vent. Bonus: you should be able to get a little peek of the turbo through a vent.

Something like this:

Anyone have tips on specific geometry where these would bend up?

If I need a little extra clearance I can shape the louvers a bit like this:

And a slightly different view

This should be much easier to bend

Nukem said:

I was also floating the idea of a scavenge pump for the turbo. Maybe I could package such a pump in the same passenger footwell area.

Anyone know of any OEM applications? Would be cool if I could repurpose something from the junkyard .

I do not but you wanna make sure any oil lines and pump stuff is completely walled off from the passenger compartment. A broken hose or pump would be ... less than optimal for the occupants of the vehicle.

Love the build! I always take a look when this comes up 'cuz it is so great to see the fabrication and engineering on the fly. You're doing a great job of problem solving as you go along.

Nukem said:

I've also got to figure out a safe way to do the oil drain. How un-kosher would it be to route that through the passenger footwell?

 

My experience with product development risk-analysis says do not do it as an exposed oil return line in the passenger footwell. The possibility of failure can be mitigated, but the consequences  of a failure are not acceptable. There is a reason they call it a "Firewall"; keep the hot stuff on one side of the firewall.

I guess we made it pretty clear, you need to make sure the oil stuff is separated from the occupants as best you can...

I'm rather glad for this discussion. I had planned on putting the accusum for my stock car project behind the passenger seat and running it the oil return line up the transmission tunnel and through the firewall. Not thinking about the safety consequences thank you guys.

Yeah this topic might even deserve its own thread. I'm not trying to die in this thing.

I think where I'm landing is: perform additional modifications to the firewall / passenger footwell area to allow for turbo oil drain to live entirely within the engine bay. Apart from being the safest solution I think this will end up requiring a similar amount of sheetmetal work as the sealed cover solution that Angry proposed.

I've already modified and re-modified this firewall quite a bit, so I'm pretty comfortable taking it a bit further.

Apparently it has been 5 years already since I bought this thing at auction. It used to be a relatively presentable car!

Rock Auto delivered some brake parts today

Clearance to the caliper is really tight but there is some.

Has anyone run these 8.8 disk brake setups with the e brake, but without the backing plate / dust shield?

There are two dumb little clips that help locate the e brake shoes that secure through the backing plate which I'm hoping I don't have to use.

The whole e brake setups looks like this

EDIT: Initial attempts at assembling without the backing plate have proved difficult. I think it is probably possible but likely to be more trouble than I want to deal with.

Thankfully, I found this: https://www.performancetrucks.net/forums/technical-write-ups-201/ford-8-8-disk-brake-backing-plates-explorer-dana-44-a-559584/

I somehow still have the original backing plates but they are crusty rusty bent up junk.

What is the benefit to no backing plates?

On a forum I used to belong to, a guy used a Holley "blue" fuel pump for a rear mount turbo scavenge pump to no ill effect, I think it drained into a small reservoir and then pumped to the engine ...ymmv

At that time it had lasted over 20,000 miles

In reply to Shavarsh :

Only because I don't have a pair that are usable.

Can't believe I missed this build until now, love what you're doing!