A Bit On The Side (or V8's are Great BUT)

It's all change at my place. My initial long term plans to drop a spare (as you do) V8 eninge into my MG have fallen by the wayside. Although the conversion is relatively straightforward and has been bone many times before, I fancied something a little different. As luck would have it due to a bulk stock purchase by my friendly (family) car spares dealer I was able to aquire a brand new from the factory 2 litre 16v engine from a Rover 800/600/400/200. This engine is called the T series and if effectively a development engine from the orignial B series my the MGB. The Bseries became the M series by having and overhead cam and then the T series came along with Twin cams. The block is essentially the same, ok well the crank is.
This maeks the conversion rather straight forward. To fit this engine all you need to do is drill 6 holes in the MGB back plate (in the right place of course) bolt up the MGB flywheel and away you go. Ok it's not quite as simple as that but it would be no fun if it was easy now would it?
Yes the flywheel does bolt on to the Rover crank. Yes the input shaft from the MGB gearbox does fit inside the spigot bush. Other than that the rest of the parts have to be made.
Check out the photos.

This is a spare (as you do) MGB engine I had laying around. I used an old trolly aquired from a local bakers (thanks Nigel) and welded on some MGB engine mounts (the parts that come welded to the forward chassis legs on an MGB. This now allows me to replicate the dimensions and mountings within the cars engine bay.

This shot shows the MGB engine and the redrilled and modified back plate. The significant difference from the B series to the T series engine is the the rear crank seal is now housed in a seperate housing. This is the reason for the large horse shoue shaped cut out around the crank.