TIL about the MGC GT

"norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback" (norskracer98) 04/28/2015 at 16:09 • Filed to: None

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The straight 6 version of the MGB GT. Don’t know how I didn’t know about this before. ACtually I may have but forgot about it.

RallyWrench > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback 04/28/2015 at 16:13

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I want one of these so badly.

Cé hé sin > RallyWrench 04/28/2015 at 16:15

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Go for the V8 instead, they’re supposedly rather better with less weigh and more power.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > RallyWrench 04/28/2015 at 16:16

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I really want the MGB GT V8. A V8 in that car that’s lighter than the 1.8 straight 4 in the normal GT? Yes please!

Birddog > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback 04/28/2015 at 16:17

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Ate Up With Motor has a great write up on these.

RallyWrench > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback 04/28/2015 at 16:18

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See, I’d forgotten about that one. Now I want one too.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > RallyWrench 04/28/2015 at 16:20

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They weren’t sold in the US, if you’re in the US, so RHD is really the only way to get them!

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > Cé hé sin 04/28/2015 at 16:21

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Yeah, the MGC had handling issues from the factory, something to do with the Straight-6 I think.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback 04/28/2015 at 16:42

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Or engine swap. Probably better all around that way.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback 04/28/2015 at 16:42

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Long engine, so the weight would be more forward.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback 04/28/2015 at 17:43

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The v8 sebring clone was a consideration, I ended up with the z.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback 04/29/2015 at 05:44

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They should have gone straight for the V8 in my opinion. That way they could have sold it as a 240Z competitor in the States for a few years before the fuel crisis, get it established early as a mini-muscle car.

The C is still quite cool though. Panned by the press when launched for a number of reasons. Engine was a bit lacklustre in power delivery, heavy too which upset the balance plus they inflated the tyres on the press cars wrong so the understeer was even more pronounced.

There’s lots of people nowadays who have put lots of effort into fixing the C though. Alloy bits for the engine to cut down the weight to acceptable levels, tuning parts to wake up the engine. The factory offered a 175bhp triple-SU kit which would have gone a long way to sell the car if it was standard. At least then the press review would have been ‘terrible handling, but at least it goes like a bat out of hell’. Supposedly got better fuel economy than the standard engine too.

Oh, interestingly one of the same publications that panned the MGC also panned the 240Z a little while later. Saying ‘if we knew that this was the competition, we wouldn’t have been so critical of the MGC’.

I think they changed the suspension settings for UK-bound cars as opposed to US ones, but it’s interesting nonetheless...

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback 04/29/2015 at 05:47

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The rubber-bumper late MGBs had the same engine bay as the V8 models (they homogenised production between the two models) so engine swapping is quite straight forward.

RV8s aren’t as plentiful in the US as they are here in the UK, but I’m sure you should be able to find one :)

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback 04/29/2015 at 05:51

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It’s a bit of a misnomer that the V8s lighter than the 4-cyl. The B-series weighs 152kg fully dressed, and the Rover V8 about 170kg. The B GT V8 was 36kg heavier than the standard B as well.

Still, for 3.5l of displacement over 1.8l, a 36kg weight gain is phenomenally small.

They really should have released the V8 instead of the C back in 1968, and marketed it in the States as a sort of mini-muscle car competitor to the Datsun 240Z. I think the rivalry would have been really interesting, and sales could have been huge...