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Hello all, new to the club here. I have a 1979 mgb I bought, an am in the process of putting a 3rd Gen turbo 13b brew in. Looking for any tips, maybe someone has done this? I have to get some custom manifolds made before the motor can go in if anyone happens to know a reputable shop. And oh man the electrical Is horrendous lolHere is some pictures! Will keep post updated as I go further into the project. Before the motor was pulled.
I'm currently doing a ground up resto of a B and have fitted a 13BT I had lying around alongside an FD trans for (what I thought would be an issue at the time) bellhousing and where I wanted to mount the trans to the body.
How are you planning to mount it? Your engine looks to be currently fitted far more forward than mine so if you're not taking advantage of the rear mounts I'm wondering if its worth it to track down FD parts?
Here are some photos, feel free to DM me with specifics later on.
(Full disclosure - I focus on chassis/vehicle control electronics and this is just a 'whats around the shop' personal project so some of the fab and welding aesthetics aren't what I would call great:
Prepare for the photo dump:
Stock Messy '74 bay. Figuring out if I can use a stock 1st gen front mount. Decided against it given how high the stock B engine sits Engine placement/mount mockup 1 Engine placement/mount mockup 2 Hacked up a front mount and created a mount that rests on the rear shelf of the subframe and then bolts through. Should illustrate how far back it sits as compared to a factory B engine.
Photos 2 Turbo placement and what I had to hack up to fit a stock turbo. There's a secondary frame rail scabbed on and boxed in not pictured. Not much room. Interfooler. It's stock because it's not a race car and while its not near as optimal as it could be I think it'll be a neat thing to see when the hood is popped. Turbo placement context with interfooler. Samesies but a bit of a view of the subframe again.
Basic trans shot. I've fabbed a cradle to attach to that crossbar that I ended up cutting out, rewelding, and now it's removable. Trans stabbing otherwise would be next to impossible. Driveshaft will hopefully outlast the stock rear end for the time being.
And because this project ballooned into way more than it should here is how it stands now:
(The engine is a donor engine from a customer that made a deposit then flaked, the chassis was supposed to be a spitshine and give to my father until the engine blew, the other parts are just things I've had laying around)
So ronery. That firewall cutout is part of where the downpipe will be routed. It'll be boxed in and the insulated with mica to not roast feetsies. Strippers Rotisserized and getting ready to live in the booth for a bit. This is after 14 cumulative hours of cleaning the body/descaling etc etc. You can see the scabbed on frame rail here. It's triangulated and boxed into the unibody so I'm hoping that this along with the fact that the entire front subframe with its integrated a-arms/armstrong shocks will make it strong enough to not be a wet noodle.
I've also chopped the windshield down to ~4" and am strongly considering putting a single hump cage with a removable cross bar that spans from just above and to the right of my head (in a helmet) down to the passenger footwell where the frame meets the floor. Not even specifically for track days or anything. I just don't wanna die.
I was hoping to be able to drive this thing to SevenStock but that was before I started stripping it completely. Maybe in primer, but probably not.
P.S. I'm aware this subforum probably isn't where this should go since its not even an REW like the OP is suggesting but hey, it DOES have an FD tranny.
Last edited by dguy; 08-14-21 at 09:17 PM.
Reason: Post Script
The 2nd Gen in the photos has the motor mounts in the center of the block, so it sits in the original spot for the motor mounts. The motor is currently out, but yours looks like it sat pretty nicely. Although I really wanna avoid doing alot of chopping lol I am looking for a fab shop that could make me some custom manifolds to move the turbo. The guy got it from who originally put the engine in tried to beat the passenger wheel well to fit the turbo but if I move it I should need cut away anything.
The 3rd gen engine mounts differently than a 2nd gen. You're really better off doing a 2nd gen turbo engine using an older front cover. A stock or mostly stock 2nd gen engine is plenty of power for such a small car. you're kind of reinventing the wheel trying to do a 3rd gen engine.
Well if I could mount it back a little more using the rear mounts I wouldn't have to much trouble. But I would prefer the 3rd Gen mostly for durability over the 2nd Gen as I plan to track this car. With the mounts being on the back of the 3rd Gen I'll have to add mounts further back.
I sort of hinted at it before but maybe I should say it again; as someone who's in the middle of doing this/has done all the fab and fitment, I think you're choosing to go about it the most difficult way possible. The amount of power you would need/want for the chassis doesn't particularly warrant an REW and at the power levels that I think will be the sweet spot you can build a rock solid 13BT and have it in the car for far less money.
That said, if you just really want to go with an REW by all means go for it however I don't see any reasonable way to go with a rear mounted engine such as an REW without some very significant frame cutting and modding of which you've already said you'd like to do as possible. So with that, I'd strongly suggest either sticking with the 13B/T or doing what I've done and run an REW with a 1st gen front cover and use a front mount on the stock subframe.
Dguy I must have misunderstood you the first time around, but I get what you are saying. Currently to fit the 2nd Gen as it sits It needed a custom sway bar. Other then that everything sat very well.. wish I would have taken more pictures before I had pulled the motor. May I ask what you did about your wiring?
Dguy you had also mentioned that you hoped that it wasn't a wet noodle. Do you have doubts the frame would hold up? Would some extra reinforcement be advisable?
Dguy after some digging I did find these adapters that mount the brew to a rc chassis. Any thoughts? I also am worried the oil pan is to big on the brew? 13B-REW FC engine swap mounts
There was a group that used to put rotaries in Lotus Europas, I saw one at KDR being tuned, Rotaries are awesome in small, light cars. Wish Mazda made one they could put it in.. ;-)
I drove that car. Very cool and very quick. The Europa's are under 2000 pounds. Actually, I had a Europa S1 in the late 90's.
Ugh! I wanted one so bad (before I had the money to build cars)!
I had a friend who built MGBs, and its actually a great feeling and handling car, transmission was great. And so simple, you can build your own dashes, etc. Keep us posted!
Dguy I must have misunderstood you the first time around, but I get what you are saying. Currently to fit the 2nd Gen as it sits It needed a custom sway bar. Other then that everything sat very well.. wish I would have taken more pictures before I had pulled the motor. May I ask what you did about your wiring?
No worries, I'd have to see how it was done, but I didn't like the placement of where I'd need to fit the engine and trans combo if I were to use the center mounts on the B chassis, my goal was to keep it as low and as far back as possible, hence the shifter being moved back about 4-5" so I get to use a REPU transfer case selector turned around in the FD trans as a shifter. With regards to wiring its kind of my bread and butter so I'm just remaking everything the way I'd want to out of tefzel. I haven't started the chassis yet but this is the harness for my oldschool SM4 thats driving the engine:
OG SM4 from a past project.
Originally Posted by Iamsxwho
Dguy you had also mentioned that you hoped that it wasn't a wet noodle. Do you have doubts the frame would hold up? Would some extra reinforcement be advisable?
Well, the subframe up front isn't rigidly mounted at all (it sits on a few rubber pads) and the fact that there are no strut towers to brace makes it pretty flexy. Also the suspension uprights on the chassis for the leaf springs are pretty eh; they deflect a fair bit just by hand squeezing. Add those two things together as well as how everything is folded spot welded and you get for a not very solid structure. I'd recommend chassis reinforcement if you're doing any sort of boosted rotary.
Originally Posted by Iamsxwho
Dguy after some digging I did find these adapters that mount the brew to a rc chassis. Any thoughts? I also am worried the oil pan is to big on the brew? 13B-REW FC engine swap mounts
I haven't had the desire to swap in an REW to an FC as I've been able to make the power I've wanted on my FCs with S5 blocks so I can't speak to those adapters. May work? it seems a bit of a fabricobble of a project when the front cover and/or a center mount on a 13BT will suffice. I can take a photo of an FC pan next to an FD pan if you still are raring to go REW though. I can also give context via straight edges and a banana for scale.
Dguy you had also mentioned that you hoped that it wasn't a wet noodle. Do you have doubts the frame would hold up? Would some extra reinforcement be advisable?
car wasn't really designed for triple the stock power....
08-14-21, 05:07 PM
