Sports cars, lister, AC cobra, Sunbeam Tiger....

Cool! I saw a TR6 with a 427 in it back in Oklahoma Nats in the 80's

 

By the way...
You are NOT going to be able to "just drop a V8 in an old sports car" for anywhere near as cheap as the most expensive T body out there.
Not an "old" sports car that's got enough left of it to drive anyway.
Unless you already have one...

 

I know it's a Jap car, but seems like I've seen Datsun roadsters with V-8's in 'em once or twice. V-8 swaps in MGB-GT's (the coupes) were big in the '70s.

The guy in the next bay over from my buddy has a Tri-power 421 in his Devin with a TH-400 behind it... just finished putting a new radiator and a Kugel front end under it to replace the old Jag parts.
BTW: there are wide and narrow Devins... I prefer the wider ones.

 

****... I forgot. Have you looked into a Locost? It's a Lotus Super Seven clone. There's a book available to build one yourself out of tubing and sheet for less than $3,000.00 complete, but some creativity and scrounging might get one done for less.

Do a search for Locost or Lo-Cost.

 

That Austin Healey was wonderful. Magazine stuff indeed!

I like the Kellison too, I did spot this one in Sweden last summer, for sale...


But my abo****e favorite is the Bosley, a one-off Hemi-powered Hot Rod in a beatutiful sports car dress. A long time favorite (I grew up with sports cars...). Once featured in Hot Rod and Road & Track I was delighted too see it restored featured in Cl***ic & Sports Cars June 2002 issue from where I snagged these photos.

 

This would not be a difficult style to build -- mostly flat panels.

 

It's just a thought I've been toying with for awhile. I'd probably build a tube frame with a mustang 2 front end. The body is my biggest hurdle($$$$), posibly a vw Karmen ghia thats been heavily modified,with the bottom cut out to accept the tube ch***is, but they are pretty narrow so a widening may be in order. ol' Yeller is the car that sparked my interest in these cars. My dream is to own a SBC powered Healy, I have The book "Complete Guide To Engine Swapping" by tex smith and it shows the SBF and SBC engine swaps into the Healy.
-Jesse

 

Here's the first part of the chev article, lot of work but it would be damn cool.......

 

I'm sure some of the MGB's were factory fitted with the Buick/Rover V8, Stags are easy and very cool.
I think the SBC/Jag actually saves you weight.......
a panel beating tutor I had at the local technical inst made himself a Lister, very nice.....
Re the Lotus 7 replicas, heaps of them here, made good and cheap often with twin cam Toyota power.
I know when I shipped my car back there were little Pommy sports cars sitting outside the wreckers yard in Phoenix, was tempted to suggest they fill up the container with parts for all the rusty old wrecks here

 

Funny this post should come up , I will be picking up two 70 Opel Gt's this weekend and one of em' is beggin' for a SBC! Opels can be found cheap enough, wadda bout an Opel?
Yes I'm serious about shoehornin' a SBC in a Opel.

 

Brother Bob, I've got an Opel GT factory sevice manual on Ebay right now.
Enough of my spam! Ive done sports cars before and....
Spitfire V8s are not good. A 60 degree v6 or a rotory is a good swap, though. MGBs can take an SBC but it won't handle very well with all that weight. MGB V8s were done at the factory. Buick V6s aree essentially the same swap with better aftermarket parts availability.
Triumph TR series cars are good candidates, especially 250s and 6s as they take a heavier engine originally. Healys are expensive, maybe 8000 for a good ch***is. you could pick up an unfinished kit car version for much less and get better brakes, rear end, ect. With an SBF they weigh around 2000 lbs.
Most kits, exept failed projects, are not cheap. I don't know if you think 10k+ is cheap, but thats what alot of them cost. The locost thing can be found on the net. It is so very cool! A couple of guys in the web ring for them have done and give plan modifications for ther SBC rides.

 

gettingreasy, would this work?
ebay # 2439148801

 

My first day at work when i was 17 was working on an MGB Costello V8, Costello was the guy that shoehorned the Rover into the MGB, he used the V8 from a Rover P6 Coupe & had a bulge in the hood from front to back to clear the carbs, after that MG put it into production & used a lower manifold to keep the hood stock looking, the Costello was quicker than the MG version too.
Totally useless info but i remember that first day, the second day was a valve job on a Stag V8, that ****ed too!

 

Jessie
I have a friend here that has a custom built race coupe built as a back up car for a racing team but streetable for sale. Composite body designed in a wind tunnel blown 343 CU" ( if I remember correctly ) small block ford factory race motor 5 or 6 speed trans totaly adjustable race suspension. It will top 200 MPH corners like it's glued to the road and it'll whip a Tunderbird like it's standin still. LOL

Judd

 

Here is a great site for sports cars with engine transplants. Especially check out the little car/ big engine conversion link for a wild variety of examples
.
http://britishv8.org/swaps/

 

I've got a Sunbeam Tiger front end and set of motor mounts that will let you bolt a small block Ford into an Alpine. Actually, you'll have to do some sheet metal t*******, but that's about it. Bought it to hop up my Alpine, but sold the car a few years ago. You would need to come up with a 289, ******, rearend (ford 8") and a rebuild kit to drop it all into an Alpine. It was out of a car that had been wrecked, but I've picked up replacements for anything that isn't perfectly straight.

Let me know if you have any interest.
Crease
Barons So Tex

 

Holy ****, that's a great link,Thanks. My Buddy Dominic's orignal Healey is listed on there by the new owner #34 . He even mentions how it ruled the streets of Detroit between 67-72, that car spent a lot of time Street Racing on our local cruise spot Telegraph.

 

Beck makes thie lister kit and it starts at $14,500 for a frame bocy windshield and a few other things. You supply the drivetrain, electrical and C4 vette suspension.

Some of these "lightweight" original engines are not as light as you might think. The aluminum jag V12 weighs more than a 440 and a porsche 944 turbo engine weighs just a hair under an SBC.

here's some domestic engine info:
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Track/7062/engine.html
some engine weights
http://www.team.net/sol/tech/engine.html
http://www.241computers.com/ford/ContentExpress20-30-38.html

or.. if you are nuts and got too much free time put a v12 in a corvair
http://www.corvaircorsa.com/V-12-01.html
there's some awesome fabrication on this car

 

This one is different.
http://www.sunbeamalpine.org/feature/back_issues_01/feb_01/feb_01.shtml

 

Mike thanks for sharing all the neat stuff. I think Max and Ak did a great thing for the U.S.A. rodders

Its all fair game, little car big motor. If it actually goes around corners too! Its even better.
I've ridden in a 327 powered bug eye sprite(just once thank you very much)
also a blown 327 A100 healy (that was fun)
Borrowed a friends sunbeam tiger, it seemed almost to civil.
these were all back in the 60's I'm sure that they would be much better today.
the BOCAR out of Colorado with the front mounted blower has always stuck in my mind as an ultimate driver.
I started building a 500 inch cad powered 914 porsche but some ******* talked me out of it before I got to drive it.never seen or heard of it again.
Theres a metro in Portland with a 454 that I see on the street all the time.
Kellison were awesum cars in the day, especially the black one that ran out of foothill speed center in Monrovia (I think it was Dave Carpenters).It was quicker and faster that Skip's 40 willy's (the owner of that speed shop)
I think that my all time favorite sport car type was a Maroon 54 Vette hardtop with a built 409 it was just to ****in cool for words back in 63
Jim

 

<font color="purple"> Datsun roadsters. They are fairly cheap and go like hell with a V8. I have seen many at the Datsun shows. </font>

 

I dropped a 302 &amp; 5spd outta 85 Mustang GT into an Opel GT - ran like a ****d ape. Drove it for a few weeks &amp; then sold the drive train &amp; s****ped the car.

Always liked the Opel GTs...getting pricey nowadays though...

 

I'm going to the vintage races at Daytona Speedway tomorrow.
I heard there's Devins, Sunbeams, Allards etc all over the place. I'll post pics when I get back.
Anybody got a 2.5 Daimler Hemi for sale?
I wanna stuff it in my '63 Ford Consul Capri.
Back in the 70s my friend and I painted a Dutton in black with Mirraflake over the top. It had a Rover/Buick 215 in it. The summ***** flat out hauled ***.
Goddammitt why didn't I take pictures of my English past?

Me? I'm a huge Ford Kent motor fan.

 

I've been looking high and low for Bocar photos, and can't find 'em anywhere.
I know there was an old Popular Science that ran an article, probably late '50's, early '60's, but it escapes me.
car had high fender tops and canted quad lights, and looked really effective.

 

Nads, can't help you with a Daimler Hemi, but it sounds like a cool project.
I had a '61 Consul Capri Cl***ic, and I found a 2nd one I parted out for spares. I put a 1.6 X-Flow in it but it was still slow ( compared to the Falcon Sprint V8 I had at the time)
Sold it to a buddy who put it all back to original. Somebody told me there were only 11 sold in the States, Do you think thats right?

 

Foiled, look for SCTA pics of a couple of years ago. Car # 3000. The guy races a Berkley now, and I worked on both of them...

 

No **** metalshapes, tell me more?

The Consul Capri Cl***ic is a misnomer though, the Cl***ic was a different car, it was a 2 or 4 door sedan with a backwards sloping rear window like an Anglia. Over the years I've found a lot of literature on the Capris. They were officially sold in the US and I'm sure a whole lot more than 11 found buyers. They were expensive for what they were. Mine was sold new in Orlando by Paquette Motors. I bought mine from the original owner. I have a 1500 GT motor in mine, pre X flow. It came with the 1340 3 main bearing dog that overheated one day and gave out. Luckily I found a donor car with the other engine. That car was a rust bucket from hell, I gave it away to the US serviceman that originally imported it in the 70s. Long story.
I still have mine, I love her to death. She's down now, clutch problems, but she'll be back.

Do you have any pictures of your car? I'd love to see it.

A while back there was an Apollo parked in a driveway for years in south Orlando. I'm pretty sure it was 215 Rover/Buick powered. It was red and it had wire wheels. I never thought about enquiring about it, then one day it was gone.
That would have been a great car to own.

Gawd I love it when the HAMB goes off into tangents about sportscars and other **** that's not 'traditional.'

 

So the H/T Coupe was the Capri And The Post car was the Cl***ic? I had a H/T ( roof line sorta like a P1800 Volvo)
It came with the 1340 engine that I replaced with a Kent out of a 1st year Pinto, they sold them that way but that engine was not as strong as the 1600GT I had in the MK1 ****** Estate that was my towcar in the old country.
I still have some cool pics of the Capri, and now you are going to make me be nice to my G/F so she will post them for me, aren't you?

 

So metalshapes you're from England huh?
We need to talk about Blighty and all that ****e one day.
If your'e ever in Florida or I'm in Arizona we've gotta hook up.

Please have your GF post some pics for HAMBland.

PS, my grandpa had a '61 Ford Cl***ic in Karachi ****stan. I remember going to buy a tune up kit for it with my uncle in '76.

 

Bocar pictures:
http://www.carolinabreeze.com/img/bocarnew.jpg
http://www.spiderweb2000.net/CountryRelaxin/1_10.html
http://www.ktrmotorsports.com/
Then click on “Bocar Stilleto”