More photos.In the first four you see what we did to increase tire and suspension clearance on the inside. This gives us more travel and also more leeway on tire and wheel selection even with the stock fenders. As can be seen in the second shot, not much metal had to be taken out to give us an extra 3/4" or so. We haven't made this mod to the GT yet, but it is too simple to pass up. Next a rear shot of the IRS with the new coil-over units, cranked up enough to give some suspension travel with the Jaguar wheels and tires which stick out past the fenders. Eventually the half-shafts will be nearly parallel with the ground with the driver in the car and half a tank of gas. Next the new gages donated by Bill Guzman out in LA., then I got a couple side shots of the car, and finally, the engine bay with a fresh coat of semi-gloss black. Then the best shot of them all, the new 455 snuggled into that fresh engine bay and ready for the exhaust to be fitted up. That should take place the week after Easter, and between now and then I expect to get the rear suspension finished and properly installed. Then the heads come off to go to Dale and we work on completing the short block, and installing dash, seats, radiator, driveshaft, brakes, and hooking up the electrics. Still a lot to do before June but with a couple more weekends like this one I think we can knock it out. Jim
Wow, looks great. Dale should have the flywheel, it all was shipped at the same time. Keep up the good work. Allen:beer
Thanks. I'm just glad we're making real progress and staying on schedule. The Buick community has been tremendously helpful and supportive, with more on the way and I want everyone to know we can't do it without you. But the worst is behind us I really believe, and with the support we've been pledged from various folks there's little doubt that we can meet our June deadline, although we do still need help putting it all together. With about 2-1/2 months left to get it running it will be tight, but I know we can do it if we pull together in these last few weeks. Jim
Another update. The rear suspension is complete and is back in the car and only needs to have the brake line and the e-brake cable hooked up which should be pretty simple. I'd be working on it today but between the cold this morning and some back pain I need to rest and do other things for right now. The fenders are trimmed for tire clearance and we have 8" of suspension travel in the back, mostly droop but probably 3" or better in compression. It's going to ride soft in the rear, and the roll center is now at the bottom of the differential. Should make for a dramatic improvement in ride and handling, and probably somewhat improved traction over the stock system. The front suspension won't do nearly as well but we can hope to improve that eventually. The heads are being completed as we speak. Dale Spooner is going to let us have the heads without having to pay for the parts before we take them, quite a considerable favor to us. I figure something around $400-500 is what we'll have to come up with to pay that bill, and as I gave Dale my own personal assurances that he would be paid I'm on the hook for it if we don't get enough donations to cover it. But at least things are coming together. Steve will be coming up again on the 22nd to help complete the engine assembly, install the engine and tranny, and prep the car for Dave, who is going to fit the exhaust. Brian McCulloch stepped up to the plate and fired off a Howe hydraulic throwout bearing to us, providing the last major piece of the drivetrain that we had to have. Carl is sending a straight (215) lower oil pump housing so we shouldn't have to mess with a remote oil filter. However. I've decided it is a good idea to go ahead and do the major oiling mods. We were going to just add the TA booster plate and let it go, aside from cleaning up some corners in the front cover, but this cam (Crower 52241) has changed my mind on that a bit. We still don't want to raise the redline significantly due to the cast pistons but as long as the pan is off I might as well drill the pickup journal and add the 5/8" pickup tube. Except that I can't find one. TA is out of stock. So if anyone can help out here, maybe direct me to a source, or even donate one to the project, it's a rear sump 455. EDIT: Nevermind, I got one from Poston. So that's the status for now. I hope to have more good news soon. Jim
We need your help! Cash donations for the British American Deviant Automotive Sportscar Society can now be made via PayPal to: mowog1@aol.com Please indicate "BADASS Donation" in the subject line of your correspondence. All proceeds go to the building and maintenance of this big-block Buick powered MGB/GT. Have you got $10, $20, $50, $100 to spare to help get this project on the road? Your donation ***could*** also be tax deductible. This low-budget, group effort of British-American engineering of a high performance sportscar by professional and amateur mechanics/enthusiasts could use a financial shot in the arm...and YOU can help! If you are not familiar with this project, you can follow its process here: [forum.britishv8.org] Thanks in advance for your assistance.... rick ingram Chairman - Ways and Means
Do these donations go to an actual cause besides the cause of a few guys that want to build a car? Are you going to raffle this off for charity or something?
Excellent question....and I should have clarified it in my original post. Yes....when the car is finished, we plan on showing it throughout the United States (We have member/sponsors scattered throughout the US: California, Texas, Minnesota, South Dakota, Illinois, Kentucky, South Carolina, Viginia, Tennessee, Michigan...just to name a few states.) After that, we hope to auction/sell the car with proceeds indeed going to charity.
Rick, thank you for posting that. Rick is the chairman of our Ways and Means Committee and is doing his best to help us complete the project. He has supported the project with a sizeable private donation and is collecting funds from interested contributors to allow it to be completed. Rick is by profession a Pharmacist and also operates a business as a vendor of MGB and V8/V6 powered MGB components and supplies, look for "Pieces of Eight" as the company name. Jason, to answer your question, yes this is a legitimate project being conducted for the public benefit by a legitimate Charity, licensed as a Non-Profit organization under the laws of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. As such, the car, the organization, and all of it's assets belong to the public. We, the members and officers of the organization can control the manner in which that benefit is bestowed to the public, but we have no control over the actual ownership of it. So were we to "raffle it off" as you mentioned, it would have to be done in such a way as to satisfy our fiduciary duties to the public and to the organization itself. Now before your eyes glaze over from the borderline legalspeak let me just say that our primary and stated goal is to "Educate the public regarding the synergies between American and British technologies, and in particular regarding large American engines and small British cars." To achieve that goal, yes we are a bunch of guys who just want to build a car, but much more than that. Not just any car, but the ultimate contemporary expression of Buick power with the MGB body shell. Why Buick? Because a Buick engine (the 215) was the first V8 used in production with the MGB. Why an MGB? Simply because those of us that started the project own and drive V8 or V6 converted MGB's and can't imagine a more suitable car. But it's much more as I said. Building the car is only the start because once it is finished it goes on Tour and will appear at a multitude of venues all across the country, including local shows, races, displays at schools and as many other special occasions as our members can dream up. This car is a very unique vehicle, and not just because of the size of the engine. To our knowledge it is the very first time that a car has been built in this manner. So not only does it mark a milestone as the very first Big Block Buick powered MGB, it marks another for the way in which it was constructed and yet another for the organization that was built around the project. It will travel from the custody of one member to the next, remaining in any given area long enough to satisfy local curiosity before moving on and will very likely stay on tour for a number of years before we determine that the time has come for it to retire. By then we will have decided how that will be done, whether donated to a museum, raffled as you suggested, or sold at auction as another member suggested, and we will also decide at that time the best way to benefit the public with any proceeds of that disposal. I hope this satisfies you that, should you contribute you are not just financing Joe Blow's build-a-junker. Everything, especially including the organization has been done to professional standards by people who know what they are doing. Your contribution makes you a member of the organization. Being a member satisfies the entry requirement to being eligible to participate in the tour schedule. In fact, every contributor is eligible to take custody of the car at some point, to drive it, show it off, and generally play with it and have a good time, provided certain requirements are met, primarily dealing with preservation of the car. So you send in your contribution and you're on the list. Where on the list? That's up to you, but you're on there. Then you have a say with everyone else how the project is run and if you don't like something about it you can lobby to change it. You become a part of it all. That's our trading stock, and we think it's worth a lot more than what it costs. In case you were wondering, we are now very close to having a fully functional car assembled and expect to do so by the meet in June where our members will have their first chance to drive the car. Whether we will extend that opportunity to interested onlookers is a matter yet to be determined but is a definite possibility, in keeping with our stated goals. However, even though you may be coming late to the party, we welcome you. There is more to be done in the coming year, including paint and interior before the tour schedule is set. Rick will keep track of the contributors, as will Steve our Treasurer, Graham our Secretary, and myself, and we will very much look forward to meeting you at the first opportunity. And just another postscript, everything and I do mean EVERYTHING, be it construction, paperwork, or whatever has been done on the basis of DONATED labor, funds, parts or whatever was needed. Every penny donated has gone to construction of the car, filing fees for the organization, title transfer fees and such and no member has received monetary compensation for work of any sort. We expect to have costs for insurance and tags of course. Jim Blackwood, Esq. President, British American Deviant Automotive Sports-car Society, Limited Liability Corporation (B.A.D.A.S.S., NLC for short)
The exhaust is now coming along very well. The car has been up at Dave VanWyck's shop in Michigan for about a week and he hopes to finish up in a few days. Here are some photos of his progress so far. Jim
I'd have to check with Graham to see, but I don't think it's made it online yet. So far we have around 45 supporters, a dozen of which are businesses. We give them some extra consideration because we want to help promote their businesses but the individuals are the real backbone of the organization and have made just as big of a contribution overall. Taking this forum as an example, Jamie McClinton, Newport Start-n-Charge is our biggest business contributor with his donation of a mini starter. Poston never followed through and TA declined to even discount their products that we did use such as their stage 2 SE heads and we've paid full retail on everything we've bought from them. I'm not complaining, I think they're doing a lot of good and I'd hate to be the cause of anyone getting a pink slip, but instead of promoting their products we're making do with a beat up old set of tin valve covers and when we do buy a set of cast ones it'll probably be a no-name set or maybe Offy if we can find some. Personally I've been a strong supporter of TA and have promoted their products quite effectively over on the British-V8 board and they'll certainly make some nice sales due to my efforts in persuading folks over there that this was the company to do business with. I just wish they'd see fit to support our effort in some way. But enough of that, we'll do it with or without them just as it's been all along. We've done a remarkable job of staying on track and sometimes a sponsor can really derail a project so we're pretty lucky our largest contributors have mostly sat back and watched in terms of deciding where the project is going to go. Blackwood Labs, LLC has been the big exception to that, but since we're hosting the effort that is only appropriate, and we solicit member input on all of the big decisions anyway. Among our contributors from this board, Allen Mandeen has been the number one guy hands down. It would have been a very different project without him with considerably slower progress as he contributed the '71 engine as well as numerous other items such as the flywheel, carb, plug wires, etc. Several other members here contributed key items. None of this is being forgotten, and names will go on the car in just a few weeks, and photos will be posted. At the June meet we will decide how to proceed next, so if any of you can make it, it will be an open meeting. We'll be at Durham from the 7th through the 10th. and T-shirts will be for sale. Jim By the way, did anyone see the show on the new Cobra that aired on "Rides"? Nice car huh? A lot of really talented people doing really creative stuff to create a really great car. Nobody doubts that it will be an instant legend. What we're doing with the MGB-Roadmaster is very similar in a lot of ways. We don't have the budget, the big name, or the major car manufacturer behind us so that puts limits on us but what we do have is the really talented people doing really creative stuff to create a really great car, and we also have the legitimacy of following up on a legend, hopefully to also create a second generation legend the same as Ford is doing. If Buick was a little more involved in motorsports maybe they could get some good press out of it. JB
If Buick was a little more involved in motorsports maybe they could get some good press out of it. call Buick corp anyways. and some individual dealerships around you. put together a little display on some of the Buick performance heritage like the aero bodies in Winston Cup back in the early 80s, the v6 Busch cars, the v8 and v6 Indy efforts. and you know me, i'd throw the F1 stuff in there too. if you had something like that to parade around with the B.A.D.A.S.S. for the Buick dealers, you'd knock their socks off whether or not GM corp wanted to have to do with it. with the death of Pontiac, Buick is going to ( should! if GM management isn't TOO stupid... ) need something sporty on the car lots now that they're down to just Buick and GMC for the dealerships. if Buick lets Cadillac come in and soak up all the attention at these dealers, we might as well just shoot the division now.
EVEN BETTER! get the dealer to make a really big marketing deal about this. have him mention a "Performance Buick" get together on his radio ads. play this up for ~two weeks ahead of time and have a Buick rally at the dealership. all Buicks ( and Buick derived performance like the 1989 Turbo Trans Am ) welcome, but pride of place to GN's, GS / GSX's and Riviera's. holy crap, this could be a traveling circus.
Those are great ideas Bob. I'm pretty tied up with trying to put the car together but I did just try to send an email to the local Buick dealership. It bounced I'm afraid, so I sent one to Buick. Whether or not it gets through to the right people is the big question but we'll see. Fact is, I just don't have those contacts. Maybe nobody here who would like to help does either and it's just a shot in the dark, but at least I made the effort. Sometimes that's all it takes, sometimes it's a whiff, but even in making the effort we gain something by it so it isn't wasted. If anybody here can do more, by all means go ahead. Jim
Well, I actually got a speedy reply from a real person. Quite the surprise, that. And so the red tape begins and no one knows where it will end. But, at least I have a phone number. And now, just for the fun of it, here's a little underground film that some of you may not have seen. It's clearly illegal and obviously testosterone driven and I can't endorse driving that way anywhere except on a race track but it does give some of the flavor of what we're all about with these little bitty cars with big engines. Hope you like it. Jim http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqHrCLt3Geo
while he blows plenty of red lights, he really doesn't appear to be overtaking other cars as fast as the audio track would lead you to believe in most places. a couple of times it appears he might have 30-40 mph on the rest of the traffic, nowhere near the 140mph that gets claimed in the youtube thread. at around 5:50 then he goes around a pedestrian in one intersection while the audio has the engine just screaming. and the pedestrian is NOT running for the hills. something is fishy with this recording. sometimes it takes forever to wind out 5 gears ... sometimes it takes secondes...
Yeah well, the film was made in the '70's and you know how bad they were with dubbing the sound tracks back then. It's nothing short of of amazing the film is as good as it is. Yeah, it has some flaws. I heard two places where the transition from deceleration to acceleration was all wrong, you hear a fade in of accelleration just a hair early. But isn't it a hoot to watch? Great with your morning coffee! Regardless, the driver was clearly a madman and it's a great little film clip. The point is, even though we have no intention of driving the MGB-Roadmaster like that, it's the same sort of car in a lot of ways. Fast, nimble, and capable of getting you into trouble extroardinarily fast. Though I dare say it will be noticeably quicker. Jim
