The Morris Gazette

BMC-NO is affiliated with:
North American MGB Register (NAMGBR)
and
Vintage Triumph Register (VTR)

If you are a member of these or any other national register or club, please let us know.

Inside this issue:

Calendar (click here)

Meeting Minutes

Officers (click here)

Richard Wolf Un-Car Show

SABCC Show Entry Form

MGB-V8 Conversion pt. 4

For Sale

Funkana by the Z's

Membership (click here)

Club Regalia (click here)

President's Message

Our club made a good showing at the "All Clubs" cruise to Middendorf's Restaurant at Manchac. There was a large turnout of both clubs and cars and, I believe, everyone enjoyed visiting and viewing the wide array of cars. As usual, the food was delicious and the service fast and efficient.

I am writing this before our Funkana but all indications are it will be well attended including some guests from other clubs. The Haydens always do a good job putting on this event.

Unfortunately our elections are not as well attended as our other events. Below is a list of nominees from the Board. These are all familiar same old names. Despite pleas for candidates, the same people keep stepping up. I guess this is a compliment that the members are satisfied with the job we are doing but it still would be good to get new blood active and give the "old guys" a rest. Nominations from the floor are encouraged.

Harold O'Reilly

The Board of Directors present the following nominations for the 2004 year:

Nominations from the floor will be received at the September 30 meeting and before elections at the October 28 meeting. Additional nominations are encouraged.

August 26 Minutes

Harold O'Reilly started off the meeting at 7:30 pm and Allen Bradley gave a quick review of the last club event, the Uncar Show. (See last month's news letter for details). The club would like to see more participation at this fun event which even includes one free dinner per car. Harold O'Reilly talked about the car painting class at Delgado that started August 25th. Several of the car club members are participating. Classes are held Monday and Wednesday nights for a semester. Harold reminded everyone that nomination of officers is at hand and volunteers for officers' positions would be greatly appreciated. Elections are held in October.

Upcoming Events: September 7th is the multi car club cruise event to Middendorf’s. September 20th is the English Motoring Club event at Fred Fabre's. (See last month's newsletter). September 21st is the Hayden's Funkana at Tangier Factory Outlet. September 27th is the Montgomery AL Car Show. October 10th is the show in Natchez, October 18th is the Houston show and also the Antique Car Show at the Treasure Chest Casino. October 25th is the Pontchatoula Vineyards Wine Tasting. The Brandleys have been to this event before and had a great time. They strongly encouraged everyone to come. November 2nd is the E.E. Reynolds Rally and November 8th is the South Alabama Car Show in Fairhope.

Members' Projects: In an attempt to further his cause of fire truck renovations and interest in British vehicles, Floyd Friloux made an appeal that members visit eBay on the internet and consider bidding on a Dennis fire truck from England , or possibly a Land Rover 6X6 emergency vehicle. Martin Straka reported on his project to have some St Leger Rally plates produced and recent assistance by Penny's Auto Chassis in replacement of hub splines on his MGB. Dan Melasurgo was successful in finding a home (Allen Bradley's) for an assortment of TR6 parts left over from earlier projects. Cliff Hughes and Bill Breithoff reported on the tribulations likely to be encountered in bleeding Healey & Triumph hydraulics. The virtues of Simichrome polish (when combined with moderate physical effort) were extolled by several members. Roy reported that his TR7 clutch is still stuck to the pressure plate. Harold reported hearing an awful noise from rear of his car recently after oil change—thankfully the sound turned out to be from an unhappy drain pan that was crushed by reversing car.

Drawings: Harold proclaimed August meeting "shortest of year" with remaining business limited to awarding the drawing of the night's 50/50. $22.00 went to Wally Messina and T-shirts to June Harris, George Barton, and Joe Rogers. Good weather & shorter official proceedings resulted in greater participation and extended parking lot conferences after the meeting.

6th Annual Richard Wolf UnCar Show

Sixteen British cars and approximately 40 people took part in the 6th Annual Richard Wolf UnCar Show.

As usual, it rained some on the day of the UnShow. The South Shore convoy split up momentarily when the rain hit hard just outside of Covington. The Greensfelder’s and the Harris’ both peeled out of line to a handy parking lot and staged an impromptu MGB top-raising race. Neither of them noticed who won, being far too busy drying off the inside of their cars and themselves.

Melissa Schrantz' Land Rover	Harold O'Reilly's Spitfire

The Exxon Valdez award for biggest oil leak went to Cliff Hughes MGA won, but “Scarlet”, Sally Breithoff’s MGB, gave it a run for the money. When awarded the prize, Cliff exclaimed “But I thought I fixed that!”.

The Duct Tape award for worst top went to Charlie Ake’s “new” MGB. It definitely has more vinyl that duct tape, but the rear “light” isn’t. It is almost solid brown with age.

Mark & Cathy Greensfelder's MGB	Harold accepts the "Boot" Award

Melissa Schrantz’ Land Rover Discovery took home the Dustbin Award. The judges suspected artistic license had been taken and the car helped with it’s thoroughly Land Rover-appropriate filth (witness the muddy hand print on the driver’s side rear), but it was by far and away the dirtiest vehicle there.

The Spiderweb award for biggest windshield crack when to Sally Breithoff’s MGB. The crack is a good 6-8 inches long. Charlie’s MGB has a rock ding that looks like a bullet hole—clear through—but “Starlet's” windshield was measurably worse.

The Body Shop award for paint went to Harold O’Reilly’s Spitfire, although Charlie Ake’s B and Jim Jones’ Morris Minor (last year’s winner) both were close.

Allen Bradley's 2nd Goodwill Trophy	Mr. Goodspanner (Jim Jones) & Barbara Wolf enjoy the food.

A new award was given this year. Charlie Ake provide a lovely (and thoroughly beat up) wire wheel knock-off mounted on a block of oak entitled the “Undo” award. (That’s what is says on the knockoff—”undo” and a arrow pointing which way to turn it.) This award for (lack of) outstanding wheels went to Cathy Greensfelder’s MGB. Its Rostyle wheels are rusted almost brown.

The “Boot” award—a truly hideous looking trophy awarded to the car whose owner is most likely to walk home from the event—went to Harold O’Reilly’s Spitfire. The (possibly original) tires are visibly cracked over most of the tread surface and split like gumbo clay in a drought.

Roger Nagy & Allen Bradley with Allen's Goodwill Winner TR6

The prestigious Goodwill Award went again to a vehicle that could have won in at least 3 categories: paint, top and interior. The trophy is returning to Allen Bradley, but this time for his TR6. As you may remember, Allen’s chrome bumper MGB took home the Goodwill 2 years ago, but is now winning in real shows, so we can expect his TR6 won’t be an UnShow candidate for long. Congratulations, Allen!

In addition to the awards, the everyone who managed to get a British car to the event received a free dinner, on the club. The food was great, the Tap Room’s air conditioning was nice and cold, and everyone had a fun time. §

MGB-V8 Conversion Part 4 by Rick Huber

(Continued from September 2003)
The most popular transmissions to mate up to the GM 215 or Rover 3.5 engines are the Rover 5 speed, the Borg Warner T-5 and T-50 5 speeds, and the stock MGB o/d transmission. Other transmissions can be matched up to these engines but are more specialized / unique. People who put other engines in MGBs choose different transmissions, but I'll keep this to a reasonable length by concentrating on the GM/Rover engine.

The Rover 5 speed is certainly the most convenient transmission to use. Bell housing, clutch, and transmission all fit to both engines. It's a simple installation, and they're relatively easy to find. Three disadvantages of the Rover transmission are: the required pounding / cutting modification of the transmission tunnel, the higher, 0.83 5th gear ratio, and the fact that it employs a pump for lubrication. Pump failure and / or towing without disconnecting the drive shaft doom this transmission to failure.

The Borg Warner T-5 / T-50 5 speed transmissions are the next most popular units mated with these engines. Using these transmissions may require bell housing, pilot shaft, pilot bushings, (and perhaps other) modifications. The T-5 was used in GM and Ford cars, for 4, 6, and 8 cylinder applications. The rights have now been sold to Tremec for aftermarket production. One converter recommended using the T-5 from a V-8 application because the front main shafts are about 1 inch longer and will fit without modification. Advantages of the T-5 are more available parts / knowledge, lower final gear ratio's of 0.73, 0.68, and 0.63 depending on the application. The lower ratio allows lower RPM freeway driving, and makes keeping the standard 3.9 ratio MGB rear end a more reasonable choice. The T-5 is 18 lbs. lighter than the Rover and don’t require the metal bending of the transmission tunnel to mount. T-5s are harder to find (than a T-50, but easier than a Rover), being very popular with hot rodders.

The T-50 is less frequently used in MGB V8 applications and has had some bad press. However, the problems are with the "wide ratio" box used with 6 cylinder engines. They had short 1st and 2nd gears, and an unusual reverse position. The "close ratio" box from a V8 Chevy Monza has worked very well in the MGB V8 application. The T-50 is small, light, and is plentiful and cheap. The 5th gear ratio is 0.84, so very similar to the Rover.

The MGB transmission with overdrive has an o/d gear ratio of 0.82, so right in the same range as the Rover and the T-50. However, the MGB transmission requires specialized adaptation to the engine (I'm not sure how it's done), and isn’t as durable since it wasn't built for the torque of the larger engine.

Bell housings are typically from the GM engines, after market units produced by Transdapt, and Rover. There are of course significantly fewer bell housings for manual transmission since many of the applications were automatic transmissions. For example, of the 750,000 GM 215 engines produced, only 85,793 were made with manual transmissions. The GM bell housings came in several styles - 3 speed, 4 speed, and a combination 3 and 4 speed mating surface. The Rover, T-5, and T-50 transmissions can be mated to the GM or Rover engine with various modifications / adapter plates / adjustments. There's a great article about this in the September 99 Volume VII, Issue 2 of the MGB V8 newsletter. Back issues are available by contacting Don. The MGB V8 conversion specialists I mentioned in the last article are also quite adept at mating engines / transmissions.

The MGB drive shaft is not up to the torque of the V8 engine and will twist and shear. A larger diameter drive shaft is required. I got mine from Glen Towery, and frankly, I don't know its origin. Glen (and the others too) makes them up with the right flanges for the transmission / rear end you're planning to put in your car.

Rear end choices offer more opportunity to spend money. I chose to stick with my stock 3.9 ratio MGB differential. They're tough and last forever if taken care of, and hold up well in V8 service. I figured if I got tired of accelerating too fast (an oxymoron ?), high RPM on the highway, or if I tear it up, I'll choose another alternative. Yes, with the 0.83 5th gear in my Rover transmission and the 3.9 ratio rear end, I'm winding up the engine and burning gas on the highway. First gear is pretty short, but it sure is fun, and I'm not putting many highway miles on the car anyway.

Other alternatives exist. One is to put a 3.07 MGC crown wheel and pinion in the stock MGB housing. MGCs were made with 3.07, 3.31, and 3.7 rear end ratios, so the 3.07s are pretty hard to find. Brand new 3.07 crown wheel and pinions are being made in the UK and sold by Mike Satur, but they're relatively expensive.

Another option is to have a tough, robust Ford (or other US made) rear end modified to install in the MGB. For a little more money, you can get a limited slip / positraction rear end to provide much better traction to keep all that power from spinning the wheels. The process of converting a US rear end includes narrowing the unit, relocating the mounts, and setting up the brakes. There is another advantage here, as many Ford rear ends came with disc brakes or can be converted easily with salvage yard or after market parts. Gears are relatively cheap and can be customized from 2.47 up to 6.5, so you can design your V8 MGB to be a comfortable, high mileage highway cruiser, a drag racer, or anything in between.

An example of drivability difference at the extremes are a Rover 5 speed with a 0.83 5th gear ration with a 3.9 rear end turns the engine at 2720 RPM at 60 MPH compared to a T-5 with the 0.63 ratio 5th gear and a 3.07 rear end which drops the RPM to 1625. The numbers vary with tire sizes, but the relative comparison is the same. (to be continued.) §
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 5

NOTICE TO MGB OWNERS! Our club is affiliated with NAMGBR, the North American MGB Registry. This affiliation provides our liability insurance for events. BMCNO must maintain 8 registered NAMGBR members in our club to be affiliated. If you own (used to own, or would like to own) an MGB, please join NAGMBR, then tell the newsletter editor, Cathy Greensfelder. (She’s the keeper of the membership list.) NAMGBR dues are $25 and the newsletter MG Driver is worth it. Cathy will have NAMGBR membership applications at the next meeting.

ATTENTION TRIUMPH OWNERS! Our club is a Vintage Triumph Register (VTR) zone. We need 10 VTR members in our club to become an affiliated chapter. There are insurance and other benefits to becoming a chapter. If you own (used to own, or would like to own) any type of Triumph, please join VTR, then tell the newsletter editor, Cathy Greensfelder. (She’s the keeper of the membership list) or Harold O’Reilly, the VTR liaison. Cathy will have VTR membership applications at the next meeting.

For Sale

78 MGB - runs good, needs interior work. Removable hard top. New, uninstalled vinyl top and windshield included. New Tires, cooling fan, horns, brakes. Asking $1500.00/OBO. Call Laurie or Mike, 504-282-5002 or lalee0523@cox.net (9/03)

61 MGA 1600. Stored in garage, covered for 10 years. In fair shape, very restorable. Asking $3,000 Bryan LaHaye, Opelousas LA,
blahaye@communicom-inc.com (8/03)

74 MGB (chrome bumper) Ground up restoration. New paint, leather interior, wood dash, Mini-lite wheels, stereo, more. 106,000 miles. Asking $8,900. Mike Swiber, Morgan City LA, 985-385-0482 (8/03)

56 MGA. Wire wheels, Red. Engine & mechanicals redone with no miles on them. Frame & body sound. Interior in bad shape. Has been stored awhile. Tim Shrewsbury, Louisville, KY. (757) 623-3635. timshrewsbury@juno.com
7/03)

Funkana by the Z's by Paul P. Corban

Hey guys and gals...

The FunKana was a BLAST. For those of you who missed it, y'all missed a GREAT event. Here's how it happened:

We drove out of Slidell around 11:30am. Nancy and I were the only Z car from the Slidell/New Orleans/Mississippi/Alabama/Georgia/Florida group...

We drove to the British Motor Car Club meeting location in Hammond, and we left at 1:00pm with just, well, you guessed it, one car ... a 1990 Twin Turbo Z representing both the BMCNO and the LAZC clubs!

That still didn't deter us - neither did the rain... We cruised to the Tanger Outlet Mall in Gonzalez with "Greased Lightning" playing on the radio and my windshield wipers thumping to its rhythm... Good tires (Kuhmo's) are just wonderful to have...

When we got to the mall, the rain and the wind was still whipping around us. At the mall, the Z's lined up, 280's, 300ZX (Z31's), 300ZX TT (Z32, mine), and two gorgeous 350's... Ian Smith, Jason Romero, Chad Blanchard, Mike Bardwell, Paul Holden and Nancy and I stood around and socialized with the BMCNO guys and gals. The rain slacked off, then stopped. Norman Oubre drove up in his 280Z, also, Elliot Brett and Amanda drove up in a 300ZX Z31. The BMCNO members started grumbling that there were as many Z's as there were British Cars. I have to say that standing under that overhang allowed a little camaraderie to develop between our club members - we weren't the "other" guys any more, neither were they to us... the rain has its advantages...

The track was already set up that morning. With the rain gone, it was time to get to it. The course began with someone taping a real, raw egg to your bumper with 200mph tape (duct tape - or is it duck tape?). Then a LeMans start started the clock. Driver and Navigator had to run to the car, get in crank up and start the course. My Z must have had the jitters... it refused to start all of a sudden... spent approx 7 - 8 seconds trying to get her started! Rats!! OK, on to the first stop - the driver had to place a bag over his head while the navigator jumped out of the car and did the Hula Hoop!

The Navigator then guided the blind driver thru a course of cones, slaloming him left and right by telling him how to steer. Agonizing seconds passed before you reached the other end of the parking lot without trying to hit a cone, take the bag off, and then proceed to the "rope" event. Here you have to drive around a very tipsy post with a rope tied to it. The navigator held the rope from out the window that was tied to the post, and the driver tried to steer the car in a circle so that the rope did not touch the ground or get too tight to have it pull the tipsy post down... you think that's easy? Try reversing thru it as well...!

Ok, passed that ordeal, now to the "teeter totter". However, the Z club guys elected to take a 40 second penalty on this event as our cars could not get up on the ramp - too low to the ground! The object of the ramp is to drive your car on it, and have it balance for a second before you drop the front of the teeter totter and drive off of it...

Next challenge was the flag in the cone. You have to pick up two containers of tennis balls, proceed to an array of cones arranged in a circle with flags stuck in them. Alternating from Navigator to driver, you have to retrieve the flags and substitute it with a tennis ball, without dropping the ball or touching the cone with the car. Ok, yours truly passed up the balls in my hurry to get there, had to reverse, get the balls then go the course... and I dropped a ball... darn!

Next - oh yeah - time for that egg test that someone stuck on my bumper... You have to pull your car as close as possible to a wooden board standing upright, without touching it and breaking the egg... I had a foot to spare... no egg shall break on my bumper... I don't care how many events I lose! Paul and Mike were smarter with their 350s. They were allowed 1.5" for the egg - so they got away with no eggs being taped to their 350's.

Past that.. one more event. This was not timed, although just about all Z'ers screeched out the gate on that one... hehehe.. we got muscles guys... In this event, the driver motions to two people at the other end of the parking lot to separate two posts apart. As soon as he thinks he can fit his car in there without touching either post, he motions to them to stop, then takes off to the other side of the parking lot for a measurement. This was added to your score.

Ok, adrenaline levels high, you exit the course and park the car and walk with wobbly knees (if you have a clutch you'd know why) and watch the next car go at it...

Overall, the BMCNO guys took the trophies for best times. But our guys were not to be denied. The Louisiana Z Club handed out trophies to the best in the Z Car class. And the winners are:
First Place Driver/Navigator: Elliot Brett & Amanda in a 300ZX (Z31)
Second Place Driver/Navigator: Paul Holden & Mike Bardwell in a 350Z
Third Place Driver/Navigator: Norman Oubre & Nancy Oubre in a 280ZX

Fourth and Fifth place went to Paul Corban (me) and Mike Bardwell. Yay!

Congratulations on a job well done guys and gals!

For pictures of the fun times we had - check out the link below. Then you can cruise to the www.bmcno.org website for more info on the event!

The Louisiana Z Club was extended an open invitation from the BMCNO for next year's FunKana. We'll be there! You Bet!

Paul P. Corban
Louisiana Z Club
President, Slidell/New Orleans Chapter
(337)781-8379

The photos that Karen and Keith took at the Funkana are now posted on the web; you can view them at:
http://public.fotki.com/RubberBumper/funkana/

BMCNO Results:
1st—Fred Stokes driving a Saturn with 300k miles!!
2nd—Bill Breithoff, TR8
3rd—Bill Karam, TR6, (last year’s winner)
Roy Richardson, Harold O’Reilly and Bill Breithoff all balanced!! §