1970 MGB Roadster - 12a power $2400

1970 MG MGB, no roof, no sensibility, all 10,000rpm screamer. This car is the stuff of legends, or, it will be when you sort the wiring out.

I've had this car a couple years, and I don't really have time to work on it as much as I want to. I think I should pass it on to somebody who will give it the attention it deserves. I had so many plans, but I'm dead set on buying a house before midyear, and that tends to kill dreams like these. I've had plenty of fun with this car, everybody who rides in it says "HOLY E36 M3 THIS IS A DEATHTRAP I WANT MY MOMMY", but everybody who drives it says "HOLY E36 M3 THIS IS A RUSH LIKE NO OTHER I WANT MY MOMMY."

It needs a little work, the body isn't the best, the aluminum hood shows signs of driving through a hailstorm, and the rest of the body doesn't (possibly why a past owner got rid of it). I wouldn't ever approve the rollbar of being adequate for a track day, let alone autocross, or even the street. The suspension hangs on well enough with crappy tires, but, well, it's an ancient design. The lever arm shocks hold the upper wishbones in the front, despite not being hooked up due to the existence of tube shocks. Were I to keep it, I'd probably go with a Moss Motors Gaz coilover conversion. As far as I can tell, it's good, but much cheaper than a whole new front subframe. I'd also go with a Bill Guzman 4 link rear end, again best bang for the buck in my opinion.

The good:

• Streetported Mazda 12a Wankel rotary engine good for an estimated (no idea who came up with this number) 165 horsepower
• Twinbarrel side draft Mikuni carb with manual choke, and phenolic spacer to keep heat out of it.
• Badass Marchal headlights that are so good, they make HIDs irrelevant.
• Supertrapp muffler with removable baffles to enable flamethrower mode.
• 5 speed transmission from an RX3, apparently a fairly uncommon item.
• Fuel tank in trunk, surge tank underneath, say goodbye to starvation.
• Tube shock conversion.
• Wire wheel rear axle = more wheel clearance, still rubs inner fenders on hard enough turns
• Not really rusty. Sure the underside is a beautiful pallet of reds and browns, but it's solid.
• Racing stripes are the secret to getting laid.
• 240z Minilites.
• Mazdaspeed oil cap
• BrapBrapBrapBrap

The bad:

• Wiring is 18 kinds of berkeleyed. I tried to fix the brake lights and broke the whole car. Needs a new wiring harness.
• Could really benefit from sticky rubber, coilovers, wilwood brakes, IRS.
• I have the roof bows, but no roof. I was tempted to sew one out of a blue tarp (with matching silver tarp-stripes.)
• Seats are from Jegs, need to be installed better, 6 point harnesses would go a long way to improving this thing.
• You have to choke the crap out of the engine to get it to start, and leave it choked till it warms up.
• The rest of the negatives associated with running a ported rotary engine.
• You will want to replace the rollbar after looking at it. Which is a good thing, because you will want a harness bar.

Asking 2400 American dollars, or trade for old British/German/Russian/(insert werid origin) Motorcycle. Actually, a Ural would be badass, anybody want to trade one? The car is about as safe as a motorcycle, so it's an even trade.

OMG. Looks awesome. I have oft-thought about a rotary build in my non-running GT, maybe I'll have to snatch this and snag the driveline.

Is it cut up to fit the rotary?

This is all kinds of awesome

rcutclif wrote: OMG. Looks awesome. I have oft-thought about a rotary build in my non-running GT, maybe I'll have to snatch this and snag the driveline. Is it cut up to fit the rotary?

It is, yeah. Lots of welding on the passenger side firewall/tranny tunnel to make room for the headers. passengers with sandals be warned.

So I'm tearing into the wiring. I think the guy who wired it did lots of LSD. Should be easy enough to fix with one of those ebay Painless ultimate sewer kit harnesses.

Located in Ohio?

Oh wow..... I DID NOT SEE THIS!!! LALALALA

Located in Dayton, Ohio. Still working on the wiring. I'm gonna have to get a harness of some sort. It would honestly be easier if I had started wiring it from scratch.

Dayton, Ohio? Did we go to jr.hi together? My birthplace. I like the air-cooling duct for the cherry red exhaust running within 2.5 mm of your gas pedal foot. I love it!

We might have gone jr. high together, I wouldn't remember you if we did. Hell, I barely remember the people I still talk to from back then.

Nope, exhaust is on the passenger side. That duct was put there by the previous owner, I left it as a reminder not to take life too seriously.

Bump, still for sale, still needs to be re-wired. Though I've torn out many of the existing wires. No idea what was going through that guy's head when he put it together. There's distribution blocks all over, but none of the cable routing makes any sense. I bought an EZwiring universal harness with fusebox, which goes with the car.

Thank god I just dropped about a grand on bike parts.

Willing to trade for welding equipment or a ramp truck. I'm willing to toss money in with the car to get a hodges hauler.

Would you be interested in a trade for a 82 kawasaki kz750 twin? Only has 9,800 miles. Just had the carbs rebuilt and jetted and fresh oil and brake fluid change, brand new battery, runs great. Also just did a tank liner so tank rust will never be an issue. Its a bobber so the rear frame has been shortened and has a 6" extended rear swing arm, brand new rear shocks, front tire is a few months old, rear tire is brand new.

Here is my current thread on the bike

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let me know what you think

Bump. Still have this, still don't have time to work on it. Too busy with a BMW 535is, might get time to sort the wiring next month. I've ripped the majority of the old harness out. Not quite a clean slate yet, but getting there.

I was hoping this would just slip away, I am trying to resist now that I have cash.

You're not far, if you want to come see it, I'm available at some point, sometime. I really wish I could afford to keep this thing, but I just can't justify it. I've got too many other projects to sort through to give this the attention it deserves.

Still for sale? Does it come with a title?

Clean Ohio title. Still for sale. I really, REALLY wish I had time to work on it. You should see the two bimmers blocking it in the garage right now. One has popped brake hardlines, the other is currently on jackstands mid-way through a coilover conversion. There's a 951 with a dead engine out there somewhere too. Too many projects, not enough time. The MG ran at the beginning of the year, but the wiring was such a mess I had no choice but to rip it out. I took the seats out to get to the harnesses, but those were ghetto jegs seats installed badly.

Interested in inspecting!!! Bill

You're going to have to wait till Tuesday, I'm leaving for North Carolina in about an hour. If I get some spare time I might give you a ring before that.

Bump. I still have this, and I really want to free up the indoor space it's consuming.

If I lived east of the the rockies, I'd go take a look.. Free Bump