Misfit Toys 2011 (the start of a build thread?)

Ok, the Wartburg is (almost) ready for GRM. So jumping ahead a bit I thought I'd start giving out some details of "what's next"

Some details have been alluded to in other threads but all the parts are mostly in place so the build will start in a month or so. This is mostly going to be for Lemons but we might have to bring it down to play at GRM to.

So to start you may remember this car was posted in the classifieds here last year and we picked it up and stashed it away.

1980 MGB, ex racecar, tube shock converstion and some other decent suspension mods, mostly gutted, no drivetrain.

Then today we finally got this one drug home

1990 Mustang LX Police Interceptor package. Loooots of nice upgrades made by the PO before he wrecked it and his dad forced him to unload it quick and cheap. Very high miles but a book of receipts for all the maintenace so we'll take our chances. We will be parting/selling off everything but the drivetrain so if you need some mustang parts including some very nice suspension bits keep an eye out in the classifieds, we'll start listing stuff as soon as we can get it all torn down.

It's fairly obvious where this is going. Stay tuned for updates.

I wish I had the energy/motivation you do. A project (or more) per year is amazing to me....

JoeyM wrote: I wish I had the energy/motivation you do. A project (or more) per year is amazing to me....

Its all an illusion. The Wartburg took everything out of me. Honestly a 5.0 swap into an MG will be pretty tame and simple compared to what this past year was. But its also the last for a bit, we plan to develop this car long term for lemons so I can take some time off and focus on my house that's falling apart around me from neglect and if I play with cars at all it will be working on my wifes VW Thing so she can enjoy it again.

Im also not doing this alone, I have JimW (TheWake), Jeff W(LittleturquoiseB) and Chris (Sonic) Motivation is easier in groups, and the energy of 4 is much better than the energy of one. Not to mention all the "associate misfits" who lend a hand when they can.

I don't get it... if the MGB has no powertrain what will you be swapping into the Mustang?

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I don't get it... if the MGB has no powertrain what will you be swapping into the Mustang?

Those bitchin turbofan wheels of course ;)

And the roll bar! Even a Lemons racer needs a rollover structure, I've been told..

friedgreencorrado wrote: And the roll bar! Even a Lemons racer needs a rollover structure, I've been told..

The bar is the first thing to go...its questionable at best. With our IOE booty from Summit we purchased our own bender and are setting up shop to start doing custom cages for ourselves and other Lemons cars. We hope to keep this one shiny side up (well as shiny as a Lemons car can be) but a cage is a very good thing.

Oh my!! To think you go for a 'tame' swap, to get your head in the game for your Challenge car, and to get back on track with 'the stuff of life as we know it'.

Have fun with it!

yeah, I think hanging out here has skewed my perspective when we look at dropping a 5.0 and T5 in an MGB as a minor job. But honestly after everything we did with the Wartburg this seems tame. And the fun part of Lemons type swaps is you aren't going for pretty or nice, just get 'er done so plop the engine in place and weld...done.

Remember that scope creep is inevitable, so we really have to start tame.

If we don't have to begin with "remove both bodies from frames and smoosh frames together" I think we're starting out on a better foot.

Both have the motors in the front, followed by a transmission, then a driveshaft and a diff porweing the rear wheels. Cake compared to the warty!

(thank god we didn't get the alfa ... Motor->Driveshaft->Transmission ->Diff ... Ugh!)

littleturquoiseb wrote: Both have the motors in the front, followed by a transmission, then a driveshaft and a diff porweing the rear wheels. Cake compared to the warty!

Its also a well documented swap, not completely uncharted territory like the Warty.

I'd still rather have done the alfa, just for the bizzare factor.

Unreal. I like the fact that it started as an interceptor fox body too. Somehow that makes it more amusing. Even though it's kind of a myth, you can say you have an MG with a cop motor in it.

I'm really looking forward to getting the noises that came out of the mustang to come from the MG.

After the Wartburg, this seems so simple...we don't have to write the book this time

JThw8 wrote:

JoeyM wrote: I wish I had the energy/motivation you do. A project (or more) per year is amazing to me....

Its all an illusion. The Wartburg took everything out of me.

I often feel that way about the datsun. For me, part of the problem is that I've had to learn so much along the way...it's hard to keep motivated sometimes.

I can take some time off and focus on my house that's falling apart around me from neglect

I understand....and need to do something about that myself.

Im also not doing this alone,

I envy you.

JoeyM wrote: I often feel that way about the datsun. For me, part of the problem is that I've had to learn so much along the way...it's hard to keep motivated sometimes.

The learning curve was the biggest hurdle, I'll agree. That's kinda what makes this next one so much easier. We've done the learning and some things have already been figured out by others. There's lots of documentation on 5.0 MGBs, but it seems noone's written the "How To" on building a rear engined RWD wartburg or custom datsun replica (if I recall your project correctly)

As much as I hated having a hard deadline it was a great motivator. Instead of my normal MO of just taking a few days/weeks off when something had me stumped I'd just go work on something else on the car because there was so much to get done so there was always something to work on while you researched, waited on parts, etc.

JThw8 wrote:

friedgreencorrado wrote: And the roll bar! Even a Lemons racer needs a rollover structure, I've been told..

The bar is the first thing to go...its questionable at best. With our IOE booty from Summit we purchased our own bender and are setting up shop to start doing custom cages for ourselves and other Lemons cars. We hope to keep this one shiny side up (well as shiny as a Lemons car can be) but a cage is a very good thing.

Ah, I got more faith in ya (and your team) then that, JT. I was just trying to crack a joke. Still, thanks for the update! After seeing the Wartburg, I'm curious about anything y'all are even thinking about building! (where's the "thumbs up" icon?)

friedgreencorrado wrote: Ah, I got more faith in ya (and your team) then that, JT. I was just trying to crack a joke. Still, thanks for the update! After seeing the Wartburg, I'm curious about anything y'all are even thinking about building! (where's the "thumbs up" icon?)

I did get the joke, sorry, the only thing that comes across worse in forums than scarcasm is humor, or the acknoledgement thereof, sometimes.

We'll keep this updated but I dont think it will be quite the spectacle as before. But I'll also keep updating the Wartburg, once I recover and have time on my hands there's a whole bunch of new things happening with her :)

I've got a 5.0 mgb - and a bunch of extra stuff in crates along with lots of pics. This will be easy for you guys after the Wartburg. Very little fabrication needed - especially for a rubber bumper mg. Just let me know if you need anything...