Supercharged, 5-Speed Transmission, 4-Wheel Disc Brakes, Many Other Uprades

1974 MG MGB

For sale is a eye-catching, significantly upgraded 1974 MGB Roadster - with a supercharged engine, modern 5-speed transmission, 4-wheel disc brakes, electronic gauges, and upgraded interior. The car is very quick, handles very well and is very easy to drive. It is a fantastic car that has been one of our favorites... ...but we're at the age where we are starting to downsize. This is the first of a garage full of MG's and Triumphs that we are going to start letting go.

We purchased the car in 2012 from Speedwell - a British Car restoration ship in Watkinsville, Georgia. When we bought it, the exterior of the car looked great. The prior owners had it professionally converted to a "Sebring-style" - removing the front and rear bumbers and installing new valences on both ends. They also had the car painted in its currrent red color, and installed the Minilite replica wheels and tube shock conversions.

Starting from there, we had the car completely rebuilt by Bart Miller - a former SCCA racer and mechanical genius who rebuilt many exotic sports cars at his Roadspeed Garage shop in Cleveland, Georgia. (If you Google search for Roadspeed Garage, you can see a blog about the car - "Hi-tech MGB").He completed the rebuild in late 2012. Since then, we have only put 8135 miles on it! (We put on most of the miles driving our son to school - it was about 20 miles away via twisty country roads. This car made the drive a lot of fun!)

Here's the best way to describe the rebuild. Bart disassembled everything down to the body. And then we basically bought one of every possible upgrade in the Moss/BPNW catalogs and Bart installed it!

The engine was completely rebuilt to better than new. The block was remachined and the crankshaft was machined and balanced. Everything else on the engine is new:

• Brand new alloy cylinder head with big valves
• Cast aluminum deep sump oil pan
• Moss supercharger kit - including brand new SU carb, belts and alternator
• New performance camshaft to match supercharger
• Moss roller rocker assembly
• Lightweight alloy rods (Maxspeed)
• New AE pistons and rings
• All new main, connecting rod and cam bearings
• All new push rods and tappets
• New adjustable dual timing gear chain and tensioner
• New high-flow oil pump and oil pressure relief valves
• All new upper and lower gaskets and seals
• New ARP studs and bolts throughout
• New 1-2-3 "Tune" USB programmable electronic distributor
• New "Flamethrower" coil and all new ignition/spark plug wires
• New gear reduction starter
• New Fidanza allow flywheel
• New alloy valve valve cover
• New Moss motor mounts
• New Tourist Trophy stainless steel exhaust header - and Tourist Trophy stainless steel exhaust system

The result - basically a brand new engine that is very quick. Bart did an incredible job at tuning all of these parts into an engine that operates very smoothly. The car has a great sound to it, but it is not loud at all. We had it built this way to make it "neighbor friendly.”

The engine compartment also was equipped with a new Wizard Cooling aluminum radiator and new electronic cooling fan. All of the cooling hoses in the engine compartment were replaced with new. Even on the hottest summer days, the engine drives in the right temperature band. The cooling fan relay is set to turn on at 180F.

The engine hood mechanism was replaced with gas struts from Moss - that are really easy to operate. (As you can see in the pictures, because of the gas struts, the hood still needs a little bit more fit adjustment to make it completely flush. It has never bothered us so we haven't spent any time tweaking it).

The original transmission was replaced with a 5-speed transmission built by Quantum Mechanics. Quantum made the transmission kit from a rebuilt T9 Ford gearbox. A complete new Moss performance clutch kit was installed. The clutch master cylinder and all of they hydraulics were also completely replaced with new. The result is incredibly better than the original MG transmission. The throws are very short and the action is really smooth. It is a real joy to shift gears on this car.

The brakes were completely new. New Moss "Big Brake" disc brakes set ups were installed on the front.The rear brakes were converted to disc brakes using the Ol Phartz parts convertion kit. With the new brakes on front and rear, the brake pads and discs currently have very little wear.Also stainless steel brake hoses were installed and the brake master cylinder was replaced with new. This car stops very well!

The suspension was completely rebuilt. All new bushings were installed throughout. A new Tourist Trophy front swaybar was installed. And the previous rear tube shocks were just replaced with a new GAZ adjustible shocks and mounts. Along with the suspension, we also installed a brand new Moss steering rack with all new tie rod ends, mounting hardware and steering column U-joints. With all of those new parts, the car handles and extremely well. Because of the new steering rack, the steering is very precise.

To round out the mechanical systems, we installed a new BPNW 14.5 gallon stainless steel fuel tank and all new fuel tank filler hoses and seals. The fuel pump was also replaced with a new one.

The car was completely rewired using an Advanced Auto Wiring harness and relay/fuse panel. (The relay/fuse panel was built into a custom plexiglass box and mounted in the passenger footwell. The mounting location is very practical - although there is enough wire that it could be relocated if desired).The new harness was combined with a complete electronic Speedhut gauge package.The electronic gauges work extremely well - including the GPS speedometer that eliminated the need for a cable drive.All of the lighting was replaced - new Bosch headlights, new Hella fogs, and LED bulbs where they would fit.The rear lights and brake lights were replaced with an LED conversion kit that has an electronic array of LED's - very bright at night! The final wiring schematic for the car is well documented. (Per the AAW harness suggestions, there is even a hidden toggle switch that disables the fuel pump relay - a nice security feature when the car is parked top-down at the grocery store!).

The car heater was completely rebuilt with a new "High Output" fan motor and "Uprated" heater core from BPNW. A new Vintage Air servo controlled heater valve was installed - allowing the valve to be controlled electronically from a simple rotary dial on the dash. That eliminates the original clunky MGB cable mechanism.

The car interior was completely replaced. Bart installed a "Coolmat" noise and heat insulating system into the floor. It's a system that is completely molded into the floor - better than an adhesive based system - and is very quiet and cool. And it completely waterproofs the floor and footwells.From there we installed all new carpet and door panels (with some red piping accents). The dash was replaced with a custom designed wood veneer covered plexiglass panel - with a very user friendly layout of the gauges and switches. The console pads and parts were replaced with new. Brand new plastic battery boxes were installed with a really neat hinged battery box cover from Old Phartz Parts. All of the rubber seals in the doors and windows were replaced with new.

The Mountney wood steering wheel was on the car when we bought it - and it is really comfortable to use. For the bling value, we did replace the horn button with a really nice billet version. As you can see in the pictures, the dash material is in really good shape - there aren't any noticable defects.

The sound system includes an amp driving two front and two rear speakers. In today's world, our smartphones do more than a traditional radio head. The amp has a wired connection that connects to the phone - held in a cradle on the console. From our phone we can play Sirius, just about any radio station over the web, and obviously iTunes.

We put Moss UK's power windows in the car - which are super convenient. The work very well. From the driver's seat you can take the windows up and down depending on the weather. For example, on a cold Fall day it is completely comfortable to drive with the top down and the windows up. You can do all of this with your fingertip instead of awkwardly reaching for a crank.

The best feature of the interior are the brand new leather "Suffolk" seats. These reclinable seats are infinitely better than the original MGB seats - and make the car so much better to drive. It's hard to describe how much they add to the driving feel of the car. (We like them so much that we put these seats in our other MG and our TR6). All of the seat belts and mechanisms are brand new.

The trunk includes a complete Moss carpet kit. And includes the proper MG jack and a new lug nut wrench. We also put gas strut lifts on the trunk and completely new trunk lock/latch hardware.

To top the car, we replaced the top with a top-of-the-line "Mohair" convertible top from Prestige in the UK. It's a very nice, heavy duty top. (But since the car has only been out on a rainy day only about three times in it's lifetime, we've hardly put the top up!). The rear window plastic looks a little wrinkly in the pictures - but that's just because we hardly ever use the top. There are no creases or marks on the plastic windows.

One last note on the body. When we bought the car, it had a poorly fitting luggage rack mounted on the trunk. Two years ago, we had a body shop remove the rack, fill the holes and repaint the trunk hood. At the same time, the body shop fixed other paint wear issues around the car. They also completely readjusted the doors - and they open and close very solidly and smoothly. They also completely adjusted the trunk hood release mechanism.

The tires are basically new. The set of Yokohama YK580 195/60R15 tires have approximately 2000 miles on them. These tires are very nice handling and quiet.

And finally... ...we just replaced the battery with a brand new sealed one from Autozone. It should provide several years of service

The car is awesome, but there are still a couple areas that could be tweaked. We noted earlier that the engine hood could still be adjusted. The new fan in the heater needs to be adjusted - it's rubbing something inside the heater box and a little noisy. It should be an easy fix, but we haven't done it yet.We put an extra adhesive seal in between the vent windows and windshield to completely seal the gap when the doors are shut. Even though the door fit and operation is perfect, this is a legacy fit issue that the car has.And last, even though the trunk hood release was professionally installed and adjusted, it is still a little sticky - probably because of the extra force from the gas strut kit. It requires a little extra push to open it. Although the good news is that the trunk stays securely shut! And last, we should mention the fender mounted side view mirror. The prior owners put it on - and it looks very cool. It's not the best side view mirror that we've ever used.

So bottom line, this is a really nice car - and all of the important stuff is brand new. We wanted a quick car that was great to drive on twisty country roads... ...and was smooth, comfortable and confident cruising at 80 MPH among Atlanta's crazy highway traffic. This car does both. The engine turned out great and the 5-speed is fantastic. And the interior is very comfortable... ...and it just feels good because it gets a lot of compliments.

Here are some terms for the sale:

Obviously, this car is being sold AS-IS. Despite the description above, there is no implied or expressed warranty.

In Georgia, there are no titles for classic cars like these. We would supply a Bill of Sale as part of the transaction.

The buyer would need to either pick up the car or arrange shipment of the car. We are not providing that service.

Within 48 hours after the end of the auction, the buyer needs to make a $500 Paypal payment as a deposit. A cashier's check is required for the remainder of the purchase price before the buyer can take possession of the car.