Uprating everybody’s favourite everyday classic

The ingredients which made the MGB such a success in its lifetime are of course those which make it the ideal classic today: simple but rugged mechanicals, sports car style and a huge network of specialists and parts suppliers. The same goes for the business of uprating the MGB, with the car’s popularity over the years generating a huge array of performance upgrades from brake pads to entire engine conversions.

There really is nothing you can’t get for or do to a B so the question for someone wanting a bit more sparkle from their roadster or GT is where to start.

Interestingly, when you start talking about going faster in an MGB, many specialists will advise you start not on the business of extracting more power from the B-Series lump but by improving the underpinnings.

Even at its launch the MGB’s suspension was hardly cutting edge, which is no surprise when you realise that the front end was essentially based on that of the MGA, itself derived from a prewar design while the rear end was a simple live axle affair dictated by BMC’s cost accountants.

PRODUCED: 1962-1980
ENGINE: 1798cc 4 cyl
PRICES: £500 (tatty) to £15,000
UPSIDE: It's an MGB
DOWNSIDE: It's the same as the next MGB
WHY YOU WANT ONE: Easy to live with, easy to uprate
CLUBS: MG Car Club www.mgcc.co.uk, 01235 555552; www.mgownersclub.co.uk, 01954 231125
SPECIALISTS:
Frontline Developments
www.frontlinedevelopments.com, 01235 832632
Colne Classics
www.colneclassics.com, 01255 432693
Hi-Gear Engineering
http://hi-gearengineering.co.uk, 01332 514503
Brown & Gammons
www.ukmgparts.com, 01462 490049
PARTS PRICES:
Poly bush kit    from £50
Panhard rod kit    £354
Four-pot brake upgrade    £748
PAS conversion    £1230
Five-speed conversion    £900 plus box
Crossflow head    £1200

Read the full article in the November 2011 issue of Classic Car Mart - available to buy here.