1978 MG MGB Plus a 1979 MGB Parts Vehicle and Spares

Description for MG MGB 1978

1978 MG MGB along with a '79 parts vehicle and a few spares.

Though this vehicle is currently in Michigan, t is originally from North Carolina and was in storage at a car museum there for 29 years.

I'm mainly a Land Rover guy but thought I'd change things up a bit and try a different British vehicle just for the fun of it.

I purchased this vehicle from the car museum in the fall of 2014. It had been in storage in one of their warehouses and hadn't been on the road since 1986. Fortunately there was no, nd I repeat no, odent damage or even evidence or rodent intrusion.

Through the winter I got it road-worthy again. See below for the list of new parts. I drove it throughout this past summer but only on nice days. Vehicle hasn't even seen rain since I've owned it. Goes down the road great and is a blast to drive on the highway.

There is no rust on this vehicle. All the typical rust areas such as the rockers, loors, nd trunk are all solid and original. There are a few small spots of semi-bare metal and light surface rust in the trunk but that's it.

While in storage the battery leaked acid which weakened the supporting straps that the battery sits on. If you're familiar with these vehicles you know what I'm talking about as far as how the battery is supported. I fabricated a reinforcement for the base of the battery area to keep the straps from breaking. This is the only modification the vehicle has and can only be seen from under the vehicle.

The paint is in need of a re-spray. It has this funky off-color patch on the hood and flaking on the top of the right rear quarter panel.

It could use a new carpet kit and the seats have seen better days - the foam cushions are pretty shot and the vinyl is starting to split.

The dash has several cracks as do the door panels.

The manual gearbox is the four-speed without overdrive.

I ran it this past weekend to take it out of the garage for the photos. I hadn't driven it since early November and it fired right up. Automatic choke works great.

Engine oil pressure is good through all ranges and will run about 75 psi at highway speed on a hot day. I did a compression test on the engine prior to parking it for the winter and all four cylinders were between 140-145 psi. When I did the head gasket all four cylinders were clean, mooth, nd you could still see evidence of the original cross-hatch from when it was built. There was no ridge at the top or evidence of the pistons having sat in the same position for almost 30 years.

All gauges work including the clock which keeps accurate time.

The gearbox shifts easily and doesn't pop out of gear. Like I said, drove it all summer in combined city and highway traffic going back-and-forth to work.

All of the following new parts were installed before or after I started driving it last summer (2000 miles ago):

Soft top (Still has the chalk marks on it from when it was stitched together).

All four tires

Front brake rotors, alipers, ads.

Rear drums, hoes, pring kit, nd slave cylinders.

Brake master cylinder.

Front and rear rubber portion of the brake lines.

Both tie rod ends.

Both steering rack rubber bellows.

Electric fan switch in the radiator.

Thermostat.

All coolant hoses.

Turn signal switch.

Light switch.

Voltage stabilizer.

Head gasket.

Both driveshaft U-joints.

Starter.

Battery.

Fuel Tank.

Fuel pump.

Clutch slave rubber flex line.

Distributor.

Distributor cap, otor, ondenser, ires, nd spark plugs.

Seat belt guides.

Clutch master cylinder was rebuilt. I didn't go with a replacement because I wanted to keep the original metal reservoir. Replacements are plastic and look goofy.

Clutch slave was rebuilt.

Carburetor was rebuilt.

So what does it still need if someone was so inclined...:

If I were to keep it I would replace the suspension bushings soon as they are all pretty dried out.

Like I said earlier the paint has issues but I had never intended to repaint it, like having it original even though it doesn't look as good as it could.

A carpet kit.

The dash, eats, nd interior door panels need attention which brings me to this:

Along with this vehicle I have a '79 parts vehicle I'd like to sell with it. Price listed is for both vehicles. I bought this vehicle because it has good seats and door panels. It also has a crack-free dash which is hard to find for these, nd a good drivetrain. The person I bough it from was still driving it even though it was rusting out from under him.

It's the red/maroon vehicle in the photos. This vehicle only has 71K miles but is a victim of rust. The body is pretty wasted but it does have a nice hood and trunk lid. No top but I do have the header bar for it.

I drove the vehicle when I purchased it last summer. The engine has good oil pressure, span>and doesn't smoke, nd has an electronic distributor if you're into that. The transmission (non-overdrive) is also in good shape and shifted fine. I've only taken a few things off of it. The things I did take are on the other vehicle. It is currently not drivable because it's missing the clutch slave cylinder and the carburetors were overflowing due to stuck floats.

I was going to swap the interior pieces over and then pull the running gear and moth ball it for the future but haven't gotten around to it.

But wait, here's more: I also have a new in the box windshield and two new old stock Rover brand MGB front fenders. I only had room for one pic of the fenders but I have both the left and right sides. These items are also part of the deal.

As stated at the beginning of this I'm also into Land Rovers and would consider trades partial or whole for a Land Rover Series IIA, ate IIA, r Series III vehicle, arts vehicle, r parts. I'm specifically looking for five, aybe six stock steel 16-inch rims, deluxe dished bonnet, oft top and hoop set, iftgate, ailgate, nd a tropical hard top roof with alpine windows for an 88.

Open to offers. May be able to help with transport as I have a car trailer but this is something we'd have to discuss prior to sale.