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When I did the first one (nearly 30 years ago now - eek) parts were available and fairly easy to buy, MGC back axle, Princess front Callipers, LT77 gearbox, SD1 Vitesse engine, Edlebrok inlet, and block hugger exhaust manifolds. I got the lot for under £1500. The bulkhead, steering rack, propshaft, instruments, wheels and suspension needed modifying and that cost about the same. The car itself cost £3500 and was very nice, I managed to sell the parts I didn’t want for about £1300. So I built the car for a tad over £5000. Sold it 10 years later for £9500, today it would be around £25k.
Best one we did was with a pal who couldn’t wield a spanner. He found a totally rotten genuine GT V8 and already had a very nice roadster. He gave just £300 for the horrible V8 and 4 of us put all the parts into his roadster, amazingly the mechanicals were all perfect. 6 years later I bought that car off him and it needed some restoration including a gearbox rebuild. It was a lovely car but I didn’t bond with it as well as the first one I built so I didn’t keep it that long.
I was expecting to budget around £25k for a car with all the modifications I'd want which would include suspension upgrades. I'm now optimistic that a good car can be found for closer to £20k.
This one is for sale at a well known MG specialist and the price has been steadily dropping. Built by the chap who wrote the book on V8 conversions so you'd expect it to be well done. It has Frontline five-link rear suspension which is a costly option. I also know of an even higher spec. car which has independent rear suspension but unfortunately it's in France.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/395448161862
