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If you are building the motor, simply doing a 3 angle valve job will give you a few. Doing mild porting, you can do a head in a day with just a die grinder. You basically want to make the valve hole as round as possible, and smooth out other spots, you don't need to go crazy removing metal. You can also upgrade the rings to total seal type, helps efficiency, less blow by. While on pistons, those motors have low compression, if you could get to 9:1 that helps a lot too. If you go too high then you have gas problems. Depending on the amount of miles on it, the cam may need to be changed and you can pick a slightly more aggressive one. Keep in mind, that all the parts have to match, so if you go more lift, you have to be sure they heads can take it. I don't remember the intake and exhaust on those, but they are probably not too bad, but a free flowing exhaust wakes them up and makes driving more fun.

It says the Mk2 motor is 9:1 and makes 93 hp that ain't bad for a car that weighs 2000 pounds. If you have the Mk1 motor, then copy what they did on the Mk2. Besides raising the compression from 8.3:1 they probably added more cam, carbs are the same Su's. Just a nice rebuild and touching some minor things to make it more efficient, you should be around 110 hp and that should feel great. There was also the twin cam in '59 if you could find parts, but that is gonna cost ya, a bunch! The other stuff is just careful quality rebuild.

Also, people forget about suspension, fixing all the stuff in the suspension also adds power, or it doesn't lose power in sloppy rubber. Think of trying to run with a bungee cord attached to you, yea, now without all the slop, makes a huge difference. If you want to read up on engine theory, Smokey Yunick's book power secrets is an excellent read. They on drugs with the prices, you can find it on fleabay or a local used book store. He is pretty much the godfather of power.

No need to totally strip the paint, but sand\soda\bead blasting is your friend on a lot of that. If the base is adhered to the metal and there is no rust, you can get away with a good thorough scuff and going over the top. But as he said the quality is directly tied to how deep you go \ how close to bare metal you get.

To go with his pictures comment - I would seriously suggest buying a "tough" digital camera for the garage. I have a waterproof \ shockproof camera that is dedicated to my garage projects. It can be dropped 10-12 ft onto concrete with no problem, or submersed in water to 33 feet (or at least enough to clean it in the sink between projects). I was also sure to get one that had a good macro on it so that I can take pics of very small parts as well. If its a project you're doing yourself, and you're taking something apart for the first time, and it may be weeks or months or longer before you put something back - having photos that show how something goes back together is invaluable.

I personally recommend the Panasonic Lumix series of tough cameras, which go about $200 in the US.

Failure of the rebound axle straps is very common. Replacements that were made from poor quality rubber for many years compounded this. Many shredded when cars were jacked under the rear axle on one side, (which is quite normal) putting the weight of the car's rear on the opposite strap when the other wheel comes off the ground. I understand they are improving however, so the good news is that they are inexpensive because the vendors sell so many... As an alternative, many have gone with a nylon strap manufactured by Russ Koester, known as Strapping Lad...
https://sites.google.com/site/strappingladshop/home
I have them on my 'B's and have been very pleased.

A useful tip for that replacement process: Unless the nut holding the strap and washer on looks and feels like it will spin right off immediately, don't even try to put wrench force on it. It will sheer off the stud instead of breaking free. (You will notice that everyone sells kits to repair this because of this fact)

Instead, invest in a Nut splitting tool. Very handy for any classic car restorer. It's essentially a big chisel that you screw into the edge of a nut to crack it and destroy it instead of destroying everything. Then you just buy two new nuts instead of figuring out how to repair the mounting stud.
Looks like this Nut Splitter on Amazon

Yes, definitely do all you can with the engine in the car. For most of us, the procedure for pulling the motor involves removing it (and installing) with the gearbox attached and reconnecting the gearbox to the rear crossmember can be frustrating if you've never done it.

Take the normal precautions. Never turn an engine manually with the ignition key on. I usually disconnect the coil, just to be double sure that the motor will not fire when I'm cranking it over by hand.

My personal opinion is that the Astley book is not only a great resource for MGB electrical demons, but is one of the best automotive reference books I've ever come across.
Take a peek on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/MGB-Electrical-Systems-Updated-Essential/dp/1787110524

Modern, useful, thorough, colourful, well illustrated. Puts other manuals to shame. You may be fortunate and a ray of light will shine down on you and you'll be the one person who works on an MGB without any electrical issues...

But probably not. ;-)

Since you're new to painting, I'd like to recommend a book I read a few years back. I felt it had a lot of good information for a beginner. http://www.amazon.com/How-Paint-Your-Budget-Cartech/dp/1932494227/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1453735120&sr=8-2&keywords=how+to+paint+your+car

I've had luck in the past painting with PPG shopline and restoration shop paints from TCP Global. The TCP Global single stage urethane was really affordable and has held up well on a daily driven 1973 MGB GT. http://www.tcpglobal.com/Automotive-Paint/Restoration-Shop/

As for some of the other posts, Rustoleum paint jobs aren't the way to go. In five or ten years you won't be thanking yourself for rolling on oil based enamel all over your car.

The downdraft weber is an OK carb - the carb is good - set it and forget it its the 90deg turn in the manifold that is restrictive. It works well with one of those pace-setter headers.

I used the Mityvac bleeder run off my air compressor. Makes for quick work, almost too quick and it's pretty easy to accidentally drain the master cylinder and force you to start all over again.

http://www.amazon.com/Mityvac-6830-Brake-Bleeder/dp/B000JFN9WC/ref=sr_1_10?s=automotive

I'll have to go check, but they're standard 12v automotive relays. They look similar to these, which are actually cheaper. So, never mind, get them from Amazon.

I replied to a few other suggestions to add to the, but figured one big one would be better

• a decent set of ratchets and wrenches
  
• swap over to some electronic ignition system (those expensive MSD units are crap, and useless on the street)
  
• when swapping over the ignition system, get a Bosch Blue coil in there too.
  
• If you start to have weird electrical gremlins, check your grounds
  
• Learn how to do a coon toon on the carbs
  
• I am currently working on the 3d parts printing idea myself. Hit me back up in a few months
  
  
  In the end, these are not "fragile" cars. I race the shit outta my 72, and will do so with my 63 when its done. My dad has flogged them all over the street. Just have some mechanical empathy, learn to pick up on "odd" sounds and feels and your car will never let you down. It may leave you stranded one day, but shit happens. Enjoy it!
  

Just go on amazon and look for fuse boxes. There are lots available for custom car applications, trailers, and motorcycles as well as marine applications (water-proof with high grade connections).

The mentioned VB block is 1. from VB and 2. Twice the price of the same block from somewhere like Summit.

There are a lot of options

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Systems-Blade-Block/dp/B001P6FTHC/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1503421251&sr=8-5&keywords=fuse+box

another smaller type:

https://www.amazon.com/KKmoon-DC12V-Holder-Warning-Marine/dp/B01J3R8KS4/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1503421251&sr=8-9&keywords=fuse+box

My Spit came with speakers in the parcel shelves. They are hidden from sight but unfortunately they are too large so they push the parcel shelves out of position. I will reposition them and also install one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072Q157FY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1