10-14-08 TO 10-16-08

Continued work on the engine compartment. I pulled the wiring, fuse box, coil, etc. from the passenger side of the engine bay and started cleaning it up for painting. At first I sanded it and vacuumed out the dust and debris but then decided to use a cleaner on it even though it had all been degreased and steam cleaned.

I just wanted to be sure that there was no old grease or oil on the inner fender wells so I got out a can of aerosol brake cleaning fluid. I sprayed it on the inner fender wells and the top and front of the firewall and was reminded of something I had forgotten: brake cleaner makes a great paint stripper! Sure enough, after a minute or two, the old red paint I had applied in 1988 started to lift and bubble up like I had sprayed paint stripper on it. After that, I took a series of scrapers, wire brushes and the drill-mounted wire brush wheel to the areas I sprayed with the brake cleaner and it all cleaned up nicely.

I also scraped away a much of the factory tar-like rust proofing and seam sealing material that appeared to be applied rather sloppily. After the final cleaning, I put down two layers of etching primer followed by two coats of Krylon white gloss paint.

















I’m going to pull out the heater box frame tonight as well as the brake/clutch master cylinders cover and start working on cleaning and de-rusting those areas. I’m not going to do the driver side of the inner fender wells until I get the exhaust manifold pulled off and that side of the engine completely cleaned and degreased. Until that is done, there is no point in cleaning the inner fender well on that side since the cleaning process will probably kick up oil and debris which will then have to be cleaned as well.

















Sears finally saw fit to send me the ceramic tips for my sandblaster…two day shipping only took eight days…swell! I’ll have to pick up a bag of blasting media but I’ll be able get a lot of parts cleaned up like the radiator support, valve cover, heater box, etc. and get them painted by this weekend.

I’m running out of warm-ish weather so I want to get everything painted that needs painted (with the exception of the body which I will do in the spring) before it turns cold and rainy. I don’t mind doing the mechanical/hydraulic/electrical work when it is colder (I can always get a small kerosene heater for the garage) but the painting stuff can’t be done when the weather turns so I have maybe a month left to finish it if I’m lucky.

10-12-08

I started working on the aft wiring in the trunk today. What a freaking mess! Four layers of electrical tape, paint overspray, wires that were twisted together with no connecctors and no solder. I'm gonna have to print up the color wiring diagram and go at it because, as it is, it is a fire waiting to happen

Starated working on the engine compartment today also. I took the portable steam cleaner to it and competely cleaned off the passenger side of the block and the front of the engine and the timing gear cover. I then washed everything down with acetone and put on two coats of high-temp black paint (1500 degrees supposedly)

It looks really good though it is hard to see in the picture below since it is a black engine and the picture was taken at night. I also sprayed the timing gear cover with high-temp silver and it came out pretty nice.

I didn't do the driver side of the block yet and for good reason. After I pulled the intake and exhaust manifolds off I found that there was an oil leak on the two side covers of the engine. These are also called the tappet covers and the are notorious for oil leaks. Judging by the amount of oil it was a small leak but over the years, it was sufficient to put a light coating of oil all over the side of the block. It also allowed the paint on the covers and the block to peel off.

I haven't yet cleaned up that side of the engine because I have to break the exhaust manifold to exhaust pipes bolts loose and pull the manifold out. There are six bolts on the manifold studs and I can guarantee that several of the studs will get broken off when I try to remove them. I sprayed them with penetrating oil and will let them sit a day or two before I try to break the bolts free and I'll put a small torch on the manifold to help it expand away from the studs some. Unfortuantely it will probably be for nothing. Over so many heating and cooling cycles and with so much moisture exposure, the bolts and studs are almost universally "welded" in place.

I'll wind up taking the manifold to a machine shop to have them remove the old studs and replace then with new stainless steal studs. I could probably get the old studs out on my own but the manifold ears are very easy to break and I don't want to risk that.

Once I do that I'll clean off the driver side of the engine and get to work trying to seal up those tappet covers. There is probably a 50% chance that they will leak again no matter what I do so I might just have a set of thick aluminum plates machined to fit. The old covers are pretty thin and they flex so much it is hard to get a good seal.

I also got some of the parts for the engine cleaned up and sprayed with high temp paint. Since Sears has not yet seen fit to send me the ceramic tips for my sandblaster that I orderd a week ago I had to do the parts cleaning with the whire brush wheel on my bench grinder and drill followed by a thorough cleaning with acetone. In the picture above, the top two are of the intake manifold and the bottom left picture is the heater tube which attaches to the valve cover bolts and carries the hot antifreeze to the heater box. On the bottom right are the water pump and thermostat housing. They all cleaned put pretty nicely.

I was going to leave the intake manifold unpainted polished aluminum but no matter what, it would have tanished and looked like crap again in just a few months. That is the nature of aluminum. So, I just put the high temp silver paint on it and it looks like it is brushed aluminum but it isn't.

I also stripped down and sprayed the two radiator support brackets white to match the car's future color.

My idea of using a smal .17-.22 caliber gun barrel cleaning brush worked perfectly on the female bullet connectors on which I tried the brushes...worked perfectly, that is, until my dog stepped on one of the brushes and got it completely tangled in his paw hair. My wifey had to hold him while I cut the brush off with an exacto blade...what fun!

10/6/08

I finished spraying the truck bed liner in the trunk. I put down 3 coats and it looks pretty good. Its dried as hard as a rock so I don’t think I’ll have to worry about rust for a very long time.

When it set, I put down a layer of sandable primer, sanded it with 220-grit paper and then sprayed the first coat of white paint. The liner has a rough texture as compared to a regular painted surface but it still looks good. Besides, I’ll be putting carpet in the trunk anyway so the surface texture really doesn’t matter much.

I put down a second coat of paint tonight and it looks nice and even. I’ll let the paint harden for a few weeks and then spray on a final coat of white.

Next comes stripping the paint from the tranny tunnel and the rest of the cockpit, primering and painting them and fiberglassing and finishing the passenger side floorboards and spraying the truck bed liner.

The more I think about it, the less inclined I am to remove the dashboard. Not because I really don’t want to (I don’t) but because, unless there is some major work to be done on the wiring harness behind the dash (which I don’t think there is) I really think that my limited restoration funds should be going to more important mechanical necessities. A replacement dash cover will cost over $300.00 while the dash-top cover only will cost me about $50.00. That $250.00 difference will buy me a lot of little parts that will do more than just make the car look good.

After the cockpit is completely finished, I’ll do the final cleaning on the engine and engine bay. I’ll then paint the engine, manifolds and the rest of the bay and get started on cleaning up the wiring until I get the new wiring relay systems for the high-powered electrical components (headlights, heater fan, sound system, etc.) Then its back to replacing the sills, rear valance panel, doglegs, front fender quarter panels and driver‘s side door skin…still need to get that mig welder

Sometimes bad things lead to good things.

10-01-08

So I decided that I wanted to put down the spray-on truck bed liner in the trunk though I have already primered and painted that area. I figure if I spray a real light dusting of the liner several times and slowly build up layers of liner, it won’t lift the painted surface below. Well, of course, it didn’t work out that way. While only about 10% of the paint bubbled and lifted up, it is in an exposed area that I want to look good and since it is lifting up, it means that the metal underneath is not protected. So I get out the scraper and start taking of the lifted parts since figure I can respray those areas like I did when I had the same problem with lifting on the driver’s side floorboards.

As I start scraping off the liner (which pulls the paint off with it) I find that the metal under it is rusting, even though it was primered and had two layers of paint over it! Then I remembered that I didn’t use zinc etching primer, I used regular sandable primer instead. The etching primer does a lot to help prevent rust from forming over bare metal. In addition, I sprayed on very, very humid days and that does make a difference.

The more liner/paint I removed, the more rust I found. So I guess it was a good thing that the liner bubbled the paint or I wouldn’t have seen it until the metal was rusted enough to really piss me off.

Luckily, the liner/paint peeled off very quickly and what didn’t came off very fast when I used the twisted wire brush wheel on my drill. I stripped out the old liner/paint, made sure to get up all of the surface rust, sanded it all down and started over. After I cleaned up the area with acetone, I sprayed a layer of the bed liner over the metal and let it set up. I’ll probably put down two more layers tonight and then let it set for a week or so. When I’m sure it has fully cured, I’ll put down a layer of primer and a layer or two of paint and that should be the last I have to worry about the metal rusting. And with no hurricane remnants rolling through the area, the humidity is way down compared to the first time I did the trunk, so the liner should do a good job protecting the steel.

Of course, I’ll have to do the same thing on the underside of the trunk floor since that area holds a lot of water on the top of the gas tank…

After I took the trunk down to bare metal this time and I got the first layer of liner down, I conducted a little experiment. I scraped off some of the paint in the cockpit in an area where it was prepped and painted in the same way that the trunk was. The only difference is that I used the etching primer instead of the sandable primer. I did them both around the same time and the condition of the meal in the two areas was about the same before I started working on them. However, the area where I used the etching primer showed absolutely no rust when I scraped off the paint while the trunk area showed considerable rusting.

ALL RIGHT, TIME FOR A RANT!
I have a Sears sandblaster and I was going to use it to start cleaning up all the parts that need blasted. Well, the sandblasting gun has a replaceable tip in it made of ceramic. It is a sacrificial part designed to wear away as the sand passes out of the tip so that the metal of the gun’s tip doesn’t get eaten away. So I go to Sears to buy it…only about $6 bucks for two tips, no big deal. Well, they don’t have it in stock. Fine. I go to another Sears, again, its not in stock. So I call the Sears part supply store and they don’t have it either. So I’m going to have to order it online and pay $6.95 shipping on a $5.oo part! And every person I talked to said the same thing; “Well just buy a new gun, its only about $25.00...) Yeah, I get the scam. Don’t sell the tips and maybe the customer will just buy the more expensive item because they’re in a hurry. No wonder Sears only has like nine customers left…

9-28-08

I finished prepping the metal and the fiberglass repairs on the driver’s side floorboards. After I did, I sprayed on the first layer of the truck bed lining. I left it to dry overnight and came back and found that about 30% had bubbled and lifted. It did so where the metal had primer applied to it. The bed liner spray, especially where the layer was slightly thicker, just ate through and loosened the primer. It was easy enough to fix. Since it takes at least a day or two for the liner to fully harden, I just took a wide wire brush to it and the lifted parts just sort of rubbed right off, taking the primer with it and leaving bare metal. I did a light wiping with acetone to make sure it was clean and then sprayed a new layer of liner and there was no lifting or bubbling at all. The spray on liner doesn’t affect old or fully cured paint or fiberglass but it lifts new paint or primer right off. You can be sure that when I spray the passenger side floorboards, I’ll have taken any primer or paint off before I do.

Before and after of the driver's side floor pan.

I sprayed three more layers since and it looks like it will work out well at protecting the metal. Truck bed liner is tough as nails, easy to apply and is way less toxic (and way less expensive) than Por-15. When I prep the metal in the rocker panels I may still use Por-15 to protect it but I may go with the truck bed liner…haven’t decided yet. I figure it will take 6 cans of the spray cans of the bed liner to do the entire cockpit (not counting the rear deck area which is already primed and painted) and at about $7.00 per can that’s pretty cheap…just like me.

One of the guys I met on the MG forum (mgexperience.com) stopped by to look at a part I have as reference for some panels he needs to cut out of a parts car. He’s a really nice guy who pulled up to my house in a red B that looks like mine back when it was newly-restored. (I am jealous) Its really nice to be getting back into the MG community again after being away for around 10 years. I don’t think I’ve ever met an MG owner who wasn’t a really nice person. Maybe it just goes along with being an owner of such a unique little car. By some unusual coincidence, there happens to be a very large number of MGB owners on the forum who live within 50 miles or less from my house…and a large number of those live within 15 minutes of me. I’m really looking forward to getting to know more people on the forum.

9-20-08 through 9-25-08

9-20-08 through 9-23-08
I’ve gotten most of the ancillary components stripped out of the engine bay except for the intake and exhaust manifolds which are coming off tonight. I pulled the water pump out and I’m still debating on replacing it with a new one or keeping the one I have now. It only has about 40-k miles on it and seems ok…I’ll have to think about this some more. I also pulled the distributor out and boxed it up for rebuild. I’m going to send it to THE distributor guy I know from the MG forum and have him make it all happy and new and set me up for a conversion to electronic ignition.

I degreased and sanded down the extreme forward part of the engine bay including the hood locking platform. I put a layer of etching primer and then a layer of gray primer and then I painted the area with Krylon gloss white paint. The finish looks great which it always does if you take the time to properly prepared before spraying. I am so tempted to paint the entire car that way. I’ve done it before and if you prep it right and know how to wet sand properly, it comes out looking just as good as a mid-priced paintjob. But, since there is no hardener in spray paint, I’m gonna avoid that temptation. I’m going to get a spray gun and real paint and do it right.

After I pull the intake and exhaust manifolds off I’ll clean the intake up and wire brush the hell out of the exhaust manifold. That will be followed by a few coats of gloss black high-temp paint. I use the brake caliper paint instead of the engine paint because it seems to hold up better to the temperatures experienced by the exhaust manifold.

After one more cleaning and a final pressure washing, I’ll finish out the engine bay by painting the engine block and then prepping, priming and painting the inner fender wells and firewall. I’ll also be pulling the valve cover and smaller tubes and brackets to sandblast and paint them. I need to run to Sears to get a new tip for the sandblaster and more blasting media so I can start cleaning up all the parts I have that need a good blasting.

I haven’t gotten the heater box all the way out yet but the front panel is off and the heater core is finally out While cleaning it up, I discovered that it has a leak on one of the edges. Hopefully it can be repaired since a new one will cost upwards of $100.00.

9-21-08
I also found a replacement for the throttle and choke securing plate from one of the people on the MG forum. He lives about 30 minutes away and he only wants $20.00 for it so I’ll take that deal. It’ll be much easier to replace the old bracket than to drill out the broken screw and retap it.

9-22-08
The oil cooler is out and I sprayed out the inside of it with carb cleaner. I then filled it up with more carb cleaner and hooked one of the oil cooler lines that I pulled out of the engine bay to the cooler. I looped it around so that both ends of the hose are connected to the two cooler ports. I move the cooler around and shake it up from time to time to let the carb cleaner soak and break down the gunk in there. After a few days, I’ll drain it out and repeat the process a few more times to make sure it is nice and clean on the inside.

9-23-08
I got the rear cockpit (bulkhead, rear deck and inner wheel arches) painted today with the good old Krylon spray can paint but it turned out great. Nice gloss, good coverage…its all in how you prep what you are painting.

I looked into the prices of all the little stickers that go into the car (you know, the valve cover and air cleaner stickers, the emissions stickers, the negative earth sticker, etc) and, while they don’t cost that much, when you buy a bunch of them at once it really gets expensive. Since I had no desire to spend $40-$60 on some stickers I opened my Canvas-9 illustration program and drew up a bunch of them. It took about a half an hour and they really look good. I’m gonna print them up as both water-slide decals and stickers, the decals going on the parts that don’t get really hot (like the bonnet platform and battery bay) and the stickers going to the hotter places (like the valve covers.) I figure I’ll have about $3.00 cost in all of the stickers and about an hour’s worth of work (the time it took to create them and the time it will take to print them up and cut them out) Not too bad, especially if you’re a cheapskate like me.

9-24-08
I got the fiberglass laid on the rust holes over the driver side floorboards. It looks pretty good and has cured well. I may or may not put down another layer over it. I’m gonna stand on it and see how strong it feels, if it doesn’t seem strong enough then I’ll put down another layer. If not, I’ll move on to the passenger side floorboards and do the fiberglass there. When the floorboards are finished to my satisfaction I’m going to go ahead and spray the Dupli-color truck bed liner. In the few weeks that the floorboards have been sitting with just the primer on them I already see some rust forming so I need to get them cleaned up and sprayed as soon as possible. Then I’ll finish up the rest of the cockpit, spray it with truck bed liner and then get it painted all nice and purrrrrdy.

You may have noticed that I still haven’t pulled the dashboard off of the car yet though I‘ve been saying that I will for weeks now. Yes, I keep putting it off because I know it will be a giant pain in the ass. I’m hoping that my father-in-law brings back his pressure washer in the next day or two so that I can do the final engine bay, suspension and undercarriage cleaning rather than pulling off the dashboard. I figure that if I keep writing that I’m going to pull the dash, it will be LIKE pulling the dash. And, of course, spending the time talking and writing about it takes up the time I would use for actually pulling it…I do so love avoiding unpleasant things.

9-25-08
So I’ve been trying to figure out how much time I have to spend working on the B between now and June. Like most people I have a busy life and I was beginning to wonder if I’d be able to get her done by my target date of June 2nd. Then I did some math. If I only work on the B for 1 hour per day, five days a week between now and June it adds up to over 200 hours total. It might not sound like a lot but I estimate it will only take about 50 actual hours to do the body work. Even if I’m wrong and it takes 100 hours to do the body work, that still leaves over 100 hours to do everything else. Of course, I forget that me adjusting the carburetors myself will probably take about 200 hours so maybe I should increase my estimated time to finish the car.
And, as always, the problem isn’t the time, it’s the money.

Your thought for today…
“I’d rather push my MG than drive a Miata.”

9-12-08 through 9-19-08

9-12-08 through 9-14-08

Began working on the engine bay. I pulled the radiator and oil cooler and I’m letting the oil cooler lines sit for a few days to drain as much old oil out as possible. When they have, I’ll pull off the long line at the back of the block and then loop the one attached to the oil filter assembly back to the long hose’s rear oil cooler port.

I’ll be taking the radiator to the shop to get it flushed and pressure tested. If it is bad I’ll have them re-core it instead of replacing it with a new unit. There have been quality issues with new, non-British made radiators but I really can’t afford to get one from the UK. When the radiator goes into the shop I’ll also be taking the fuel tank in to, first of all, see if it is still usable and, if it is, to have it cleaned out.

The oil cooler I’ll clean out myself with carb cleaner, acetone and boiling water (but not all at the same time) I’ll do the same with the oil cooler lines so that they can be used when the engine gets finished and restarted. When the car goes into service I’ll be replacing the lines with the stainless steel braided hoses.

To clean the cooler I’ll first immerse it in a pot of near-boiling water and let is soak to loosen up the old oil and sludge in the unit. Then I’ll drain it and shoot carb cleaner into it, shake it around a bunch and run some small bushes in it as best I can. I’ll do that a few times then flush it a few times with acetone and that should clean it out pretty well. Sounds complicated but each step only takes a few minutes and its really pretty easy.

I found a used grill on an MGB forum. A nice chap in Canada only wants $40.00 for it so I will take that deal as it sure beats nearly $200.00 for a new reproduction grill. It has a few minor bends in it but I can straighten those and buff it and it will look nearly new.

9-14-08
I’m planning out my next steps for cleaning up the engine bay. I tend to work on the car from several angles at the same time. While I’m cleaning up the cockpit and trunk I’m also pulling parts from the engine, cleaning the engine bay, etc. that way I’m less likely to get bored and just say to hell with working on the car today.

The first thing I need to do is roll the car outside and take the pressure washer to it. I’ve already done a lot of degreasing in the engine bay but the pressure washer will take off any of the remaining gunk and crud. I’ll also be pressure washing the suspension and the whole underside of the car.

I’m going to be pulling off and boxing up a lot of the ancillary items from the engine. The carbs and heat shields are coming off too so I can send the SU’s to my British car guru to rebuild for me. I’ll be pulling the alternator (to get it tested) and also the water pump. I’m not sure if I’m going to replace the water pump as it was only 5 years old when the B was parked but it has set for 10 years and I’m not sure I want to trust it when the car is back on the road.

The heater box will come off to be cleaned up and painted. I’ll also take the heater core to the shop for cleaning and pressure testing when I take the radiator and fuel tank in. I’m considering replacing the heater fan assembly with a more modern, 3-speed unit. Not sure yet if I’m going to be that ambitious but the current 2-speed fan (slow and off) just doesn’t cut it.

The exhaust and intake manifolds are also coming off to be cleaned and painted along with the two side covers on the driver‘s side of the engine. When all this stuff is off the engine it will be a lot easier to clean up and paint both the engine and the engine bay. The engine, of course, will be painted with high-temp black gloss paint. The engine bay and inner valances will be stripped of electrical and hydraulic components cleaned, paint-stripped then primered and painted. I’ll use a spray can for priming and painting the engine bay. If prepped right it yields very good results.
I’ll hopefully be doing more working on the car than writing about it over the next few weeks. I may not post as often but I’ll get pictures up frequently. We had our first colds night here in the Carolinas this week (cold for the Carolinas, at least) so I want to get as much work knocked out while it is still relatively mild outside.


The fall is the absolute best time to drive an MGB…it is also the best time to work on one.

9-15-08
The carbs are off. I’m going to clean them off with carb cleaner and send them off to Butch in Burlington to rebuild. (I don’t like to send dirty greasy parts out for repair…just seems rude)
Unfortunately, the little set screw that holds the accelerator cable in place, the plate that is bolted to the top of the carb heat shield, is broken off so the only way to pull the cable is to cut it off. I was planning to replace it anyway but that plate with the set screw is no longer available so I’m either gonna have to find a used one or find a way to fix the old one.

Started pulling the heater box out…it’s a bitch! If its this hard to get the heater box out, I can’t imagine the hell it will be to get it back in…much fun awaits, methinks.

9-16-08
I pulled off the alternator but I’m not sure I’m going to use it. There is a fairly simple Bosch or Delco conversion that I may do since the Lucas alternator is rather lacking in certain areas. It works fine at speed but at idle it barely puts out enough and with the greater electrical demands from new stereo systems and other electrical equipment that will be in the car, an upgrade is probably warranted.

9-16-08
I sprayed the engine and engine bay with foaming degreaser and let it soak. I’ll do that again before I whip out the pressure cleaner and clean up the entire drive train and underside of the car. I also hate working on a dirty, greasy car. You’re gonna get dirty no matter what but 10 years worth of big grease globs and road funk I can do without.

9-18-08
After I get the car all pressure washed and dried off this weekend I’m gonna start back to work on cleaning out and stripping the cockpit and glassing the rust holes. Then I think I’m gonna whip out the sand blaster and start cleaning up all of the various odds and ends that need blasted and painted. Things like the wheels, suspension, air cleaner pots, radiator surround panel, you know…just about everything. Then (unless the budget allows for me to purchase that MiG welder to do the rockers) the dashboard gets pulled.

As a side note, I’ve decided that I’m going with the new LED lighting systems where ever possible. The taillights, side marker lamps, dash and instrumentation lights will all be the LED lamps. They have a much, much, much lower current draw and a lifetime of at least 25,000 hours. The back up lights, however, will be halogen lamps. I took the old back up light bezels, cut out the insides and drilled a mounting for a small 12-volt halogen lamp. It puts out a lot more light than the original incandescent…I’m just afraid of melting the lenses!

9-19-08
Rolled the car outside today and sprayed off the grease from the engine compartment and engine. still have more to do. Just found out the pressure washer won't be available until next week so I'll have to wait for the final cleaning until then.

Pulled out the heater core and was cleaning it out when I noticed it had a small hole in it. when I take it in for professional cleaning and pressure testing I'll find out if it is reparable. If not, its another $100.00 or so that I didn't want to spend.