12-27-2008 FIRST START DAY!!!

Saturday was the day! Kevin came over and we worked on the MG from 10:30 am until around 8:00 pm to get her started, breaking only for lunch around 2pm.




















We spent most of the day safing bare wires, reinstalling things like the carbs, distributor fuel lines and about 100 other little things.

...there were problems, of course...

The fuel tank isn't back from the radiator shop yet so I hooked up a small gas can in the trunk with some extra fuel line. I put gas in the lines where it promptly spilled out all over the garage floor. Fixed that and then found it flowing out at the front carb. both were cases of loose or missing clamps.

The distributor would not go back in with the rotor facing the right direction so Kevin turned it 180-degrees around and it slipped right in (he then swapped the wires around)

When the wires were all safed we hooked up the batter. No fires, no sparks, no smoke and the fuel pump kicked on. After chasing problems for a while longer we tried to start it but no joy.

Ran the battery down cranking it to get oil pressure but still no start. When I hooked up the second battery I noticed that the first one whas hooked up out of phase! No wonder it wouldn't start.

After the second backup battery was hooked up (correctly) and we fiddled with the distributor some more (and sent the wife to the parts store for a new plug wire) we had our first backfire after cranking it for about 10 seconds! Not much but it was a sign of life.

We fiddled some more, determined that we were getting spark at the plugs and fuel at the carbs so we tried again and TA-DA- she fired up!

She only ran for about 10 seconds but she was running. The oil pressure was around 50-60 pounds, which is very good, and she ran surprisingly smoothly considering how old everything was. She started and ran for 10-15 seconds a few more times after that so I felt good calling it a day.

Next up, I'll be replacing the points, condensor, plugs, plug wires, cap and rotor. The carbs come next. They need rebuilt so I'll be sending them off to either Butch in Burlington or one of the other pros from the MGExperience forum.

Other than that, it's back to work on the other 12 buh-zillion things I need to do.

I just wanted to see if the engine would run and hold pressure so the rest is easy since that is the case. At least I can be relatively sure that when the car is ready to rollout, it will be drivable.

When she fired up for the first time in 10 years, I was laughing and smiling like my 7 year old son on Christmas day.

I taped it and will try to get the video posted here this week.

Merry Christmas to me :)

Well, there’s lots to catch up on in the last few weeks. The holidays are still cutting into the time I’d be spending on the MG but I got a lot done the last few days.

Some good news, some bad news; I’m going to try to start the engine up on the weekend between Christmas and New Years. On the bad side, when I pulled the clutch and brake pedals of to replace them I found that the push rod on the clutch master cylinder is badly egged out and the clevis pin is also shot. Luckily, my MG buddy Kevin who is going to be helping me try to get the B restarted, has an extra pushrod.

I got the heater core back from the shop, it only cost $25 to get it flushed, pressure tested and have the crack soldered. I reinstalled it back in the heater box and got the whole thing back into the car. The heater box is supposed to be a bitch to reinstall and I recall them being exactly that when I last did one nearly 20 years ago. But this time, I pre-compressed the big puffy seal on the back of the box by stacking a bunch of slate tiles on top of it for a few days. I pulled it out from under the slate tiles, quickly glued it to the back of the box, sprayed a little WD-40 on the seal, lined it up in the opening and it slid right into the opening on the firewall with just a light pop of the heel of my palm.

I got the radiator back into the car as well as the oil cooler and lines (I need new lines for the oil cooler, they are both way too long and look stupid) I have at least 60% of the wiring cleaned up and re-taped in the engine bay. I installed the new stainless braided fuel line hoses in the engine bay (they look sweet) and in the rear at the fuel tank.

The tank should be done in the next day or two. I’ll still have to reseal the top of it because it was in really poor shape but the rest of it was in good condition and since it is an original tank with baffles, I decided to keep it.

I reinstalled the blank plate on the top of the firewall on the passenger side. I used double seals and drilled out and added four extra securing screws since I got tired of it always leaking no matter what I did when it rained.

I got the exhaust downpipe reconnected to the exhaust manifold with lock washers and the brass nuts. It is a lot harder to get some of those nuts installed with the manifold bolted to the block but not too much harder.

My buddy Paul is looking at my alternator and hopefully will get it fixed before this weekend. If not, I’ll just have him put it back together and I’ll stick it on the car as is for the restart since the car will run with or without it in place.

I put the front of the B up on jack stands and a heater under the engine for a few hours to heat it up and then drained out all of the old oil. I got at least 10 quarts out of it! I then sprayed a bunch of brake cleaner up the drain hold and down the dipstick hole to clean out any gunk in there. When I was done I blew compressed air down the dipstick hole to dry it out. I’m sure that it didn’t get the sump completely clean but it knocked out a lot of any old gunk that may have been up in there.

I’m waiting on an order from Moss for the little doo-dads I need to get the engine running again. Hopefully they will be here by this weekend, but with the slowdown because of Christmas shipping I’m not sure they’ll get here on time.

As I said above, I’m going to try to start the thing on the weekend between Christmas and New Years so I’ll have the fire extinguisher and camcorder standing by. IF it works and I get it started I’ll put the video up…it will probably show me jumping up and down like an excited nine year old. I have no idea if it will start or not. The valves need adjusted and the carbs and the rest of the electronics are around 15 years old…keeping the fingers crossed!

Merry Christmas, happy Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, the winter equinox or whatever you celebrate this time of year.

So sorry good people for not posting much in the last few weeks. I have been recovering from second heart attack in as many weeks courtesy of the Pittsburgh Steelers. :)

Getting closer to the engine restart Got a few small parts yet to order and I'll have the lump back together. I'm using the NASA all-up testing philosophy. Put everything back together, assume it all still works and fire light the bitch off.

The alternator is not putting out anything but as long as it is in place the battery will hold a charge long enough to work. I replaced a few rubber bits in the carbs but I have no idea of their condition. Both of the return springs on the carb bodies are broken so I'll need those and it is missing the fast idle adjust screw and locknut but they were fine when it was parked...after 10 years sitting? who knows. Folks on the MG forum and Butch seem to think there is a good chance they'll work since I took the time to clean all of the old gas out of them when I first parked it in 1998 (doesn't seem that long ago...I must be getting older)

Oil cooler and lines are back in but I've always had that one line that is way too long so at some point I'll be replacing that. I still have about 3 gallons of oil in the engine to drain out and replace...that'll be fun. I still have to take the heater core and tank to get flushed/repaired but the guys on the forum recommended a place in Kernersville that they does a real good job...and it's close by too.

I still have the mess that is the wiring to clean up. I'm replacing a bunch of the bullet connectors and female receptacles and plan to add a relay system and second aux fuse panel for the stuff that takes lots of juice to run...don't now why but I just don't trust 35 year old British wiring to hold up.

I plan to try starting it weekend after next so if anyone wants to swing by for the fire...um, I mean start up, I'll keep you posted. Kevin, who lives over in Bermuda Run and is very MG knowledgeable, has offered to help and he has many of the tools I'll need. He's a really nice guy and has been a ton of help so far.

11-20-2008 TO 12-02-2008

Well the Thanksgiving holiday and work interests have pulled me away from working on the B as much as I would have wanted to. Plus, I’m trying to get some more remodeling work done on the (formerly) finished basement in my house that flooded this spring. Wifey wants me to get the gym I’m building finished for her Christmas present so I get to mix in drywall dusting with the paint fumes from MG restoration. What fun!


















I have gotten some stuff done, however, just not as much as I would have wanted to. The radiator is all finished and pretty. After it was all cleaned inside and out I buffed the brass with steel wool, soldered the metal support brace back on where it broke loose from the top and then clear coated the brass to keep it all nice and shiny. I also put a thin coat of gloss black on the tops of the radiator fins since those are what you see when you look down on the radiator when the car’s hood is open. I also painted the steel supports on the radiator with several coats of gloss black paint and glued two cork buffer strips on the parts where it attaches to the radiator support in the engine bay. I’m not big on metal to metal contact with painted parts since it tends to rub off the paint over time and allow a path for rust to start.



















I’ve decided to take the heater core to a radiator shop to get the crack soldered. I did it myself but the core is just too hard to get out of the car if it fails. So I’ll have the shop solder it up and pressure test it so I can be sure about it. The same goes for the gas tank. Now I just have to find a local radiator shop.

NOTE:
When you use material s such as Perma-Tex or other gasket sealing products, use it very sparingly. In fact, when you are installing your heater valve, you shouldn’t use any at all. When I flushed the radiator and (especially) the heater core out, gobs of old Perma-Tex came out. This was old gasket sealing material that squished out when a part was tightened down and broke loose, making it into the stream of coolant. There is no telling how much of the radiator and heater core was clogged by this loose material. This is especially important with the heater core since it is so small and inefficient already. Any blockage at all in the core make an already weak unit even weaker as far as heat output is concerned.

Printed up some of the homemade stickers that I made with my Canvas-11 illustration program. They look really good but I’m not sure how they’ll hold up in the engine compartment. I put about 6 coats of clear coat on them and I’ll be cutting them out. After I apply them I’ll also put some more clear coat over the area where they are placed to, hopefully, seal them up. It is an experiment but if it works then I don’t have to spend a butt-load of cash on some little stickers.
Since the weather has turned decidedly colder I’ve been doing as much work as possible down in the basement on cleaning parts. Nuts, bolts and various other parts, it at least lets me do work on the B when it is to cold to be out in the garage. I have one more parts order to make and I’ll start making an earnest effort to get the car running.

11-22-08...In praise of CLR...Part-II

Well, the radiator and heater core have been soaking over the weekend now and the
results are pretty dramatic. The first picture is of the radiator as it was before this restoration began. It wan't too bad looking, just dirty and tired.
















The next is a picture of the radiator and core soaking in the hot bath of CLR and water. I soaked it for about 3 days and the amount of crud that came out was amazing!
















I took a hunk of super-fine steel wool to the the radiator top for only about 20 seconds and it shined up like it was brand new! I still have to fiinish cleaing off the old paint from the radiator support, painting it and then cleaning up the rest of the brass but that is all just a detail.

















I soldered the crack in the heater core and then soldered the upper part of the radiator support bracket back onto the passenger side radiator top.
















How I did it:

I took the core and used a wire wheel brush to take the area all around the crack to bare clean metal. The wire wheel expanded the damage from nearly invisible to a 1-inch long opening around 1/2 to 1 mm wide. I smeared solder flux all around the area and heated it with a propane torch until it was very hot. I then dipped the solder into the flux and onto the crack and the solder was sucked right in like it is when you are soldering copper pipes together.

I built up the solder on top of that and then all around it to the sides and it seem pretty solid. I hooked a garden hose to one end of the core and blocked the other opening and turned on the hose...no leaks.

Since the pressure from a home's plumbing system is much higher than that which the core will experience in the car I think I am safe to assume that this will hold over time.

I'm very lucky the pressure didn't blow the core apart but the solder held so I think it'll be okay to install back in the heater box.

11-19-2008 In Praise Of CLR

I decided to clean out my radiator and heater core myself thus saving at least 100-200 dollars. I bought a bottle of CLR (calcium, lime, rust) remover and a bottle of Lime-Away gel. I flushed the radiator and core with hot water and then poured half a bottle of CLR in the radiator and about a half a cup in the heater core. I put the core in the sink and filled it with hot water and then poured some Lime-Away in. I then put the radiator in the basement bathtub and filled it with hot water until it just covered the top of the radiator. I then dumped the rest of the CLR into the tub and some more of the Lime-Away and let it soak.

After just a few minutes I could see the brass top of the radiator begin to look like brass again.
I pulled the heater core out of the sink and shook it as it drained an huge gobs of crud poured out of it, even though it had previously been repeatedly flushed with hot water.

I’ll let them both soak for a few days and then post some before and after pictures.
There are still a few small pinholes in the core but since they are right along an edge and not in the area of the cooling fins I should be able to solder those up myself.

I took my alternator into an auto parts store today and had it tested; no output. The brushes or stator could be rusty or the thing could just be scrap. I’ll have to strip it down and check the insides but since it sat for 10 years I am not entirely hopeful. Alternators are relatively cheap but I’d rather not have to replace one if I don’t have to. And if I’m going to do so, I’d just as soon do the AC Delco alternator conversion so that I have higher output at low rpm’s.

11 16-2008

I started working on the wiring harness in the engine bay, cleaning bullet connectors with a gun barrel cleaning brush, sanding male bullet connectors and coating them with conductive grease, cleaning 35 years of old paint off the wiring harness tape…the usual stuff.

I noticed that the harness which comes off the main loom and goes down under the car to the rear near the starter had a bullet connector who’s wire had no sheath on it, just bare copper wire. I tried to pull the tape off but couldn’t because a wire was melted to it! It appears that a white wire in the loom had shorted out at some point and completely melted to the harness and to some of the other wires in the loom. I cut away about a foot of tape and every bit of the wire was melted. Apparently, the previous owner just put another layer of tape on the harness instead of actually replacing the bad wire. The scary thing is that I drove the car for ten years with it like that, not knowing that I was an inch away from an electrical fire.

















So add one more thing to my repair list. I’m not going to pull the harness since the rest of the wiring actually seems in good shape. What I’ll do is test the wire and see where it goes (I think it is the power supply for the fuel pump) and then run a new wire along the length of the harness and then cover it with a quality blue electrical tape that matches the color of the original harness tape. That will seal it up and add further protection to the older wires in the original harness. I’ll do that when I am under the car cleaning and sealing up the underside of the car.

Unlike the rear harness, the front harness seems to be in remarkably good condition. Even the bullet connectors are relatively tight and corrosion-free so a thorough cleaning should be all that is required.

Tonight I’ll be cleaning out the metal fuel line by spraying a whole lot of brake cleaner down the line from the engine compartment and then blowing it out with compressed air. The brake cleaner spray should break up and dissolve any gas that was left in the line and turned into varnish.

I’ll be taking the Lucas alternator to the parts store tomorrow to get it tested. I want to do the Delco alternator conversion but right now, if a part works, it is getting reused. While I’m at the parts store I’ll also pick up a few feet of fuel injection hose to use as the rubber lines for the fuel system along with some new vacuum tubing.

I started calling around radiator repair shops in Greensboro and Winston Salem since the shop I used to use years ago has since gone bye-bye. The radiator needs flushed and pressure tested and I already know that the heater core has a leak in it. I’ll also need the gas tank dropped into the cleaning bath since there are probably 35 years of crud and rust in it. I have to get all of this done in the next few weeks since I can’t really get the car running until these parts are finished.

I got the radiator support panel installed along with the intake and exhaust manifolds. They aren’t torqued down yet but, since I still have to connect the exhaust to the manifold, it isn’t vital yet. The engine is slowly coming back together and once I get the carbs reassembled I’ll put those back on and work on getting the rest of the car ready to fire up in the next few weeks. I hope to do that in the second week of December so it gives me about 18 days and $400.00 to go.

Improving MG heating and insulating the heater box.

11-11-2008
Since I’ll be using my MG as a daily driver starting next year, I’m trying to think of ways to get maximum efficiency out of the heating system. The cockpit will, of course, have sound and thermal insulation on the floors, tranny tunnel and firewall and I’ll be redoing the heater valve by either modifying the flow of the original one or replacing it all together with a ball valve assembly.

I’ll also have a fully carpeted interior and I’ll be making an insulated headliner insert for the convertible top. But one other area I’m looking at is insulating is the heater box itself.

I figure that if this box remains warmer, the air passing through it will have to be heated less than if it was passing through the cold steel of the box. I had considered using something like the stick on Dyna-mat but I’m thinking that the heat in the box will cause it to break loose and sag into the box, possibly blocking the core or interfering with the blower fan.

What I think I will try is to apply several layers of 3-M spray-on rubberized undercoating to the insides of the box and then sticking a layer of heavy aluminum foil to it while it is still tacky. This undercoating material has stuck well to the harsh environment on the underside of the car and has been subjected to high heat in the area of the exhaust system without coming off so it should hold up well inside the heater box.

The aluminum will provide a thermal reflective barrier and will leave a smooth surface so as not to increase the drag on the airflow through the box like the rough surface of the undercoating by itself would.

I think this should greatly improve the thermal characteristics of the box and increase the amount of heat entering the cockpit.

Of course, the best improvements would be a 3-speed blower motor and a hardtop…but one thing at a time as my budget allows.

11-10-2008

Spent a lot of time with a soft wire detail brush cleaning up sand that got stuck in the primer. Vacuumed as much sand out as possible and started spraying the area with white paint. Most of it went on pretty smoothly but a few areas wrinkled and lifted where they overlapped older paint. I’ll clean those up and make them all white and pretty. There was also a fair amount of overspray on areas that were not white but that should be easy enough to clean up as well. As soon as everything is dry I’ll be detailing the hydraulic lines with silver paint and touching up all the other detail painting work in the engine bay.

Once that is all done it’s back to reassembling the motor. I’ll be hanging the alternator, fan pulley and fan and reinstalling the exhaust and intake manifolds. I’ve got to get the radiator, heater core and gas tank to the radiator shop so they can get them cleaned up and flushed out. Then it’s more sorting out of the wiring in the engine by…oh joy.

I found the little arm on the heater box that controls whether the air goes to the heat or defroster ducts was broken off. So I got out my trusty pop-rivet gun and fixed that fairly quickly. I’m going to do a little experiment and insulate the inside of the heater box…I figure anything that adds to the heating ability of an MG heating system will help.

11-2 to 11-9 2008

A REALLY NICE DAY 11-02-2008
This isn’t the usual blog entry but I just kinda’ wanted to share it. Today I went outside in the early afternoon and started tinkering with my MGB on what was a beautiful fall day. My Wifey was inside studying and instead of her being in there and complaining that we weren’t spending any time together (which lately, we haven’t been due to our horrible schedules) she grabbed a chair and her computer, set them up right next to the garage door, and studied outside while I worked on my little British car. It was really nice. She was there with me and while we weren’t really doing much together, we WERE together. I’m a pretty lucky guy…I love my Wifey and we actually enjoy each other’s company. Just a really nice day.


















11-06-2008
While I did install the new thermostat and housing on the engine this morning, today was sandblasting day. I got bundled up in my hat, ear protection, breathing filter, scuba mask and nylon jacket and started blasting a bunch of the little parts that needed to be cleaned up I blasted the front and rear halves of the heater box inside and out, one of the front fender splash panels the inner halves of the air cleaner cans and their bases, the small oval shifter surround plate on top of the tranny tunnel, the fan belt pulley and the brake and clutch pedals Kevin gave me. After they were all blasted and cleaned I sprayed a coat of etching primer and then gloss black paint.

In an earlier blog I wrote that I had decided to not sandblast the entire car because you can never get all of the sand out and it invariably winds up getting in the final paintjob. Well I cleaned all the parts I blasted with compressed air for an amount of time almost equal to the time it took to blast the parts. I primed them and no sand showed up. Then I painted them and no sand showed up…until I sprayed the front of the heater box. Sure enough, as soon as I got it almost completely painted, sand appeared and totally ruined the finish. And, of course, it was on the front of the heater box, the most visible part of all. Oh well, so I guess I have to blast that part again. Since I still have the wheels, front suspension and a bunch of other small parts to do I guess I can live with that.

I’m getting close to finishing the engine bay cleaning and painting but I have a quandary; the area surrounding the brake and clutch master cylinders is filthy and corroded but it is too tight to get inside of with wire brushes and scrapers to thoroughly clean, prep and paint. I didn’t want to pull the hydraulics but it looks like I have no choice. The area really needs cleaned and painted or it will wind up a rusted-out mess in a very short number of years. I hate to pull the brake and clutch masters because they aren’t leaking and, when it comes to British cars, if it isn’t leaking you do not ever touch it!

Though I hate to do it, it looks like I’m gonna wind up pulling the lines of the masters and pulling them out as a single unit while attached to the pedal box support structure. It is held in by 8 bolts and may be a bit tougher than pulling the masters out individually but I think it will put less stress on the units.

And, as much as I also hate to say this, I’m going to probably have to sandblast that part of the engine compartment. I’ll seal off as much of the engine itself and other various openings in the bay as well as covering the majority of the car in a large tarp to keep sand from getting in ever little nook and cranny. The area is solid but there is enough surface corrosion and grime that it justifies blasting the whole thing. I don’t want to have to go back and clean and paint the area again in the next decade so it has to be well sealed now.


11-9-2008
Broke down and bought a MIG welder today. It’s one of the cheapo harbor freight 90-amp welders. I’m sure it won’t last long but, then again, it doesn’t have to. All I need it for is the bodywork on the car and after that, I really don’t care. It was on sale for $119.95 so not too bad a price. I also bought the welding gloves and small clamps to hold the pieces in place while welding. It came with a cheap-ass welding mask but that is better than none. I also bought a wobble extension set and a regular extension set plus a tap and die set. I got everything on sale because I am …(survey says) That’s right, Cheap!!!




















11-10-2008
Rolled the B out of the garage today and started sandblasting the engine compartment in the area of the clutch and brake masters. I covered everything with a tarp, covered the engine with plastic and another tarp and stuffed foam rubber in every opening I could (the car, not me). The results, of course, is that sand got everywhere! That’s exactly why I didn’t want to do any sandblasting on the car in the first place.

It took about 20 minutes to blast the area and then I spent at least an hour with the air nozzle blowing sand out of the car…the sand is still all over the place and when I primed the areas I blasted, it was, of course, polluted with sand. Oh well, at least it is all clean and de-rusted.
I loaned my Olympus digital camera to a friend of my ex-wife (ain’t I nice) for a scuba diving trip. I have the underwater dive housing for it and I’d rather loan it than see someone spend a butt-load on something they’ll only use a few times a year. And she’s a nice person to so it’s all good The only problem is that I am now without a camera to document the resto for at least 10 days. I tried taking a pic with my phone (see below) and that turned out shitty.

I’ll see if I can borrow my daughter’s camera because this no camera crap is for the birds.
I sprayed the front of the heater box and, as I wrote previously, sand got in the paint. So I took some 400-grit sandpaper and wet-sanded it and took off as little paint as possible while getting the sand out. Then, I resprayed it and, as my luck seems to be holding, it wrinkled and lifted. So when it was dry, I wet-sanded it again and noticed something that looked really cool. The letters of the words “Smiths” is pressed into the metal on the front of the heater box from behind and when I sanded it, I took the paint off just the letters. The contrast of the silver letters on the black box looked really good. So when I resprayed the piece, I wet sanded the letters again and I’m going to leave it that way. I’ll put a few layers of clear coat over it but the contrasting letters look really cool. The paint lifting off, it turns out, was a fortunate accident.

11-01-2008

I did some more sandblasting today and got a lot of the smaller parts of the engine bay cleaned up I started with the air cleaner covers and they cleaned up nicely. I then primed and painted them and (except for some small dents in one of the covers) they look brand new

I then got the brake/clutch master cylinders cover blasted, primed and painted. It looked great for about an hour but then the paint started to wrinkle. It looked like the crinkle-finish on the metal dashboards on the MK-I MG's...I'm gonna have to redo it and I'm still not sure why it wrinkled up on me...oh well.

I also finished up the opening into which the heater box fits. I had previously cleaned it out and applied a few coats of truck bed liner to it. Today, I primed and painted it thouroughly. I want to make sure this area is well protected because if it rusts, you have a world of trouble replacing the metal in there. It is buried inside of a lot of other metal and is one of the most involved repairs to make on the whole car...I'd rather avoid that!

I also got the radiator support panel sandblasted, primed and painted black. It also looks like new. I ran out of sand when I was 75% finished on this panel so I had to get out the broom and sweep old sand up off the driveway, sift it and reuse it. Got it finished, but just barely. I'll need a few more bags of sand since I'd rather pay $7.00 per bag than spend half an hour getting a half a bucket swept from the driveway...I'm cheap, but not that cheap!

I started cleaning the driver side of the engine bay inner fender well. I got it about half done and primered after I pulled off the brake hydraulics. I'm gong to have to get into the area surrounding the support frame for the brak/clutch master but it is really tight in there. I may have to go ahead and sandblast the area and spend the rest of the year getting sand out of the car.

10-27-2008

I finally got the sandblaster out and started blasting away. I love the Sears sandblaster, blast for 30 seconds, spend 30 seconds unclogging the blaster, blast for another 30 seconds…and so on, and so on…

Still, it’s better than sanding or using a wire brush. First, I got the valve cover sandblasted and cleaned. I decided to paint it gold but the only paint I had was lacquer and I didn’t know if that kind of paint would hold up to the conditions in the engine bay. So, being the impatient person that am, I went ahead and sprayed three coats. I then sprayed three coats of lacquer over that. It looks pretty good and I guess I’ll see if it holds up once the engine is running.




















I still have all of the other stuff to do (clean the rest of the engine compartment, cockpit, underside and get them all sealed and painted) so I won’t bore you with that until it is done. What I really want to do, however, is get the car started. Now to do this, I’ll have to get a lot of stuff done. I admit that one of the main reasons that I want to get the car started is just because she hasn’t run since 1998 and I just want to hear her running.

But, on the more logical side, since she has not run in 10 years, I’d like to get her started sooner rather than later because I just have no idea of her mechanical condition after she sat so long. I’d hat to get everything done and then start her up in the spring, just to find that there is something seriously wrong and I have to pull the engine.

I figure that I’ll have to do the following at minimum: Get the wiring cleaned up and loose wires safed so there is no shorting out, get the fuel tank cleaned, repaired and installed, replace the rubber fuel lines, gaskets, hoses, etc. I can borrow a radiator so I don’t have to get it or the heater core flushed, pressure tested and repaired yet and I can pull the battery out of my old, unused Chevy van so I don’t have to buy a new one yet. I’ll also need to adjust the valves and get the distributor cleaned up and reinstalled. As for the carbs, they seem to be in fairly good shape after 10 years of inactivity. I’ve cleaned them out, adjusted the float levels and I’m replacing the float chamber and throttle shaft seals so, hopefully, that will be enough to at least get the car running..

I also got the distributor cleaned up, haven't relaced the points, condenser, rotor, etc, but I'm hoping they are good enough to get the car running. I lightly sanded the points to make sure they were corrosion-free and reassembled the unit after cleaning.

I also got the dashpots on the carbs polished until they are nice and shiny...it won't last long but they sure look good now!


















I have parts orders placed with Moss and Victoria british. Mostly small stuff-screws, rack boots, hoses, etc. I'm concerned about the quality of the parts as most MG owners on various forums report that they get stuff that doesn't fit or is just low-quality crap...We'll see...I'm not one to pay good money for something and not bitch if it isn't worth the $$$ I shelled out for it.

10-25-2008

I Spent last night making gaskets for the engine. The only ones I'm not making are the valve cover gasket (which I already have) and the exhaust manifold gasket (shich is made from metal) The rest I'm making myself...$20.00 for a sheet of treated fiber material and 1/8" thick sheet of cork is a lot less than just a few of the gaskets and I'll also have plenty left over for future repairs.

After making the gaskets, I reinstalled the cleaned and painted water pump. It seems in good shape and if it winds up failing it only costs about $50.00 for a new one and is easy enough to swap out.

I pulled the side tappet covers off of the engine and cleaned them up. I put the rubber gasket I had on the rear cover and a new, home made cork gasket on the front cover. I used Indian Head gasket adhesive on both and reinstalled the covers back on the block. They get tightened down but not much. If they are overtightened the gaskets squish out and the plates warp which is what usually causes them to leak.

Once they were back on I went ahead and sprayed them with the high-temp engine paint so they're all nice and purdy.

I'll finish up cleaning and painting the rest of the engine bay as well as pulling the valve cover and cleaning and painting that too. I still have parts to sandblast for the bay...so much to do, so little disposable income.

The exhaust manifold is ready to go back on. I wire brushed it until it was down to bare metal, cleaned it thoroughly with acetone and then sprayed three coats of the 1500-degree (supposedly) high temp silver paint. I do know, however, that no matter what, the heat of the manifold will cause the paint to "go away" sooner than the marketing claims say it will. Such is life with a red-hot mainfold. It looks nice now though!

10-21-2008

I got the remainder of the engine block cleaned and painted. I purchased one of those “as seen on TV’ battery-powered rotary bushes that look like a giant toothbrush. It works okay but the most useful part of it is that the small, circular brush tip has very stiff bristles. I sprayed brake cleaner on a part of the block and then scrubbed it with the brush. On or off, the brush seemed to work about the same.

I got the driver side of the block cleaned and put down two layers of the black, high-temp paint. While I was in there, I also cleaned the steering shaft and rack and got them sprayed black as well as the engine cross member.



















Tonight I’ll get under the car and finish cleaning the underside of the engine, the oil pan and the rest of the cross member and engine area. I’ll spray those with the appropriate black paint and then move onto the remainder of the driver side engine bay. I’ll be cleaning, priming and then painting it white after I have the fun of pulling off all of the stuff attached to the inner fender well on that side of the engine bay.

I’ve decided that I’m just going to replace the rear wiring harness with one that my MG friend Kevin pulled off of his 73 parts car instead of trying to repair Stevie Wonder’s work on my current harness. Kevin has many parts that I’m gonna wind up needing so I think he’s going to have the opportunity to sell those parts very, very soon…yay for both of us!

I also got the back half of the heater box out. The area below the heater box was pretty caked up with dirt and small debris. I got my little rotary brush out and cleaned and vacuumed all of the crud out, washed it down with brake cleaning fluid and then sprayed a coat of truck bed liner. When dried, I’ll primer and paint it.

















Above and below: heater box opening




















I have to go do early voting tomorrow so I may not get much done before I trundle off to work but some things must supercede my MG project…I’m so patriotic:)

10-19-2008

I rebuilt my 74 engine in 1988 at 62k miles. swapped out (p.o.s.) Ansa exhaust for nearly stock exhaust with stock exhaust manifold.


My work on the B (which sat from 1998 to 2008) has resumed and one of the items on my list was to repair the side covers which were leaking oil.


So I pulled the carbs, manifolds, etc. and braced myself for the hell that is getting the six bolts out of the bottom of the exhaust manifold that connect the flanges to the exhaust system.

I slide under the car with a can of PB blaster figuring I'll soak them and come back to them tomorrow. I shine the work light on the bottom of the manifold and notice 2 things.

1. one of the nuts is missing from a stud...no biggie, that just means one less nut for me to wrestle with.

2. the rest of the nuts are shiney and clean.

I spray PB blaster on them anyway but decide to see if they have welded/rusted themselves tight like manifold studs and nuts usually do. I put a deepwell socket on one and turn and it slips free with almost no effort. I quickly try the rest of the nuts and they all turn easily. I removed them by hand with one stud coming out intead of the nut. I then proceeded to turn all of the studs out by hand!!!
Not one was frozen or rusted in place.

Then I recalled that when I first went through the hell of replacing the exhaust over 15 years ago, (broke an ear off, cracked the manifold and had to get another one!) my MG mechanic Butch told me to get special studs and nuts so the next time I would have no trouble. I did so though I recall them being somewhat pricey at the time.

I assume I used some type of high quality stainless steel stud and nut set though the nuts appear to be brass. I wish I could remember what they were so that I could recommend them but if you are going to replace yours (again, assuming they are stainless and/or brass) then use these.

10-18-2008

SCHEDULE NOTES:

I have now been working onthe car, primarily the trunk, cockpit, wheelwells and engine bay for two months now. I planned on ten weeks so I'm right on schedule.

I also planned another month to clean, undercoat, seal and paint the underside of the car. One month for the major body repairs, six weeks for the engine and drivetrain, electrical and hydraulics and six weeks for the body and paint work.

I then planned on six seeks for the final assembly and finishing work.

Adding all of that up puts me finishing sometime in late April/early May 2009. Adding in unexpected occurences (and they always happen) and, with some luck, I should finish up by my target date of June 2nd, 2009.

Keeping all my body parts crossed!

10-17-2008

I finally got the passenger side floorboard fiberglassed. After restripping the primer from it and cleaning it thoroughly with acetone, I started to glass it.

















Instead of patching just the holes like I did on the driver side floorboards, I covered the entire passenger side with glass mat and poured the resin on.

Since there were only a few small holes in the driver side, I felt the patching method was justified. while the passenger side was by no means really bad, I decided since there were so many little holes spread around the whole area that a complete covering would be better.






















Fiberglass provides a strong and nearly moisture proof fix for that area provided you apply it to a clean surface and make sure there is no air between the glass and metal. You do this by working the resin-soaked mat with a small brush, pushing the air bubbles out and making sure that it has good contact with the metal. I did that for about 45 minutes until the glass was starting to set up. I then put a small space heater under the car and allowed it to heat the floorbaords up a bit from underneath. Not too hot, just warm enough to aid the curing process of the resin. It was a bit chilly tonight (around the low-60's) so I felt that the additional warmth would help.























Much later on in the evening after the fiberglass had enough time to cure completely, I put down the first layer of spray-on truck bed liner. Tommorow i'll apply a second coat and let that dry thoroughly and then I'll finish stripping out the transmission tunnel and the rest of the footwells. I'll apply truck bed liner to those as well.

After I have all of the cockpit finished with the truck bed liner, I'll roll on a coat or two of urethane sealer and finish it off with a layer of primer and two layers of paint.

Spray on truck bed liner is great stuff. It is durable, tough as nails and really protects the metal. However, it is also not great at preventing the transfer of moisture at the molecular level so an additional step is needed to be sure the steel is prtected from rusting. That is what the urethane is for. The primer and paint layers add an additional barrier to moisture as well.

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.