5-24-2010 through 5-28-2010

5-28-2010
Well the high power relays for the new interior fuse panel arrived. I got a 40-amp relay plus a spare.
I received the seat heater kits in the mail also. The switches are smaller than the holes I drilled in the center radio consoel…dammit! I guess I’ll make some little filler plates out of washers or something.
I think I’m going to paint a big Union Jack on the bottom of the new gas tank. That way you can see the British flag when you are working under the car or if I’ve just run you over. Or I may make a decal instead of painting it…not sure yet.
I’m going to put a few coats of rust proofing/under coating spray on the top of the old gas tank and then a few coats of paint to finish it out.
No more MG work this weekend…at least not Saturday. I’m DJ’ing a wedding reception tomorrow and also doing the photography along with my wifey…it’s gonna be a busy day. It’s also Memorial day so…well I don’t now what that means but it might actually be a day off for me. YEAY!



5-27-2010
I finished repairing the old gas tank top. It was in much better shpe than I thought with only a few pinholes to patch. After I patched them, I put down about three layers of truck bed liner. I also sanded, primed and painted the underside of the tank. Turned out nice. I’m going to put a few layers of paint and undercoating on the tank top and then I’ll be done with it.
I’m finished with the rear suspension re-busing work and it is all back together now. It was a bit tougher on the driver’s side since the diameter of the bushings where the bolt pass through them seemed a bit tighter than the last set. I had to squeeze the bolts thorough with a c-clamp but it all went back together without too much struggle.
I also got the slam panel and under-hood area in front of the radiator painted with pewter paint. I found one can of pewter spray paint at Advance Auto Parts on clearance…that is good since it cost me less $$$, bad since it means they won’t be carrying that paint anymore. Oh well.

5-25-2010
I know what I’ll be doing tonight-finishing the rear suspension rebuild. The UPS man brought me my new toys so I think I finally have all of the urethane bushings I need…I just have to figure out how to replace the rear axle bump stop pads…
I’ll also be replacing the front sway bar end link bushings even though I ORDERED THE WRONG ONES FOR THE REAR SWAY BAR THAT MY CAR DOES NOT HAVE…SHIT! I’ll have to send those back and reorder the new ones. Luckily, I won’t need them immediately since I’m most likely not doing the front suspension for at least a few more days.
I drilled out the center caps on new 3-eared knock-off spinners I got for my Western Superlite wheels (converting them from 5-lug so they fit a 4-lug wheel.) I decided to mount the center caps to the wheels since they are just a slightly smaller diameter than the wheel center opening and won’t stay in place when the wheels are off. I basically just ran a bead of Liquid nails around the inside of the cap and pushed them into place after cleaning the inside of the wheel. I then put the wheels on the car, put on the lug nuts and tightened them up to press the caps on tightly against the wheels and compress the adhesive. I’ll let them dry like that overnight and they’ll be fine.
I put another coat of rust converter on the old gas tank. It is almost ready for rust repairs (on the tank top) and repainting.

5-24-2010
Didn’t get much done this weekend. Had my son with me and we kinda tinkered with the car…but when you’re working on an MG with a 9-year old boy, tinkering is about all you can do.
“We” installed the oil cooler and he tightened up the lines…that means I got them finger tight, lined up the wrench, he turned it and I move the wrench for him to turn it again.
I don’t really expect him to retain any knowledge of working on the car, I just think it’s important to establish the mindset of being able to work on anything from cars, to electronics to landscaping timbers and two-by-fours.
So the oil cooler is installed and I got the starter back up under the car. I still have to hook up the wires but that will take all of 5 minutes.
I would have done more on final removal of the rear valance but we are babysitting the Rat Terrier of one of my daughter’s friends and it has decided (not less than five times in two days) that he really likes shitting on the garage floor right behind the MG…just where you don’t see it until too late…Rocky the yippie dog is really crapping on thin ice.
I got the Summit Racing center caps/3-earred knock-off spinners for the Western Superlite wheels.
They are made for 5-bolt wheels, not 4-bolt so I have to modify them to work on the MG. All that really involves is lining them up in place on the wheel and tracing out the hole locations with a Sharpi marker and then drilling them out where the lugs will go. I’ll be using one of the large, conical stepped drill bits that goes from a diameter of like ¼” to 1”. I really like these type of bits for drilling through thin metal, they seem to bind up less than conventional bits.
Lining them up with the wheel when you are mounting them to the car is a bitch so I may wind up using some type of flexible adhesive to hold them in place on the wheel.
I also started working on the old gas tank I have. I got it dipped and flushed several months ago but just didn’t like how it looked so I bought a new one. This tank, however, is one with baffles which are hard to find an fairly expensive so I don’t just want to throw it away. The top has some rust pin holes in it so I decided to fix it up and either keep it or sell it. I wire brushed the top down and then put a few coats rust converter on it. The stuff seem to work well and, although I’d never use it on any part for the car’s body, I think the tank top will work fine. I’m going to sand the rest of the tank and prime it then seal the top of the tank with fiberglass and resin or some JB Weld (it‘s just a few small pinholes. Then I’ll spray a few coats of truck bed liner, then a few coats urethane sealer and finally a few coats of black enamel. The rest of the tank will also be painted black. I’m not sure what I’ll do with the inside of the tank to keep it from rusting…probably swish some light oil or Marvel Mystery Oil around and then drain it. Then I’ll seal it up in some big plastic bags with a few big packs of desiccant.
Still waiting on my Victoria British parts order (along with the sound system order) to arrive so I can get the rear suspension re-bushing work done. Once they get here it shouldn’t take more than an hour to finish it all up since most of the tough stuff (removing the old, pressed-in front spring bushings) is done.
Then it’s on to finishing up the rear valance and getting the front shocks swapped out and the front suspension re-bushed.

5-22-2010 PICTURES

My parts have all started arriving.

Here are the bullet mirrors i got. I'm replacing my stock mirrors but luckily somebody on the MGE forum needs my old ones for his car so they wont go to waste.


















I got the 3-eared knock-off spinners for my wheels...nice.

















I got the roll bar and the Falcon stainless steel factory exhaust system installed
































I got the gas tank ready to install but it won't go in, of course, until the rear valance is welded in place.

5-20-2010

5-20-2010

Got the exhaust all installed and pretty so I turned to the rear suspensions.
I pulled apart the driver’s side and removed the leaf spring.
I used a socket and c-clap to remove the forward, metal-sleeved bushing from the spring. I had to use a propane torch to heat it up for a few minutes but it eventually slipped out.
I got the new urethane bushings in and then went to install the new rear-shackle bushings on the spring but guess what…no rear bushings…gone…missing…probably thrown away when I cleaned out the garage two weeks ago. I spent 3 hours looking for them but no joy so the MG is up on stands with the rear suspension torn apart and I can’t do anything until new bushings arrive in the mail.
Dammit!!!!

So I dumped a buttload on $$$ on new parts this week…here’s what I’ve ordered:
New 3-eared center caps for the Western Superlite wheels.
Two seat heater kits.
Two chrome bullet racing mirrors.
Rear spring shackle urethane bushings (dammit!)
Front wheel bearing kit (I already have one)
Urethane rear axle bump stop set
Thermostat blanking sleeve


It looks like I’m going to have to get new stainless braided oil cooler hoses since the ones that Butch gave me are not for an MG. Don’t know yet whether I’ll get stainless or stock…probably stainless.

Got the under-hood area in front of the radiator painted pewter and reinstalled the oil cooler. I’ll just hook the old stock lines back up since they are already in place.

Well, back to the fish-n- chips mine…

5-11 through 5-19, 2010

5-11-2010

Hey, welcome back to me. I’m back to work on the MG after my long winter’s rest.
I got most of the garage cleaned out so I can get to the car. Still have a lot of stuff to get rid of but that’s because I’m trying to de-clutter my life from all the “stuff” I’ve accumulated over the years but have no real need for.
I’ve been organizing parts, both new ones and those I already had. I’m really close on having all the parts I need to finish up the car.

Quickies:
I bought a padded roll bar from a nice member on the MGExperience.net forum and it got here today. Tight fit but it does look pretty good and it cost me half of an unpadded new one..
Last week I bought a bunch of parts from forum members who have gotten out of MG’s. Sad to see nice people leave the hobby but I’m sure they’ll be back J
I got a bunch of stuff I needed for my car plus a few parts left over to sell to help cover the costs of the purchase.
I got the following parts for me: tonneau and top boot in great shape, a complete Falcon stainless steel exhaust system, a brand new Lucas electronic (no contact points) factory fuel pump, complete front brake rebuild kits with new rotors, a 1972 steering wheel, brand new clutch master cylinder, a Kenwood cd-stereo, rear shocks with links, two factory jacks and a brand new Hayden electric cooling fan.
I also got two SU HIF AUD 135-R carbs & manifold in great shape, a split stow-away top frame and split rear bumpers.
I also got other assorted stuff like gauges, switches, gaskets, nuts and bolts, etc plussome stuff that I didn’t need, like radio face plates for old style radios with shafts, a top boot cover that was dry rotted, various rear-view mirror parts, none of which fit together…


My friend Kevin just made a big MG score too except that he picked up two whole cars, a 77 and a 72 plus extra parts. I’m hoping he parts out the 77 so I can get the windshield off of it.
Hey, Kevin, I have those rear shocks and chrome over-riders all ready for you…wanna’ trade for that windshield?

I ordered the new sound system including two amps, four speakers and the EQ. I won’t actually have a traditional stereo system in the car, I’ll just plug my Ipod, satellite radio, cd player, etc into the EQ and I won’t have to worry about anyone stealing my stereo.

I got my Western,10-spoke wheels (they look like Minilites with 2 extra spokes) cleaned up and painted. I used Krylon stainless steel color paint followed by about 6 light coats of clear and they look great. I also found 3-eared spinner center caps through Summit racing since the wheels didn’t come with center caps.

I need to pick up some clamps for the exhaust system before I install it. The factory exhaust on it now is still okay but you can see where the rust pitting in the pipes is a bit thin. I could probably get another 10-20 thousand miles out of the exhaust, more with a few quick welds if there are any rust-through spots, but why bother. The falcon stainless system is used but is nearly new and in great shape and, once on the car, it should last longer than me.
If breaking loose the nuts on the hangers cooperates, it shouldn’t take more than an hour to swap out the system, even with the fun of getting to the bolts that connect it to the exhaust manifold.

Then the new roll bar gets installed which shouldn’t take more than an hour or two. I have to drill 8 holes through the floors and put reinforcement plates on the other sides when bolted together but it’s not hard to do.

After that I’ll finish out the rest of the rear end rebuild; I have half the stock bushings replaced with the urethane replacements so far. Then it’s on to the front end bushings and replacing the shocks, brake rotors and wheel bearings.

Then I guess I’ll have to finally start the welding…there’s no more avoiding it…blech!!












5-14-2010
Got the roll bar installed.. It has a zippered black vinyl cover and while I might not trust it in a rollover to save my life, it does give me a nice sense of false security and the potential for major head trauma if my skull hit’s the bar in a accident.

My drill gave up the ghost while installing the roll bar so I got another one at Harbor Fright…and remember Harbor Freight’s motto: “Half our stuff is shit…but you don’t know which half until you get it home!”

I also picked up an auto-darkening welding helmet. It has blue flame decals on it so that makes me really cool. I’m still a shitty welder but now I’m a really cool shitty welder.
Actually, it is a pretty cool helmet and it’s solar powered…green welding, whodathnkit
Also picked up another spot weld removing drill bit, some blades for my sawz-all and a tarp for my semi-retired Corvette which is apparently the bombing target for neighborhood birds on high-fiber diets. I’m not kidding-if I left it sitting in the driveway for a month without a cover it would grow a protective coating of bird shit.

I gotta’ pick up those exhaust clamps so I can get the Falcon stainless steel exhaust installed on Sunday night.

I want to have the rear suspension rebuild finished (half done now) and the front suspension rebushed and the new shocks installed by next weekend.

So here’s my work order for this week:
INSTALL STAINLESS EXHAUST SYSTEM
FINISH INTALL OF URETHANE BUSHINGS & PADS ON REAR SUSPENSION
INSTALL URETHANE BUSHINGS ON FRONT SUSPENSION
INSTALL NEW FRONT SHCOK ABSORBERS

Bonus stuff:
REPACE FRONT BEARINGS (REPLACE IF NEEDED
INSTALL NEW FRONT BRAKE DISCS.
GO TO GREEK FESTIVAL ON SUNDAY & EAT A SHITLOAD OF GYROS AND BAKLAVA
Edit: didn’t go to the Greek festival…Wifey went on Friday and said it sucked.












May 16, 2010
Got the old exhaust hangers disconnected and the clamps put on the new stainless exhaust. I’ll be breaking loose the manifold nuts/studs tonight, dropping the old exhaust and installing the new one. It shouldn’t take more than an hour’s more work. I’ve already had the nuts off once to replace the exhaust donuts so they won’t be rusted or frozen. The exhaust hangers look brand new even though they’ve been on the car for 20+ years so I won’t have to spend money replacing those at least.

I cut away a large portion of the rear valance today. I drilled out most of the spot welds with a remover tool (two actually since I shredded one spot weld bit about half way through) I separated the panel from the car using screwdrivers, an air hammer and a good old air cutoff tool.
I should finish that up tomorrow afternoon since I can’t work on that at night---too loud and the air tools would wake up the whole house.

Looking up inside the rear “frame” of the car after the valance is off, I can see that I’m going to have to spray some penetrol and paint up in there.

Okay…this sucks. I was looking for parts on Ebay for the MG and found a rear bumper that needed re-chromed but was in otherwise good shape. The opening bid on it was 99 cents so what the hell, I bid a buck on it. Well guess what…I won a rusty fucking bumper which is in no better condition than the one I have now. Even worse, the shipping is $40.00. Be careful what you bid on…you may win it. I really can’t bitch though…over the last two years I figure I’ve gotten about $5,000 worth of parts for about $1,000 so one bad deal won’t sour me too much…well, maybe a little bit.

Getting ready to make one of my last parts orders, this time from Victoria British. I’m getting
Front wheel bearings, urethane rear axle bump stops and urethane front sway bar bushings, and a windshield…yippie! I get to replace a windshield. I can’t fucking wait!
There are still a bunch of other parts I need like the wheel center hubs, tires, battery and paint and body supplies but not a whole lot of MG -specific parts.

At the same time I’ll be doing landscaping in the back yard so I am one multi-tasking kind of guy!

My buddy Paul said he’d help me with the welding when I was ready. He did the welding on the TR-250 he restored a while back so that’s good enough for me. Nice to have friends.




May 18, 2010
Got the old exhaust off and the new one installed. It took a bit longer than I had hoped (of course) mostly because I had trouble with the center hanger pin and the old exhaust donuts were so corroded on the down-pipe that it took a while to chisel all the old gasket off.. It also didn’t help that I was doing landscaping work in the back yard at the same time.

I should be able to get most of the old rear valance off tonight though I can’t use my noisy air tools while my wifey is asleep.

It may take even longer, however, since the last episode of the TV show “Lost” before the finale’ is on tonight…have to get my Lost on when I get home from work J

I should also get the rear suspension bushing replacement finished up tonight or tomorrow. It’s dirty and sweaty work but not too difficult.

I was going to install the new gas tank. I got the tank sealed and painted and the sending unit installed. I also attached the rubber mounting strips and foam filler-neck ring to the tank top and I was going to install the tank in the car but since I still have to replace the rear valance, I’m going to hold off.

6-16 tthrough 9-1 2009

Big parts haul, carbs back and actual work 6-19 through 6-22, 2009

Went out to see Butch in Burlington. He finished my SU carbs and they were in pretty good shape. The needle and jet assemblies still looked like new though they have about 165,000 miles on them. New solid butterfly valves on the throttle shafts, new seals, springs and a few other minor bits and the carbs should be good.

Went out to his MGB graveyard to pull parts. About 30 MG’s and a billion crickets, wasps and weeds…what fun on a hot southern day.

I got a new vapor recovery canister for the engine bay (it will be show since the car has been desmogged) a center consol and radio consol, various little clips for the upholstery and to hold down the hydraulic lines n the engine bay, mirror bases, fresh air grill, window crank, back up lights and a bunch of other little parts.

I also found a set of Mini-lite alloy wheels that I think I’m going to get for the car, a deal at $200 for the set.

Other tidbits. I got the steering wheel and hub painted and the new gas tank finished. I cleaned and degreased the tank on the outside and sanded it. On the top I sprayed two layers of truck bed liner followed by two coats of paint and two coats of flexible rubber undercoating so I shouldn’t have to worry about the tank top rusting anytime soon.

On the bottom of the tank I sprayed on two layers of self-etching primer and four layers of Rustoleum black gloss paint. The tank has a better finish than most cars.

I started on the major body work today. I began by getting out my new air cutter and taking off the lower half of the rear valance. The freaking thing has like 300 spot welds in it and I’m NOT going to try to drill all of those out. I’m just cutting off as much of the old panel as I can and welding the new one over it. It already test fits well so good for me.

I cut off the starboard side dogleg and cut out all of the bad metal in the sill areas. The outer sill which extends up under the dogleg was all but gone and now I just have to drill out the spot welds that are left and I can start the final welding prep. The front of the inner sill has a hole in it so I’ll cut out the bad metal and will weld a patch over that before the outer sill goes on.

Cutting off that metal afforded me a peak inside the inner sill behind the castle rail and it looked pretty good. At some point a previous owner had slopped some kind of rust preventative up in there and the metal is still pretty strong. I reached in with assorted wire brushes and a dryer vent cleaning brush and got any dirt in the area cleaned out,.

I then put the nozzle and extension tube from a brake cleaner can on a can of spray-on bed liner and shot it up into the area via the small drain holes along the bottom or the “frame” rail. The coverage was pretty good for doing it blind and I sprayed up in there until it was dripping heavily from the drain holes. I’ll do another couple of coats of that after it dries.

Then it’s onto the other side to repeat the process.

Oh joy!

6-23-2009

Got all of the remaining pieces of the starboard sill assembly cut out. Very much a pain in the ass.
The toughest part was the section towards the rear that is sandwiched in the center of 3 panels where the door goes vertical and up beneath the dogleg.
I drilled out the spot welds on the outer piece that curves upward on the rear area of the door sill and then just jammed a chisel up inside to cut the aft sill section under the dogleg out of the area. That part of the rear sill section is still sandwiched up under the side panel but I’m just going to weld the new sill section over it.
I still have some more grinding to do in the area and I have to split the remaining pieces of metal off the wheel arch where it meets the rear of the dogleg.

I test fit the new sill section and it fit pretty well. The new dog leg fit is more “problematical.” and it is going to need a lot of fudging and wrangling to get it to fit even close to how it is supposed to.

I used my new air panel punch to knock out all the holes all along the edges of the sill piece that I’ll use to plug weld it to the car. Took about five minutes to punch out all of the holes. It would have taken at least ten times that long to drill them all out. I’d say the $29.95 tool from Harbor Freight was well worth the money since it save me a great deal of time, sweat and swearing.

I cut the bad metal out of the front of the center membrane and bought some 16-gauge metal to replace it. I’ll cut that out and weld in place.

When everything is all welded up I’m going to wiggle a modified garden sprayer up inside all of the sill and “frame” rails areas and spray several good coats of paint mixed with Penetrol (which I also bought today) as the final rust protection.

I got the fiberglass air dam cleaned up and sanded and laid down two coats of filler primer. I then filled in the scratches and factory flaws in the air damn and imperfections in the holes I cut out for the daytime running lights. I’ll fine sand and clean up spot filler, put a final coat of primer on it and set it aside until I’m ready to spray the epoxy primer/ sealer on the whole car. On Sunday I test fit the LED DRL’s and got the brackets adjusted so the lights will just bolt right in place when the car is finally painted.

I finally found my box of around 500 LED’s that I used to use for scale model work and with any luck I’ll have enough white ones left so I wont have to order a bunch of new ones. I’ll be using LED lighting for everything but the headlights and turn signals which will drastically reduce the stress on the old wiring and pretty much insure that I won’t have to replace a burned out light bulb until I’ve retired.
I already have some of the cold cathode lighting tubes (CCL’s) that I’ll be using for interior and trunk lighting. The neon lighting you see for cars isn’t actually neon but is cold cathode lighting. The tubes are sealed in clear plastic tubes to protect them, put out a lot of light and use very little power so they are perfect for use in an MGB. I’ll be putting CCL’s in each footwell, up under the lip in the cargo area behind the seats. They’ll be controlled via a radio consol-mounted switch that will also control the LED task/map lights. There will also be at least two CCL tubes in the trunk in addition to the center trunk light, all of which will be controlled by the stock trunk pin switch.



4 August, 2009
Haven’t gotten much done in the last two weeks…dog days of summer and all. Prepping for vacations, kids, near total failure of the brakes on the Corvette (over $200 for a new brake master cylinder) and, of course, the ongoing search for a used school bus. Yup, you read it right…a used school bus. Wifey wanted a camper or some type of RV for us and I basically said no since you need a large, dedicated vehicle to pull it and that ain’t cheap. I then told her for the cost of a nice trailer we could fit out an old used school bus as an RV (I could) so now she is searching for them high and lo.

But frankly, with the Vette repairs, the $$$ I need for the MG and a week in New Orleans starting on Friday, I don’t see a school bus in our driveway any time soon.

So back to the B. I ordered and received the Pro-thane suspension bushings and the replacement front shocks. I pulled the rear spring off the starboard side and found out that the front mounting bushing was pretty much frozen to the spring, I assume it is a pressed in bushing. About 20 minutes of steady pounding with a drift and a large socket finally popped the old bushing out and the new one slid right into place. Starboard side is done and I’ll do the other side tonight after work. With the new urethane front and rear bushings on the rear springs and axle mounting pads, the rear suspension should be pretty tight for the next 100k miles. When I replace the front shocks the front suspension will also be fit with the urethane bushings.

Still waiting on some of the electrical stuff like the 80-amp relay and LED lighting to ship (all on back order)…good thing that I’m working so slowly.

Don’t know how much I’ll get done before leaving for the Big Easy Friday morning but I’ll try to be semi-productive by at least doing the other side of the rear suspension and some more electrical work. I do know, however, that once I get back from vacation the marathon sessions of work begin. I want this car on the road and running well before the weather gets cold again. Since most of the mechanical and electrical work is at least 90% finished, the balance of the work will be the cutting and welding on the body and then the finish body work.

27 August, 2009
I am a total slackass. I haven’t done anything on the B since getting back from vacation. In all fairness to me, however, I have been puttering around with my Corvette which seems to be disintegrating before my very eyes. I have at least $2000 worth of repairs to do on the Vette because it is my only car and it has to be on the road. Of course, that also means less money to spend on the MG.
Well I got back out in the garage and finished off the port side rear suspension and replaced all of the stock rubber bushings with Prothane urethane bushings and I’ve started of the front suspension and shock replacement.
The shocks won’t be all that tough as long as none of the bolts are frozen in place. Replacing the bushings on the lower control arms will be a bit pissy since I have no spring compressor and have to use a floor jack and the weight of the car to compress the springs and get the arms off. A bit of a wrestling match but more irritating than difficult.
After that the carbs are gong back on and I’m gonna get her running again.




28 August, 2009

It is official. I am moving the completion date of the MG to Saturday, Something-Something 30th, 2010. There is no rhyme or reason for me picking that date. I just figure it will give me enough time to finish everything mechanical as well as about 1 to 1 ½ months of warm weather to do the final finish on the body and paint work.

1 September, 2009
The 80-amp relay for the interior fuse panel finally came in along with the LED’s and cold cathode tube lights for the interior. The relay has been on back order for about 2 months and it finally arrived though the package was supposed to include resistors for other LED’s but it didn’t.

The weather has cooled significantly here with nighttime lows in the 50’s…that won’t last but it is very nice to have cool fall weather back.