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.