Weekend Update

So, I did alot over the weekend.

• I fix the brake light problem. Turns out I have no idea what it was. I rebuilt part of the fuse box and fiddled with the blinker and it started working again. Not sure exactly what did it though. Now my brake lights work, blinkers, hopefully horn (haven't tested), tach, fuel gauge, and temp gauge should all be good.
  
• I installed the new hose separator for the oil cooler
• Removed the door panels and cut out one of them
• Installed Radio and wiring, just waiting on doors and speakers now *YAY*
• Installed new shiny seatbelts, twice (turns out my first set was bad)
• New needles for carbs installed (just need to tune)
• Fuel sender gasket replaced, hopefully this stops the slow gas leak from hell

Busy Day

So, I installed a few things today and still have so much left to do. I put in the new fuel sender gasket and retaining ring, new needles to properly match my carbs, I started installing my new seatbelts and I attempted to fix my fuse box.

Turns out the seatbelts I bought are required to be installed vertically and in MG's that's impossible. I managed to break one of my sets before I figured out what was going on. Luckly I accidentally bought 2 sets so I was able to dismantle the second set and rig them so the orientation no longer matters. I had managed to install one of the belts and started installing the second before I learned of this so I need to remove them tomorrow and re-do alot of work. I also tried fixing my brake lights. Turns out that the wiring is perfect, I just have a bad fuse box. I tried removing it and cleaning it up but it's still non-functional. I'm hoping to fix this tomorrow by rebuilding the fuse box.

I also got all the supplies needed to re-panel the doors. Hopefully I can do that tomorrow and install my radio as well. Once I get the doors done with speakers, repair the fuse box, and tune the cars I'll be able to drive the B in the work. Once I have the radio all I'll need to do is replace the heater valve.

Update

Well, I've been using the B as a daily driver for a few weeks now. I just noticed that my brake lights aren't working so I parked it until I could solve that problem. I also ordered new seatbelts, radio, and proper needles. Hopefully I'll be able to get the carbs properly tuned instead of lean and I'll be able to make it a fun daily driver that I can listen to the radio with.

So, currently my brake lights don't work, no blinkers and no horn. I also have intermittent tachometer, temp and fuel gauges.

The brake lights have been a bitch to figure out. I've been going over the schematics and I have power to the fuses but I don't have any at the brake light switch. I'll play with it some more tomorrow when I get my radio in and hopefully figure something out, I'm suspecting I need to dismantle the fuse box and clean it up, solder some things, etc. I've also been trying to figure out the horn. It makes a weird crackling noise when I try to push it. I thought maybe it wasn't getting power but I tested out 12v at the switch so I know it's some sort of ground problem. I also pulled the horn wire going into the steering wheel and grounded it myself to test the theory and it sounds great. I believe the blinkers are related to the brake lights and tach so if I can figure that out I believe alot of my electrical problems will disappear. On the plus side, the heater fan works so I know I'll have power for the radio when that gets in.

I'm thinking of getting a relay kit to switch the lights and horn, hopefully that could clear up some problems I have. I also got a bunch of fuses and replaced all of them with 20a. Oh, the joys of a car left in the yard for several years.

Quietly Alive!

So, after putting everything back together I got her to run a few months ago. Turns out I didn't connect the exhaust properly so it's been louder than a chopper down the highway. I ordered new gaskets for the exhaust header/exhaust joint and after several months I finally installed them the other day. Wow, much quieter. It's awesome now, to the point where when I approach a stop sign I'm worried the car died because I can't hear it. I'm still having intermittent electrical problems so I can't always see that it's idling and that's the only real problem I'm having.

To Work!

I took the B to work today. It's amazing just how much more fun a car can be when it's not sputtering or failing. Now all I need to do is order new exhaust doughnuts and replace those and maybe I won't sound like a racing car.

Death to the MGB!

Alright, so. I did the COMPLETE tune-up. Valves, point gap, carbs, fuel mix, timing, etc. You name it, I probably did it. Idles fine, revs fine. I took it out for a test drive and made it about 2-3 miles before it began to sputter, misfire, and finally die. After a few minutes checking under the hood I tried to start her up again. Fires right up, until I give it gas. Once I put a load on the engine it begins misfiring, sputters, the whole nine yards. I managed to get it home and play a bit more with the engine and gave it one more try. This time I only made it about 100 yards before I couldn't make it anymore.

I suspect it's the gapping in the points for the distributor. I wasn't really sure if I was doing it right and I think I half-assed it. I'm going to pull the distributor tomorrow and re-gap it properly. I also just got my colortune in the mail so I'm going to use that to get the fuel mix right. I may pull the carbs and ensure the floats are properly leveled so I can get the fuel mix proper.

First Day on the Road

Well, today’s the first day I’ll be driving the B in to work since last year. I adjusted my fast idle, topped off the dashpots, put RainX on the windows, and Armor All’d the top and dash. I’m hoping she’ll actually start this time and not embarrass me like it did last week.

This weekend begins the “Stuff I need that won’t help the car work better” inspection. I’m looking for seals, covers, parts, etc that need to be replaced due to damage or age they don’t actually affect the performance of the car but will help make it look better. Once I get all that stuff done I can see about sending the Distributor in to get it Schlemmerized or even shifting over to an Electronic Distributor. Then it’s just a new wiring harness, and a complete paint job and I may just have a complete new car except for the engine and tranny.

It never ends

So, went to start my car to get to work after gassing her up. Won't start. Goody.

After work I checked it out, checked the floats, etc. Turns out my front carb float was leaking. I ordered a new one and just got it in yesterday. So, I can add new float to my list of parts I've put into the B. I also went ahead and ordered new idle screw springs in addition to the gasket that goes around the fuel pump. For some reason I don't have one.

She hates me

So, I took the B out to get gas for the first time in 8-9 months. When I pulled into the gas station my idle was sitting around 3500. Then to make matters work when I went to start it after filling up, it wouldn't start. So, not only was my original idle problem back, I can't even drive home, and since it was a test drive I have no tools (yeah, I'm smart).

I ended up pushing myself away from the pump so I can troubleshoot it and another patron there came over to see if he could help. Turns out he has a '77. After playing with it for a minute we figured out the fuel pump wasn't pumping so he went to move his car. While he was moving it I literally ripped the fuel line off the front carb since I didn't have a screwdriver and some fuel came out so I knew fuel was getting there. After pushing it back on I tried the ignition again and the fuel pump started working again. Go figure. It started right up before he could even get out of his car. My idle was also really high so I fiddled with the idle adjustment screw some. Turns out my rear carb's idle screw doesn't have the spring that keeps tension on it. So, every time I give the car gas, the screw slowly screws itself in, raising my idle. I lowered the nut that was on the screw some to hold it from going down any more and hopefully that'll fix it until I can get replacement springs. Turns out I didn't have to tear the engine apart last year to fix the idle problem. It was a stupid screw.

Turns out he's a member of the local MG club that I was looking at. I never went to any of their meetings because I thought it was an inactive club. Turns out it's still active and they do stuff every month. I gotta find out when their next thing is and check them out. If nothing else to meet the other local MGs in the area.

She's Alive!

Ok, so it's been awhile since I posted. Since the last time I've managed to get her running with new points and condenser, had to tighten the heating valve since it was leaking, put the plug in the engine plate (btw, need a new one now), discovered my ground strap had corroded from lack of use, AND finally got her running.

I somehow managed to break my timing light so I had to buy another one yesterday. Then I discovered I was simply plugging it in the wrong fuse holder so I now have two timing lights. I also got a unisyn to balance the carbs. Lastly I tuned everything, got it all running and I'm hoping to back her out of the garage this afternoon when I get home from work.

This weekend's goal is a wash wax. I may take her to a local U-Wash-It so I can spray out the transmission since I couldn't do that while cleaning the engine. I also need to look into new tires since the ones on the car are 10 years old in the front and I believe 2 years old in the back. Yeah, not safe.

Distributor

After further testing I think my points are bad. I tried picking up a set but they’re not in stock at my local stores. I order a new point & condenser set from Moss which I’m hoping will come in before the weekend so I can hopefully get her running this weekend. Once she’s running I can wash and wax her and then proudly show her off again.

Finally

Ok, I pulled the carbs again and checked everything in them. No more fuel leak, plus I realized I’ve had a massive vacuum leak the this entire time. I plugged the leak and I’m still not able to start her. I think the plug wires are still hooked up wrong and I really think my battery needs a good charge after not being driven and all my attempts to start her up. I’m going to hopefully figure out TDC later today and with any luck she’ll start.

Woe is Me

Yeah, still leaking intermittently so I'm pulling the carbs this weekend and giving both of them the once over. Also gave up and went to work on my Grand Prix since I know what's wrong with that and can fix it. Hopefully I'll get the B running this weekend. The only thing that's going to screw me is where the wires go on the distributor, I also forget.

Attempt #1

So, got the oil in, coolant in, alright, trying to start it....What? Gas leak? *cry* Carbs have to come off again.

Looks fuel is leaking from the bottom plate of the front carb, almost like it isn't sealed, had to pull the carbs to re-seat the plates. After I got them back on tried again...yeah...another leak. Rear carb is pouring gas out of the overflow tube so I need to adjust the floats.

I'm tired and my garage smells like I've been huffing fuel for the past hour so I'm gunna pull them again tomorrow and hopefully fix it. Then all I have to do is figure out how much I messed up the distributor setup.

Oil & Coolant

Alright, for all of you that have changed your oil and waited 2 months to replace it, here's one you'll like.

What's the #1 thing you need to make sure you've put back on before adding oil?

          Give up? The Oil Plug.

What's the #2 thing you need to make sure you've done before adding oil?

          Tightened the valve cover down

I was putting oil back in the engine after removing everything for cleaning and repainting the engine. Apparently I forgot a few steps and ended up pouring in 3 bottles of VR-1 before noticing the oil leak. Thankfully the oil was still chilled a bit and the block was empty of oil, so only about 1/3 of a quart made it to the floor from the oil pan, before I knocked over another quart that was waiting for me, while I ran to put the plug back in. I also managed to put some brand new oil on the side of my newly painted engine block.

I also managed to get coolant in without any leaks and put a “new” valve on the heater valve so I can control the heater during the summer.

Yay. Oh, and after 7 months of sitting my carbs leak gas since I forget to tighten the bowl covers.

Onward and outward, or something like that. Hopefully tomorrow will bring more luck and a started engine.

Parts

Alright, I finally got everything I need to rebuild the heater valve and my new radiator hose finally came in. Hopefully with another hour or two of work (which means 8 hours) I should be able to attempt to start the car. Then I just need to go through the 4 hours of tuning to get the carbs running right again, bleed the brakes since I removed the hoses and I should be set.

I can't wait to get her out on the road again. We've been having BEAUTIFUL weather with some cloudy days in between, but still, perfect cruising weather without a top.

Still re-building

Ok, got the radiator shroud and radiator in. Also installed the distributor, alternator, cooling pump, and began installing the oil pan. Turns out the engine has to be lifted or the suspension has to be dropped to install it. Yay. I’m going to remove the motor mounts and push the engine up an inch or two to get the last oil pan bolts in sometime in the next few days.

I also managed to shear off the plug that covers some hole just below the engine on the bell-housing plate. I was told on MGE that it’s for the automatic transmission that doesn’t really exist anymore. One of the guys was nice enough to offer to send me an extra one he has laying around if I paid shipping.

Hopefully I can get the oil pan finished, install the exhaust, and carbs. Then all I have to do is bleed the brakes, put the tires back on, re-lube the car, fill up the coolant and start her up. Can’t wait to drive her again. Hopefully before I have to go back to work Thursday too.

Almost

So, got everything re-attached except for the heater valve and lower radiator hose. I ended up having to lift the engine up a few inches to properly get the oil pan re-attached and lucky me, I discovered the driver's side engine mount is completely sheered off. I'll need to order a new one soon, but since it's been broken for some time I'm not too worried about it for the time being.

I'm still waiting for a replacement hose from TheBHive and I need to fix/modify my old heater valve. I have all the parts I just need another tap to put the threats in the valve housing after I cut it in half.

Delayed

Somewhat delayed on putting the B back together. Mother-In-Law wants to go to L.L. Bean to shop (over an hour away), so my plans are pretty much shot. Got a grill-out tomorrow so I won’t be able to put as much as I want together.

The painting came out awesome though and I hope to have pictures soon. I keep forgetting my camera when I go to the garage. I opted for a silver and black engine coloring. Now I just need a can of yellow so I can repaint the cooling fan since everything else is going to be shiny new looking.

Front Suspension is On!

Ok, so, to everyone that said you can't get the front suspension on if the front bolts fall through without removing the springs, I proved you wrong. It took almost 2 hours and I had to make a new tool out of skewers but I did it! I got three of the bolts on before the front driver's side one fell through. I ended up taping two skewers together to make a pinching stick to hold the bolt upright while pushing I angled it through the hole.

I would like to point out though, that it's nearly impossible to put the front suspension on without removing the springs, at least in a timely fashion. When I drop it in the future I'm dismantling the entire thing on the car and re-assembling it on the car. Never again in one piece.

Looking good though with the fresh paint on the suspension, engine, brake parts. I'll post pictures tomorrow of my work as I put the oil pan back on and the engine parts on the passenger side.

All I’m waiting for now to get her running again is an Intake/Exhaust Manifold Gasket I have on order. It should be getting in Friday and I can put the exhaust and carbs back on. Then it’s just a bit of tuning and I should be able to take her out for a drive.

Supplied

Went to advance auto and home depot today to get supplies. I bought what I need to rebuild my heater valve better and stronger than before. I also got oil, coolant, new belt, gasket material, oil filter, etc, etc. I love buying fluids for the car....

Hopefully I can start putting stuff together either tomorrow or most likely Friday. I have a new intake exhaust gasket on order since it wasn't stocked. I don't want to put the front suspension on without putting the exhaust on first. It was enough of a bitch taking off with the steering column in the way.

I hope to get the car running by this weekend so I can take my mother-in-law out for the ride since she really wants to ride in it. I also think it'd be nice to drive the MG to work once I get off leave next thursday. Also, since I'm having to go back to work I'll have alot less time to work on the MG and it'd be nice if it was running.

Almost ready...

Alright, update.

I've removed the oil pan to clean that, and taped up the engine so I could spray it. I've managed to get 2 coats of paint on the engine and it looks amazingly better than it did. I also dragged the exhaust pieces out into the back yard and sprayed with high temp black paint to prevent further rust on my exhaust pipes and to give them a uniform color. I'm hoping to take the suspension out today and spray that black and the brake calipers silver. I'm still trying to decide if I want to tape of some of the suspension parts and make them silver. It looks good both ways but I'm torn.

Once everything is painted and dry I can begin putting everything back together and try to get her running again. I'll make sure to get some pictures of everything before I bolt them back on and then more once they're installed for the final look. Only problem with all this is that I'm really wanting to paint the rest of the car.

Front Suspension Off

I gave the engine a good once over and I've come to conclusion that it's grease free. Well, except for the bottom of the oil pan because I can't reach it. At least I couldn't before...

I dropped the front suspension today so I can pressure wash it, paint it up, and to allow better access to the engine and everything. I got some pictures of the suspension after I dropped it, but it looks bad. Oh, and big tip. If you're going to drop the suspension, read the manual. I gave it a quick looksee and then began dropping it. I detached the brake lines from the calipers and then unbolted the crossmember. I forgot to unhook the brake lines from it and it tried wrenching them off the body. Thank god I had a jack underneath to help drop it. Because I'm somewhat lazy and I was dropping the entire thing by myself I ended up having to remove a tire to drag it out from beneath the rest of the car and I managed to scrap a nice square into my garage floor with the steering column post.

Tomorrow though, begins cleaning of the suspension and possibly even a coat of paint on the engine. I need to remove the oil pan though and clean that up.

Degrease done?

So, I've spent the past couple days doing degreasing here, degreasing there. I think I've finally got all the grease off the engine block. I did a final spray down with oven cleaner, let it soak and then hit it again with the pressure washer for cleaning. I've currently got a box fan blowing on it to ensure it's completely dry. I plan on getting some engine primer and paint and painting the block black. My only debate right now is, should the valve cover be black or metallic? I also plan on pulling the heater out and reattaching the controls for it while taking the time to paint it as well. Hopefully I can get the bare spots in the engine bay cleaned up and primed to keep them rust free until I do a full body paint job.

Let the Degreasing begin

So, I put a kiddy pool under the engine block area and began truly degreasing the engine today. I managed to pretty much clean up the engine block and most of the engine bay. I hope to do minor scrubbing of the engine so I can spray on some engine paint and make it look alot better. I plan on using rags/paper towels to cleanup the rest of the engine bay so I can later paint it along with the rest of the car. Hopefully I can maintain a decent level of cleanliness in the engine bay and it’ll stay good.

Here’s my block before I started spraying. I used rags, a screwdriver and a stiff bristle brush to get most of the worst of it off.

Here’s the other side. I went ahead and removed everything from it today so it looks alot different. I’ll take more pictures tomorrow of what it looks like now.

I am so proud of this one. I managed to get the front end into a swimming pool. How many people can say that.

Begin the Degreasing

I started degreasing the engine today. I had these high hopes that I could just wave a brush at it and all the grease fall off.

Ok, fairy tale over. I ended up spraying 2 can of degreaser, 2 cans of carb cleaner, and a can of electrical connection cleaner all over the manifold side of the engine. Plus I used a cup or so of pure engine cleaner stuff I have in squirt bottles. Good news is, I managed to clean a good chunk of that side of the engine of the major gunk. I managed to overflow the shower curtain I had put under the car to catch everything so I've bought a small kiddy-pool to place under the car while I degrease. I also got a pressure washer from my father-in-law that we're going to use to try to get the rest of the engine cleaned off tomorrow.

We plan on taking off the alternator, distributor, etc and pressure washing the engine really good tomorrow.

So it begins…again.

So, I started working on the B again. I’ve decided to do as much as I can with what I have. So, that means I’m going to finish cleaning up everything, flush the cooling system, probably try and paint the engine and most if it not all of the other parts, etc.

Today I was able to accomplish a lot.

• Dropped the exhaust
• Removed Intake and exhaust manifold
• Removed Radiator
• Pulled back radiator shroud and oil cooler

I discovered my thermostat has been broken for awhile and there’s a good layer of sludge in my hoses. I’ll have to order a new one and either clean the hoses and flush the system or just order new hoses. Below are some pictures of the engine bay and the offending thermostat.

Back to work

So, I got a new workbench yesterday to replace the shoddy one I've had in the garage. My old workbench is a convertible, it can either be a workbench or a storage shelf. My new one though is alot more steady and has a built in light, powerstrip, pegboard, and has a few drawers to make life alot easier. I've got it about halfway built and I need to finish it today before I finish cleaning up and re-organizing the garage.

Hopefully in the next week I'll be able to continue cleaning up the engine bay and just doing some general cleanup. I plan on doing a coolant flush, replacing the oil, and probably replace much if not all of the rubber hoses in the engine bay in the near future.

Restart

Well, my father-in-law is coming down in a few weeks and he'll be helping me with the B. I haven't done anything since the end of the year and I hope to finish cleaning out the engine bay before putting everything back together. To make matters even more fun I've decided I need a new workbench and I'm going to be building one. I have the plans and the materials list but it's just been too cold to get everything I need, clean the garage out, and build it. With any luck I'll have the materials before he gets here but, no promises.