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.