1970/75 MGB GT - 13/02 Crossmember removed!

[Witherkay]

Hi all, here's my '75 GT that I bought earlier this month. I've always loved the look of the Z Fairlady cars, specifically the 2000 roadster and the 240z but they are way out of my price range. The GT has all the same charm at a decent price!

After trawling through eBay, autotrader etc for a month or so I couldn't find anything that was a) not a total rusted out tub, b) not a concourse £12k car or c) out in the middle of Scotland, Kent, North Wales or Cornwall (I'm in the Midlands). I was looking for something that had a few problems to reduce the price (and so I could learn how to fix the car) but was not pieces of rust held together by the memory of a car.

After missing out by a couple of hours on one at a good price that also included delivery, I almost gave up and thought about spending the money on modding my daily driver. But then at work I found one in Liverpool on a really old Gumtree ad. Not expecting a reply I sent a message off surprisingly it was still for sale! The seller had been on holiday so I assume everyone else had already thought it sold and not bothered.

After a few email exchanges I went up to Liverpool and had a look. This is my learning car and I couldn't get my dad to go with me to check it out too, so after looking at and seeing the rust I was put off and afraid. A phone call to my dad, and a chat with the seller who kindly put it on the ramps and took me through what he would do with it - he used to rebuild them in the past - I bit the bullet and put down a deposit.



It's a 1975 model with a sunroof and Rostyle wheels. It's a non-runner since the previous owner before the guy I bought it off left the carbs in thinners for too long, and some dick had tried to break into it (standard Bootle) and broken the ignition wiring. However, I was told it had good compression and these engines are very cheap and easy to rebuild.




Structurally, it's surprisingly good. The main points are driver's side front sill and part of the rail and back of the same sill where it was hit with a trailer. There's of course a lot of rust everywhere else but it seems solid.



I got it trailered back home for a great price after originally being quoted £240! My dad is in on the deal, but my mum isn't and as they are away on holiday, the aim of the game is to make it look as presentable as possible for her return before I start tearing it up to repair it.


I don't know what the deal with Liverpool's sky colour temperature, but back in the garage after a degrease the car is actually orange! Unfortunately until I find the towing straps I can't pull the car out the garage for a proper wash since the drive slops down steeply.


After putting on a fresh battery and changing all the fuses, even ones that didn't look bust I have side lights, plate lights, guage lights and one interior light. The front indicators flickered rapidly before dying when the hazards were on, I guess since the indicator side stalk was wrecked during the break in it might be messing with that, and also the wipers and dip beam as the headlights don't work.



There was a lot of water in the footwells and the car in general felt damp, so out came the mats and carpets and the car was somewhat hotboxed to dry it out a little with a fan heater. The section under the chrome grill in front of the windscreen had a pool of water in it, is it meant to have drain holes?



Testing out some Volvo BBS Crater alloys bought for my Nissan daily driver:





Vacuuming, degreasing and then steaming the engine and the car. Looks like the rocker cover gasket is gone since the block is covered in oil.


Machine polished and dropped off that front rubber monstrosity! Everything is coming off mysteriously easy, still getting used to those non-metric spanners though!



The car's been off the road since 2008 but it's got almost brand new back box with almost no tarnishing for spending at least 8 years outside.




Plopped on a set of spare Nissan 16" alloys and doesn't look half bad. I've got a set of silver painted 15" steels which I think I'll run it on since the Rotyles are crusting away to oblivion.

Next steps are to rebuild the carbs which are missing a few parts. It's on twin SU carbs, not the single Zenith but having never worked on anything non-injected it's a bit confusing.

Thanks for reading, I'll try to update often!

[flyingphil]

Welcome! We/I like MGB GTs too. You obviously got a real bargain there and are getting it sorted. There will be rust but new panels for everything are available and you will not lose money on getting work done that you cannot do yourself. A Haynes manual is useful..... but they are easy to work on and E-bay can be your friend for some more SU carbs? Keep posting on here and there are several other BGT owners with lots of knowledge who post regularly.

[adam73bgt]

Welcome to the forum! Always nice to see more B's on here

Yours looks to be one of the earliest rubber bumper cars which had the older style interior, with the smaller speedo/ tacho gauges like the V8, pretty neat

The bit below the chrome grille on the scuttle panel does have a drain which is known to get clogged, there should be a hole in it towards the drivers side and if you look above the gearbox bellhousing from the engine bay, you should be able to see the end of the drain pipe

Its got a rubber one way valve thing on it which are known for clogging up, I think you can remedy them by poking a wire coat hanger or similar down the hole and clearing the blockage


Also twin SU's are right for your car, I think it was only the very late model US cars that got the single Zenith Stromberg. They're pretty easy to rebuild


Got any long term plans for it other than getting it on the road?

[Witherkay]

Jan 24, 2016 23:04:01 GMT flyingphil said:

Welcome! We/I like MGB GTs too. You obviously got a real bargain there and are getting it sorted. There will be rust but new panels for everything are available and you will not lose money on getting work done that you cannot do yourself. A Haynes manual is useful..... but they are easy to work on and E-bay can be your friend for some more SU carbs? Keep posting on here and there are several other BGT owners with lots of knowledge who post regularly.

Hi! Thanks for the welcome. Hopefully I can do most of it myself, I've heard about some expensive garage bills for the complicated sills! Are there any other good books for the B you'd recommend? The carbs came in a box but it looks as if a lot of parts are missing. The top part of the carb (the bell shaped part) where the needle comes down seems to twisted wrong, as the groove slots in, but the screw holes don't line up.

As you can see, the parts have some aluminium oxidation but don't seem to that damaged. As long as it can start it's good for now:

[Witherkay]

Jan 24, 2016 23:04:19 GMT adam73bgt said:

Welcome to the forum! Always nice to see more B's on here

Yours looks to be one of the earliest rubber bumper cars which had the older style interior, with the smaller speedo/ tacho gauges like the V8, pretty neat

The bit below the chrome grille on the scuttle panel does have a drain which is known to get clogged, there should be a hole in it towards the drivers side and if you look above the gearbox bellhousing from the engine bay, you should be able to see the end of the drain pipe

Its got a rubber one way valve thing on it which are known for clogging up, I think you can remedy them by poking a wire coat hanger or similar down the hole and clearing the blockage


Also twin SU's are right for your car, I think it was only the very late model US cars that got the single Zenith Stromberg. They're pretty easy to rebuild


Got any long term plans for it other than getting it on the road?

Hey thanks, I think looking at your build thread convinced me to get one since you looked to be having fun with it on a budget similar to mine.

Yeah I'm glad it doesn't have the deck chair seats! I love the gauges, they are ridiculously dim however, but I heard adding a relay to the headlights helps with it.

Ah thanks I'll have a look tomorrow. It seems an excellent trap for water and rust. I've seen the V8 leaf grill there, but are there any other modifications? It looks like it will just let cold air blow in.




I'm really not sure the direction I want to go with it other than it definitely needs lowering. I'm tempted by the classic chrome bumper look with a few additions like the  LE50 and also the Sebring look but would need the power to go with it. I'd love a K-series, Zetec or Duratec swap.

I'm tempted to try to do something original, the restomod angle is more me and as I mentioned I love the scene for the Fairlady cars, particularly these two:



Are there any rivet on arch extensions for the MG?

Either way, this would be way off but I can dream!





 

[adam73bgt]

Aha yeah was definitely a good car for me to mess about with on a budget while at uni

I did manage to improve the lighting on the gauges a bit, you can get SMD/LED versions of the original screw in bulbs which help the brightness of the gauges quite a bit. Plus you can do stuff like paint the interior of the gauges a light/reflective colour to help the light get through to the face

Yeah it is, mine got blocked up and the water leaked into the cabin once it got high enough to go through the fresh air flap hidden behind the radio console bit. I'll probably add the wire mesh to mine now that its off the road just to help keep bigger debris out of there. I'm not sure of other mods, I think some may have got rid of the old rubber valve thing on the end of the hose to stop it blocking up. It shouldn't let too much air in if the fresh air flap is sealing reasonably well


Those plans sound pretty good to me, I think copying the Z cars look is definitely a winner

As for arches, theres a couple of B's on here that have the universal look bolt on arches which look pretty awesome, then theres also the Sebring kit which I'm hoping to fit but it can be a bit involved as the fit of them isn't perfect!



Also for the carbs, it sounds like you've got the piston lined up but the dashpots (bell shaped bit) can fit in a few orientations, if you rotate it a bit you should be able to get the screw holes to line up

[dapser]

OP.

Are you aware that you have an "inbetweenie" spec MGB?

When the rubber bumpered MGB was first introduced, and yours is quite an early one based on the 'P' registration, there were some carry over parts from the chrome bumper model. The most obvious I can remember is the instruments are larger and have chrome bezels.

Check out a later registered rubber bumper and you'll realise how small the instruments became.

I'm sure there were other parts carried over for a short while too but it's some time since I was into MGB/C/V8's so memory is fading fast.

Dapser

[Witherkay]

Jan 25, 2016 10:13:33 GMT adam73bgt said:

I did manage to improve the lighting on the gauges a bit, you can get SMD/LED versions of the original screw in bulbs which help the brightness of the gauges quite a bit. Plus you can do stuff like paint the interior of the gauges a light/reflective colour to help the light get through to the face

That's good to hear, I didn't want to bypass the rheostat because I really like the dimming ability! I'm loving this option to be hands of with car parts, much more rewarding than just swapping them out.

I've also seen this guy messing around with electro-luminescent wire to make some Mustang looking gauges:



Mine are covered in this melted sealant/glue material:



Hopefully something like acetone will sort it out.

Jan 25, 2016 10:13:33 GMT adam73bgt said:

Those plans sound pretty good to me, I think copying the Z cars look is definitely a winner

As for arches, theres a couple of B's on here that have the universal look bolt on arches which look pretty awesome, then theres also the Sebring kit which I'm hoping to fit but it can be a bit involved as the fit of them isn't perfect!

So I've heard, fibreglass is a hard beast. Through my reading I've never understood why someone doesn't just make a higher quality mold and just rake it in, since everyone has problems fitting them!

Jan 25, 2016 10:13:33 GMT adam73bgt said:

Also for the carbs, it sounds like you've got the piston lined up but the dashpots (bell shaped bit) can fit in a few orientations, if you rotate it a bit you should be able to get the screw holes to line up

Cheers, there's still loads of parts missing, so weighing up getting an upgraded carb or just trying to get the parts individually, I've seen Moss etc. do sell even the screws and bolts separately but a set of Weber Outlaw carbs would be niiiice.

[Witherkay]

Jan 25, 2016 17:12:29 GMT dapser said:

OP.

Are you aware that you have an "inbetweenie" spec MGB?

When the rubber bumpered MGB was first introduced, and yours is quite an early one based on the 'P' registration, there were some carry over parts from the chrome bumper model. The most obvious I can remember is the instruments are larger and have chrome bezels.

Check out a later registered rubber bumper and you'll realise how small the instruments became.

I'm sure there were other parts carried over for a short while too but it's a while since I was into MGB/C/V8's so memory is fading fast.

Dapser

Yeah it was a surprising mix of bits. I've notice one of my front wings has the cutout for the chrome bumper indicator holes and one does not. I just wish it was a Chromer, but then again the engine bay has all that room for activities.

[gn3dr]

I have one of those "inbetweenie" MGB GT's as well - has the same dash layout as yours and the car is the same colour too. Yours looks a bit cleaner though!

[Witherkay]

This evening I fixed the passenger door handle. I don't know if the handle body is meant to have one or both the fittings as captive bolts, but one was missing and it was drooping. Anyway, I forced a similar size bolt in and torqued it up. It feels...ok, but not as strong as I'd like. I think if I torque it up completely it will tear out the new bolt, but it will do for now.



Also nipped up the lock and took out an ancient (and very heavy) Blaupunkt speaker from the door. I've got some spare speakers from 25 GTi that can take their place.

How are the mirrors meant to fit on? It looks like a clip is broken. Oh well, bullet mirrors are on the cards



While in the doors I found a lot of weak metal and rust at the bottom...good place to learn to weld I guess

[Witherkay]

Jan 25, 2016 23:55:10 GMT gn3dr said:

I have one of those "inbetweenie" MGB GT's as well - has the same dash layout as yours and the car is the same colour too. Yours looks a bit cleaner though!

Got any pics? The paint on mine is shocking close up!

Have you found anymore interesting differences on these models?

[adam73bgt]

Ha my gauges had a similar black sealant or something one them as well, it did come off fairly easily though

Yeah theres a few carb options out there for the B, the SU HIF4's you've got are a pretty decent carb and should be big enough for a good fast road engine. Though single sidedraught weber kits are pretty easy to get hold of and seem popular

I had SU HS4's on mine and was going to go for bigger HIF6's but now I'm thinking of fuel injection, but thats a whole other kettle of fish

[hkr91]

My 78 came with HIF44 (also known according to my SU book as the HIF4 carb - correct me if I am wrong) but I swapped them out for a set of HS4's.

Regarding the mirror, you've got the backing piece/plate that is on your door, a rectangle piece (that has snapped on your door) and then the mirror mounts to the rectangle piece. The mirror holds the rectangle piece on one side and then the screw holds the other side if that makes sense?

[Witherkay]

The world of carbs is all very new to me! Can you even fuel inject a carb engine?

The mirror - yeah I think I see what you mean now, I spun the piece around but I don't think it's repairable without a new base . Are the screws attached via nuts on the inside? I was going to remove the other side but left the screw to soak in oil beforehand.


Not a very interesting update tonight, I got stuck in a lovely 3 hour traffic jam and then had to change a headlight bulb on my daily driver (bonus pic!):






Snapped the rear view back in and cleaned up some of the interior.



Does anyone know what this lever is for?



And what is happening here? It looks like condensation under the windscreen laminate giving a festive look ha!

[adam73bgt]

Jan 26, 2016 23:39:04 GMT Witherkay said:

The world of carbs is all very new to me! Can you even fuel inject a carb engine?


Does anyone know what this lever is for?


And what is happening here? It looks like condensation under the windscreen laminate giving a festive look ha!

Anything can be done with enough money and time


That lever is for the fresh air flap hidden behind the radio console


And that misting looks a bit like the early stages of the windscreen delaminating I think but happy to be proved wrong

[flyingphil]

Good progress on a steep learning curve!
Re the black "goo" on your gauges - I think that is the remains of the large rubber ring that is used between the chrome bezel and the glass - the result of 30+ years of baking in sunshine and freezing in winter!

[Witherkay]

Does anyone have any advice on how to get this piston out of the carb? It's twisted so I can't get the lines and the bolts to line up. This one has corrosion on the inside of this well so it's probably in the thread too

[adam73bgt]

Oh wow that must be pretty stuck in there I'd probably soak a lot of penetrating fluid in there to persuade the piston to loosen

You might be able to unscrew the bit from the top of the dashpot and poke something down from the top to push the piston out?

[shielsy68]

i have a ps complete heritage sill £35 if interested