1973 MGB GT- A little rust 30/08

[niwid]

Feb 18, 2014 23:18:50 GMT adam73bgt said:

Feb 18, 2014 22:58:54 GMT niwid said:

Top work Adam. The rear end look so much tidier without the overrides, and the number plate lights look smart enough. Your B really shows that a lot of love and some minor mods can make a massive difference. It's a cracking car mate, and really inspiring for my own B project. Unfortunately wing mirrors and reversing lights are at the bottom of my list

Thank you very much Its coming along slowly but surely and the pile of bits to be fitted is getting smaller!

You really should get a thread up for your B, would be good to see some pictures and see what sort of condition its in

I will do in good time. I'd rather not start a thread until I get stuck into it though. At the moment all I've done is poke it, cry, strip out all the interior and cry some more, which wouldn't make particularly interesting reading. As soon as I've sorted myself out a bit, I'll be knee deep in welding/fixing/modifying and I'll pop a thread up.

Oh, and I've changed my mind again, I think I'll be keeping the rubber bumpers

[adam73bgt]

Feb 19, 2014 10:01:39 GMT niwid said:

Feb 18, 2014 23:18:50 GMT adam73bgt said:

Thank you very much Its coming along slowly but surely and the pile of bits to be fitted is getting smaller!

You really should get a thread up for your B, would be good to see some pictures and see what sort of condition its in

I will do in good time. I'd rather not start a thread until I get stuck into it though. At the moment all I've done is poke it, cry, strip out all the interior and cry some more, which wouldn't make particularly interesting reading. As soon as I've sorted myself out a bit, I'll be knee deep in welding/fixing/modifying and I'll pop a thread up.

Oh, and I've changed my mind again, I think I'll be keeping the rubber bumpers

haha fair enough, I hope its not tooo crusty? Good news on keeping the rubber bumpers, someone needs to give them some love

[adam73bgt]

Last night I roughed up the outer rims of the reverse light lenses and masked them up ready for primer and some gloss black



Had to go back and touch in the edges with a brush and some more black but they're done



Now fitted back on the car, I'm not 100% sure they've made much of a difference, but the black edges do make them look a bit smaller which is no bad thing plus the nasty cloudy plastic on the outer rims is hidden now



Just need to get round to fitting my replacement reverse light switch to actually get the reversing lights to work, should be fairly easy now I've got my ramps. Possibly a job for tomorrow


Also some new AAA carb needles came in the post today, these are a bit richer than the AAU's I've been running so far. It is widely recommended that AAA's be fitted when running with the freer flowing K&N filters so the AAA's should help the slight hesitation the car has on acceleration when not fully up to temp



More to come tomorrow hopefully

[niwid]

Feb 19, 2014 10:05:41 GMT adam73bgt said:

Feb 19, 2014 10:01:39 GMT niwid said:

I will do in good time. I'd rather not start a thread until I get stuck into it though. At the moment all I've done is poke it, cry, strip out all the interior and cry some more, which wouldn't make particularly interesting reading. As soon as I've sorted myself out a bit, I'll be knee deep in welding/fixing/modifying and I'll pop a thread up.

Oh, and I've changed my mind again, I think I'll be keeping the rubber bumpers

haha fair enough, I hope its not tooo crusty? Good news on keeping the rubber bumpers, someone needs to give them some love

It's pretty crusty

Making the reversing lights looks smaller is definitely a good thing, although shaving them all together would be best imo. They always do my head in, as they look so wrong! I look forward to hearing if the carb needles make much of a difference though!

[adam73bgt]

Feb 19, 2014 13:38:56 GMT niwid said:

Feb 19, 2014 10:05:41 GMT adam73bgt said:

haha fair enough, I hope its not tooo crusty? Good news on keeping the rubber bumpers, someone needs to give them some love

It's pretty crusty

Making the reversing lights looks smaller is definitely a good thing, although shaving them all together would be best imo. They always do my head in, as they look so wrong! I look forward to hearing if the carb needles make much of a difference though!

Ah darn:/

Yeah they don't seem to be much liked If/when I do get to the serious bodywork stage with this car i.e fitting sebring arches, I may look to find an alternative for the reverse lights

On the carb needle front, I got bored after my badminton match today and thought I'd whack them in. Initial impressions would indicate that they have made a difference The car still needs a fair bit of choke and a fair few spins to get started but once it was started I was able to push the choke in a lot quicker than before and revving from low revs brought no hesitation whatsoever.

Idling on choke did seem to give quite lumpy running though so maybe not too much is needed or I need to have a play around with the colortune and the mixture and idle screws to get it a bit happier.

On my little test drive around the block, the car pulled happily even from pretty low revs (this was with the engine not fully warmed up and with no choke at all) so I reckon the needles were definitely a good move so far

[adam73bgt]

Woah another update?? I'm definitely avoiding a coursework deadline..

Well I've done a bit more running in the car, can start it from cold with no choke now and with just a bit of playing with the accelerator. Idle speed still needs adjusting as its around 500rpm, the car also feels like it has more to give in the mid to upper rev range, so a bit of tuning needs to happen I think.


Anyway, I've been busy adding more bits that I'd bought but had been sitting around

Today was the turn of the driving lights. Some of the more ardent readers of this thread may remember that I had a rather cool looking old Lucas driving light on the front of the B for a while, which was subsequently knocked off/vandalised on my birthday :/ You may also remember that I bought a pair of smaller, newer, more powerful driving lights to replace this as I have a weird thing for auxiliary lighting....

Anyway, the plan has been to fit these behind the grille so they're well out of the way of being damaged, I've seen this on Rich's and a couple other B's and I like the look. Also these lights are smaller than the old Lucas one, so would look silly on the front of the car.

So first up was fitting of the lamps themselves, handily I'd found that there are a couple of holes in the slam panel which are ideal for this purpose



The lamps have been spaced out with quite a few washers to allow them to sit low enough that the light will go out through the grille and not just hit the back of the metal bit at the top of the grille



Had to use the drill to add a couple of holes for self tappers to give the lights a good earth point



The wiring kit I got with the lamps (lazy I know) is a bit long so its currently a bit messy behind the lamps.. Once everything is working, I can go back and shorten this and make it a bit neater (Not gonna happen for a long time )



Managed to break my drill bit in my eagerness to make holes for earths, the stub that was left still managed to finish the job though



After the lamps were mounted and wired in, the next job was to mount the relay on one of the handy screws left in the inner wing (thanks BL/BMC) and wire up the rest of the wires that go to this, the earth was another easy drill a hole and self tapper job, then there was a blue wire to be run into the blue/white high beam circuit. This is because I'm wiring the driving lights to just come on with the high beams as I can't be bothered messing about with a switch and I'm not going to be using the driving lights without the high beams on realistically..

So the blue wire was wired in, not my neatest work due to not having enough bullet connectors, so I made up something with spade connectors and piggyback spades... It'll do for now but I'll probably have to go back and improve it later



Going to have to shorten that blue wire at least...

And unfortunately this is where the fun stops, as the ring terminal for the power lead supplied in my kit isn't big enough to fit over the post on the starter motor solenoid which I'm using for power, so I'm going to have to go out tomorrow and get some bigger ring connectors, or I suppose I could trace where the wire goes from the starter solenoid to the fuse box and tap off some power from there, but either way its a job for tomorrow.

For anyone wondering why I'm involving the starter solenoid, its where the big fat cable comes from the mid mounted battery so is the main power source for anything under the bonnet really, will probably use it when I come to running the headlights off a relay too.

While I was down looking at the starter solenoid, I did notice that the clutch hose to the slave cylinder looked quite wet and appeared a bit cracked, I couldn't tell if it was wet with oil or clutch fluid but it could well be worth me fitting a new hose fairly soon, have also got a spare slave cylinder which the previous owner gave me which I suppose I could fit if possible, more jobs to do!

[93fxdl]

Just an idea, how about mounting an aftermarket fuse/relay block under the bonnet with power supply run to it, then any more electrical accessories can be run to that with no more fiddling in the bowels of the car. Many centuries ago the works mod for escorts was fit a mk4 zodiac fuse box and run all the rally lights etc from that
Ttfn Glenn

[baggabones]

Feb 21, 2014 13:35:25 GMT 93fxdl said:

Just an idea, how about mounting an aftermarket fuse/relay block under the bonnet with power supply run to it, then any more electrical accessories can be run to that with no more fiddling in the bowels of the car. Many centuries ago the works mod for escorts was fit a mk4 zodiac fuse box and run all the rally lights etc from that
Ttfn Glenn

^^ good idea that^^, i've done it to most of my old motors

[adam73bgt]

Feb 21, 2014 13:35:25 GMT 93fxdl said:

Just an idea, how about mounting an aftermarket fuse/relay block under the bonnet with power supply run to it, then any more electrical accessories can be run to that with no more fiddling in the bowels of the car. Many centuries ago the works mod for escorts was fit a mk4 zodiac fuse box and run all the rally lights etc from that
Ttfn Glenn

Thats not a bad idea at all, I may look into doing that when I get round to adding headlight relays as well cos I could keep them all in one place that way and would only have to run one power line to the fuse/relay box

Thanks!

[Arcnewal]

The rear ends just look so much prettier with the earlier rear lights installed, great work.

[adam73bgt]

Feb 22, 2014 8:21:02 GMT Arcnewal said:

The rear ends just look so much prettier with the earlier rear lights installed, great work.

I totally agree, though I'm hoping someone thinks the later ones are alright as I need to sell mine on ebay!


Well its update time once again. I've finally got round to doing a couple of those jobs which I've been putting off for ages, first one was putting a constant live feed on the radio so that it can get its memory back which saves me having to turn off demo mode every time I get in the car

The second job was to adjust the idle screws slightly as the 500rpm idle speed was just not practical as the alternator wasn't charging fully (also down to the loose fan belt which I still need to sort...) and it was shaking the whole damn car around! anyway, a quick twiddle of those and the idle is now up to a much healthier 800ish rpm.

Another job that needed finishing was the wiring up of the driving lights. I'd had to leave it last time as I needed a larger ring terminal to get power from the starter terminal.

All sorted and wired in



Tested



Then realised I forgot to put the fuse in, so rectified that



And some night time pics





Plus a comparison of dipped beam



Against full beam with driving lights



So even with the driving lights not adjusted properly, they definitely make night time driving a fair bit easier! Got a couple of 130W bulbs in there at the moment so will see how long they last for.

Really quite happy with how the MG is performing at the moment and there are only a couple little jobs to do before the MOT in around a months time.

Have got an electric fan controller on the way to go with my electric fan (which I still need to work out how to fit..). I have no record of when the coolant was last changed or the hoses for that matter so will probably endeavour to do a hose and coolant change. Coolant change being something that I've kinda been dreading doing but something I need to learn

[adam73bgt]

Micro update, while under the bonnet sorting the driving lights out, I had another look at this purple wire which has become disconnected and lost its bullet connector at some point in the past..



The wire it connects to did have a bit of red tape round it which always made me wary that its been disconnected for some vaguely serious reason.. well I got out the circuit tester to see what was what. The bare end of wire did indeed provide 12V without the ignition on as the purple circuit should (it is the constant live for the radio) which is a little bit worrying as it could have shorted out on the bodywork at any point in the last couple of years

The only purple circuit item that I know doesn't work is the rear courtesy light which should come on when the hatch is opened so I thought that reconnecting this would revive the light.. No such luck, got the tester out and no voltage at the light regardless of the purple wire under the bonnet being connected or not.

So the mystery of the hatch light goes on, I might be chasing a break in the wire somewhere along the car, or the purple circuit might be disconnected at some other point, I'll be studying my circuit diagrams for the time being..

Today I also won an uprated front anti roll bar on ebay... so it seems I may be getting on with the front suspension upgrades at the same time as the rear am still deliberating over whether to get new leaf springs or tart up the existing ones...

[yorkebar]

Unless you have heavy pitting on the rear springs they should come up a treat, take them all apart and give them a good wire brush/sandblast. then paint, and grease up before assembly. you could even bind them in something to keep the grease in!

[Deleted]

^What he said. Saves a bit of cash that way too.

[Nathan]

Mar 9, 2014 23:35:46 GMT adam73bgt said:

Micro update, while under the bonnet sorting the driving lights out, I had another look at this purple wire which has become disconnected and lost its bullet connector at some point in the past..



The wire it connects to did have a bit of red tape round it which always made me wary that its been disconnected for some vaguely serious reason.. well I got out the circuit tester to see what was what. The bare end of wire did indeed provide 12V without the ignition on as the purple circuit should (it is the constant live for the radio) which is a little bit worrying as it could have shorted out on the bodywork at any point in the last couple of years

The only purple circuit item that I know doesn't work is the rear courtesy light which should come on when the hatch is opened so I thought that reconnecting this would revive the light.. No such luck, got the tester out and no voltage at the light regardless of the purple wire under the bonnet being connected or not.

So the mystery of the hatch light goes on, I might be chasing a break in the wire somewhere along the car, or the purple circuit might be disconnected at some other point, I'll be studying my circuit diagrams for the time being..

Today I also won an uprated front anti roll bar on ebay... so it seems I may be getting on with the front suspension upgrades at the same time as the rear am still deliberating over whether to get new leaf springs or tart up the existing ones...

Depending on the year, Purple is also for the rear demist on the screen.
I can check mine tonight if you like.

[adam73bgt]

Mar 10, 2014 14:59:31 GMT yorkebar said:

Unless you have heavy pitting on the rear springs they should come up a treat, take them all apart and give them a good wire brush/sandblast. then paint, and grease up before assembly. you could even bind them in something to keep the grease in!

Mm that is kind of what I was thinking of doing, I think it will be more inkeeping with the build too to do it that way I'm just a bit wary of getting them apart and back together again! haha

Mar 10, 2014 15:49:17 GMT Nathan said:

Depending on the year, Purple is also for the rear demist on the screen.
I can check mine tonight if you like.

I think the wires for my demister are black and white or something like that, and I'm fairly sure it works even if it is pretty weak though if you don't mind checking yours it could be interesting for comparison thanks

[adam73bgt]

Got a little job done today which has been bugging me for a while. Since I bought the car, I've never been able to get the rev counter to go over about 3500 rpm like so:



(managed to get it to go a bit higher there as I shook it by hand..) This hasn't really been ideal but a couple of taps on the glass and it drops back down so long as the revs are below 3500 rpm obviously, since I'm not usually ragging the nuts off the car I've learnt to live with it. But with buying some LED bulbs to improve the gauge brightness I thought I'd whip the counter out and see if I could sort it.

The gauge came out relatively easily, just needed the steering cowl removing and some wires unplugging from the back. Now the dismantling can begin! The chrome outer bezel came off really easily with a twist and pull

The glass and inner bezel were not as easy, however while looking at the gauge closely to see how they cam out, I noticed the problem with the needle sticking, it was catching on the inner bezel



After a bit of careful work with very small screwdrivers, I managed to prise the glass and inner bezel off as one



Which reveals the gauge face



An initial play with the needle seemed to prove that it would happily spin round to the end of its travel, further supporting my belief that the bezel interaction was the only thing hindering it, but while I was here I thought I'd strip it down further and give it a bit of a clean (plus I'm nosy/inquisitive)



Super careful time! the workings of the rev counter look very intricate and are unfortunately beyond the capabilities of my iphones close up camera



Was interesting to see that the gauge is painted half in white and half in duck egg blue. I'm not sure if this was a factory thing or someone has been in here before, I think its probably the latter as the exterior of the gauge has been rather ham fistedly painted in silver at some point in its life..

So after giving it a decent clean (without touching any intricate mech parts) it was time for reassembly, here I put a bit of silicone sealant around the plastic piece that directs the light for the ignition tell tale. This helped to hold it in place while I lined up the mechanism into the case of the rev counter



So I put it all back together and it still caught at the top of the dial The face of the dial doesn't actually sit parallel to the glass and inner bezel of the gauge, I presume this is so that a gap is left at the top of the dial to allow light to pass to illuminate the gauge. I had accidentally put the gauge back together without the plastic 'tunnel' for the ignition light and the needle didn't catch at all, so I was annoyed to find it catching now it was all back together.

I could have probably taken the plastic piece out and modified it slightly so that it had less of an effect on the camber of the dial face but instead I just nipped a little bit off the end of the needle with some cutters so now it passes through the whole rev range without catching at all

A bit of a short cut yes, but hardly noticeable





So that will go back in the car tomorrow morning after I've changed the second bulb in the speedo, as taking apart the rev counter has made me realise that I've just changed the main beam tell tale rather than the gauge light



In other news, had a go at adjusting the horn contact so that it works but I think I'm going to have to partially remove the steering wheel so that a reliable contact can be made.

Bits have been arriving in the post, I now have a full set of coolant hoses so once I figure out a way to mount the electric fan that can all go in.

Also bought a 3/4" anti roll bar as it was fairly cheap so thats the start of buying bits for the front suspension overhaul

More to come soon!

[Deleted]

How did you resist the urge to paint the end of the rev gauge needle red or flourescent orange? I know I couldn't have.

[adam73bgt]

Mar 16, 2014 0:53:03 GMT @volksangyl said:

How did you resist the urge to paint the end of the rev gauge needle red or flourescent orange? I know I couldn't have.

I think probably laziness and a lack of paint, but now that you've mentioned it... dammit I'm gonna have to paint it

[adam73bgt]

Not had to do anything really to the B for a while, gave it a clean and thats about it. Today though I thought I'd have a go at sorting out a working horn as the car will need an MOT in the next couple of weeks

The horn hasn't worked since I fitted the new steering wheel and a quick removal of the steering column shroud shows why



Clearly a boss offset issue there, to sort it I was going to bend out the contact arm but this required removal of the steering wheel



Off with the centre and loosen the nut, some heaving at the wheel to get it off the splines, then when it is off the splines, take off the nut and wheel



Which revealed this





A bit of pulling, bending, checking with the wheel on and the contact arm was made to touch the contact ring





Turn the power back on and nothing happened, bit confused by this. I then thought that I'd have a feel behind the dash to see if there was a suitable place to put a horn button as I'd just have to take the purple power feed and add an earth connection to a momentary switch. Then my hand came out like this



Seems I'd struck oil... I have been going round all the gauges fitting LED bulbs so I was a bit worried that I'd somehow loosened the oil line to the oil pressure gauge when changing the bulb, so out with the fresh air vent to have a look



And with that nice grainy picture, my phone died So out with the old torch I keep in the car and I could see that there was a smearing of old looking oil on the inside of the dashboard so its probably just been sat there since whenever a previous owner took the oil gauge out or something.

So I'm still left without a horn, stupidly I only remembered that I'd bought an electrical tester recently once I got back in the flat.. So I'll go down and check what power I've got where and if worst comes to worst I'll just rig up a temporary horn button on the dash.