1973 MGB GT- A little rust 30/08

[ChasR]

I think part of the problem with the MG chaps is the fact quite a few 'cheap' mods out there can make things worse (cheapo Halogen lights which don't kick out a great amount of light over the sealed beams they replaced, 'super' spark plugs which are worse than NGKs, and used stuff which another owner has botched up, and conveniently forgotten to mention to someone else), but then that can go for any car. After all, most consumers will chase price before anything else (obviously). Of course, there are those who think the MGB was the best thing since slightly bread (obviously ).

As an example, one chap in the 944 circles fitted the Spax full coilover kits. Whilst they worked great, they would randomly bang from the rear with zero warning at all or chatter alot, more than even the racing coilover setups which the garages call uncompromising for road use. The cause? Poorly locating helper springs in the rear. To be fair, Spax did get onto the case, but to this day the issue does not seem to be solved. There were half of the cost of equivalent items though, and to be fair I think the owner and Spax did come to an understanding.

Don't worry, the Stag lot are the same . But the above seems to apply. They hate the Holley carbs, yet mine (bar an odd whistling noise) has given me far less issues than many of their fabled rebuilt Strombergs have. Yet they compare new Strommies with a worn out and fiddled with Holley (I guess the cost of a new Holley kit puts people off as well as the fact that the first and original batch were not engineered in the best way via a certain renowned Stag specialist); Go figure :lol:.

[adam73bgt]

haha I daren't even mention carbs on the MG forum, big fights over webers vs SU's or HS4's vs HIF4's or HS4's vs HS6's

I'm not sure they'd approve of my plans for engine swaps either but ahh well

[adam73bgt]

So I may have jinxed myself by saying that swapping the plates over would be a straightforward and easy job

Got a mate round to help and we were instantly delayed by doing an oil change on his Lexus IS200 with its stupid oil filter location

Once that was out of the way, it was on to the B, the main error was the first thing I did. I drove it up on to ramps..

This meant that getting the bottom plates off from under the springs was easy. but even with an axle stand holding up the spring, it still managed to push down enough so that the plate wouldn't go back on in the right orientation. (the fact that the plates seemed a bit bowed didn't help... heres a pic to illustrate



So after a bit of faffing about, including a very hilarious drive off the ramps with no dampers attached (it bounced like a cadillac)

We jacked up the car and stuck it on axle stands, then with the use of a jack and some hammering the bottom plates went on and the shocks were reconnected.

The ride height hasn't changed much at all

heres before



and after



So I think a lot of the car's pre MOT low stance was due to the very tired lever arm shocks. Which means I shall have to find other ways of getting the car a bit lower again may save up and get some new lowered springs..

The main thing though is that the ride is greatly improved the shocks are still set a bit soft for my liking so will tweak them as I go. The drivers side shock seems a lot stiffer than the passenger side though so a fair bit of tweaking shall be required.


While under the car, we also had a go at replacing the middle exhaust hanger which had failed

Here are the shiny new bits



And when held beside the failed, crusty old hanger



Miraculously, the bolts holding the hanger to the car turned freely without shearing or spinning the captive nuts, the bolt holding it to the exhaust was a little tighter but still not too bad.

So that went on without too much fuss, job done.




Or so I thought until I heard a bang as I drove into Asda carpark today to find this





Great. So while the middle hanger is fine, the rear one has given up. Annoyingly it doesn't appear to be the hanger thats failed but the actual metal on the car that the hanger bolts to So thats going to need welding up

In the meantime I'll either try to cable tie up the exhaust or take the rear section off to make sure it doesn't break off as its only supported at the middle hanger now..

[adam73bgt]

Ghetto fix implemented.



Also noticed that the rubber exhaust bobbins are rather dead so need to sort those out too

[ChasR]

I enjoyed my car with the telescopics on . What made another difference on the back of mine was going for Superflex bushes and new decambered and flipped leaf springs. IMO quite a bit of that change came from the newer leaf springs, probably due to them possibly being softer than what came off (rubber bumper items) but also to do with the fact that the leaves were free to move due to them being new. I guess you could come close by trying to lightly 'push' in grease or old engine oil in between the leaves. This may also aid the rear end of the car in settling down (even on the decambered leaf springs it took a little while for the rear end of the car to settle as the pics may show in my thread.

The hangers are pretty pants eh? IME they do not seem to fail if the alignment of the system is bang on but the quality of the hangers could be better:). My white 'B used to eat though hangers but the exhaust on that was a mismatch of many things (part centre cherry bomb, part stainless box from another system, and adaptors in between to make it work!)! The Sebring never went through hangers upon me changing the entire exhaust system for a one piece item (where the hangers etc. were all changed at the same time.

[adam73bgt]

Apr 13, 2014 19:11:05 GMT ChasR said:

I enjoyed my car with the telescopics on . What made another difference on the back of mine was going for Superflex bushes and new decambered and flipped leaf springs. IMO quite a bit of that change came from the newer leaf springs, probably due to them possibly being softer than what came off (rubber bumper items) but also to do with the fact that the leaves were free to move due to them being new. I guess you could come close by trying to lightly 'push' in grease or old engine oil in between the leaves. This may also aid the rear end of the car in settling down (even on the decambered leaf springs it took a little while for the rear end of the car to settle as the pics may show in my thread.

The hangers are pretty pants eh? IME they do not seem to fail if the alignment of the system is bang on but the quality of the hangers could be better:). My white 'B used to eat though hangers but the exhaust on that was a mismatch of many things (part centre cherry bomb, part stainless box from another system, and adaptors in between to make it work!)! The Sebring never went through hangers upon me changing the entire exhaust system for a one piece item (where the hangers etc. were all changed at the same time.

Aye, I have the polybushes already and some new springs will compliment the other new parts I imagine have been looking at the lowered/race springs on MOSS' website which I actually did have a pair of them way back in late 2012 but sold them on.

It is annoying to have the hanger issues but I suppose thats what I get for using the old hangers on a new exhaust? and the rear one can't be blamed entirely on the hanger but I'm amazed at how the metal has fractured in the way it has so that shall have to go into the garage for a bit of welding I think.

And I may have to ask you a few questions about sebring kits in the not too distant future as sorting the bodywork/going sebring arched is something I hope to get done towards the end of the year

[Curtis]

Apr 13, 2014 13:41:01 GMT adam73bgt said:

So I think a lot of the car's pre MOT low stance was due to the very tired lever arm shocks. Which means I shall have to find other ways of getting the car a bit lower again may save up and get some new lowered springs..

I said it when we fitted them and I'll say it again now, just get some lowering blocks in there and you're laughing

[adam73bgt]

Well I've been shopping...

First up I've bought a fuse box/distribution board and relay box



As I'm going to be adding a few relays for various electrical bits and bobs, these will help keep everything relatively neat and tidy the fuse board especially as that will allow me to have just the one power lead coming up from the starter solenoid. So I'm in for a big electrics session soon

The car should hopefully be getting the rear exhaust hanger welded back on today, so in preparation I got a couple of these from work



Quite why Halfords stock specifically mini exhaust bobbins I'm not sure, I can only assume they're fairly univeral, they certainly look the same as the ones on the B's rear exhaust hanger...

Also coming in the post shall be a set of negative camber wishbone arms for the front suspension along with polybushes

I was almost tempted to add some 650lb race front springs also, but I think I may see if I could chop a coil off the existing front springs just to get the car a little lower, if not, the race springs were only about 50 quid so a pretty reasonable upgrade

[ChasR]

It is also because they tend to die quite quickly as well (the bobbins; in the MGB application they are OK, but in some they are misused IMO (i.e they have weight hanging off them)) .

When I had the 550lb front springs on my 'B (same as what I sold to RetroWarwick) I really enjoyed the front end of the car. It was not too firm, even with the 8Jx15" Minilites up front, and it was a lovely steer. I think Matt was equally pleased with his, albeit wishing the car sat a touch lower.

[adam73bgt]

Apr 16, 2014 13:04:41 GMT ChasR said:

It is also because they tend to die quite quickly as well (the bobbins; in the MGB application they are OK, but in some they are misused IMO (i.e they have weight hanging off them)) .

When I had the 550lb front springs on my 'B (same as what I sold to RetroWarwick) I really enjoyed the front end of the car. It was not too firm, even with the 8Jx15" Minilites up front, and it was a lovely steer. I think Matt was equally pleased with his, albeit wishing the car sat a touch lower.

Ah right, theres also Ford Escort rubber hangers which do look a lot like all the other rubber hangers one could use to hang an exhaust haha

Aye, I think I've got the 550lb lowered springs on the front at the moment and I do like how it drives with them, I just wish the front was a little lower


Well I've been to the garage today and got the exhaust hanger sorted out, the bit of steel on the chassis that the exhaust mounts too is pretty thin gauge steel, and I think the ehxaust isn't 100% aligned properly so theres a few different contributing causes to why its failed

So this is what was there



Not a huge amount to work with but was deemed solid enough
In the end, the middle bit was cut out and a new piece of flat stainless steel was welded in place with a couple of holes to mount the exhaust from.



It hangs a little lower than before but its solid which is the main thing, I can always tweak it a bit when the MG comes off the road.

Also noticed that the front badge is attempting to make a bid for freedom...



This is mildly annoying as I stuck the badge in place with foam sticky pads when I painted the badge way back when.. so I'll have to prise it off and refix

[Rich]

That exhaust looks so low! mine's tucked up really neatly close to the valance. I couldn't live with it hanging that low! that said, I have a cherry bomb single exit so it fits the cutout and it's angled up from the under-axle kink so it sits under the valance. Isn't there another way to mount that so it does the same? Either way, glad to see it fixed. Shame about the badge!

[adam73bgt]

haha it is a bit low, I suppose its handy that the new dampers have lifted the rear end somewhat.. I'm just going to live with it for the time being as all being well I should have a new job soon which will allow for a second car to assist the B with daily duties

Especially as seeing the car up on the lift did highlight many areas that need a bit of tidying up...

It also highlighted how much oil isn't content with staying in the engine/gearbox/overdrive/differential...

[adam73bgt]

Not much to report for today other than the car got a clean to remove half a ton's worth of sahara dust, you can also see how low the exhaust hangs at the back now and the suspension appears to be settling itself down at the rear too, still needs stiffening up as it bounces a bit much











Also spotted these on ebay, hmmmmmmmmmmmm

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261455777008?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

[Deleted]

I don't think this car needs the Sebring kit, it looks great just the way it is. Not too much changed, but just enough to work.

[adam73bgt]

Apr 19, 2014 11:47:19 GMT @volksangyl said:

I don't think this car needs the Sebring kit, it looks great just the way it is. Not too much changed, but just enough to work.

Mmm I know exactly what you mean, I think I'm still a little bit conflicted, especially looking at the recent photos of it in the sun.. I think I may just have to get some arches, stick them on with tape and see whether I like the look or not

[adam73bgt]

Little update on some of the bits and bobs that have been arriving

Today has seen the arrival of my polybushes for the front suspension to go along with the negative camber wishbone arms which arrived last week





The bushes have gone in quite nicely, shall stick the crush tubes in the freezer for a bit to make them smaller then install them with plenty of grease and hopefully I won't have any issues with squeaking

Theres no grease between the bush and arms, I hope thats right..


Aside from that, went for a little drive round the country trying to keep up with my flatmates car



Being MX5 powered its got the run on me on the straights and with the current wallowy B suspension it has me in the corners too :/

Hopefully the wishbone arms, polybushes and thicker anti roll bar will help As for the power defecit.... Gonna have to have a think about that one

Suspension fitting coming soon

[Clement]

I must be mad but I loooove the way the exhaust sits, it looks like that of a Beta HPE (believe me you could do a lot worse!).

You have a really cool car, sporty suspension will do nicely

[adam73bgt]

Apr 23, 2014 17:42:53 GMT Clement said:

I must be mad but I loooove the way the exhaust sits, it looks like that of a Beta HPE (believe me you could do a lot worse!).

You have a really cool car, sporty suspension will do nicely

Aha yes, I remember seeing some sort of Abarth car on here that reminded me of the exhaust also, I don't mind it being so low at the moment, we'll see if theres any issues once the car goes a bit lower...

Thanks I'm hoping to turn it into a bit of a handling machine, we'll see how that goes

[Clement]

The car has a nice stance already, can't wait to see what it'll be like even lower.

[adam73bgt]

In true Adam fashion, this update is on something which I have been meaning to do for some time.

A while back (probably a year or so...) I took the blingy stainless steel footplates off the sills of the B to see if there was any rust lurking within. Luckily there was only a bit of surface, so I proceeded to give the passenger side a quick blast with some black spray paint to keep it from spreading (also because the sill appeared to only be primered under the footplate...

But for whatever reason I never bothered to do the drivers side.. So this is what I've had to look at for the past year while watching the surface rust slowly spread



So I decided to do something about it. *Warning* This is not going to be a pretty job, its only going to be temporary until the B comes off the road when I shall redo it properly

First off I gave it a quick blast with some rough sandpaper after which I applied some Kurust which I bought quite a while ago for just this purpose



Left it for a bit to let it react and turn blue/black



Note my very quick and lazy use of rags to mask off the area instead of masking tape..

Then I planned to go over it in some primer which I had left over from doing the wheels, but the spray can clogged up, so it got a couple of coats of generic Halfords Dark Green (after I tried the legit Mallard Green spray paint from MOSS which turned out rubbish)





So there we go, a rough and ugly temporary solution. Theres a few spots of surface rust on the car which may get this same treatment just to stave off the rust from spreading for the time being