1973 MGB GT- A little rust 30/08

[adam73bgt]

Exactly a month has passed since my last update so lets see what has happened since.

Not a huge amount unfortunately, I did focus a fair bit of time trying to get the Legend back together and on the road, but discovery of further rust on that has halted things for the moment. I've since obtained a new daily driver but I have managed to collect a couple bits for the MG.

First off was this



Which is a Kent 715 fast road cam. I've read through the Pete Burgess book on tuning the B series engines a couple of times now and he mentions that this cam can work quite well with a DCOE carb, so I think it should go nicely. It also came up for a very reasonable price which attracted me to it so thats gone into the pile of engine bits ready for whenever I get into that build.

This was another decent find



When I had the car on the road previously, I had a little 3 gauge "cluster" with Smiths Vaccum and Voltmeter gauges, but a clock from a rubber bumper B which just looked a little out of place, this Smiths clock should be a little more inkeeping. Typically, as it was a cheap buy, it was sold as untested, so I'm likely going to need to do a bit of work to get it working, but should be a nice little project. I'm not sure what the surround is from but I'll find out and move it on as I won't be needing it.

Lastly, I finally got round to sorting the air horn compressor. Gas soldering iron was definetly the trick as the extra heat really helped over the little electric hobby iron I've got. I tried making the ring connector work with the original wire but it just wasn't happening, so I got a new bit of wire and soldered it into the slot in the terminal before reassembling and soldering the other end to the bit holding the brushes.





This was relatively straightforward compared to the faff trying to get the bottom cap back on the thing, there are two long screws which clamp the upper part and the bottom cap with the main motor gubbins in the middle. As the screws are long and largely unsupported, it was difficult getting them to line up with the bosses in the upper part, but got there in the end.





Then it was just a case of reassembling it in largely the same way it came apart, used a bit of oil in the compressor housing to make sure it all moved freely and cleaned up the dirt off the top cap of the compressor









Looking nice but I haven't got round to testing it yet, I'll give the horns a clean first then see if they actually do anything!

[Battenberg]

Surely the new daily is worth a mention? Quite rare being a manual as well?

[adam73bgt]

May 22, 2020 21:56:46 GMT Battenberg said:

Surely the new daily is worth a mention? Quite rare being a manual as well?

I was a bit hesitant as its a little new, but you're right, it is poor form of me to not mention it here so here it is..

First fill shot



and a couple others





So the story behind this is that this was my brother's car, he got it as a swap/part ex for his Mk7 Fiesta Zetec S. Before he did the swap he sent me some photos and told me what the seller was saying about the car and it seemed a good deal, he's usually more into his smaller hatches but he went for it.

It cost him a bit of money in needing a new clutch and some front brake discs and pads, and I helped him do a service on it. Since the whole Covid stuff hit, he needed something cheaper to run so he now has a Yaris T Sport, leaving the question of what to do with the Jag. I'd always said to him that if he was selling, I'd be interested as its very much my cup of tea, and the spec on this particular car is about perfect in my eyes (short of being an S Type R)

So here we are, speaking of that spec, it's a facelift model which is just better styled on the inside and outside in my opinion, it's a Sport model with the best interior combo that stops it from looking quite as grandad spec as S Types often can but the key thing is it's the 3.0 Petrol V6 with the 5 speed manual box. It's not the sportiest shift in the world, it quite reminds me of my old E34 touring, its a DMF I think so the revs drop slowly and the throw is quite long but having driven it a little, it can hustle quite nicely!

Unfortunately it does drop into the expensive tax bracket (>£500 a year or so) but I needed something to get about in for the time being while I decide what to do with my Honda Legend, which also isn't being helped by the somewhat imminent loss of my job due to Covid cutbacks...

The good thing however is that I like the Jag just as it is, I don't feel any particular urge to modify it, just maintain it for the time that I have it. This means more time to be spent on the MG (depending on what happens with the Honda )

[flyingphil]

Thanks for the update Adam - hope your job situation improves.

[Battenberg]

Love the Jag, a proper Gentleman’s chariot, I think JLR got this bang on as a tribute to the styling of Jags past.... I purchased a XJR a while back on the spur of red wine and Guinness, what a piece of machinery.

Don’t be tempted to drop it, or put S Type R wheels on it, my advice would be to keep it as that reliable hack and anonymous as possible...... if you could supercharge it though 😎

[adam73bgt]

Yeah I agree, the only Jag I've had previous to this was my old XJ40 which was a lovely thing but had a different feel about it. That said, the S type still has a bit of a different feel to the 5 series' I've driven, feels a bit more special I guess?

Yeah standard is the way on this, the only things I'm tempted by are maybe a slightly louder exhaust (although the current one has a little blow I think which sounds ok as it is!), adding bluetooth somehow, and maybe a set of the "Mercury" alloy wheels as I've just always been a fan of them

[thomfr]

Wow! nice car!.
Just to let you feel not too bad. Road tax is the same (HIGH!) here in The Netherlands. And for a diesel not affordable anymore (a LR Discovery Diesel as 5 seater (not Van on commercial plates) will cost around € 2800,- per year only tax..). And beside that I also lost my job due to Corona..
That refurbishment of that Maserati horn was interesting. I found also one (two tone) at my parents attic..
Thom

[adam73bgt]

May 27, 2020 19:50:05 GMT thomfr said:

Wow! nice car!.
Just to let you feel not too bad. Road tax is the same (HIGH!) here in The Netherlands. And for a diesel not affordable anymore (a LR Discovery Diesel as 5 seater (not Van on commercial plates) will cost around € 2800,- per year only tax..). And beside that I also lost my job due to Corona..
That refurbishment of that Maserati horn was interesting. I found also one (two tone) at my parents attic..
Thom

2800! Ouch! Hope you get your job situation sorted soon also.



I do need to get a video of testing the horns actually, after finishing up the compressor, I did check over the horns themselves as well. Split them down and gave them a clean



Had a bit of a go at polishing up the bodies of the horns, they didn't seem to be particularly quality metal but still shined up a bit







They're good enough though, test video to come!

[adam73bgt]

OK so no test video of the air horns.. I have tested them, and can confirm they do work though, they are bloody loud! So I'm very self-conscious of disturbing the relative peace of the neighbourhood but I am just glad that my work was worthwhile and they can go back into storage waiting to go on the car.

Having done the air horns, I went looking for other easy jobs I could do in the evenings, so went back into my big pile of MG bits and pulled out the dashboard and lower radio panel. I had really planned to just clean the dashboard up, but having a closer look at it, I decided it would be worthwhile to strip it back and repaint it.

The only things left on the dash were the rheostat, gauge cluster trim, indicator tell tale bits, and some little pins that are the pointers for the heater controls.









I had run out of paint stripper so had to wait for some to turn up, while waiting I had a look at the rheostat. Now this was one of the very first things I noticed didn't work on the car, back on page 1 or 2 of this thread I think I bypassed it at the time as I didn't see any point in making the already dim dash lights, dimmer! But now I had the opportunity to take it apart



Peel back those three tabs and the unit comes apart



Revealing the probable cause of the issue, lots of nice corrosion. So simple job to clean that off and put it all back together







I won't be able to test it for a while, but it turns much smoother now so I'm sure it will work fine. After this, I thought I'd give all the dashboard switches a strip and clean, they all worked before so this was more preventative maintenance



Nothing nasty hiding in them and they all went back together fine. Now, I had mentioned that I bought a Smiths clock to replace the rubber bumper MGB clock I had in the car previously





Should look a little more inkeeping. I'd been meaning to test it to see if it works, as luck would have it, I had the battery from my motorbike inside for a bit of charging, so hooked it up to see what's what



As luck would have it, it works! Can hear it ticking away, and after leaving it for about a half hour, it even kept time. I need to get a new 3 gauge DIN pod and I can fit all three gauges to the radio panel.

I've also got the paint stripper now, so just waiting for the weather to turn nice again and I can get to work on the dash

[flyingphil]

Good work on the dashboard "Bits"!

[mr2fc]

Sorry, but has everyone gone mad!?

Surely the jag is the perfect engine/box donor, not a daily!

[adam73bgt]

Jun 8, 2020 14:24:24 GMT mr2fc said:

Sorry, but has everyone gone mad!?

Surely the jag is the perfect engine/box donor, not a daily!

Haha there is a BGT with the Jag V6 and manual swap in the UK already

Naturally I did do a bit of googling into how similar the bellhousing patterns are between the Jag V6 and Jag V8s, purely out of curiosity of course...

[adam73bgt]

No big update but just keeping this ticking along until I have the funds to make proper progress again.

Gave the timing chain cover the crackle black treatment with a bit of white model paint on the timing marks to make them stand out



Found where I'd hidden my old gauge holder (after ordering then having to quickly cancel the order for a new one) so mocked it up in the centre console again with the new gauges.



I really need to get on with paint stripping the upper dashboard and glovebox lid, but its a messy job so not one I'm particularly looking forward to!

I did make another purchase though. Previously I've always run a modern radio in the MG because I like having bluetooth etc., while the car is never going to have amazing audio (and I'm hoping the engine will be the main aural attraction) I did want to do something a little different this time with the head unit. So I got onto everyone's favourite auction site and scored this





It's a NOS unit, never been fitted in a car as far as I can see. It is unfortunately missing a volume/tone knob but that can be sorted. It's vaguely era correct, in searching for a wiring diagram for it, I found it in a copy of the Argos catalogue from 1984!



Safe to say that I paid a fair bit less than the new price for it so I'm happy with that. Not tested it as working yet but shouldn't be a problem, my plan is to retrofit a bluetooth module into it, possibly in line with the cassette deck so it should look all retro from the outside but have that modern usability.

The other slight problem I have is it doesn't fit in the hole in the dash..



I think my plan is to get a flat piece of acrylic or similar, mount the radio to that then stick it to the back of the console, will see if that looks OK or a bit odd.

[varelse]

That interior lamp is huge! It looks like a license plate lamp!

That's a nice retro looking head unit.
Can always use a mini amp and some better speakers to get some better audio in there.

[adam73bgt]

Jul 6, 2020 1:30:29 GMT varelse said:

That interior lamp is huge! It looks like a license plate lamp!

That's a nice retro looking head unit.
Can always use a mini amp and some better speakers to get some better audio in there.

It may be large, but the light output from it has always been middling to average Though that does remind me that there is the rear interior light above the boot which has never worked in the time I've had the car, so that'll want looking at as well

Good shout about the amp, I've not made the progress I'd hoped for on the head unit just yet, I took the case off the unit to see what I was dealing with and baulked at this mess of wires and components





Once I've got my head around what I'm looking at, I've had my little bluetooth receiver arrive to be wired in




Not a huuuge amount of B related news recently, although I have ordered one of the last pieces of the front suspension jigsaw so thats quite exciting. The other bit I need to get for that will be some new wheel bearings, the hubs need a damn good clean up as well.

I painted a few other bits that had been kicking around, the front discs which I bought years ago got some paint on the bits that always go rusty, the sump got a couple coats and one of the brake drums as the other is still stuck on the car









The only other update is a bit of a "fleet" related one. The Jag's days with me are numbered, as lovely as it is, I could be doing with something cheaper to run about in at the moment. In a stroke of luck, my brother had been looking to get back into something retro so I helped him buy this





A Saab 9000XS, its quite a cool thing really and he seems happy with it which is the main thing. Now that he has that though, I'm getting his Toyota Yaris T Sport as a "hand me down" (and I'm supposed to be the older brother.. ) which while it sounds like a step down from the Jag (hard to argue against that) I'm still intrigued by as I do like a revvy, light hatch, so could still be fun!

[adam73bgt]

Been a month of ups and downs, the Jag sold quickly which was handy as I was worried it was going to drag on but sold to a good home and was a rare enjoyable car selling experience! The mighty Yaris T Sport has replaced it



Which despite going from a 3.0 V6 to a 1.5 I4 has actually surprised me in being a little bit of a riot to drive! The seating position has taken some getting used to as it feels more like you sit "on" it and theres a nasty wobble/judder at 65-70mph which I need to sort but it has working aircon and is muuuuch cheaper to run so it'll do

One fairly major down, is that the guy who I thought was making the last key part for the front suspension of the B (a set of 1" dropped spindles) has stopped returning my messages. I paid through Paypal goods and services (NOT bank transfer as he originally wanted) so I should get the money back but annoyingly I also sent him my stub axles with new kingpins as core items for a rebate, which short of turning up at his doorstep, I have little chance of seeing again Why these sorts of curse word must persist in the car scene I don't know.

While I'm on a negative rant, I did do some more stripping of the sound deadening from the floorpan in the B and did some general poking about near the rear valance.









There is rust but it isn't a surprise, I already knew the floorpan needed replacing on the passenger side at least and the rear valance was one of the worst panels on the car, I didn't realise the bit under the tailight was gone as well, but on the bright side, all these panels are readily available.

What did amuse me however, is that the lower part of the valance appeared to be held to the rear wing with seam sealer on the passenger side



I think this is the rear wing that had been replaced not long prior to me buying the car so either rubbish spot welds or just really rubbish bodging!

I shan't leave this as a mopey negative post though, I have at long last invested in a MIG welder



I've been buying all the PPE kit to go with it and am quite keen to get practicing!

And lastly, an update of a two wheeled nature, went on a few days trip away with my dad riding round the Peaks, the Pennines and the Borders area of Scotland, which was a nice break from the monotony of job applications and near total lack of mojo on either of my car projects..







Not quite sure what the next update will be, but I shall endeavour to make it a positive one

[adam73bgt]

Well as promised last time, a more positive update.

Without going into too much of the gory detail it has been a surprising week in that a day after I raised a dispute on Paypal, they offered to pay me back straight away which happened without too much incident, and they even sent back my parts that I had sent as cores. So either they didn't know what they were doing, or they are really bad at scamming.

Anyway, I got put in touch with a proper engineer who knows what they're doing, who had some dropped spindles already done and ready to go, so as soon as I had my originals back it was off up to Sheffield in the Yaris with the girlfriend to pick them up.

Before that though, I'd spotted another useful item on everyone's favourite auction site, so hit buy it now and made a detour on our way north to collect this.



A steel rear valance to replace the one made of rust on mine. The MG anoraks may notice that this appears to be for a rubber bumper model, but as far as I can tell the only difference are holes or lack of holes for the respective bumper mounts. As I have a fibreglass Sebring rear valance to fit this is largely academic, but will go some way to eradicating the rust.

Got to Sheffield, got the dropped spindles and had a good chat about MG's and racing mods while being very envious of the 5.3 (I think from memory) Rover V8 on itb's sat in his garage. Seeing the stance of the car has removed the last of the doubt in my mind about fitting the Sebring arches as well, and the 16" wheels he had on his looked right at home. Meaning that if I go for 16s now to get the improved tyre choices, I won't be sacrificing aesthetics.



Then had a nice drive over to Bakewell in the Peaks for a pub dinner followed by taking the small roads back home, the Yaris is a great B road car.

So now I'm really happy, spindles and modified steering arms in my possession, so I could actually start on building up the front suspension

I need to drag the B out of the garage so I can jack it up and give the chassis rails at the front a quick clean up in preparation. Very much looking forward to bolting bits back to the car for a change!

[adam73bgt]

Decided I wasn't getting much done with the B stuck in the garage, so have now dragged it out and propped the front end up on axle stands





Really I've just made a start by scraping off all the old underseal, it's coming off fairly easily but obviously there is a fair amount of residue left which I need to clean off somehow



My main reason for getting the car outside was to make it easier to get around it to fit the front crossmember/suspension. I could have just cleaned up the bottom of the chassis rails to give access to the mounting points as below...



but I figured if I do that and fit the crossmember, then it will just get covered in further curse word removal from the engine bay and inner wings, so my plan is to tidy up and paint those areas first.

One bit is a bit of a pain though (I think I may have mentioned it before) but this strengthener on the passenger side which is an old repair, appears to have been put on over a pre-existing hole







This doesn't seem entirely right, yet the strengthener is solid. So it's a case of do I cut it off and rectify it properly or leave as is... need to have a think about that.

Aside from that, the front end is actually pretty solid, the main issue is just that every surface seems to be coated in some black underseal type product or in the case of the chassis rails, old engine oil leaks. This I suppose has probably helped preserve the car, but it means a lot of cleaning off before I can paint it.

Speaking of paint, my current plan is to use some POR 15 Black paint with the accompanying Metal Prep for the underside bits, then go over any seams with seam sealer and finish off with a stonechip paint over the top of that. For the engine bay I'd like to go with the Mallard Green body colour, but I'm not sure what I'll put under it as a Primer at the moment. Need to do some research into the subject.

Lots more scraping, sanding and cleaning to come

[thomfr]

You could try to wash away the residu with some petrol (please do not smoke ;-) ).
Thom

[vulgalour]

I've used cellulose thinners and a combination of toothbrushes, plastic pan brushes (the type with the long handle), and old towelling or blue paper roll to get that residue off to reasonable effect. If you let the thinners soak in a little bit, the old underseal comes off with about the same texture that Marmite has if you put it on toast. Smelly messy job best done outdoors, but is a fairly rapid one and doesn't cost too much. Thinners can be got on eBay cheaply. Obviously work from the top down, then the thinners running down the panel does some of the work for you as you go. It'll make a mess on the floor too, so stick some newspaper down if that's a worry.