1972 MGB Restoration

Not So Fast

2011-05-26T14:03:00.000-07:00

I may have had a change of heart about selling the B. It's almost drivable now. I've almost finished the interior. There are still some things that need work but to be honest, I find comfort in that. If I can get it into drivable condition and to a point where I trust that when I get in it, it is going to start and get me to point B, and then start again and bring me home, I'll be happy. I've found a sense of peace in working on the B. It's been a pretty big part of my life for about 7 years now.

I've only driven it a handful of times in the period:

Once soon after I first got it to evaluate its condition in order to prioritize the future of the project
A couple of times after replacing the pistons and rod bearings - then the clutch release bearing went out on me and I lost heart for awhile knowing the engine would have to come out. I also made a big move soon after which put the B on the back burner.
A few times after repairing the release bearing and replacing the clutch. While the engine was out I had the bearing surfaces on the crankshaft machined and the flywheel resurfaced. It ran okay for awhile but I could tell something wasn't quite right and it only got worse over time.

I'm finally at a point where I believe I have all of the major mechanical and electrical issues resolved. I'm looking forward to getting it off the jack stands and seeing it on it's own wheels again. I'm looking forward to strapping into the driver's seat and going for a drive. I'm hoping it's good to drive for awhile before I have to do anymore real fixing. I know there are some projects that will need to be done, but I'm hoping I can drive it and do them on my time rather than having to park it until I can get the next project done.

I'm hoping the B and I cover many miles together over the next 7 years.

Center Console

2011-05-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

This is what a center console should look like on my 1972 B. This is just to help me restore the one I have to an more original configuration. It's had its share of DPO holes cut in it. I'm going to try to fill them with something and repaint it black. Hopefully I can get close to a matching texture in the filled spaces. It will have to look better than the poorly cut holes.

For Sale

2010-09-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

I've unfortunately lost interest in the MGB project and have decided to sell. If you're interested or have questions, please leave a comment here or send an email to topheral_b AT yahoo.com

My initial price is $3500 as is. I'm going to continue to do a few things to her and as the condition improves the asking price will increase.

Things that I'll be doing before I consider the project complete:
Rebuild both vent windows
Install passenger side door interior trim
Replace the seal between the oil filter housing and the engine block (it's leaking like the Exxon Valdez right now - or should I say the Deepwater Horizon?)

Things that probably need to be done:
The fuel tank will need to be replaced eventually
The radiator needs to be repaired or replaced
The distributor may or may not need to be rebuilt

You have the whole history of the car during my period of ownership in the pages of this blog. It's a no holds barred, very honest description of everything I've done and everything that needs to be done.

The B is currently driveable with brand new tires. I trust it to get me around the immediate vicinity, but I've never driven it any further. I put about 30-40 miles one day just around the local back roads and never had a problem. It doesn't overheat, but the radiator seeps a little.

Some pictures and an update

2009-06-11T04:39:00.000-07:00

The B has been sharing time with studying for the CPA exam for awhile but I've made it a point to get in the garage for a few hours each week to make sure the project continues to move forward.

The big news since my last post is that it is insured and registered. I'll have new tires by this weekend and hope to take if for its first drive since the TO bearing failure back in 2006. Things that need to be done before the first drive:

bleed the brakes
check clutch travel and re-bleed if necessary
drain and replace the differential oil
grease the front suspension and the driveshaft u-joint

I finished mounting the top a couple weeks ago. My top came without the hardware mounted so I had to do that myself. I managed to hide the hardware on the driver's side but the passenger side was a little more stubborn. After I had it all the way I wanted it, the female portion of the Lift-the-Dot connectors tore free from the inner canvas on the passenger side. Without a better solution, I just went all the way through the vinyl. I don't think it looks too bad and it shouldn't cause any problems, but it bothers me that it doesn't match the driver's side. I don't anticipate having the top up much anyway, so it will rarely be noticeable.

Here are a few pictures.

Notice the missing grille? My bonnet release cable is stuck. I've left the grille out so I can operate the lever manually. I'll be adding an alternate release cable in the front driver's side wheel well so I can install the grille.

I've also spent some time on the interior. I completely rebuilt the seats. I cleaned and painted the frames and replaced the webbing, foam, and covers. I also have new carpet and panels all around. I'm still missing the passenger side door panel because I'm rebuilding the vent window. I've also not mounted the door caps or door pulls on either side.

You'll notice some missing buttons and extra hole in my center console from a PO. I'm contemplating what to do about that. I need a hazard flasher switch but I don't anticipate ever needing the lighter. There's also a map light that's missing. I'm not sure how I'm going to resolve the console situation yet. I want it to look better than it does, but still somewhat original. I'm also going without the transmission tunnel armrest. It's old and brittle and I like this look better anyway.

I have the door seals but I've not installed them yet. I'm having trouble figuring out how they are supposed to stay in place. I might have to resort to using an adhesive.

Here's a partial list of things I will want/need in the future roughly sorted by priority:

radiator welded and recored
new fuel tank
front suspension rebuild
distributor rebuild
boot carpet kit
alternator upgrade
tonneau cover

Big News!

2009-05-11T13:07:00.000-07:00

I was able to back out of the garage and drive around the yard over the weekend! The rebuilt starter from O'Reilly did the trick. Success did not come without a few small setbacks, but nothing major.

It all started a couple of weeks ago when I decided I wasn't doing myself any favors by putting off buying a starter any longer. I picked it up on the 30th after a few days waiting for it to arrive at my local store. It was easy to install. I've had the starter on and off so many times it's almost like pumping gas at this point.

So, with the starter in and a new battery, I decided to turn the key to see what would happen. I unplugged the coil because I wanted to try to build up some oil pressure before starting but I was never able to get any pressure. The good news was that it cranked beautifully. I never thought I would like that sound so much.

Not getting oil pressure worried me a little, but not terribly. I had the same problem back when I was trying to get it started originally a few years ago. The oil pressure jumped right up once I got it started. So with that in mind, I hooked up the coil and tried to start it. Nothing. Just lots of cranking. The sound that brought me such joy a few short minutes ago now became a source of frustration. I decided to clean up for the night and try again the next day.

Saturday evening I decided to try some starting fluid. I sprayed it in the carbs and cranked and it fired right up, only to die after burning off the starting fluid. I did this a couple of times while keeping a good eye on the oil pressure gauge. It jumped to life pretty quickly, but then I heard an odd sound. It was a large- amounts-of-liquids-splashing-onto-the-concrete-garage-floor sound that I'm really not very fond of. I quickly scrambled to my hands and knees to determine the source and found oil literally pouring from between where the oil filter housing and the engine block meet. This freaked me out at first and I decided again to clean up and call it a night in frustration.

I went to bed with two things on my mind. 1-the car is spewing oil like the Lakeview Gusher of 1910 and 2-it won't run without starting fluid being introduced into the intake. The good news was that 1-I had oil pressure and 2-I knew my starting problem had to be fuel related.

I got up Sunday morning hoping to correct my huge oil leak. After some research on MGBexperience.com I hypothesized that I might not have tightened down the bolt that holds the oil filter housing against the block with enough torque. When reassembling the engine, I was probably thinking that rubber seal didn't require or couldn't withstand a whole lot of torque. The only way to prove a hypothesis is to test it, so, I crawled under the car, attached the appropriate socket to my biggest, baddest breaker bar and tightened it until I was afraid to tighten anymore.

I then added about a quart of oil (the amount I had lost while the car ran a total of maybe 15 seconds), gave it another spritz of starting fluid, and she roared to life....only to die again a couple of seconds later. Frustrating, but expected. My main concern was the oil leak. I didn't hear anything. I got down and looked under and didn't see anything either. I tried the process over again several times with the same results. Oil leak problem solved. Now I just needed to solve the running dilemma.

I had narrowed the problem down to fuel delivery because I knew I had spark, compression, and that the timing was close enough to run on starting fluid. I began haphazardly messing with carb adjustments. Dumb move, but it provided the results I was looking for. I was able to get it running very poorly. I had to leave the choke in the full on position and it was backfiring out of both the tailpipe and the carbs. It would also rev up to about 3000 and then drop off to about 600 before backfiring a couple of times and then revving back up and the cycle started all over again. I tried slowly backing off the choke, but it would just die when I did that. A little research and brainstorming lead me to believe that I had a huge vacuum leak somewhere in the intake area.

Fast forward to Friday and I had some garage time. I left the office at noon, which promised to give me several good hours in the garage. I took the carbs and heatshield off and retorqued the intake manifold to the head. I applied gasket sealant to all 6 of the gaskets in this area and slowly and methodically put it all back together to make sure everything was installed correctly. I also adjusted the valves to make sure the clearances were correct. I turned the key and still had basically the same running issues. Vacuum hypothesis disproved.

The twin SUs had been rebuilt recently, and 1-I had no idea where the rebuilder had left any of the adjustments and 2-I had screwed with the mixture screws quite a bit just trying to get it to run, so I decided to start from square one with them. A little internet research provided the information I was looking for. I turned the mixture screws clockwise as far as they would go (full rich) and then backed off two full turns on each carb. I pulled out the choke, turned the key and it fired almost instantly and ran up to about 3500 RPM and just sat there as smooth as silk. That was a definite improvement over what I had been experiencing before. 3500 is too fast for idle, but that was easily adjustable. I just turned backed off of the idle screws until it was running in the 700-800 range. Needless to say, I was pleased. I let it warm up a touch and backed off the choke and it ran almost flawlessly for as long as I would let it.

I tried to check the timing with my timing gun but it jumps all over the place. I think my distributor may need to be rebuilt. I have it running pretty good right now. I had my wife help me bleed the clutch Saturday. I'm not sure I got all of the air out because the pushrod travel is not its full range of motion, but it seems to work. I may spend a little more time on that in the coming days.

After bleeding the clutch I took it down off of the stands for the first time in months. It was really good to see it sitting on its own tires. I couldn't resist the urge. I fired it up, backed it out of the garage, and took it for a quick spin around the yard. What a blast! The brakes need to be bled and I need new tires and then we will be ready for the open road.

Stay Tuned!

Fall and Winter Progress and Thoughts on the Future

2009-03-18T12:33:00.000-07:00

Where were we? The engine is now back in the car and everything is wired up and bolted in and basically ready to go other than a couple items I'll discuss later in this post. I've installed new black carpet and the seats have new foam and upholstery. I started installing the top but ran into some problems that I'll need to resolve before I go any farther. It's really looking more like a car now than a project.

What's left to do? There's plenty left to do, but only two major items remain before I can get the B rolling. Well, really only one thing. I need a starter. My old one bit the dust and I don't think it would be worth the money to repair so I'll probably just get a new one from one of the 3 major parts stores nearby. You know the ones...they're always within spitting distance of one another. Anyway, the price is good at less than half of what Moss and VB want and they offer a lifetime warranty.

The second item is the radiator. It had a very slow leak (more of a weep than a leak) and is serviceable for short trips but I want to have it repaired, recored, and pressure tested before I go any further than the gas station or the office. I've heard bad things about the new radiators from Moss and VB thus the planned repair instead of replacement.

Beyond that, I have new body seals all the way around I have yet to install. I'll also need new tires. The tires that are on it have great tread but I'm afraid they're a bit on the old side. I'm working on rebuilding the vent window assemblies. Years of exposure to the weather have deteriorated the moving parts to the point of no return.

And then what? Well, I'm not sure. I like the idea of getting it going and making it my daily driver. I feel like I'm pretty close to achieving the goal of getting her on the road. I guess I'll make that happen and see what I feel like at that point. I've had moments where I'm ready to put the thing on Ebay as is just out of sheer frustration and lack of space in the garage. I think that was mostly the winter blues, though. Now that spring is in the air and top down weather is here, I'm having regrets over not spending more time on it over the winter.

So, my plan is to get that starter soon and take a drive around the block. At that point I think I'll be able to evaluate how bad the radiator situation is. Then tires. Then finish up the infinite list of little things that will drive me crazy. I think if I have it on the road, I'll be more likely to want to spend the time and money to fix all of the little things.

More Progress

2008-08-18T12:52:00.000-07:00

I've made some significant progress over the last few weeks. Paint was sprayed in the engine bay. It looks great. Funny how what looks just acceptable on the body of a car can look great in an engine bay. It's no show car, mind you, but I'm pretty satisfied with the work I've done. Besides, the intent is for this car to be my driver, not a garage queen. I'm planning to put some miles on the car and I don't want to be afraid to do that for fear of scratching expensive paint. Nevermind that I've already put more into this car that it was sold new for back in 1971 or 72. Granted, that's not much money when you think about how much value the dollar has lost since then.

So what have I done beside paint the bay? I have my brake hydraulics hooked back up, along with the clutch master and slave cylinder. I've been cleaning and painting all of the small things that are going back into the bay. I sanded, steel wooled, and then clear coated all of the brake, clutch and fuel lines that are visible. Clear coat was to keep them from corroding so quickly in the future.

I made my big parts order last week from Moss Motors via The Autoist. I picked the parts up a couple days ago. This included my complete interior, main engine bearings, rod bearings, motor mounts, lots of miscellaneous MGB specific hardware, seals, gaskets, and the oh so important heater core (this is going to be my year round daily driver so I have to have heat!). Everything looked great and service at The Autoist was excellent as always.

I have already received my clutch kit from Bob at Brittek and some exhaust paint from Eastwood. I have a friend at work that is going to sand blast my exhaust manifold for me, then it will get a couple of heavy coats of Eastwood stainless steel gray high temp exhaust coating. If nothing else the engine will look pretty.

Here are a few pictures of the progress to date, and my lovely newly rebuilt carburetors.

Here's the picture of the engine bay before. I had started work at this point but you can tell how nasty things were.

Here's a picture after much degreasing, cleaning and sanding and some reassembly. It's not perfect, but it will be much more of a pleasure to raise the hood now than it was before.

Here's the engine that will fill the large empty hole in the picture above. New bearings started going in last night and will hopefully be completed tonight or tomorrow. Then I can start buttoning the unit back up to get it ready to drop back in.

And here's what will deliver the air/fuel mixture to be burned in healthy quantities as I cruise around with the top down. They were professionaly cleaned and rebuilt. Once I install them and find out how they work, I'll post the rebuilders name and a review.

Update

2008-06-20T06:10:00.000-07:00

Just a couple pictures to keep the blog alive. And some info on what I've been up to.

I realized there's no picture of the B after paint, so here it is. It's hard to photograph without it just looking like your average white car. It's not nearly as white as it looks. I've pasted in a picture of a Pepper White Mini to show the actual color. It gives it a very classic British look with the wire wheels.

I sent my carburetors off on Wednesday for a rebuild. They'll be getting a full cleaning and polishing, new piston springs, metering needles and jets. The interconnecting linkage will be plated and new throttle shafts will be installed. I'm looking forward to getting them back.

Here's a picture of the engine bay before cleaning. It's really nasty and covered in several layers of grease and oil and road grime. I've scrubbed for several hours and it's still not clean. It's going to take some time. Also off to the right you can see the exhaust system that has been removed. I haven't decided what to do about that yet. I'll probably just reinstall it as is for now.

Other than that, I've been cleaning, cleaning, cleaning lately. The engine is almost ready for primer and paint. I picked up some Duplicolor Ford Dark Canyon Red at a local parts store last weekend. I test sprayed a spot against the old original MG engine red and it's a perfect match.

This is the goal I am shooting for. This, of course, is not my engine or car, but it's what mine will look like when complete. This, I believe, is a picture of an MGB engine built by Hap Waldrop of ACME Speed Shop fame. Pretty, huh?

One Nasty Transmission and Five Worn Out Bearings

2008-06-09T14:05:00.000-07:00

I've been working on cleaning up the engine and transmission. I'll be painting the engine its original color while I have it out. I'll also be painting the engine bay the same color as the rest of the car.

I have a few more pictures to share of what I found and what I did when the engine and transmission came out of the car.

The engine main bearings are very worn. Possibly from running with no or low oil pressure. The first time I started the engine, it didn't have oil pressure because of the broken oil pump. I don't think all of this damage was caused by that, but it couldn't have helped. This bearing (the copper colored concave surface) is supposed to be perfectly smooth and shiny like the convex surface on the crankshaft. It has ridges that you can feel with a fingernail and is worn down into the copper. Catastrophic bearing failure was probably imminent. After seeing this, I'm actually glad that the release bearing failed when it did. This could have been a much uglier scene had I continued to drive the car in this condition. We're talking metal bits here and there and possibly pieces welded together because of the heat of the unlubricated friction. There are 5 of these main bearings in this engine and I'll be replacing all of them. That means the crankshaft has to come out.

Here's the transmission in progress and after cleaning. It's pretty clean. Next to tackle is the engine block. I'll be getting it as clean as possible and then priming and painting in the next week or so.

The plan is to get everything cleaned up, find all of the problems, and then make one big parts order for everything I need. I expect that will happen in July.

While I have it apart, I'm sending the dual SU HIF4 carburetors off to be rebuilt by an expert. I need a new radiator, heater core, and fuel tank while I'm at it. I'll also be replacing as much of the interior as the budget allows. In order to save a little money I'm going to try to pick up as many used parts as I can. Any engine internals will be the best new parts I can buy, though. That's not the place to be cheap.

Memorial Day Weekend 2008 Progress

2008-06-04T09:01:00.001-07:00

So, where am I now? Since the best wife in the world agreed to spending the money to get the B back on the road, I've pulled the engine and am preparing it for a new clutch and a general refreshing.

Here's a picture of the engine coming out of the car. It was easier than anticipated. I hope getting it all back together proves to be as easy as taking it apart!

The biggest part of the job was making sure all of the wires were disconnected and then labeled so I would know where they go when the engine goes back in.

The rest of the job was pretty easy. It's important to remember to let the tools do the work they are designed for and to be patient.

Notice how nasty the engine is. That will be changing soon.

Here's the engine mounted to the engine stand sans transmission. To get it to this point I had to remove the transmission, the clutch, the flywheel, and the engine backing plate. Removing the flywheel was a challenge. It required liberal doses of PB'laster and alot of pounding away with the impact wrench.

I went to Lowes to find some bolts long enough to fit through the engine stand sleeves and into the engine plate mounting holes on the back of the engine. Lovely wife proved to be good at searching through the bins of bolts at Lowes for fine threaded 3/8 inch hex-head bolts. I was proud.

Notice again how incredibly nasty it is. I'm looking forward to posting pictures after I have it cleaned and painted.

This is why the clutch stopped working. It wasn't the clutch itself that had worn out, it was the release (aka throw-out) bearing.

When the clutch pedal is pressed, the release bearing presses against the center of a flexible rotating diaphragm. As the center is pressed towards the engine, the outer edges, which are attached to the clutch pressure plate, are pulled away from the engine, acting as a lever. This disengages the rotating flywheel from the transmission.

The bearing had likely become brittle from sitting for several years and couldn't handle the stress of being used again and broke into several tiny bits.

This pile of what looks like greasy gravels is the remains of the carbon bearing. It's greasy because the inside of the transmission bellhousing was coated in about 1/4 inch of grease and oil.

More to come...

Long Time No Post

2008-06-02T13:37:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been awhile, huh? 3 1/2 years? Really? It doesn't seem like that long.

Here's a little update on what happened between 10/26/2004 and today:

1. I went through the brakes and clutch, replacing both master cylinders and the clutch slave.

2. Stripped it down to bare metal and painted it BMW Pepper White. I'll post a picture shortly of the car with paint. It's a common color on the new Mini's. It's a creamy white color.

3. Replaced the pistons. One had a hole in it. I didn't see any damage to the cylinder bore, so I decided to just put in four new pistons and rings and go with it. The budget didn't (and still doesn't) allow for a complete rebuild.

4. Since I had the oil pan off anyway, I replaced the rod bearings while I was at it. It's an easy job with the engine in the car if you don't mind getting dirty.

5. When I pulled the oil pan I noticed why I wasn't able to get any oil pressure, despite what seemed like hours of battery draining cranking. The body of the oil pump was broken in half. If I find the picture I'll post it. It's really bizarre. I think someone must have tried to jack the car using the oil pan, as it was a little dented in. The weight of the car would have been on the oil pump. The oil pump was just not designed to support the weight of the entire car. Imagine that.

6. Replaced the broken piece of the oil pump thanks to a kind soul (can't remember his name) on The MG Experience.

7. Compression tested the engine. Compression is on the low side at between 125 & 130, but is consistent across all 4 cylinders.

8. Finally got it started, titled, and registered.

9. Added seatbelts, put some temporary covers over the decaying seats, and took her for a drive or two.

10. Blew out the clutch throw out bearing on the first real drive. Must have been pretty brittle from sitting all that time. It also probably had alot of miles on it.

11. Parked the car, frustrated in the knowledge that I would have to pull the engine.

12. Moved several hundred miles, dragging the B behind a Uhaul.

13. Parked the B outside (poor thing) behind a shed while living in a rental without a garage.

14. Moved a few more miles to a nicer rental with a garage.

15. Realized once again that I have the best wife in the whole world when she didn't hesitate to encourage me to spend the money to get the B back on the road.

Where am I now? Check back soon for big news and dirty pictures of MGB parts spread here and yon.

10/26 progress report

2004-10-26T13:22:00.000-07:00

It's been over a month since my last update, but that's not because I'v enot been busy. I've had some slow times a spans of days when I wasn't able to work on it, but a few minutes here and there add up.

I'm still busy on the bodywork. I've been bondoing (did I just create a new verb?)parking lot dings and a bit of hood damage. The curve of the hood and the way it flows into the bulge in the center where the MG logo resides has been a bit of a challenge. I think I'm just being too impatient with it. I've filled the biggest ding on the pass side door and will hopefully get some work done on the rest soon.

As for the doglegs, well, I decided to go with Duramix metal bonding adhesive. I've done the passenger side and I can pull on the panel and rock the whole car, so needless to say, it's a permanent part of the car now. There will be some cleaning up to do around the edges and probably some filler will be necessary to cover up my amateur flubs, but overall I'm pleased. I'm looking forward to getting started on the driver side soon.

The crack of doom is still an issue. I'm not sure what I'm going to do there but I have a plan. I think I'll glue in a reinforcement inside the door using the duramix adhesive then fiberglass over the crack and sand it and use body filler to get a good smooth finished product for painting. Again, maybe an amateur move, but it's better than nothing. I think adding the reinforcement to the back side will keep it from reappearing in the future.

The fuel tank and radiator are still sitting on the garage floor. I'll be taking those for cleaning and repairs soon. I'm hoping to roll the car out of the garage this weekend and get all the dust off and at least start cleaning out the engine compartment. The body work is tedious, so I need to do something else to keep me motivated.

When I'm finished with the body work I'm hoping to get some old english white mixed and put into spray cans so I can paint the door jams, the trunk, and possibly under the hood. Or I might have a compressor and a gun by then, so putting it into cans may not be necessary. I'll just have to wait and see what the budget allows.

I've also removed the bumpers, mirrors, wipers, and the 'grille' for the fresh air vents. The door handles and locks still need to be removed.

Though slowly, work is progressing and I think I'm still on track to have it on the road by summer '05.

9/19 weekend progress

2004-09-19T16:35:00.000-07:00

Ain't weekends grand! I dropped the gas tank and pulled the radiator. Originally I had intended to take the fuel tank and have it cleaned but I think it's in good shape. I'm glad I dropped it though. There's the beginnings of a rust problem there and I plan to nip it in the bud. I'll take the radiator and have it cleaned, pressure tested and repaired as needed. Hopefully there are no leaks, but we'll see.

I also cut out most of the driver's side dogleg. If I have time this week, I'll do some more cutting and fine tuning in preparation for welding. I will also be rustproofing the rockers before they are made inaccessible by the new doglegs.

I still need to source some sheet metal for floor repairs. Some of the worst rust on the car is in the drivers side floor, but that should be a very simple fix. I'll take some pictures of the floor this week and post them as soon as they are developed.

2004-09-18T11:54:00.000-07:00

The dash after I cleaned it up. I removed all the gauges, cleaned the glass and polished the trim rings. I was very pleased with results considering how dirty it was to begin with.

2004-09-18T11:52:00.000-07:00

Here's the passenger side rocker panel. Some very small holes are visible. I don't know if it is worth the trouble of replacing this right now. I've pretty much decided to leave it as is for now.

2004-09-18T11:48:00.000-07:00

Here is a shot of the interior from the rear of the car facing front. The dash is out but the windshield is still in. I've since removed the windshield. Notice the wiring harness. Also, the original teal blue color of the car is visible on the cross bar that is usually hidden by the dash.

2004-09-18T11:30:00.000-07:00

And here is the dogleg completely removed. See pieces laying on garage floor and new panel ready to be fitted. Notice my excellent photographic skills. I don't think I can count the pictures that I've ruined by letting the camera cord get in the way.

2004-09-18T11:27:00.000-07:00

Here I am cutting metal.

2004-09-18T11:25:00.000-07:00

Here is a good representation of the rust damage in the doglegs. I've only torn into the passenger side, but I'm fairly certain I will find similar damage on the driver side. As you can see in future pictures, I've cut away the entire dogleg section. After grinding the surface rust off of the rocker, it appears to be in pretty good condition. After some rust proofing, I'll be ready to weld in the new panel,

9/15/04 Progress Report

2004-09-15T17:04:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty busy with other things, like a new job and a family trip to Memphis, so not much has happenned on the B in the last couple of weeks.

I did some more work on the passenger side dogleg. I cut out some more of the metal that will be replaced by the new panel and ground down the rocker (underneath where the dogleg was) to shiny new metal. There are a few more holes than I would like, but I think it is structurally sound, so I'm going to protect it from future rust and leave it as is. I've drilled out all of the spotwelds and removed the strips of metal that were left along the bottom of the car and the edge of the wheel well.

As for replacing the dogleg, well, I think I may buy a welder and do it myself. I've always wanted to know how to weld and as they say, there's no time like the present. So I'm still contemplating that. My neighbor owns a welding repair/supply shop and has offered to help me, so I may take him up on that. We'll just see how things are progressing in a few weeks.

About the pictures I promised. Well, we sent them off to snapfish on Monday (9/13) so we should have something soon. I'll post them as soon as I have something.

A couple of other minor things.

The alternator that was in the car didn't match the wiring harness. The alt that was in the car was a 3 prong while the wiring harness was for a 5. So, I traded alternators with The Autoist for one that would work with the harness that is in the car.

Also, I needed a wrench to remove the wire knockoffs. He also brought me one of those. It took some serious pounding with my 5lb hammer, but they came right off without much drama. Since I was over there anyway, I've removed the pass side brake drum just to see what's in there. I found spiderwebs. Actually, other than the bugs, it looks fairly clean. Of course, I'll be rebuilding/replacing all of that but it's good to know everything seems to be in order, just for the sake of knowing.

My most immediate issues are to get the doglegs replaced and the floor patched up. After that, I'll be rebuilding the brakes, then I'll go through the fuel and cooling systems. There are some other minor body issues, but I haven't decided when I'll be taking those on yet. Definitely before paint. I don't know if I want to try to get it on the road before that, or just do the whole thing before even attempting to drive. I have a feeling I'm going to want to be on the road by spring of 2005. I don't know how finished I will be by then though. I may drive it for a summer in primer and work on it a little at a time and then take it back off the road for paint next winter. Again, I just don't know how much time most of this stuff is going to take. Progress has been good so far, but I don't have a crystal ball.

Long Weekend

2004-09-07T13:34:00.000-07:00

The Labor day holiday provided some much needed garage time. The 3 month old was in the garage with me most of the time. I've found she loves it out here. I don't know if it's the fumes, the noise, or the fact that daddy's always doing something funny.

Anyway, what have I done?

- Removed dash
- Removed windshield
- Cut out most of passenger side dogleg

The dash was a real pain. Several hours of laying on my back, bumping my head on gas, brake and clutch pedals and getting dust in my eyes. I think I'm going to rig up something like this so that it is easier in the future. It is inevitable that I will remove it again, so I might as well make it as easy as possible. As I had though, the nut directly above the steering column was not easy to get to. Thankfully, once I got it broken free I was able to turn it with my fingers. Long fingers are an asset in MGB dash removal.

Windshield removal was simple after the dash was out. I have to remember to put it back before the dash goes back in. The mounting bolts are easily reached with the dash out, but I can see how they would be difficult to get to with the dash in.

In the might as well category, I'll be replacing the vinyl that is glued to the car under the top of the dash. It came off very easily in one piece. Now I'm in the process of removing all of the leftover glue from the car so I can glue the new piece down. I figure I can get the material from a fabric store. I might get my wife to help me with the cutting amd gluing. That's her thing, I know she can do a much better job that I can.

Cutting metal ROCKS! Sparks, noise, the smell of burning flesh. Okay, so maybe the smell of burning flesh isn't supposed to happen. Those little sparks are hot. They don't hurt though, so I just went at it with short sleeves. I didn't want to catch my hairy legs on fire though, so I did change into jeans. I took the angle grinder with a metal cutoff wheel to the doglegs. It cut like a hot knife through butter. I was thoroughly impressed.

Apparently the three month old was also impressed. I took her inside because of the noise, but apparently she decided to compete with the noise of the grinder inside. My wife came out and informed me that she was gleefully squealing at the top of her lungs. I heard it later, and she did sound very much like the angle grinder cutting sheet metal. This is the first time she has done this, so we can only assume she was mimicking the sound she was hearing.

The spotwelds along the inside of the wheel well still need to be drilled out and there is still some metal remaining in the curve of the door. There are at least 20 spot welds in the wheel well. That will take awhile. After that, I'll repeat the whole process on the other side and then will be ready for the new doglegs to be welded in.

I've taken several pictures of the process, but will have to wait until they are developed to post them here.

Not much progress, still evaluating

2004-09-07T13:33:00.000-07:00

I didn't really expect to make much progress over the last few days, and I've not exceeded my expectations. I have gotten a start on taking the dash out to replace the wiring harness that was cut.

The nuts that need to be removed to get the dash out are somewhat hard to get to. The key is to remove anything that could be in the way. So far I've taken out the glovebox and the vents in the center of the dash. The wiper motor was also already hanging loose. I think if it hadn't been, I might have had to move it also. Being able to move it around helped me reach the first nut on the drivers side. Removing those things allowed access to the 3 passenger side mounting points. I have a feeling the 3 on the drivers side may be a little more difficult, as there is more wiring and stuff to get in the way. Hopefully, I'll get started on that tonight when everyone goes to bed, as that has become the only time I get to myself anymore.

Once I've removed the dash, I'll be able to easily remove the windshield which will be necessary before I take her to be painted. That's getting a little ahead of myself, though. Painting is way down the priority list, just before the interior.

This dash isn't exactly like mine, but the mounting points are the same, so provides a good reference. #6 was easy. #5 is immediately above the glove box, # 4 is immediately above the air vents. I haven't done 1, 2, or 3 yet. 1 looks easy. 2 looks to be a real pain, as it's directly above the steering column, which can't be moved without great effort. I'll probably have to use a swiveling extension of some sort to get up in there. I'm not sure about #3. I'll just have to see what's in the way up there.

As I take off parts, I am putting them in plastic zip-loc bags and labeling them with a permanent marker. I'm sure this will help when it comes time to re-assemble. Now I just need to figure out a way to keep track of all the zip loc bags I'm accumulating.

I've also removed the alternator, as it is the wrong one for the new harness. Turns out it will be easier to remove the alternator and trade for the right one than it will be to deal with the wiring harness. Alternator removal took all of 10 minutes. Two bolts at the swivel point and one on the adjustment bracket and zip-a-dee-doo-dah, she was out.

I got started removing the radiator as well. It's almost out, but one of the radiator mounting bolts is rusted to the point it won't move, so I'll have to cut it out.

Speaking of cutting, I'll be visiting our local Harbor Freight tools soon to purchase a new angle grinder. I'll use that to cut the radiator mounting bold and more importantly to cut out the rusted sheet metal in the floor pan and dog legs.

First pictures

2004-09-07T13:32:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture taken before I picked it up. This photo was included in the advert. The lighting's not great, but you can tell that it's in primer. The top is just temporarily hung over the frame. Notice all trim is removed.

In the B-ginning

2004-09-07T13:30:00.000-07:00

This will be the ongoing account of the "restoration" of my 1972 MGB. First, let me define restoration because it means something different to everybody. For my purposes, I will use the term restoration to mean the return of my MGB to daily driver status. I want to bring it back to a level of comfort, safety, and reliability that will give me confidence that I will be able to drive the car around town or cross-country with reasonable confidence that no major problems will occur (like wheels falling off, or me falling through the floor). On the other hand, I don't want a show car that I'm afraid to drive for fear of the tiniest scratch either.

Given that definition, I will make a list of things that need to be done to get the car to that level.

Here is that list:

1. Repair rust in doglegs on both sides of the car. This will involve cutting out the dogleg sheet metal and welding in a new panel. Don't worry, no animals will be harmed in this process. For those of you who don't know, the dogleg is the sheet metal at the very bottom between the back of the door and the wheel well.

2. Repair rust in floor. There are several rust spots but not enough to warrant complete floor replacement. Someone has already replaced the forward section of the floor pans with some pretty sturdy looking sheet metal. The replacement panels were pop-riveted in. I think I will continue with this method in the remaining floor repairs.

3. Connect replacement wiring harness. Somebody had taken the old wiring harness and cut every wire right under the passenger side dash. Somebody was either ticked off at the car, or at the owner of the car, or as a friend of mine put it, "drunk". I don't know which, I'll let you know if I find out. Anyway, the car was sold to me with a replacement harness in place, just not plugged into anything, so I'll be going through all of the electric system as I do all of the other re-assembly. First, I'm plugging in everything under the dash, which will require dash removal.

4. Go through all of the mechanical/hydraulic systems; brakes, clutch, engine, transmission, fuel delivery, etc. and return to reliable operating condition

5. Repair minor body damage. There are several parking lot dings and other minor body issues that will need to be taken care of while the car is still apart.

6. All of the body trim, lights, etc., have been removed and the car is in gray primer. Once the metal work and dent repairs are complete, I'll be removing the bumpers and windshield and taking the car to be painted. My wife is very supportive of this project and is excited that I finally have the chance to restore an MGB. She likes the idea of something in the neighborhood of Old English White, so I'm thinking of going with that and a beige interior. I think that's a very classy color scheme, I think it will really look nice with the chrome trim and wire wheels.

7. Speaking of the interior, it's bare. The dash is in good shape, but that's about it. I have seats, but they are very rough…not fit to sit in...or even near. I saw some interesting mold on one of them. The seats could be deemed either a biohazard or a wildlife habitat. So, I'll be buying a complete interior kit, seats, carpets, door panels, the whole she-bang.

The list will most likely change as I get into the details and run into the might as wells.

The story of the car as it was given to me is as follows:
The car was parked because it started running hot. Nothing has been done to it since, other than somebody cutting the wiring harness. The guy I bought it from took it down to metal in places to make sure the body was solid and has resprayed with gray primer. It appears to have been teal blue originally. There is teal blue overspray under the dash and there is teal blue in the engine compartment. The interior was possibly a tan/brown color judging from the seats, but they could have been replaced since the car was new.

So that's the story. I'll post pictures as I get them developed and scanned, as I am still in the 20th century and do not own a digital camera.