The Machine and the tasks ahead!

A note for "Old hands"

Hi Y'all. I'm new to MGBs- I have had several cars and I've just rebuilt my Lotus- but this is a new experience. I'm just not used to being able to get all the parts I need easily- and even with a choice of suppliers! I'm also aware that the world is full of experienced old-hands who love these cars and have worked on them for a lifetime. I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel or teach anyone to suck eggs. I'm learning, and just as I did with my rebuild on the Lotus Excel (see my blog) I'm going to run a blog of my experience here. I'm working alone and it helps to write everything down. It may well read like a "How-to" guide, but its not really that. Its primarily a diary, my own record of what I did, what everything used to look like, how I took it apart and put it back together again and what worked for me.  I'm not recommending what I did and I accept no responsibility for any loss or damage caused by anyone following my methods. After all,  I'm not a mechanic, just an interested enthusiast. If you know a better way to do any of what I've done, then please message me and I will be happy to update the blog.

I do allow advertising on the blog but I'm not connected with any products that might appear there. I'm not paid for recommending any products or components, if I use something I will say whether it was a success or not and that will be my honest experience.

Overall if this blog helps anyone then I will be delighted, but that's not its primary purpose. There are plenty of real how-to guides out there. Please feel free to drop me a line, a word of encouragement or a correction and suggestions for improved methods. Otherwise just read on and enjoy vicariously the "joys" of classic car ownership! You are welcome and your company is appreciated.

Mike


So... lets begin at the beginning!

I have wanted an MGB GT since I was at school... sadly this now means some 45 years!! Redundancy and retirement brought me the opportunity and I found this MGB GT LE through Ebay. The description sounded great ...

MG BGT LE LIMITED EDITION SUPERB CONDITION LOW MILEAGE

"Built in 1979 as one of only number of MGBGT LE. Car stored in collectors show room until 1986 when it was then registered for use of the public highway. This car has not been a restoration project, it is in its original condition with very low mileage. The mileage is a very low at 42,823 New fuel line done but not been calibrated, so will need retuning. Everything else is tip top"

I checked on the previous MOT and it was passed 6m earlier with no advisories.
Similarly the pictures also looked good...

The car was described as having been in a private collection for the first 6 years of its life and subsequently registered for road use in 1986. There were 3 previous owners, but the first two were actually the same person; in both company and subsequently individual guise.

Well there were problems:

Firstly the motor ran very roughly- this was attributed to having fitted a new fuel pipe- this seemed an unlikely explanation but its possible that perhaps balance was upset when the link pipe was accessed at the roadside as an emergency repair. The tyres were all very worn but worst of all there was a gash on the LHS rear quarter and the LHS door mirror was missing. I understand that this damage was done during the currency of the advert so it wasn't visible in the pictures supplied with the ad - although these actually turned out to be  old photos supplied when the current owner had bought the car from a dealer. In retrospect its clear that they were taken in a showroom with other MGBs nearby. Always worth asking that question I think. The damage wasn't however added to the description  although the seller had lowered the reserve price. The engine compartment was grubby but complete.

However the lack of advisories in the MOT and the promise of an un-mucked about vehicle in full original spec (and a good amount of history- all tax discs, MOTs, V5 copies handbook and service book) was obviously tempting. I renegotiated the price  in view of the undeclared damage, and given the rough running arranged for it to be collected and tuned before I risked driving it home. Here I'm grateful to Maidstone Sportscars who collected the car and checked it over for me ... but what they found was a shock- although I believe the description given was made in good faith, the fact remains that it was not exactly "tip-top"!

I received the following list of problems:

4 tyres needed

Jacking points corroded and broken

Rear anti roll bar bushes worn

Rear springs weak

Exhaust blowing, corroded with a broken mount and delaminated rubber doughnut mounts.

N/S King pin worn

O/S wheel bearing worn

Leaking sump gasket

Half shaft oil seals leaking

Oil filter mount-to-motor O ring leaking

Rear brake shoes worn

In addition there was the rough running- they attributed this to a seized carburettor piston and the carb-linkage having been fitted incorrectly. I asked the garage to fix the jacking points, change the tyres and fix/balance the carbs. I was pleased with the work done-- except it didn't change the rough running at all! The cause of this remains a mystery although I still suspect carburation. My pleasure was however tempered, as one fault they hadn't reported was that the fuel gauge didn't work! In the event, they gave me the car back with insufficient fuel to drive to the nearest garage, I ran out in less than half a mile! Still at least they did come and bring me some juice!

So now a bit worried about the state of this car... and it got worse. I took the car to my local MGB specialist (Wey classics, sadly now closed and greatly missed) to get a quote for repainting the rear wing. They  also noted badly corroded rear quarters and warned me that usually these also mean that the sills are likely to need attention- although that isn't going to be clear until they get in there. They also identified a worn water pump (I should have noticed that) and a loose battery. I had arrived fairly chipper and left subdued with a £3k estimate for welding- not including all the repainting!!!

This was a shock! After all I had bought the car largely because it was in original condition- but chopping out great chunks of metal means that even that will no longer be true. The trouble is that the best point of this car is also its worst point- simply, its not been touched!

I was concerned that the first garage inspection had revealed only corroded jacking points (which are now fixed) but had not identified any problems with the rear quarters, so to be absolutely sure that this work was really needed I sent it for a "pre MOT" at my local garage. This resulted in a mixed bag of findings- there was some good news, but sadly it did confirm the need for rear quarter panels. They also  found that the state of the exhaust, headlamp alignment and the loose battery  were also "fail" items. On the plus side it downgraded the worn kingpin and bearing to very badly worn bottom trunnions (both sides) and found that both the rear brakes and anti-roll bar bushes were passable.  Other items were noted but not currently MOT significant:- a broken clutch pedal return spring, corrosion on rear floor near spring hangers that needs to be stabilised, and holes in inner front wheel arch.

So all this investigation then has defined my workload. The repairs will now cost more than the purchase price but overall I will still end up with a well-priced example and I should learn a lot on the way. Anyway she is far too beautiful to scrap!

Already done...

Tyres replaced

Jacking points welded

To get done...

Replace exhaust (new mild steel system and fixing kit bought from MGOC)

Replace both rear quarters and fix any more corrosion that this reveals and respray.

To Do...

1. Service timing, ignition and carburation- compression test the motor. This is fairly urgent because the multitude of oil leaks might result from excess crankcase compression- and that could indicate far more serious motor problems.
2. Lower kingpin trunnions (I will renew both kingpins and top/bottom trunnions as I don't want to have toi take this apart again soon)... and since there is a query over at least one of the wheel bearings, I will renew both and their hub oil seals, this is easiest if done at the same time as the kingpins. 
3. Replace rear brake shoes and half shaft oil seals (tube axle). Again these are conveniently done together.
4. Sump gasket and water pump- since the coolant needs draining before the front of the motor can be raised to access the sump bolts, these two jobs can be done together. Whilst the oil is drained I can also replace the oil filter and  the O ring sealing the filter mounting against the block. 
5. Replace battery clamp- derust and treat battery carrier.
6. Derust rear floor, inner wheel arches and general rust eg below rear bumper, stabilise and repaint.
7. Possibly replace rear springs and rear ARB bushes (apparently not needed for MOT).

I will be working my way through this list in this blog- mainly as a record of how I took things apart and how to put them back together again!

Read on with me if you dare!!!

Should add I turned up this little nugget of my cars history... it was sold at Carfest 2015 although theres no record of the price. It was then described as condition 109/135 and had 40869 miles on the clock.

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