Llama Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 New UJ purchased and installed, driveshaft going back in later tonight. Ended up topping up the one with missing bearings with some from the old worn UJ (it was only two needle bearings we couldn't find). Also have everything I need to bleed the brakes and install new slave cyls for the rear drums. Feel like such a chump cycling to repco to pick up parts... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 Driveshaft back in. Pretty sure it is around the right way. The twink marks got rubbed off when I degreased it and the marks I made with a holepunch and hammer covered up in the vice. Steal some of the missus nail polish next time maybe? Steering has been getting a bit rough, figured it must need a lube. Manual describes grease nipple that is non-existent, google recommends taking the cover plate off and refilling with either gear oil or grease depending on what was already in there. Took the cover off, but the only thing that came out was rusty water... whole rack probably wasn't far off siezing. Will take it out tomorrow if I have time and give it a good look at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 Another picture-less update sorry. Brakes got bled and adjusted fine, with some help from dad filling the cylinder and pumping the breaks. Car now brakes like a champ. On reassembly we were a bit confused, quick reference to google shows that some muppet in the past had installed the lower springs for the drums in the wrong holes, and got the handbrake arm in upside down The very last thing on the WOF sheet was excess play in the front right lower ball joint. Infact the guy meant in the kingpin, and it was only a mm or 2 of vertical play, which apparently is hardly worth worrying about, since there needs to be a little bit of play else you cant pump grease through the kingpin. The solution is apparently easy (har har) in that all it requires is a thicker shimmy washer. Anyway. Wheel comes off fine, so does the brake calliper and disk. Dad takes off the bolt securing the shock arms at the top first, which is a bad idea, but we wont figure that out until later. Next we try getting the ball joint off the end of the steering rack to slip a new boot on, but can't get it off because the whole kingpin is rotating because we took the shock arms off (although we didn't realise this at the time). We figure we will leave the boot until later, and so try getting the top nut off the kingpin to remove the trunion to get at the shimmy washers. But that isn't moving either. Now we decide to get the whole damn kingpin out, so we can stick it on a bench at have a real go at it. Pity the bottom bolt and distance tube going through the wishbones has seized. Hopefully I can get a new bolt and bushing set from Paul soon, because it looks like I'm going to have to cut through this one to get it out. [First post is now a bit of an info dump] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 $50 later, and I have replaced all the bolts, shimmy washers, bushings and castle nuts in my front right suspension. Far too many hours were spent working on this, but the other side should be quicker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 Fucking VTNZ. Go die in a hole. Want me to get LVV for seat belts that are using original mounting holes. Called up certifier. He says: "Technically, if the mount has never been used, it requires a cert if you are fitting a new seat belt that uses it. How to they know it's never been used? They can't know, but they assume not, and that would probably hold up in a court." He recommended writing off the VTNZ slip and going somewhere else, which I'm going to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 New wof place, new troubles! -Front right parking light -Wheel bearings loose -Break pads low -RH break line cracked The light might have just gone, but there is no way my breaks and bearing would get that out over a week. Good job VTNZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted February 25, 2012 Author Share Posted February 25, 2012 Brake hose and parking light was easy enough to replace, and I found the split pins on the wheel bearing nut had broke. Upon installing new pads however, I found that one piston for one of the callipers wouldn't go back far enough to get the new one in, and then found that it wouldn't come back out with the pedal. So I removed the calliper, clamped the other piston, and got the stuck one out (getting nasty brake fluid everywhere in the process). It was pretty messy, but I managed to get it mostly out and sand off the shitty bits. Come bleeding time the fluid was so dirty it looked like it hadn't been done in years, so that could have been the problem too. Taking it back to the WoF place, I had to forgot to clean up all the fluid of all the joints, so I spent quite a while trying to convince him that it wasn't leaking, and then I had to clean it all up and pump the breaks anyway. Next thing he was complaining about is that my odo had broken, since it had only gone around 1 click since I brought the car in originally. He didn't realise it was in 10s of miles Sigh. Going to pick up some parts for the heater today hopefully, then I'll get to sticking that back in. got a WoF! Wheeeeee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted March 17, 2012 Author Share Posted March 17, 2012 Right. So. Wishbone arms still haven't arrived so I'm waiting on those to tackle the other side of the suspension. Turns out my odo was broken after all. Uni has been boring lately so I should be able to start working soon. [EDIT] uni has gotten bloody crazy, but I do have the holidays off. Bit of drama the other day, key wouldn't work in the ignition and thus the steering was stuck. Not ideal. Eventually got it after about 30 mins of trying while waiting for the AA. Need to find the spare keys and then get them copied somewhere. Still need to: Investigate clutch whistle? Fix window squirter thing Get odo serviced Replace diff oil seal Install radio Paint heater and install it. Possibly check passenger window regulator Also been thinking about lowering the MG in prep for engine conversion. Although undecided if I'm going to keep the leaf springs or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted March 25, 2012 Author Share Posted March 25, 2012 Well, after rechecking the valves I summed up as much courage as I could and tried to tune the carburettors. First job was to get the car warmed up. Check. Then take the air cleaners off... Why does one carbys cleaner have the idle holes blocked off? I don't even... (and yes I am in socks and jandals). Tried making a DIY carb balancer out of some piping, which kind of worked. Water with food colouring goes "F u, I got capillary action biiiaaaatch" Then I tried machine oil, but it moves slower than a sloth on vallium. Am planning on making a proper setup tomorrow with some wooden framing and I'll probably use ricebran oil or something. Still don't know if this is working how it should though. One I make a proper one up I'll take some pics of it. Ended up sticking my ear to a tube like all the old timers do, balancing out the carbs a bit. Then adjusting the mixture screws because one was running too lean, but don't know if that helped really. It seems to settle on a different idle speed every time. Either the choke is getting stuck (not surprising since it looks like below) or the needle is off or something else that I don't know about is borked. Planning on taking it in somewhere to get it done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted April 21, 2012 Author Share Posted April 21, 2012 Fucked up my back so won't be doing much on the car for a while. Did get some stuff done before nats though. Here's the heater box in it's final few coats of engine paint. I'm better at using a rattle can now, but not great. Also, whoever invented those stupid caps that need a screw-driver to open needs to die. It's now all assembled and ready to chuck in, and I spent about 3 hours trying to get the heater ducting through the dash right, but the control cables still need routing. Also, the lockwashers on the dash have been pissing me off for ages, they are so impossible to undo without scratching everything up, so I made this Whatcha guna do now punk? eh? look at that pussy lockwasher. He's about to get owned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted May 26, 2012 Author Share Posted May 26, 2012 Money situations means engine/gearbox/suspension conversion isn't going to be happening any time soon. We've been learning a bit about mechatronics at uni I've gotten quite interested in EFI. Planning on converting my MGB to EFI, just to see if I can do it. It has been done before, but no well-documented examples. At the moment I'm burying myself in textbooks to see what is actually required. This should all be achievable for less than $500, depending on how much work I do myself. More plans to come. Phase I - General design & parts Components needed- Fuel pump - ??? no idea on the requirements here Injectors - size is going to depend on how much of an issue siamese porting is fuel rail - aly piping Intake manifold - Hope to steal two motorbike throttle bodies for this. Been done before and apparently worked quite well. Should also come with potentiometers and shizzle for the ECU. pressure return valve ecu - DIY free ems shenaigins of some description. Decided to get the fuel injection working first and then follow it up with ignition (provided I can run the fuel injection minus the crank angle sensor). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 Lack of challenge (I will eat my words soon enough) at uni has resulted in lots of work done on the car. Basic maintenance though, nothing interesting. The other half of the suspension has now been done over. In total, new bushes all round, new pins/bolts/nuts/wishbone arms where required. Steering rack gators and tie rod end boots replaced also. Dirty ass kingpin The old RH wishbone arms. The lower bolt had seized in it's bushing, and thus caused the slotting you see here. The other side was fine though. Shiny new ones in (cbf'd getting the other components cleaned and coated, needed to drive the car). I got very good at taking things apart and getting them back together again, since I kept discovering things that needed me to drive to pick up pieces half way though! All done without spring compressors too like a base. The LH side was very straightforward until I got up to the tie rod end. Nut had seized onto both the tie rod and the tie rod end, so some delicate work with a grinder and hacksaw ensued. (Thanks to all those who offered advice in the thread). After the nut had been chiselled off, the tie rod end came off with some penetr8 and a BFH. Some slight damaged to the thread was done, but it all went back together ok. Will be taking in for an wheel alignment asap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 Aside from the whole dash lights and gauges going haywire (having lights on affects odo reading by about 30%, headlights sometimes turn wipers on, indicator only works after suitable sacrifice to the MG gods, etc etc). I also discovered the odometer wasn't working. Normally I wouldn't complain, but with a WOF due soon figured I better take a look. (Was around $300 for a new one and almost as much to get reconditioned) Here is the whole thing disassembled. (Well not really disassembled, but it's fiddly enough as it is without taking absolutely everything apart!) Turns out a little spring holding the pawl against the ratchet wheel had escaped. It goes on the white claw thing to the little tab half way up the frame. Took it to a clock maker friend of mine, turns out you can make springs just by wining some wire around a screwdriver! Still, he was able to find me the correct grade and material for it to be made out of, so it was useful to save me the time fluffing about with it. Just have to put it back together now... I'm always so good at taking things apart, but not putting them back together ah well. Heater is 99% ready to go back in. We had forgotten we sheared a bolt pulling it out, so I drilled it out and just need to get it tapped so I can get new one though. After that the radio should follow hopefully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 So I had an update I hadn't realised was still saved as a draft. I think it got deleted with the new forum? Oh well. Fixed the other side of the suspension finally. Durty ass kingpin The old slotted wishbone arms. And the locknut that had seized like a mofo onto the tie-rod ends. A little worried that one side isn't getting grease to it properly, as the seals keep breaking. I hit it with the grease gun until grease starts coming out the other holes, but I don't think the lower bolt is greasing properly. CBF cleaning the spring trays, so they look a little funny compared to the shiny new wishbone arms Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted November 22, 2012 Author Share Posted November 22, 2012 Car developed a slight miss on the way home from OS meet. Approached with trepidation, fearing elusive electrical gremlins and magic smoke escaping everywhere. Well that was easy to spot... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Yieks, forgot I had one of these threads. Since last update, has blown radiator hose, followed by head gasket. Removal, head surface, valve grind, reinstall all done in three days, which isn't bad for a first time. Old man turns out to be useful after all The damage: Talked to a guy with a garage full of MGs (and another garage full of cool old stuff), who was slightly interested in buying, but he was looking for something that was completely pristine. Kinda motivated me to keep the car, even though I have no money (and just bought a motorbike...). Ah well, it'll keep me busy. Took it away over new years, got sandy and filthy as, so me and the missus spent and entire day cleaning, cut & polish, and trying to get the chrome looking good again. Also decided to take the plunge and completely rebuild my SUs. Luckily the library has quite a good book on it so I'll be scanning all the pages for that. It's around $300+ per carb to get them reconditioned, whereas rebuild kits are around $120 last time I checked. Only major things that need doing now are the carbs, and to connect all the linkages up. I might pull the engine at some stage and tackle the leaky gearbox and clunky second, but I'll need a good break in work/uni for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted February 18, 2013 Author Share Posted February 18, 2013 Holy shit! It works! First startup after rebuild the carbs, was expecting nothing, but started exactly first pop and sounded SSSWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTT (as sweet as a B series can...) I reset the float levels, replaced the float pins, reset the jets, straightened a needle, replaced the throttle spindles, and balanced the pistons. May have been a little over-zealous when filling up the dashpots however, as it started blowing smoke like no tomorrow and I promptly hazed out the garage. Pretty sure the overflow will all burn away and it will be fine. Yaaaaaaaaay. Still have to fabricate a choke lever though as mine is putu. And find a piston lifting pin somewhere. BITS EVERYWHERE!!! Bad floats If you look on the right of the throttle disk you can see the amount of play that was there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 Well, it runs. Just a little tooooooo well. Idles at about 3000 rpm at the moment. Idle speed is obviously out of whack, so will set when I get back from aus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted June 7, 2013 Author Share Posted June 7, 2013 Well, this is gone. Thanks to everyone who helped me along the way. Slightly sad, but it also gives me the money and time to pursue other things. Don't think I'll be getting another car for a while, my plans for now are to get the motorbike going, then will be going to Japan and spending money on other projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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