Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Springtime means MG time, bout time

 Is it just me or has winter lasted forever. The new garage has not yet materialised, but soon. The double tarpaulin has lasted well and had to be adjusted only three times so far due to very strong winds.





So where are we and what shall I be getting up to.

A re-cap.......the Webasto is finished on the outside and fits well, looks good and black and can be easily removed if required. This was due in part to something rather unusual, forethought !

I cut four square flaps in the rear black felt headlining to match up with the four bolts holding the Webasto rear rail. These can easily be re-stuck back down with double sided tape and are invisible, result.

Still not bought the new handbrake cable, carpets or seatbelts. But I will real soon after the Easter break which we are spending "up north" with recently married daughter. In fact I'll order them tomorrow so they are here for when I return.

Next up will be either driving or having transported the car a couple of miles to the local MG specialist to get the engine running smoothly. I've lost all patience with it. Distributor issues, fixed, issues again, timed, issues again, re-timed, firing order change due to pinion upside down? Vacuum leak, carb issues, balancing..............it was all too much so since I have the money, why not.

I have done a lot of staring and thinking over the door gaps and misalignment/ warp. Still not sure of the cure, so I"ll ask the specialist his take on it.






I have made the definite decision that I"ll be using it this summer come hell or high water, providing it passes a MOT, or somewhere near.

I'm looking forward to fitting the carpet and seatbelts as well as the rear seat, door trims and cards and the myriad of other bits cluttering up the shed. So in essence it's not going to be a show queen, just a driveable classic car to be worked on whenever.

Summers not quite here yet so no recent photos and I still have no idea as to the final colour but am starting to favour dark metallic racing green. Not the colour I sprayed the spoiler though, viz









A little less purpleish and more greenish, almost similar to a Ford mustang Highland green.... I think ,

The heater matrix needs to be replaced as it leaks, I'm dreading this as the internal hoses are a nightmare to reposition internally.

So, the car does run, but a little roughly and only with some  choke. Need to buy many chrome bolts to fit the front bumper, number plate/lights and rear bumper, reverse light, check overdrive/ switch. Fit rear seat covers, seatbelts AND.........rear can't rail. Yes I got the Holy Grail of parts on EBay for £30, complete with fitting clips !!It's a bit grubby colour wise but it's going to be sprayed Matt black anyway. 

So I promise to keep you all posted with the order of things, results and photos over the coming 
  

A belated recent treat for retirement from wifey. A few laps at Mallory Park in three Aston Martins. Without doubt the best was the Vantage. This is not the original DB 5 but a modernised copy, still very good though.



Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Catch up time.....lots to tell

 So I left off a few months ago with the Webasto roof half done, the carbs leaking like billio and the rear seat covers untouched in the shed.

The covering of the hardboard roof liner was done and quite easy it was. I did it in two halves, front and rear. There is so much overlap front/back & left/right that test fitting was easy. 

I purchased a slight seconds roll of black velour type material, from Martrim, foam and scrim backing 1 mtr x 1.4 mtrs. I calculated this would just be big enough. It was very close though, mostly because of my wonky cutting. I needed a large square for the Webasto underside and had to be inventive on how it was attached and folded when slid back. After lots of web searching I had an idea of how to proceed. Hand sew some tape down the sides, thread stout cord inside a back pocket and hammer into the slit tube on the back frame. Then pull the front and tension it with, well....................I forgot ! It's been weeks ago.

I seem to remember it would only go as far as the front cross box section with a little under lap one side and about 5mm short the other. I had enough to cover the whole of the box section though so did some finagling with black Velcro and fortunately the side tapes I had deliberately left 3" long at the front which helped get the tension correct.



This shows the hardboard shaped and fitted. It is quite easy to remove at this stage, so I did and sprayed the side and front. roof rail vinyl coverings a nice Matt Black.

The rear took some pondering though. The sliding static part is held on by four bolts from the underside but covered by the board and lining. I needed a way to access these so I cut four holes in the board and a flap in the lining. When smoothed over they are almost invisible, but I think some double sided tape would be even better.

Some contact adhesive and vinyl strips glued to the underside of the roof and more string ensured the material folded when the vinyl folded all nice and neat. So I was well pleased how all this turned out as I'd spent more time overthinking this than anything else. It also took my mind off the carb issue as well as attending to wifey during her hip op rehab.


This shows what's left of the roof covering, fortunately I used some of them to make a trim piece close to the front box section to make it look perfect.



This shows the front box section covered with the handle riveted in place. Using the rivet gun ( e-bay cheapo years ago, but so far never used ) deserves a whole post to itself.






Above shows the outside of the Webasto which so far has resisted all attempts to come clean and new looking. I've tried hard scrubbing with soap and water, blasting with jet wash, meguars vinyl-cleaner, armour all clean and shine plus lots of other household products. Nothing worked ,,,,, it still has a slight brownish/white tint in the bottom of the grain. In desperation ( I'd used every chemical in the house up to press) I tried Cherry blossom black shoe polish. 
Well f*** me,     
It worked a treat, lovely deep lustre and all solid black and even.

The carb issue had to be met full on now as I have resolved to get the car running well and treat the rest of the stuff as a running restoration.
Carbs off again, new float valves installed and floats set correct.
Still won't start, but not flooding and pump working as it should.

Fiddled with mixture and choke cable...no joy.

Left it for the following day and bingo, it starts with the choke halfway out. Runs a little rough so adjusted the mixtures again, and again. Back to square one, rinse and repeat.

Meanwhile I purchased a timing light from Amazon. It works great, it shown 20 degrees of advance, too much though.
But and this is a big but, the distributor won't move......at all. So far it's been soaked in penetrating fuel for a few days, but then came the rain so job stalled. Apparently it's a common problem and most folks say to destroy the dizzy and buy a new one, bugger that, I'm determined to get it out whole and un damaged.

That was yesterday. A week or too prior to that I spent 2 days trying to get the horns to work. Well what a puzzle. Two double purple wires come to the front drivers side, one pair permanently live the other two do nothing except connect the horns together. I'd looked at this problem months ago and decided to leave it, however with the new found enthusiasm to get it roadworthy as determination set in.

After yet more tinternet searches it transpires that all the wiring diagrams ( Advance and Haynes ) are wrong !  I found a forum post explaining how to wire in a relay, tried it and bingo. TFFT .

It's strange but a few years ago wiring up the headlights and removing all the old wiring mess in that area there was a strange relay with yellow wiring which I presumed was for the headlights, but maybe not ?.
Anyways all is good and another unfathomable job resolved.

I also had another go at making a rear cant rail covering from fibreglass ( not paper-mache ) the last attempt at doing this in fibre glass was a disaster. It kept falling off, on me and getting everywhere. This time I bought a sheet of woven fine sheet. Covered the rail in Vaseline and it worked well. The first lay up saw the resin set in about 6 minutes, well it was very hot. The second was better but maybe not enough hardener so I left it at that for now, remembering my main focus, get it roadworthy.

So I arranged classic car insurance through Hagerty, £60 quid. Not bad I thought.

Next up was fit the screen wash motor, tubes and spray nozzle. Test fit shows it all works, but fitting the nozzle is a right faff and fiddle. It's right up under the dash behind the wiper motor flex cable and up against the firewall edge. Since the day was red hot I left it loose since it'll need to come off so I can get a socket on to tighten it up, then fit the tube, another faff. I'm not sure wether to buy new wiper blades or carry on hunting for new rubber only. Halfords have nothing like them in stock so the hunt continues.



Above is the ST spoiler covered once with a light coat Rover metallic BRG. Is this the colour ? Possibly.


Here it is fitted after 2 coats, well 2 1/2 and bumper trail fitted.
The bumper rails are slightly uneven, is in one is bent back slightly more than the other and I don't have the correct bolts. I think bending the bracket is going to be a puzzle, since I don't  have a vice or heat source. Wish me luck on that one.


Happy note. Me and great nephew Luca enjoying the car in the sunshine.


Sad note. We had to say goodbye to Ruby after 16 years. She will be missed.




Today saw me visit the Post Office with form V112 ( mot exemption ) and  V5C ( for tax exemption ).

.. how would you like to pay sir ? The lady was adamant it was to cost £325...

Me... Not at all. You must be wrong. It doesn't cost anything

Miss jobsworth... Well that's not what my screen says.

Me...  go back a few pages on your screen, somethings not been entered properly.

MJ...  I don't make the rules, that's how much it costs.

Me...   How can tax exemption cost £325............ it is free ! As in, exempt from tax.

Me...   Coming all over Arnie Schwartzenegger, I'll be back.

After a coffee nearby and a quick scan of DVLA website back I went.

I went to next assistant to MJ ( who was cashing up her till to go home) a calm and assured chap who asked me to write " Historic" on V5C form and sign it.

It will take a few days to come through with a new V5C to your address with the new classification. Here is you receipt for £ 0.00. Keep it as it proves the new classification has changed and is taxed even though it's free. You must do the same next year, but you will get a reminder by text and post.

Me...   thanks nice chap with a smile and MJ with a smug smirk and a don't f*** with Arnie look.

So there it is......... legal to go on the road, probably. 

Still lots to do. Viz

 Buy new handbrake cable and fit.
Buy new reversing lamp lenses and test.
Buy seatbelts and fit.
Get wipers sorted.
Fit front chrome bumper, properly then machine polish to death.
Ditto rear.
Tighten up door window mechanisms.
Buy carpet and fit..........not strictly necessary though.
Fit door cards and waist rails, ditto ?

Then maybe, just maybe drive this year, 

More soon folks






Sunday, July 23, 2023

Several spanner's in the works.

 So June and July have proved to be a very frustrating month in more ways than one.

Let me explain, you knew I would.

 Engine and fuel leak 

After fitting of the ( clean and rust free inside ) tank I connected up the hoses again under the rear wheel. Devil of a job, fiddly awkward and tough. Connected engine bay fuel lines ( with a new filter) again another tough job as the fuel line ID changes sizes between scuttle and carb inlet.....who knows where as I've seen so many variants I'm past caring. I had to " slide " a fast moving drill bit into some ends in order to make them fit, but accomplished eventually.

Problem  1/.

Fuel leak gushing from overflows, both carbs. Wifey not happy at petrol smell everywhere. 

Smart thing to do...fit empty coke tin onto each overflow pipe. Car won't start !!!!!! Starts but runs rough !

Eventually find out PO home made immobiliser now is operative since the visit of Tony auto electrician.

Decide to take car onto cul de sac for test run, even though it runs as rough as a bears arse since I refurbished the carbs thinking coke tins will work a treat to catch the overflow.  Wrong, very very wrong.

Left a trail of fuel up, down, across, around and puddled at each stop and turn round, including the driveway.

Removed carbs.........again. Cleaned, reset floats, faffed with valves and needle. Fitted , checked fuel flow.

All seemed good except fuel flow still exiting via overflows. Ordered new float valves and left it at that as I was so pissed off with it all.



Decided to move on to Interior, namely the roof lining and Webasto inner lining ( or should I say the lack of it ) purchased a roll of Black Alcantara type stuff from the end of roll bargains that I calculated would just do the job.

I first made a template of the roof from corrugated cardboard. This was only a rough template as it was a bit " bendy" in one direction. Transferred it to hardboard and trimmed to fit. That was easy to type but it took about 10 days on and off to get it to fit. I decided to make it in two halves  ( front and rear) as the Webasto hole is so big the sides are thin and weak. It was fiddly and back aching taking in and out as well as getting the alignment central. That was just the hardboard, it was going to be even tougher with the fabric mostly glued on and tucked up under the cant rails.






Up to now all I've done is carefully, and I mean carefully glue down the fabric to each half with some overlap. It's resting in the shed whilst I got on with cleaning and spraying the inner  cream coloured vinyl a lovely satin Black. Also did the sun visors and rear view mirror too. Whilst seeking out said parts from shed I also found the green tinted wind deflector for the Webasto......result. No mounting blocks though.

Sunroof lining.

This was a real puzzle as I had no idea how it is fitted, how it was tensioned and how to make it look good. I had just enough of the material to cover the large area with a small length to fit over the  front cover cant rail. More photos on this to follow.


More on this later as I'm still a few weeks behind with the blog due to holidays, scaffolding round the house, bowls and wifeys Hip Op. So at some point there will be a lull as I'll be a house husband and it's raining non stop for the next few weeks, but lots more to show and tell till then.

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

The Wipers Times and Grommet grumbles.

 The title didn't take much thinking up. 

It's a tale of lost and found and lost again, rubber sculpting and grunting. No it's not about the latest Jilly Cooper effort at lustful narrative. 

I left the newly covered door cards in the shed and resolved to get the Important things done, namely fuel filler cap and pipe sealed and secure, fit rubber fuel hose onto fuel pump ( this time with a jubilee clip) then start the engine with catch bottles on the carb overflows. Methinks it's gonna result in removing the carbs again and find " stuff" therein. Sadly a result of my eagerness to fire up the car after the wiring Issues and not fitting the fuel filter ( I've had it skulking around for years but lost it !)

So with great determination I rose early on the promise of a fine and sunny week, very sunny. 

So what did I do ? Nothing much. It was too hot. I did rearrange some of the MG bits strewn around the shed, outside storage box, outhouse and conservatory desk. I was looking for the two chrome triangular door trims ( that fits on the door end top)..... found ONE. Windscreen wipers.....found THREE.

Here is a view of the shed packed to the gunnels with "stuff".





A padded box liberated from work to store the expensive chrome parts. It did contain an Aortic stent delivery device worth about £ 4500 so it will take care of the chrome nicely.

 
A view of my man size vice and work area......guffaw. It's tiny, it's crap and used rarely. You may notice it's rather dark and cramped and that's after I got rid of loads of stuff like carpet scraps, empty paint tins and useless MG crappy rusty stuff. Right at the back is a rather stylish and expensive 1.5 mtr Draughting machine with stand and 20kg counterbalance plus the mountain bike not used for 18 months. Anyways more story.

Since it was so hot I sought shade on the patio table under the brolly
I cleaned up the wiper blades with good old WD 40 and steel wool. Getting the arms off was a fiddle though but with a small bradawl I managed it by only stabbing myself twice releasing this little bugger.


Below is a shot halfway through.


The actual rubber blades were in a bad state. I did read somewhere that you can replace just the rubber part but it was a fiddle. Looking at it and the new type blades it looks near on Impossible. Still, you know I like a challenge. 
Original blade ( big one ) next to a more modern version.





Since I only had the one "new" blade ( left over from the ill fated Peugeot ) that had been in the outhouse for about 10 years. So I called it a day ready for another one whilst wifey was out touring the coffee shops  and garden centres of North Derbyshire with pal Jean. 
Above you can see the teeny tiny slot that the rubber should fit into. Well Mr Hunt of Hammer and spanner MG guru par excellence, you may be wrong on this.  More of this in the future.

A new day was met with sunshine but not as hot, clear skies but not too bright, perfect weather really.
First job fit the new outer rubber grommet on the fuel pipe and tighten new spring clips. Much easier said than done.


The Original grommet was ok really, just covered in some primer overspray ( not me but previous owner) and looked old and tired. 
I wish I'd not bothered.
The new one was thinner and harder with a very small slot for the bodywork to slip into around the outside. The main issue was the bodywork hole in this respect was not just a hole pinched into the rear deck. It was punched and had a lip on the inside of about 3mm/ 1/8". No way would the new grommet slip into the groove without some modification.  So out came the precision Chinesium scalpels and after about an hour test fitted it with the metal filler tube. It and the tube were ok, but it didn't look right.



After some quick research proved it was wrong.  That's how it should be. I thought the cap protruded out too much or the tube needed to have its larger flange inside the grommet. Alas there was no inner groove for the outer flange to fit into to allow the main tube to move inwards. It needed to go in about another 3mm to make it look right.

So I set about cutting an internal groove with aforementioned scalpels. It took ages and very fiddly. It took two attempts and about two hours of cursing, pushing, pulling and prising, hoping I don't damage the inner and outer edges.

Here it is halfway through.

N

It was tricky trying to get the lip over the larger metal flange and not damage it but eventually in it went and looked good. However, I still had to fit the large tough internal hose to the back and onto the tank vertical flange.
Boy what a struggle, even cutting some chamfers onto the inside of both ends it was still a struggle and hard on the hands and fingers.
Then bugger me, when it all fitted together it pushed the steel tube out a little and back over the large flange. Despite what I did it would not go in any further and the lip was looking delicate and stretched as well as not in far enough. After a lot of thinking I bit the bullet and removed it all  ( just as difficult to remove) and tackled the cut-outs I'd made to make them wider and deeper. It was when refitting I noticed that maybe I'd had the big tough hose on the wrong way round. Well I must have done as the vertical flange was a little easier, not by much though, to fit on. The grommet was also easier a bit to get in the hole as was the lip to get inside the larger tube flange.
See the difference. I think it looks a lot better even though it's not as standard, but that's not going to bother me.




Since the roof of the house is to have scaffold around it next week I have to really get the fuel leak sorted in order to move the car forward onto the vacant garage base.
So more soon.


Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Door card doings

 Started with the passenger (LH) side and test fitted. Some slight adjustment of the bottom holes were required, and let me tell you, hardboard is rubbish to cut, machine and knife trim. It just goes all raggedy and delaminates somewhat. In my infinite wisdom I gave them a good coat, both sides of 50/50 PVA to stop the flakeyness and help prevent water damage, if the car lasts that long.

The door top padded capping cleaned up well with no visible rust on the chrome end caps ( at least no visible rust, only on the rear face) So out of sight out of mind. The best stuff I found to clean the old vinyl was a good scrub in warm soapy water, another scrub with green sponge and Cillit Bang (  Bang the grime is gone as Barry would say)  finished off with " Hob Brite " a mild abrasive cream.

Used up the last of the spray on contact adhesive adding the Hobbycraft  2mm  thick foam  sheets. Fortunately 3 sheets placed vertically did the whole card, not bad for £3 per side.

Twas then I had a moment of craft inspiration. Why not emboss a large MG logo onto the vinyl.

This was accomplished by drawing out accurately the logo on tracing paper. Then taped this to the stuck down foam and cut around with a scalpel and steel rule. I had the foresight to make the logo 20mm wide, and decided against having an Octagon around the outside as this would be tricky to align accurately.  I then cut and shaped some very thick card to 20 mm wide, made from a length of edge protector on something we had bought, I can't remember what.

The tracing paper template in place






The foam cut carefully with the very expensive Amazon craft knife set and "impression die" cut using the tracing paper again




The cut shape with the 20mm wide die (very thick card ) taped together for rigidity and positioning (shown upside down) 



Next job was to stick on the vinyl leaving about 40/50 mm overlap quickly followed placing the " die" into the recessed area. The was embossing was pressed by my digit first which gave enough " feel" to accurately locate the die. One of wifeys flat bottomed saucepans was used with 5 kg dumbbell weights to aid the impression.



I thought after just pressing with my finger it looked good enough, however the finished result below. I'm well chuffed.


It was at this point I ran out of aerosol adhesive so I left the final tuck over glueing for another day.


Next day I started on the drivers door ( RH) and expected this to be done much here quicker, alas not so.

I made a couple of errors cutting out the final shape of the door card so I had to do some "Frankenstein"  stitching on corner/s I'd cut short.





Covered with old fashioned brown gummed paper tape it worked well and another covering of Gorilla tape and it was fine to sand and shape. It's not as thought it's structural, it's glued to the foam and wrapped over with vinyl so it'll be good enough.

Spent today cutting to size the outsides and glueing the edges using the tin of contact adhesive. I must say the liquid stuff is very unforgiving and difficult to spread evenly. The aerosol was a doddle to use but tends to get stuff everywhere.

All in all a good few days. Both door card tops vinyl are not turned over and glued down on the original, I presume because the door caps fit over the top, so I've not glued this yet till I decide what to do. For now they are buried back in the shed till I get round to re-aligning the LH door.

As I type this I realise that I've not drilled the 2 missing holes in the passenger side door bottom to accept the clips. Gawd knows how I"ll achieve this with the door cards covered in vinyl and templates gone in the bin. I did intend to use the RH template ( inspiration) however fufferfour strikes another conundrum.

More soon folks.




Tuesday, May 09, 2023

When things come together Nicely, especially Lucas wiring.

 So spent a day determined to make some positive progress after the last disappointing session. A bag of bits arrived from Moss containing misc screws, nuts , bolts, grommets, relay and a pair of window handle winders. Much joy.

Bravely, I tackled the errant relay. I had also bought a spare from Halfords so if I destroyed one so what. It would have to wait for wizard Tony's visit.

I'm thinking now that I had some duff info from one of the MG forums regarding the relay PIN numbers.

They are numbered 30, 85,86 and 87. Strangely all the wiring diagrams show W1, W2, C1 and C2 and this  is where,  I think I went wrong.

A big thanks to Paul Hunts website " Hammer & spanner". I should have gone straight there as I've been reading all things MG on there for years and it has everything you need to know, well written and loads of links.

Anyway back to the job in hand. Fitted new relay carefully ( after looking at Advance Autowires wiring diagram) about 30 times and Mr Hunts W1/ 85 pin locations.

Bingo........... Wifey even filmed it for me happening.


https://photos.google.com/u/1/partner/AF1QipMsv3jZCqGmm-IqJBI7ODXkMYvo/photo/AF1QipNl_rJoK2pLyL-3zUqOWr1YkjOe5stGXg0tJ__5

So, the annoying settings of Blogger, AppleMac and Samsung Android won't allow the lovely video, however I'll keep trying. 

Back to the story.

Engine runs albeit very rough, fuel pump pumps, wheels and tyres lovely and shiny, brakes work ( handbrake very weak though) So I took it for a spin up and down the little cul-de-sac where I live. Engine was stuttering lots, steering was heavy and clutch/ gearstick a bit iffy. Reverse works but moving forward I never got above 2nd gear.

Ah well at least it's moved. Twas then I spied a long thin trail of fluid showing where I'd been, and a bigger puddle where I'd stopped to turn round, bugger !

I'm going to try again though but this time with a fuel filter fitted and a catch container on the carb overflows. I hope it's not a fuel line issue and now wish I had checked the fuel line tank connections more thoroughly.

Hopefully it's the carbs that need a proper setting up after their thorough cleaning and dismantling a few months ago. Before that though I have to do the due diligence thing and check for the spark/ plug fouling issue/s and timing.   But at least now I know I can move it and have a good battery and wheels.

A day or so later I set too making the door cards. It was fun trying to fit a 2.5 x 1.2 met sheet of hardboard into a Toyota Yaris. ( I cheated and broke it in half knowing each half would be big enough for the roof  of 43 inches x 43 inches, just. The other Half more than enough for the door cards.


The above shows how skanky the old door cards were with the bottom 3" missing along most of its length.

The vinyl was ripped too and just as skanky. They were seperated easily and old card scribed round on the nice new stuff. Since the old cards were very warped I had no confidence that things would line up when cut out. 

I devised a cunning plan. I made a brown paper sheet and taped it to the door and by utilising wifeys charcoal art sticks and used the "dirty finger" method of finding the mounting holes.


Once the pencil centre lines were scribed onto the paper I cut out a square around the holes and offered it back up to the door. I then used a red pencil to mark the template where any slight changes were needed.



It is important to note how far off the original holes were taken from the crappy old door card, in fact not one lined up.

What to do about the "missing" holes along the bottom though. What missing holes ?

I forgot to add that the door had been repaired by me years ago by welding in a section at the bottom about 9 inches long, where some of the mounting clips go.

Then another brainwave. I assumed the doors would be symmetrical so used the paper template turned over to get the new holes that were missing on the other door. And it was a success. Transferred it to the door card and used this as a template to drill the 2 new 8mm holes for the missing clip holes.

Fortunately I saved the old door clips and managed to locate them amongst the many boxes scattered around the property ( in shed, of course ) bad news was I only had 13, but that's just enough for one door. A trial fit just using four clips, a bit of fettling of the board and Bingo , fitted.

It was easier than I thought it would be even though It took most of the day On and off,  It went on with a nice little click and also comes off with gentle persuasion from a proper trim tool.


Next job is to trim the outsides, stick on foam and then vinyl.

The handles cleaned up great using hob cleaner, however the mounting hole and screw need some jiggers pokery to make them secure and nice.

Engine wise, I have to check the fuel lines, fit tank outer grommet and inner tube clips, fit fuel filter ( I know as soon as the newly ordered one is fitted I will find the original one that was never used). Check timing ( Tony's first job when he arrives), and so it goes, endlessly.

Or I may just try making the roof lining board, or the other door card.

Fun fun fun.





Friday, April 28, 2023

Back to square one FFS

 So the day started bright and early, wifey out for the morning leaving me with a whole day to get on with stuff.


The priority was :-

1/.    Get engine running briefly, fill with water, check oil and any leaks. ( It's been connected to battery charger for at least 10 hours )

2/.   Attach choke cable to lever/pull knob ( weld) then re-route to carb linkage

3/.   Wire wheel tailgate and bonnet catches, find screws.

Well, how many do you think I achieved.

One.......number 2/. Only...........hence FFS.

As soon as he battery charger was removed and the key turned..........nothing but the fuel pump chattering away. Red light on on dash, goes out when key fully turned but nothing from the engine bay.

On investigation there was an errant black wire coming off the cluster of wires at the starter relay not connected to the terminal of the ignition relay. No bother, 5 mins to make another and attach to the earth side .

Bad move, starting up again only saw a pluther of smoke coming from said relay, and a melted wire, again.

The same thing happened a few months ago which prompted me to get Tony the wizard auto electrician. He'd had it sorted and left me with a few tasks like renew fuse box and fuses and tidy up the wiring.

So again I spent hours trying to figure out where I went wrong with the relay/fuse box wiring.

So it looks like I need another relay and another visit from Tony.

I left it at that and dragged the mig welder up from the shed and fitted a Halfords stainless steel brake cable [ more than long enough this time] It was a doddle to weld with just 3 dibs  holding it firm and a light tickle with the scary grinder fitted with a thin disc well worn down small.

I was worried about the routing of the Bowden cable ( the outer sheath) but once poked through the centre fascia it was obvious where it was to go. One problem is that when you google the routing there is so many American sites they all show the LH drive routes, so as I said it was fairly obvious once the cable was in a little way. One good tip was to fit a large nut behind the choke body on the inside of the fascia. Apparently the proper nut is a thin version and difficult to tighten as well as get to. Thank you to John Twist of University motors for that top tip.

As usual when I have a list of items to get on with I go and do something totally irrelevant, so I gave the sun visors a good scrub. They were filthy but cleaned up nice, see.



The back of the visors is cream/ beige and didn't clean up so well. So due to the fact the side cant rails are in the same condition I.e  stained and discoloured I've decided to paint/ dye them black in the fullness of time, together with a black roof lining.

I've noticed that all of the black vinyl I've cleaned always seems to leave a brown residue in the bottom of the creases/ texture. Does anyone know how to resolve this ?. So far I've tried :- windowlene, hob cleaner, meths, white spirit, WD 40 and lastly surgical spirit. At least I now know what the strange smell coming off old people is .....guffaw.

Next up is the repair ?? and cleaning of these


More soon folks after Tony electrical wizard visits . P.S.  the pressure is on as we are having the roof ridge tiles replaced and the driveway will be full of scaffold so the MG needs to move preferably under its own power.

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Seat shennanigins and fuel faffs

 So spring has sprung and the long awaited summer heatwave promised never happened, but we did have fair weather, enough to get the MG fever going again.

All winter my aim was to start on getting the fuel pump fitted, hoses connected properly then test the pump and maybe get some fuel forced along the fuel line.

Closely followed by bleeding the brakes. After early last year I discovered the calipers were upside down and on the wrong sides. No wonder I never managed so much as a slightly firm pedal, just a soft pedal with a strange " fart" sound at the bottom of the travel. 

Since I finished the seats and underfelt ( very soft neoprene/ rubber that stuck down very well ) fitting of the seat was to be the first job, as well as fitting some old carpet from recent redecorate of sons room.

I wish now I hadn't bothered. The carpet was losing its underfelt in a mass of powdery dust and was a swine to cut. But at least it is protecting it for when I finish off the dash switches and heater pipes.


The fitting of the seats was next. I heard they can be fiddly so I was prepared for the challenge.

And what a challenge it was. 

One seat has four parts which all need aligning so the 5/16" bolts can be fitted in from above. A long steel runner each side underneath, which is fitted to the seat runner by a small lip about 3mm/ 1/8" deep.

Only the front two or rear two can be fitted then the seat moved fully forward ( or back) to fit the last two

It has to be temporarily fixed to the seat runner either sticking out fwds or rearwards so the bolt holes  are 

visible when placing the seat. There lies the problem. The lower loose runner is difficult the attatch and keep vertical on the seat underside and get the base somewhere near the holes.

The other component is the wooden runner that sits under the lower rail. It has two large holes about 25mm/  1" dia with thick 1" dia washers. This has to line up with the holes in the floor, as well as line up with the lower runner.

Then the hole in the runner, with nut inserted has to be " get attable" with a ratchet.

An added complication was that with pliable underfelt and crappy stiff as hardboard scrap carpet the bolt was about 1/4" too short to engage with the cabin floor.

I overcame that by cutting a long square slot in the carpet, another messy faff, then removing some underfelt.

However, I'd used sellotape ( yes yes I know) to hold top and bottom runners in place but it kept letting the lower runner either slide forwards or collapse sideways out of the seat channel.

Bear in mind you have to do both seat sides at the same time, get them the same amount sticking out then align over the runner hole, washer and tapped hole in floor. I must have tried about six or seven times with the seat far forward and doing the rear pair. Trouble was the " new" seat was fat and the tunnel was fat so I moved on to fitting the front pair. This time I used some electrical tape tied to the runners.

The seat would just not go back far enough. The tilting mechanism just kept hitting the outer sill.

By this time I'd been on the job about 5 1/2" hours so I decided to call it a day as I was thoroughly pissed off and hungry.

After dinner I did a quick Google photo search and saw to my horror

I WAS FITTING THE WRONG SIDE SEAT.....ffs

The following day dawned clear and bright. I did the job in 35 minutes ( after swapping over the seats)

Onto the fuel stuff. The hoses I decided were on their unions far enough. Connected the battery charger and tested the pump with the ignition on, bingo !. A nice little chatter from the rear.

I popped a container on the fuel pipe under the bonnet in place of the trusty Gatorade fuel tank and lo


Green fuel ?.  Quickly filled the tank with 5 litres of fuel, fitted the fat fuel filler hose and re tested. Result.

However, I couldn't' find the fuel filter. Its been hanging round the engine bay for about 6 years, maybe. Or I could have stored it somewhere safe, and secret. No matter, onto the brakes.

I had purchased a vaccuum bleeder kit from amazon for the princely sum of £13.25. This was forced on me due to the fact no one in the family would assist me for the normal method.

It worked a treat. Pedal firm as f@+>k. I was convinced the master cylinder or servo was causing the fart, but no all is silent. 

A few other little jobs to finish before I give it a run on the cul de sac such as:-

Attatch choke cable wire and fit to dash. I did fit another bike cable to the knob end but it was too short so I'll have to buy one and re-weld. How is it routed through the dash though ?

Clean up and paint boot lock mechanism, the fit and test.

Ditto bonnet hinge and latch.

The maybe just maybe a drive...............it'll have been about 14 years + since it last moved under its own steam. 

See you all soon.









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