Bowls, locks and scrubbing

After finishing work early and eating a nice healthy tea ( fish again,,,,,,,,,,3 days running, I'll soon be swimming) I set too with some little jobs.

Finished spraying the bowls outers and inner lip with trusty £1 tin black gloss from Poundland/Buywise/Costco etc. I must have spent £30 in grey primer and black gloss over the years. But for me it makes perfect sense as its cheap, always available and does the job. I also sprayed the window slider brackets I fabricated a few years ago. They have been skulking in a box I recently found, fortunately with a nice coating of Red lead on them. Next to them is the rusty sad original one with rusted on nut and bolt. I've no Idea where the other bolts are. Probably in one of the several bags of bits marked "Misc nuts and bolts" I seem to have hived away in some strange places.

The photo above shows the tools of the hobby that most would be restorers on a budget know. Wilko White spirit. I use gallons of the stuff. WD40 miracle fluid, 1000's of uses especially cleaning and light lubrication. Celebrations plastic container with sealable lid. Used today as a wash and rinse bath. I also filled it with White spirit and put the locks in, sealed the lid and gave it a good shake to loosen all the old crud, grease and other stuff (Cat hairs ?......how did they get there !) Small poking screwdriver (obviously) Green scouring pad ( sorry....Ed China calls them Scotchbrites) and wifeys kitchen towels . Not shown is the wire wool.........I couldn't find it ( found it when I was tidying away everything...normal for me !) and lastly Swarfega with nailbrush ( 60p from toolshop)

So the Idea is to get the door locks mounted and the actuating rods. Striker plate and door handle, all in a working order. Also to fit the door glass, winding mechanism and quarter light    ON BOTH SIDES. Not necessarily in that order though

The keen eyed among you might notice that I am cleaning two Identical locks ( i.e both LH side ) That's because I can't find that either. I've seen it during the weekends.........somewhere..........with another bag of Misc parts but I didn't have time to seek it out tonight. I'll clean these two up, see which looks/works best and use that one.
A good few years ago I bought  LH & RH complete doors from West Yorkshire on good ole E-Bay for £15 total. I collected them one Saturday morning. The trusting vendor was not in, told me to put money in letterbox and the door were in his garage ( left open for me) It contained a very nice MGA.

On Inspection of said doors many weeks later I found the bottom half of both to be rotten and full of filler, about a ton and a half. No wonder he said he would be out at the appointed time. Caveat Emptor !!!!Still all the parts were salvaged off them and that's why I have two of most door parts. The trouble is they are all rusty to some extent but I suppose at least I have some choice. Apart from the window glass felt runner and latch plate ( don't know why I removed it as I had to drill out one bolt thus rendering it useless......doh) all I need now is that precious commodity.......Time, second only to Money.

Joy of joys, MGB restoration.

More activity, this time with photo's

So, been a bit slapdash with my efforts last few days. This is due mainly to the good old British weather. No rain but the last few mornings of my week off have looked decidedly threatening with many thunderstorms over our sceptred Isle.

The main Intention was to bleed the clutch properly. It was weeping a bit at the slave cylinder and had about 3/8" of movement. Hoping a new seal kit will do it but from experience seal kits never seem to work. The actuating rod also looks a little short ( i.e the slave cylinder is right at the end-ish of its travel before it engages on the clutch actuating rod) Hope it doesn't need a new slave as the costs are mounting up.

The next job was also to be the last bit of welding on the car hopefully !!!. The square hole I cut out of the rear Left  wheel arch inside to fit the Inner arch proper needs patching up.
See below

Its a very awkward area to repair as it is missing the top-most lip of the rear fill panel as well as where the two wheel arch sections come together. It will never be seen so there's no need to make it look concourse, just structurally sound.
Here below are the paper templates I made to eventually cut out and shape the steel.

Also one last filler piece on the LH light aperture and the welder ( stored in the passenger foot well ) can go in the shed and make me some room to restore....YAY !!

BUT........................did I do any of that ?

No

I did a little refurb on the headlamp bowls instead. Every time I had some time to spare ( or whole day)  it looked like it may Pish it down anytime, so whatever I did had to be quick and relatively easy. The finding of the headlamp bowls  in the shed not easy though. Traditionally this time of year I clear out the shed, outhouse and car but not done this year yet due to ongoing house DIY. I also seem to have 3 sets of headlights for some reason. Methinks on one of my E-bay spends years ago I bought a rear bumper and on collection in leafy Surrey somewhere he threw in a crate of dusty, cob-webby stuff.

LO !

Did the steel bowls too, these again look odd, as in not a matching pair, since one is covered in underseal and one not. I have a strange feeling I will find the correct box of bits maybe soon. Still, save myself about £50 buy not having to buy replacements. Just the screw sets and adjusters for about £6 needed.........result !!

Did manage to run the scary grinder thing with wire brush up mi finger though..........ouch

More soon when I'm mended

It moves. stops and starts..........bleeding tale of woes

So.............still at it and the weather has been on my side for weeks. As has the cash and time, albeit slow and frustrating.
Firstly I have a new job. Same place just down the corridor, but not half as demanding physically, strict 9-5 ( or 8-4) with every weekend off. Some on calls to do but that's in a month or two,s time.

Cash came by as my request for birthday cash not presents. That,s enabled me to buy a Brake master cylinder & RH indicator stalk assembly that fell apart and broke during dis-assembly. The replacement is also broken straight from the packet .!!! but thats for another time.

Last time saw me scratching my head as to why, after the engine bay tidy up of the wiring it wouldn't start. That was the back end of last year so I just left it expecting some wiring Issues/shorts/loose wires etc.

Back to the story. Left it last winter with no starting possible. Decided to re-furb the Brake master cylinder. Well, what a faff trying to work out the orientation of both seals. To cut a long story short the refurb didn't work. I even managed to chip a large lump off the Master cylinder casting. That sealed it a New Master cylinder was required.

Fast forward to last few weeks. New master cylinder purchased and fitted promptly. Trouble is though none of the family want to assist with the bleeding. Son #1/ twin 1 did a little. Has a had his ACL repaired so was not that much help. Nevertheless I managed to get some firm pressure without leaks so, so far so good.

Trouble was the car wouldn't budge. In order to fire it up I have to push it 2 metres up the driveway so I can open the large gates and get a car close enough to use the jump leads. Even with four people pushing it was going nowhere. Then a usual Fufferfour brainwave. The brake are jammed on. Simple fix........until I had a thought.

It must be several years ago I replaced the brake discs, pistons, pads and seals. The discs had mild surface rust on them. Wire brushed em and tried to push.......no chance.
So, common sense prevailed . I removed the outer drivers side brake pad with some effort.
Bingo the car would move. .......................Lets get this Engine started. I'd had all winter to think about why It wouldn't start and was sure I'd resolve it by checking all the earths and connections. Even adding an extra earth strap from Block to body.

After much revving of my donor car and lots of burps and pops from the exhaust I had to have a rethink.
The following week after some Interweb searching regarding firing order, plug gaps and distributor lead positions I was still at a loss.
Now let me tell you............Don't believe everything posted on these here web forums. Some of it is downright weird. Anyways in a lull in proceedings at work I found a picture ontweb of the distributor leads and their respective plug positions.
1 o'clock to plug No1.......1-3-4-2 anti=clockwise on Dizzy.
That's just how mine were though ???? Damn.

From all the popping and burping at the exhaust end methinks maybe not correct !!
Wait a minute. My distributor lead was not at 1 o'clock but 12 o'clock. I assumed this being the nearest must be the correct one.
So took the bull by the horns and moved all the leads 1 place clockwise. ( 3 o'clock to cylinder 1)

Lo and behold started easy peasy right on the button. Runs a bit rough as expected after such a lay up, but getting a good 60/70 psi oil pressure.

Next episode Bleeding Clutch...........soon, promise.

Son even filmed for Facebook the eventual firing up below.

https://www.facebook.com/paul.liles/videos/10156387480974621/