My name is Paul. Recentlv retired Radiographer in the NHS, former toolmaker, draughtsman & Sales engineer. This is a blog of my pastime . I have no garage In which to build my dreams, yet. So follows is my journal of the restoration of a 33 year old MGB-GT .
Saturday, December 03, 2005
Into each life a little rain must fall.......but not every bloody Saturday
Duties and responsibilities first. After suffering all week with a heavy cold ( Man cold......much more deadly than the "other" type which affects females mildly) I/we decided to get the house ready for Christmas.
This means I have to scramble around the loft space looking for unlabelled boxes of tree's, decorations etc. Fortunately last year at tidy away time I was rather disabled ( Broken Leg )
so they were just pushed into the hatch and were easy to retrieve.
I set to with a front room spring clean. The rest of the family pottered around attempting lots but accomplishing nutin'. Luchtime over I set too an the MG.
Yes I am actually going to drop the dashboard in order to get at those pesky frozen and spinning bolts holding the front wing solid.
Easy Peasey removing the gearstick gaiter. Not so untangling the wires for the overdrive and removing what must be 25 year-old Insulation tape............Not looking good methinks.
Bugger..........someone has soldered the wired together hence the tape.
Looks like Bodget & Scarper did work on this car sometime, hope it wasn't often, or a sign of things to come. Centre armrest removed to driveway. NOTE armrest well contains a small shops-worth of misc screws, fuses, bulbs etc.. all used/abused. Must keep them though, who knows where they came from. I must add at this point It was around 3pm and getting a little dark and cold to add to the already very damp driveway.
Removed the centre console after labelling the wires from the heater controls. I even had a box in which to put all the things in.
Then I noticed the rain. Absolutely P****ng down. And my feet and bottom half was also wet through.
NO......................................NO...........................The box and more Importantly the newly found "Kamasa" tools were wet through. The "dry cover" wet. The wet cover very wet and me wazzed off.
Fast paced was the next operation. Box in car. Tools into kitchen. Dry cover on. wet cover on.
Elastic thingies with hooks on on. Man In house very wet.
I decided to do the sensible thing and change clothes then settle down to a dark room lit by a warm fire and listen to the footy results ( Big match for me. Owls v Blades )
Then it all went wrong.
I'm putting the tree up in the room said wifey. Other room looks like an explosion at WH Smiths.
Bedroom same.
Time for some macho posturing.......................not a chance, guilt of happy families putting up the tree and smiling, Christmas records playing, chocolate being passed round.
Yes you can be happy when you think your world is crap.........thank heavens for marriage.
So it did end happily, almost. Room dark and fire lit + tree lights. Me on sofa Horizontal with remote control and quiet peace.
Except my team lost 1-0.
Never mind Toto, well always have Kansas.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
The last person I expected to come to the rescue......
The Wife....!!..( said like Peter Kay repeats " Garlic bread")
Yes her Indoors. Overlapping domestic slave. The boss and giver of all things nice.
After another weekend of rounding off the incredible putty-like sockets whilst attempting to remove the left front wing she actually came to the rescue.
Here's how it all happened.
Mid week at ma in laws. Nice lady who looks after the kids and all her daughters and sons in law too.
So in a never ending attempt to get her daughter to take some of her "stuff" from her old bedroom she pipes in ..........................There's some tools upstairs you might use , let me find them this week.
Me "yes Please".
Several days later at Ma in Laws " here's them tools "
"I thought they were Bills" ( deceased Pa in Law) but they have Sue's name on the outside of the tin"
Tin !...........Sue' name on them ( Wifeys name) KAMASA HIGH QUALITY SOCKET SET .............AF...............HALF INCH DRIVE.........WITH PLUG SPANNER !!!!!!!!!!!
It did take some time to sink in. And is has rained every day since the epiphany but well........
who'd have thought that !
Wives are like elephants
Wonderful to view, they never forget and can be surprising....But choose your time, place and proximity with them carefully. Keep quiet
Yes her Indoors. Overlapping domestic slave. The boss and giver of all things nice.
After another weekend of rounding off the incredible putty-like sockets whilst attempting to remove the left front wing she actually came to the rescue.
Here's how it all happened.
Mid week at ma in laws. Nice lady who looks after the kids and all her daughters and sons in law too.
So in a never ending attempt to get her daughter to take some of her "stuff" from her old bedroom she pipes in ..........................There's some tools upstairs you might use , let me find them this week.
Me "yes Please".
Several days later at Ma in Laws " here's them tools "
"I thought they were Bills" ( deceased Pa in Law) but they have Sue's name on the outside of the tin"
Tin !...........Sue' name on them ( Wifeys name) KAMASA HIGH QUALITY SOCKET SET .............AF...............HALF INCH DRIVE.........WITH PLUG SPANNER !!!!!!!!!!!
It did take some time to sink in. And is has rained every day since the epiphany but well........
who'd have thought that !
Wives are like elephants
Wonderful to view, they never forget and can be surprising....But choose your time, place and proximity with them carefully. Keep quiet
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Frozen nuts...........is there a cure ? Will the captive nuts ever stop turning ?
Well never a truer term was invented. Simply remove the bolts highlighted inside the passenger footwell, bonnet gutter, front apron and inside engine bay front. ( 1/2 bolts ) p.s the upper ones are rather awkward.
After seven and a half hours interspersed with bleeding knuckles, cramped knees, aching back and a pair of broken glasses approx half of the bolts are removed.
The remainder either spin in their captive nuts or are rusted solid.
I did manage to remove the front bumper ( Rubber - but very heavy ) as the previous owner
had only fastened two of the four and obviously removed it recently as a socket did break when
pressured.This was a welcome diversion due to the above frustrations.
At this stage I must confess I did the macho male thing and Ignored the normal advice and bought the largest & cheapest socket set on sale at the auto shop.
How I wish I was Intelligent and experienced.
Still, why is experience is something you always get after you need it.
Keep in touch for a blow by blow account of my MGB-GT restoration on a budget and clueless as the weeks unfold and the wife see's less and less of me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)