Faffing around with fuel..... part IV

What I forgot to say between parts II & III is that I did try again to start the car after the first successful attempts some days later.
It would not start. never, No way.
The cause...........................bad fuel !

Remember I don't have an unleaded head. The fuel was about 10/14  days old. I should ahve known since it was a light tea colour. I dismissed this as mild contam from the plastic ( approved) container I'd previously had Diesel in.
After some research ont tinterweb I found out that fuel loses quite an amount of its octane rating if its just stood, particularly if its small amounts like less than 2 litres.
That's the reason it won't start.....................I'm sure........ish.

One tip I can pass on for all would be restorers of MG's is use a site called BBS.
Its a web ring for MG car restorers and has the best ever Forum. Post any question, General or Technical and your guaranteed to get some sound and experienced advice.
This is the link >BBS Forum   You have to register ( its free and very easy with NO commercial spam/hassles.

Its them who assisted me with my spring conundrum ( yet to be resolved- replacement wise).
Apologies for the delay in getting to the point of the thread. You knew we'd get there in the end though didn't you ?

I have a spare day from Uni/Placement Friday. So, before the big match and work in the p.m I'll put on the new fuel pump, replace the oil cooler pipe with a new one, replace the oil gauge engine block connector, re tighten cylinder head bolt, renew fan belt, set tappet clearances and renew the old wrinkly engine bay fuel pipe, get some new fuel and have another go at starting her up in attempt to find if the alternators charging and the leaks have stopped.

To keep you Interested here's  pictures of new and old fuel pumps.

 p.s I also have yet to finish fitting the new copper brake pipes from rear to front and front to L & R.
So thats enough to keep me busy for a while.
More trials and tribulations soon.

Faffing around with fuel part III

The fuel then. After the last attempt I decided to leave the car a week to concentrate on Academic matters (Exams). Next attempt saw me spill fuel several times over the inner engine bay in an attempt to re-use the same plastic bottle/funnel arrangement. The the rubber hose perished and leaked like a sieve. Fuel spill again.
Engine turnover wobbled mounting of bottle, Fuel spill again.
The fuel did look a rather darker shade of brown from the last success full attempt though. It had been stored in the old plastic approved storage can thingy ( except it once held diesel).
The car would not start using its own battery as it gradually died. Connected up jump leads and still not starting. Employed daughter raise revs on wifeys donor car  and still no start, so I gave up for now.




Some time later.
 I emptied the water system by undoing the bottom hose. Removed the alternator bolts and fan belt. Ditto pulley housing bolts and pump housing bolts. Carefully scrutiny of wonderful Mr Haynes good book and some poking and pulling revealed the probable cause. Either a worn spindle seal near the pump impeller, or worn bearings. In fact, worn bearings definitely. The shaft veritably wobbled. So I set about taking the pump apart. Not a hope. It was harder than a Rubik's cube. The manual showed a pin/clip and or screw holding bearing/shaft in situ. Nothing doing even after about an hour of poking prodding cleaning cursing and grunting.
A careful read of the tho other guru Mr Lindsay Porters book made the following statement  "with pumps being relatively cheap and easily obtainable it is not worth refurbishing this piece of equipment".
Thanks a bunch mate. Another unexpected cost.
The good news is though, I've been putting in extra shifts at the pub and some work at Uni so the funds are good, in fact an all time high of the grand total of £42.53.
I have a shopping list and I'm off to Mechspec to buy a small list of needed goodies.

More soon.

Faffing around with fuel part II

So I left the last post with the engine going "roar" and me grinning like a demented Cheshire cat.
I removed the jump leads after a few minutes of deafening the neighbourhood and switched the engine off.
If only to let the smoke and fumes disappear.
I tried to start again and after a few /couple of splutters, then..... "roar".
I revved the engine whilst sat in the car......cooo.
It ain't half responsive and loud. Its gonna a be a real rocket........I hope.
Its then when wifey said...."whats all that brown stuff spraying everywhere ?"
A quick inspection with the engine running saw a tiny leak from where the oil gauge pipe meets the engine block. This I knew would leak as it was a swine to screw in and I think I cross-threaded it once or twice in the process. However there were three, yes three water leaks. A small one from the rear of the cylinder head gasket. Easily cured with a quick tweek from ratchet. In fact I think I will need to torque all the cylinder head bolts as I seem to remember on re-assembly I did them up by feel ( medium tight to 45/50 lbf/ft - 61/68 Nm -ish). Another dribble/bubble from what looks like a plugged up waterway in the back of the cylinder head. No worries on that score ( a dab of Araldite will resolve this ala fuel tank repair)
The two major ones were the thermostat housing ( rear bolt) and somewhere near the water pump pulley. It was the latter one that alerted wifey. The browney water was being spun by the movement of the pump pulley in a lovely arc passing each inner engine bay side and wing, right up to the wall next to wifeys worried stance.
So I did what I normally do in these situations. Switched the engine off, disconnected the earth lead on battery and faffed around looking at the engine front end with a worried look on my face. The thermostat housing was easy to remove and cure. It was a brand new housing ( another long story of postal ordering/sending back/lost in post stuff) new gasket made and lovely red gasket sealant - job done.
Pulley not so. I was not sure where the leak was. I was convinced the leak was from the above housing so I restarted the engine again after connecting up leads and battery.
Still leaking, but hard to ascertain where from. It was definitely not the thermostat housing.
I was still overjoyed at the engine firing up, it was late and I wanted a drink.
Still not got to the fuel bit yet.................see next post.

Faffing around with fuel

So, as the title says fuel and faffing around

Let me explain. I decided, after the confusion with the rear spring dampers to move on to something else.

What I decided to do was fit the rear copper brake pipes. This I did without too much fuss and crossed threads. Only one and that was stupid. How I wish now I'd fitted them onto the axle whilst it was on the bench. The RH side was a swine to attach since now the axle and fuel tank/fuel pump and associated lines were also in position. Not until I got up in a fit of severe arm ache and frustration did I realise the 3 way union causing all the swearing was oh so easily accessible from the inside behind the battery hole. Doh !

              So what to do next ?? It was a nice sunny day, nothing else doing ( DIY etc, well lots really but I was trying to ignore it) so I decided to fire it up.

This time I would be well prepared. I needed two sets of jumpleads though. Mine don't reach from front of wifeys car to inside backseat of MG. Borrowed neighbours jumpleads then it went a little downhill.

I could'nt find my/our jumpleads. They've been in the MG for the best part of 5 years skulking in the rear wheelarch. A few months ago I had a clearout of the MG but where the hell did I put the leads ?

After about 45 mins they were found hiding at the bottom of the electrical parts way down on the bottom of a pile of stuff in the shed.

Next job get fuel. Easy peasy. 2 litres minimum.

Then..........make gravity feed fuel pipe from household plastic bottle.  Not as easy as it sounds. The day before me and wifey, as usual deposited all the plastic into the council recycle skips during our early morning grocery shopping............hmmmm.

Anyways, eventually found Gatorade bottle donated by son No 1 after some shouting and pleading round the house for  assistance in finding suitable receptacle. This was great as it even had the soft inside spout that sealed the old discarded rubber section of fuel line.
Connected up battery and jump leads. Found that my own leads did the job without having to borrow an extra set. Result No 1.
Filled makeshift funnel/Gatorade receptacle with fuel. Mopped up a few leaks and re-plumbed the few hoses responsible.
Started up wifeys car then got ready to turn the MG key..........................

HHHHrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
HHHHrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhh
HHHHrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhh
HHrrrrrrrr.....rrrrrrrrrrrr...........rrrrrrrrrrrrr.......................rrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Hrrr..............rrr.........rrr........rrrrrrr...........rrrrrrrrrr..rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

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.ROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes it actually fired up ( the above is the best way i can describe its initial reluctance to fire then its gradual ppfut/ppfutp/pfutfutfut)

I couldn't stop laughing. It sounded like the loudest thing on earth. ( Bear in mind no exhaust on )
It revved and revved and sounded like a WW1 tank.............Fantastic. Even the next door neighbour comment on it.
I was beaming ear to ear, all the family came out to see a grown man nearly crying with joy. It made my day/week/month/year/decade.

To be continued !

Lets ave' em' !!

Comments please. Just to let me know someones reading and god forbid, enjoying.

Additional hints and tips would be nice too...................hard cash even better !

spring lowering conundrum

Springs fitted and lowering block/bushes fitted without too many problems.

Except !

Fitting according to common wisdom saw the lower most plate which holds the bottom of the damper link arm far too low. That is the link arm was fully down and the lever arm damper was fully down. What alerted me was the fact that the top attachment of link arm was butting up to the anti roll bar.
See below

So as you see ( the RH side) the end of the drop link is miles away from the mounting hole and out of shot the lever arm it is attached to is fully  (almost) down.

So what to do ?

At this point I thought I'd been sent the wrong link arms, so a quick tinterweb surf showed that the CB links are shorter than the RB links. Puzzling ? You bet. I'd still got the original arms ( which had to be ground off ) and these looked like they would do the job a treat. That is, fit in the hole and keep the lever arm almost parallel with the floor and not foul the anti-roll bar.

So whats wrong then ?

I solved it this way.....................................see below

The plate that is normally on the very bottom of the stack of stuff was moved up on top of the spring.

It mounts good, locates well and does not foul on anything plus the lever arm is almost parallel.

Everything else is connected up except the handbrake/drum levers ( waiting for spilt pins to arrive, ditto brake lines/connectors)

I'll tell yer what though. Its definitely lower. It was a real scramble on my back fastening up all the other stuff.

I've now removed the wheels and got the car on the axle stands since this weekend I'll be fitting the brake pipes, fuel pump/hoses and fuel tank. That should see the rear end just about complete.

I've even been tinkering with leaving the front end suspension alone ( except for the fitting of a shorter pair of springs [ bought 18 months ago from E-Bay very locally])

If that's the case the time to start on the electrics..................ooooh errrr !!!!

Maybe I'll finish the odd jobs like door internals/seam sealing/ additional welding/ surface de-rusting/ tidying up shed/ polishing up chrome/ trial fitting chrome bumpers/ staring engine/ replacing engine oil pipe union ( again).

oh descisions descisions.

Is that a leaf spring in your eye 2.........No its on my head !

After a lot of huffing and puffing, cursing, sweating blood and almost tears I've had enough of the MG, well for a few days at least.
Getting the rear axle on was a struggle of mammoth proportions. But that's not all !
My wonderful son was enlisted to help move axle onto trolley jack. This took 15 minutes just to get him of his beloved X-box and outside. Then grumbled and whinged at the weight. Typical teenager, Hrrphh, ooohh, mmmmh, why, why. Wot yer want me for. Wifey shouts time for tea young son.............great.
Problem 1.
He was worse than useless.
How I wished in an ideal world he would show some real interest in my project instead of complete indifference.
So I managed ( with his help to get it as far as the back of the car ) before he departed.
That's when the struggled started.
Problem 2.
The axle would not sit nicely on the trolley jack. It kept sliding backwards/sideways/forward/off/down/up.
Then after a brainwave I fitted the rear wheels to aid with movement.
A Master stroke..
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.Not !
It was easy to push/pull but the diff was heavy (very heavy) and wanted to stay flange down.
Moved TJ to support diff flange..................better.
I needed to align a mark on the diff flange with corresponding mark on flange of propshaft.
Problem  3.
Every time I moved wheels/axle forward/back the flange on diff turned away from said mark on propshaft.
Brainwave 2.
Get scissor jack from wifeys car to support diff flange.
Problem 4
The scissor jack don't slide with the diff.
Brainwave 3
Use TJ to support diff and take weight off wheels.
Problem 5
Where the **** are the diff nuts and bolts ( I'd  ground through 2 to get them off )
Eventually found and fitted without too much drama.
Moved on to fitting rear springs.
Done without too much drama.
Fit Poly bushes to rear mount and shackles.
Problem 6.
Very difficult. They kept popping out when the shackle went in.
Solved by fitting all bushes except one to shackle and ( after lots of puffing and swearing fitted it)
That was the LH side. The RH side was a different matter.
No matter what I did the poly bushes were not having any of it.
At this point I tried the same tactic as the LH side.
Still a struggle.
Finally, as I was flat on my back directly under the end of the spring hammering furiously to remove one bush.
BANG.
It dropped down on cracked me directly between the eyes.
To say It hurt a bit was an understatement !
So I rapidly packed the attempt in an went for my tea ( it was 8 p.m by this time)
A facial inspection saw a nice horizontal cut across the top of my nose, huge bruise where it initially impacted on my glabella ( lower forehead for non medical people) and a huge lump on my temple where it grazed on the way down.
So my head and face hurt a bit.
My ego is bruised since I could not wait for the brake pipes to arrive and the weekend, so I'd  done the normal Fufferfour trick and rushed it a bit instead of waiting for a more appropriate time ( the weekend).
Still, I've got a FULL set of brake pipes coming ( with flared ends and unions) + diff bolts/nuts+lost nut+ rubber gaiters for brake hubs.
I'm having some time off to concentrate on getting a better class of headache by studying for Uni..

All dresed up

OOOOOhh I say.

To be honest the picture doesn't do it justice. Its matt black and smooth as a babys bottom thanks to a few hours with the grinder/wire brush cup thingy.

Now for the exciting bit.....fitting it all.

where's the diff ?

A fit of yet another activity saw me grinding through two of the four bolts holding the back axle/diff to the prop shaft. And that was it, away it came, albeit very heavy and awkward to drag along the drive and onto the trusty B&D workmate. In fact I had to get son No1 to help heave it skywards. The brake pipes were a swine to remove despite at least 5 soakings with penetrating fluid.
Why is it that the MG is never symmetrically easy..........or difficult.......viz the same both sides.
The wings rusted differently each side. Two prop shaft bolt came undone easily, two had to be ground off, one sides brake pipe union came off with spanner, other didn't budge. One damper spanner ed off quick as a flash, the other took some real force. One rear side window base rusted as hell, the other OK. ???????????????????????????.

Look..............Spot the back axle

Its here  !!

So now I need some new copper brake pipes, the existing were marmalised during removal. Well they have been there 33 years and subject to all this fair Isles winters and summers. I'm havingg them as a birthday present !
The 3 way Brass union has cleaned up a treat and as we speak I'm fettling the axle with angle grinder/wire brush. Its then going to have the Matt black paint, so too is the fuel tank base then time for re-fitting. On second thoughts maybe I'll wire brush the roll bar and paint.
Just as I want to make progress I think/decide on more to do..........its gonna be a long summer, and painful too !

p.s the Matt black on the axle looks great...........I'll post photos soon.

Quick update

Well, I ordered said replacement bushes ( Cheap from MGB hive - £ 2.95 ish) new bump stop pedestal ( £4.95, galvanised, a real bargain) & replacement rubber brake hose. They came at 8.00 am the following morning.
So, pleased with that I legged it to Halfords and bought a can of matt black brush on enamel and PENETRATING OIL ( funnily enough the product is made by WD40 brand..ha....It smells loverly, not the metallic sickly smell I remember)
My big dilemma was Halfords prices. £9 for spray on Hammerite Matte Black, £6 for own brand matte black spray, £ 7 for brush on hammerite and £4.75 own make. In a fit of economy I bought the cheapest, feeling guilty over my recent spending spree.
I've used it and am mildly disappointed. I should have bought the gloss. The parts look ok matt, but can't help thinking they would look much better gloss and be easier to clean in the future.
            The big plus point is I've fitted the bushes into the spring fronts.
It was easy peasy. This was the part I was dreading. I have no garage/workshop, few tools and am apt to rushing things. However, with the use of the trusty B&D workmate, oversize socket and lump hammer they went in easy.Well a few ( lots) of well aimed blows in they crept, seated and positioned correctly.
            Now it seems a shame to leave the axle and brake pipes all crusty with crud. Its not easy to get down & under to attack them in situ as well as the body underside.
So, I decided to remove the axle complete, wire brush with grinder then paint before fitting the fuel tank. Then replace the rear copper brake line.
In order to do this I have to disconnect the prop-shaft at the diff.
PROBLEM. 1/. The bolts have very short heads and the nuts don't allow to get a socket on them.
I've doused them liberally several times with penetrating oil.
PROBLEM 2/. the RH brake line came undone from the hub easy, the LH wont budge. The main problem is the fear of rounding out the flats on brake nut and diff nuts. Its only possible to get a tiny thin 1/2" spanner on them and that just spins.
So its a waiting game hoping the penetrating fluid does its stuff.

Hopefully the next post will see it all fitted and looking superdooper new like.