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.

Onward and Inward or its spring time, literally !

Oh the joys of MG ownership.

After a long bout of thriftiness, I manage to save some money towards the rear suspension, So, from three different places I bought :-  set of Polybushes for rear spring shackles, lowering kit "u" bolts and spacers with attendant polybush covers, pair of chrome bumper shorter link arms and shorter rebound straps. That was a month or two ago. But being too cold to work outside, I decided to wait till the weather improved. I did have a half hearted attempt at removing the rear axle and springs. It was easy................ish. The "U" bolts nuts came away OK, so did the bottom end of the rear spring. The handbrake cable was a complete enigma on how to detatch. The rubber brake pipe mounted  from the battery box union bracket to the 3 way union on the axle would not budge, either end, so I left it be. The axle is supported on a trolley jack and the car on a stout timber 4x4 with 2 axle stands. Sounds a bit illogical but that's the way it is. The front end of the rear leaf spring would not budge, either side. Neither would one link arm come away from the Armstrong damper. After one mistake viz spraying liberally with WD40, they still would not budge. TECHNICAL NOTE . WD40 is not a releasing fluid, it a water dispersant. So if you need to "soak" nuts and bolts etc use PENETRATING FLUID, like Duck oil or whatever. Thanks to Octarine Engine services for pointing that out.

So, that's what it looked like for both sides.

The RH side was probably the most difficult as the battery  box and wires all impeded a good heavy swing of the trusty claw hammer. After more ( incorrect ) dousing of WD40 they ( LH & RH front spring bolts, RH drop link) still would not budge. Obvious.......................bigger hammer.

Off to brother in laws for lump/club hammer. Still no joy and still more dousing with WD40.

By this time better weather was upon us so I was going to devote a whole weekend to the jobs to do.

Besides I was itching to get the new stuff on.

Come the weekend the first job was to locate the live feed wire to the fuel pump and the earth. Their are four wires, all dirty black-ish plus a couple of dangley earth wires. I did many years ago label the wires but the elements worked their magic to make them useless. Still I'm a clever git sometimes and I've even got a multimeter ( £2.99 from Wilko's- only the best for me...hehe) and wiring diagram, so I should be able to work out the wire feed & earth. No.No.No. Even with battery connected there was no current flowing with the ignition turned on. Now here is the start of another story not yet told.....................the car immobiliser, fitted circa 1978-ish with sh** loads of red wires under the LH dash + secret on/off switch under RH dash. Methinks these have an effect on the current flowing but I'm not that much of a clever git to understand that load of spaghetti.

So we'll leave that for when I attempt the electrics proper.

For now all I wanted to know is which wire and does the fuel pump work ? I settled for the does the pump work ?

Simple answer..........................No. Rats rats and more rats. Even the recommended tap on the side didn't do the trick. I left it a day to re-think.  Moved on to more nut bashing with the lump hammer. Still no joy. The LH spring mounting bracket had taken a few hits and was beginning to bend inwards. Time for some more thinking and formulating.

BBS webring and MG forum gave the answers. Loads of em. varying from use a "sawzall" ( From the U.S bless em, they mean a reciprocating linear saw blade, i.e jigsaw or power blade ) to cut the bolt heads off, to drill through the bolt ends each side. I opted for Octarines method. Use a thin grinding disc and grind up between the spring and bracket through the bolt each side. It worked a treat. Marmalised the end of the spring a little but ,hey its off and usable.

here's proof................and them bloomin bee's are back.

The spring has had a good clean up with the wire thingy in the angle grinder. Looks almost new. Gave it a liberal soaking in thin oil and cling film wrapped it till I'm ready for the next bit.

As of yet I've not tackled the other spring removal. This is only because today ( Saturday) I forgot to buy a new thin grinding disc and I'm working most of the weekend in the pub. I chilled out and caught some rays in the garden. Uni has been manic, with a 6 week placement just ended, one exam the first week,1st day back. Essay to do + another exam + Dissertation proposal hand in.

What I did do a few weeks back is :-

All the parts holding the axle were wire brushed clean using the angle grinder then primered ready for a nice coat of black paint. Top shows the spring and tools I used for the rubber bush removal. Its a composite bush inside the end. As you can see I had to destroy it to get it out. I think destroy is a little understatement. It was rusted solid and no way was it going to shift. Even if I had a press of 100 tonnes, i doubted it would have moved. The Bush is a thin outer of tough steel, a thick rubber inner then another thin steel  inner. The offending bolt that would not come out was stuck to this surface. Its the rubber that causes all the problems. It does its job and resists and dampens any forces applied. I drilled several holes through the ruber and chisseled down the outer shell pushing it inwards as I went on. I bet the fitting of a new one will be even tougher. Which reminds me. I don't have a replacement. Thats why I'm working all weekend, I will need two, plus bolts/nuts and the rubber bump-stop pedestal. Mine disintegrated when the original "U" bolts came off. Anyways. Up until yeaterday I was also convinced I needed a new fuel pump. I tried several times time connect it and make it work.Stripped it down, cleaned it and the contacts, but to no avail. Not even a murmur. So, I checked You-Tube, John Twist of University motors again. These are wonderful clips from an MG man through and through. The clips show all the tricky probs and remedies for loads of mg makes. Tiz a pity its no longer in business.

This time I cleaned the testing wires thoroughly and the battery terminals. Rechecked and cleaned the points with emery and Bingo........................buzzzzbuzzzzzzbuzzzzzz. It now works a treat. So, since I have a day off from Uni Monday I'm ordering said parts + paint and next weekend will see me remove rear spring, clean it up, paint parts black, remove some ( lots) crud from axle, fit RH armstrong damper ( thats how I removed RH lever arm - with damper in situ and attacked on the bench- easy peasy) fit fuel tank and hopefully Sunday fit spring and new parts. If I can re-fit new front bushes. This is going to be a drama, I can feel it already !

Just to prove the car and project is politically correct and in line with all green issues I'm recycling as much of the car as possible. I've used the old doorskin for most of the patch panels on the rear and will be using it again for the door slider bracket. These have rusted badly and needed removal when I replaced the doorskins. I kept one to use as a template. They are handed too, so I made a paper template. 

Look !                                                                                                                                                                

More soon folks !

Let It Snow, eh ! .........yer want more ?

So we did have a white christmas after all. I can't honestly remember when the last one was but probably over 25 years ago. Well properly anyway. Most of the snow in the last decade has been of the very wet slushy type gone after a tiny rainfall. It still manages to disrupt things thought on almost biblical proportions. Why in the UK are we so unprepared for snow in winter, heatwaves-ish in summer, rain in autumn and insects in spring ?

         Enough winges. Christmas was good (In an overindulging kind of way ) but bad for the MG. It must feel unloved and neglected, abandoned and cold over the last few months. All I've done is repair the vynyl cover and make the rear window a mesh of duck tape. After a particularly rainy, nay torrent of a downpours for a few days I noticed the rain had collected to such an extent the cover had sagged right into the spare wheel area holding about 30 gallons of water. Some expert juggling and inexperienced manipulation saw only a little spilled inside. It did happen again but not on such a grand scale so thats when I hit on the idea of how to support the cover over the gentle slope of the rear window. It may look like the base of a well upholstered seat base but its doing its job under all that snow. I do hope my worse fears of a radiator leak is not apparent after all the freezing temperatures. Its funny how you get good intentions ( I thought of this mid repair to the rear window duck tape episode) "don't forget to empty the coolant before it gets too cold". Did I ?. well you should know the answer to that by now ( NO)
Hopefully I'll be lucky ( Never) or just completely forget come spring. 
      Any further musings car related have been regarding the colour. I think its going to be an off shade of white......................maybe. I just scared rust bubbles will show through after the expensive respray. Some slight (very slight at last look) surface rust is showing on gutter seams over the primer. Gawd knows what its like come warmer weather.  Uni/work keeps me from other thoughts, and of course the wife and kids are high maintenance at this time of year. I'll keep checking the lottery though .

I'm still here...........honest !

So as the title says I'm as committed as ever to get the MG done, its just that I aint had the cash or fortitude to work in wind, snow & Ice out on the drive lately.
The last job I did was to partially remove the rear springs. The Axles free, that was easy peasy. The rear spring mountings were easy too. The front mountings won't budge. Despite several soakings during the Autumn in petetrating fluid the bolt will not knock out. Neither will one drop link too ??.
Fairly easy to solve though......................borrow a bigger hammer ( from B in L )
 So thats how the car has stayed for the last couple of months. Under its shiney silver Argos cover.  Actuallythe cover is not so good as I first thought. During some very windy days it ripped along its supposedly "welded" seams. Easily cured with a stapler and duck tape. Methinks the recent snow will preclude some more duck tape though.
Work/Placement and Uni has taken most of my time the last couple of months, that and dreaming of money.
I have worked a little, as student ambassador on open days and after christmas as barman in my local Saturday nights.
Uni is getting very intense with the following months requiring three essays and a poster plus another 12 weeks of Placement.
Roll on Summer.........................and I aint even started on the Christmas food and drink yet !

What to do next............its not that tricky

( Me being attacked by a swarm of angry bee's...... for having dirty hands ?)

Yes, exactly what to do next ?.

Last post saw me having undone the rear half of the spring, undone the axle "u bolts" and one damper drop link.

Thats exatly how the situation is now, only worse.

So how can it be worse if I've not done anything ?

The situation at Uni is :-

1st week, all week, very fast paced and lots to imbibe and inwardly digest.

2nd week, easier but the real enormity of 1st week hits home with and essay to finish by end of the month.

3/. Knowing this would happen at Uni since the drop of the axle/springs, I looked up the parts and cost involved to get the back end sorted.

It went something like this :-

Plan 1/.

a/. All new bushes at the back, deffo. Poly bushes and Blue "fast road use".

b/. New "lowered" pair of leaf springs. ( to suit chrome bumper model ride height, mine was a rubber bumper model to be lowered )

c/. New Chrome bumper shorter drop link ( pair of )

d/. Spax suspension would be nice ( so would a pair of parabolic springs too) but they are all out of the question, money wise.

e/. new bumpstops top & bottom.

f/. new rebound straps.

g/. Lowering kit from MGOC

Reality after a few searches ont tinterweb..................way too expensive !!!!.

I'm not sure if the spring price was per pair or each, either way £80 is a lot.

It all came to ....................wait for it ............. £ 330 approx.

So plan 2/.

a/. as 1/.

b/. Second hand springs.....................price dunno yet

c/. Second hand drop links.................£ 5.oo each

d/. Forget............too expensive

e/. as 1/.

f/. as 1/.

g/. Is it really needed ?, some stuff can be re-used or I already have it above.

Reality.......................Still too expensive. Its just over budget.

By the way at this point it would be good to mention what my budget is - see below

NOTHING !!!

yes, thats right. I've got bugger all.

So in light of this and my new found wisdom a re-think was done. The reality is this.

a/. Poly bushes @ £ 37.00 set ( rear only) OR Std stock rubber ones ( Noooooooooooo!!)

b/. Refurb the springs ( they have sagged anyway, shorter drop links will tell)

c/. Second hand drop links £ 10.00 total

d/. Second hand rebound strap.........price......dunnoo ( but less than £10.00 total )

e/. - g/. forget.

So I might as well be planning a total new re-shell since thats about as realistic as the above when you aint got no cash.

So thats why the post is called " What to do next ". Its definitely not tricky. The answer is Nothing.

Uni will keep me busy for the next 3 weeks anyway with the dreaded assignment essay. After that the weather will turn and maybe a little too cold but much more likely too wet.

I'm determined though that its not going to be one of the dreaded "Unfinished projects" for sale.

I might have to think of ways to improve the lot of Lostsock and family, after the essy though.

More soon.

Is that an axle in your eye ? No its a leaf spring actually.

What a strange title. Let me explain. You knew I would anyway.


Many years ago, when I had money, time and a restless nature I had a desire to fulfill a long lost dream. That was to restore an old car. So I looked on good old e-bay and bought an old banger from 1977, well in need of renovation and with a good supply of parts suppliers and knowledge base available. So In good old Lostsock fashion I decided to document its renovation.
That's what started me on the blog thing. Rather than take loads of photos, why not make a narrative text as well to assist others and maybe solicit some help for myself.
I did and the oddities of the chosen Blog supplier prevented me from linking both of my blogs each way.
Now the real reason for the post and a little light reflection and observation on our good old health system.
During the last few weeks prior to Uni starting I've done some work on the car. Its sort of well on the way to being finished after years of body work repair. Next job on the list was replace rear springs and bushes, clean up and paint with whatever ( Underseal, Red lead, etc)











This involved me with some time flat on my back......careful.... working spanners and hammers on nuts that have not been touched for 33 years. So, 33 years worth rust fell onto my drive during said operation, only taking a detour into my Right eye. For some months my Left eye has been odd in the morning ( Deduced by wifey to be the same cause). Insomuch as sticky eyelids and a general soreness. So after said weekend and the start of Uni saw Lostsock not his usual chirpy self. Plagued by a dull headache behind the eyes and head.
So, Monday morning saw me attend the Docs at 8 am sharp. Not to see a doctor. Simply to stand in line when the surgery opens so I could book an appointment as soon as.

Its pointless trying to telephone as it rings for ages once you get the answerphone message and options. Then appointments are for in at least 1 months time. Well not really but generally far enough away to stop people with trivial illnesses wanting to attend.
I was 4th in line at the reception desk. The desk is manned by the Practice Manager. Not a woman who would win any charm contests. So I heard all the 3 previous peoples illnesses since the PM had to ascertain to whom to send them ( Nurse, Doctor or Room for arguments) , their age and date of birth and their address.
So What happened to patient confidentiality then ?................
Is the P.M medically trained ?....................methinks not ( Hope the Practice is Insured )

It didn't help when the guy in front of me insisted he needed his blood testing because his wife is Ill ???????????? and they didn't do it at the hospital last night because he'd he fainted. Is this a breach of confidentiality ?. There's been lots posted on various sites regarding this topic and say, Facebook. A certain Government ministers wife revealed some potentially sensitive details... allegedly. Some excellent medical related sites have even closed down voluntarily for fear of the dreaded Confidentiality police. Hope they don't come knocking for me...............errrrrrrrhemmmm.

But seriously, should we have to do this ?. I fully understand why the Practice Manager is a sourpuss ( The general Public...) but it should still not be allowed for the jaded, impatient and almost rude to be people facing. Neither should Non medically trained staff be making clinical decisions. Don't you agree ?. Could we do it as radiographers , i.e I.D patients in the waiting area. No. Tell them they have a nasty break ?. No. I am full of praise for all aspects of our wonderful NHS. It is still the envy of the world, has some great people and services. It is Europe's biggest employer and thereby is its problem. Its very difficult to employ 100% perfect and professional people. Unfortunately its the minority that stick in peoples minds. I for one am determined not to be a whingeing employee. Its depressing anyway listening to some people whingeing to others.

I have Conjunctivitis by the way so my vision today is a little cloudy................heeee heee. That's because there's been most of a 1977 British Leyland axle and leaf spring in it the last few months ( Nay years).

A New Winter Coat

Not much activity MG wise. The weather and wifeys constant nagging re D.I.Y list has taken priority. What days off I had was devoted to either a nice long walk in the fine weather or resting. I must admit I wasted several days doing god knows what. The hours flew by and I can't remember anything. Only being annoyed at wasting time on nothing.

The MG has a new winter coat. £15 from Argos. Its fully waterproof, fits like a dream and has elasticated corners. Ever since I took out the rear window to repair the seams and lip its been kind of vulnerable to water ingress. The Blue poly sheets I've been using had eventually become porous, kept coming loose and generally were a real pain to remove/fasten up. Not helped by the fact the giant ( Not an understatement, its about the size of a tennis court) outer blue cover was ripped to shreds, full of holes and becoming snagged on every corner of the MG. The new under cover over the rear window just sagged into the tailgate space due to the weight of rain water collected so I had to be careful how I dragged the cover off. After several times of complaining about some of the water ingress wifey suggested the Argos catalogue ( She has up to date catalogues of every consumer selection on the planet) Well, we have no money so why not dream and spend the imaginary lottery millions. I don't think I'd shop at Argos if i did though.
It seems strange to be saying "winter coat" since its the last Sunday in August and the weather this month has been rubbish. Not hot and settled at all. Generally sunny with some rain and scudding clouds & wind, changeable and average. Where oh where have the long, hot and lazy summers of my childhood gone ?
Here it is covered, as I've just finished a couple of hours between D.I.Y'ing.

Below shows the end plates of the Rubber bumper mounting removed. I intend to convert to chrome bumpers so theses must come off. Its not as straight forward as you think to convert a RB car to chrome bumpers. It now leaves the longitudinal chassis end plate open so I can chop off about 2" ( 50mm) back inside the grill opening ( to allow the fitting of a grille) of the top half, the bottom half needs only be cut back to be behind the valence when fitted. A plate is then welded to the top half to re-cover the section and a nut welded somewhere to hold the bumper bracket.


Then, the lower valence has to have its two square holes ( where the above mounts poked through) welded up.
The wings have to have two square holes filled in and new square hole cut to suit the light fitting with chrome surrounds.
If you can remember the RB cars have the lights( Indicators) integral into the bumper and are larger than chrome bumper cars.
The rear needs the pointy body extensions under the lights ( done when I fitted the rear wings yonks ago). A conversion mount can be bought cheaply to fix the mountings and bumper.

Fortunately I have most of the stuff bought in the mists of time from E-bay and collected
from various parts of the country back when I was travelling this fair isle.

Incidentally, here is a list of places I've travelled to collecting my E-bay purchases :-


Enfield . North London...............................MGB-GT purchase...............................£180
Doncaster ( S.Yorks)........LH & RH sills/castle rail/jacking points and x-member.....£35
Harlow ( Essex)..................................MIG welder.........................£60
Mitcham ( Surrey)..............................Front chrome bumper & lights.............£15
Somewhere north of Wolverhampton miles from anywhere...... rear chrome bumper ....£10
Slough (Berks).........complete roof section......£10............still in storage at former employers ?
Dewsbury ( W Yorks)...........pair doors ....£15 .......Rubbish, never used, in shed I think.
Belper (Derbys).....................doorskin..............................£ 25
Doncaster ( S Yorks ) Head gasket set....................£8
Chesterfield ( Derbys).................Chrome bumper front springs.....................£10
Liverpool (Merseyside ).........Oil cooler & pipes........£15 ( Scouser Jim collected, ex colleague)

And that's not counting the trips to MGOC (many), MGB Hive (three), Mechspec( two) & Watford MG for proper purchases with real money for NEW stuff. Or stuff bought on E-bay that's been posted ( Mostly tools but did include VW golf repair rim for wheel arch) and "other" stuff generally purchased on E-bay.
I might like to add that I am not being paid by E-bay for all this promotion. of their wonderful product. A donation would be appreciated though !

More soon.

Homeward stretch

Well I've almost reached the point where all the bodywork is complete.
As we speak all that is left is :-

1/. Sand down filler in tailgate gutter and prime
2/. Tack weld boot/wheel-arch repairs to strengthen and add some seamsealer
3/. wire brush and paint ( Hammerite- Ku rust, its brill at killing rust) tailgate inner lower lip
4/. fill and sand hole in picture now rear screen is removed.
5/. Drill out snapped bolts in front upper valence mounting captive nuts.
6/. Maybe..............only maybe, re-position front indicator mounting holes in valence,
7/. Chop off old bumper chassis leg plates ( so a chrome bumper mount can be attached)

Not bad eh !! most of the above can be achieved in the next session. if the weather of our glorious summer holds out.
Spent the last two good days helping brother in law lay vast quantities of cement for his new patio. An we aint done yet.

Below are the photos mid repair of the top RH tailgate gutter.
LH side is fine RH side poor with BIG hole
















So I set too thinking....................how the hell do I repair that !
I actually spent more time thinking why did it rust there and how ??
BL cars are really amazing, they rust in all the expected places usually, them that don't rust in all the weird places and not symmetrically.
Anyways, decided since this part is not seen i would weld some thin steel over and fill to a smooth finish.

Here are the tools of the trade for weird shapes.



Sorry for the "break" in the post..................Monday above ^ Wednesday below

Its very important to use only "Shredded wheat" cardboard , as this is never missed when you spirit away the box and leave behind the bag since no-one ever bothers eating the healthy stuff.
On a serious note though, label the template front face/rear as its easy to cut a Mirror Image of what you want.
One snag is I forgot to take a photo of the finished article, since its had its plates welded on, ground down, filled and sanded ( Twice)
I have also filled and sanded the tailgate outer edge and Ku-rusted and red leaded inside lower edge + covered in primer.
Below is foot-wells cleaned out, swept and Vac blown.
By Vac Blown I mean I used the trusty B&D leaf blower/sucker. God is it powerful.
Its like a hurricane and blows all debris into the stratosphere.

The dreaded rubbery compound sound deadening type stuff on the floor is horrible. Its about 1/4" thick and either comes up in chunks or like soft sticky toffee. So I'm leaving it in where its sound.Besides its too much time, bother and expense to remove. Trouble is what can I replace the removed bits with ? Anyone got a spare bitumen lorry load of it, warm and ready for pouring ? Red leaded the previous welds (Again) after another Ku-rust treatment.

Decided not to weld the rear boot corners/infills. I'm going to fill with copious amounts of seal sealer. I did also drill out the one seat runner bolt head that sheared on removal a few years ago. It took 3x 4mm drills ( Damn, just bought them too), angle grinder + 6mm drill + mole grips+350 squirts of WD40 in the end, but its out clean (ish). My tactic was to file the screw head flat (mistake) it was 5mm tall off the floor. I ground it down lower, flush to floor ( after drill break no 3) then started the hole with the last 3mm drill(till that broke) then all the way down with the 6mm. Underneath I ground 2 flats on the 8mm length poking out and gripped with moles and Presto ( all this took about 40 minutes and a bit of cursing)

So next is removing the Rubber bumper mounting plates at the front and those pesky captive nuts with half a bolt in them on the lower edge of the valence/body join.

I did also start up the car again, using a makeshift fuel directly into the carbs....WD40 !!!

GREAT<<<<<<<<<< IT SOUNDS LIKE A SOPWITH CAMEL BI-PLANE !!!!!!!

It turned over for a few seconds and the oil pressure is good.

I did video the occasion but Blogspot prevents me from uploading for some reason. Maybe next time then when I've worked out the fuel pump wiring and actually put real fuel in.

What Colour ................tell me what you think

Well as the title says I've been giving this some thought, over the last 4 years actually.

The car was originally white ( Old English or Triumph White ) according to the log book and MG archives.

At some stage early on in its life it was given a very thorough respray to black. Even the engine bay ( Including wiring !!) rear tailgate inside and boot, door pillars /windows inside and bonnet underside.

Logic and common sense says make it back to original white. I think maybe so. Wifey saw a brand new re shelled Roadster at the MG hive last year in Old English White and loved it.

I'm not so sure as its a very yellowish white and it will really show up any panel gap errors.

I did see at the weekend a Fiat 500 in brilliant Blueish white. This looked really dazzling and I'm not sure if it was a White or very Pale brilliant light Blue, it still looked good though.

Below is a V8 example in Glacier white

.

I've decided that the car will be converted to chrome bumper and lowered back to standard or a little lower. However what type of grille ?. The above sports the later type ( 1970's).

There is a sixties style which I'm fancying as shown on the Bermuda Blue example car below.

This is how I envisage mine without the wire wheels and front over riders for a cleaner look.

I must admit the blaze red does look good though.

But having said that I do like the dark Midnight Blue below. Mine even has the large Chrome sill protectors and Rostyles too, plus it would hide any poor panel gaps.

Or could it be Black as it is/was now ? Shown is the older style grille and wire wheels.

I hate wire wheels, they always look dirty, must be a pain to clean and constantly need checking for loose spokes.

I suppose to keep the retro 60's look the colour should be pewter-ish ala 007's DB5 or even silver. But No, and here's why.

During my stint as a traffic surveyor recently and during the hours we got to sit down to count traffic i did my own car colour survey, By far the most common color was silver, or a variant of light blue/ green- silver, followed by Red then Black and Blue with Green last but fairly even with White. I did not count the weird colours like the Peugeot 80's Gold ingot type of aberration or the new Ford RS whatever with its bile/vomit green ( and JCB Yellow) aka 1970's glam or the boy racer pearlescent " I did this myself" paint jobs. I did see a rather attractive Brown on a Toyota Avensis ( oh.... how I miss mine) though and thought good, its nice to see one manufacturer breaking the mould a little. But not for my MG.

So What colour then...................It would be nice to hear your thoughts.

wheel clean

So another post, in fact two in a week. Must be a record.

Actually wifeys painting kitchen door and I've just cut the grass and done two sets of taxi -ing( Depositing kids where they want to go) so I had an hour or so pottering with the MG.

There were two reasons I tackled the spare wheel.

1/. Each time I venture into the shed at the bottom of the garden ( frequently) I see the forlorn spare wheel resting gently against the fence by the shed door. It sits there gathering leaves and fir debris as well as pine cones and general crud. Its still well inflated after years, and has been subject to a pretty poor refurb some time in its past.

2/. During said taxi-ing I deposited old newspapers in the town centre car park recycling bins. There opposite parked on the road was a lovely Red BGT with black roof, "T reg" and looking splendid with shiny Rostyle wheels.

So despite the plans I had originally made ( Fix hole in tailgate gutter & red lead floors) I set to with the wire brush in angle grinder.

Here are the before pictures.

Then some time later, after a visit to local motor factors ( I needed more primer and new goggles) a newish looking wheel was beginning to emerge.

Behold,

A little panic set in since no sooner had I finished the outside wheel to nice an almost chrome-ish finish the clouds came over very black and it started spitting with rain. So wifey was pressed into service shaking the can for the regulation 2 minutes ( She's excellent at making a noise) whilst I tidied the tools away and got the car cover/s back on loosely.

Only a few spots fell and I managed to get a good coverage of primer on as you can see.

Its by no means the finished article yet. I just wanted to see how far I could go without removing the tyre. In fact very far. The tyres whilst fully inflated and kept that way for the last three years, need replacing as the sidewalls are all cracked. I did manage to mangle the valve a little

with some not so subtle touches from the grinder/wire brush anyways.

The plan is when new boots all around are required for the m.o.t they will be removed then the wheels can be prepped and spray painted the correct silver and black with a clear lacquer for good measure. I'm not sure yet if i will attach some chrome surrounds for the wheels. I may have to depending how happy I am with my efforts at wheel re-finishing.

I also bought some correct type fuel hose and attached it to the pump & fuel tank unit.

Gosh wash it tough. Its very thick and the hole seemed very small compared to its wall thickness. Even after a good steep in boiling water ( whilst I cleaned kitchen floor, ahemmm

I spilt a whole cup onto the floor attempting to carry the hose in cup + my own coffee)

So. twenty minutes later the hose was on and I,m ready for fuel.

Not yet really, I need to weld the gutter patch directly above filler spout in boot.

But soon............................very soon !