Another major part ready to be fitted.

Yes, after many a long year stood on its end in the airing cupboard, the complete dash is ready to fit   

( minus four switches).

Spent the day dis-assembling the dash, cleaning, checking bulbs, polishing and refitting.
Yo....look see.

 It took best part of three hours, with lots of photos so I could remember where all the wires went.  Many many moons ago ( 12 years to be exact) when I removed the dash I remember the four switches falling apart when being unplugged. I remember looking at the prices at the time......nay bother I thought  roughly £5/8 each. 

Now one is £22 FFS, another £18 and the others similar. 

Using my Lostsock cunning and a little common sense the coloured  Bentley wiring diagram says they are :  Hazard warning switch, Heated rear window switch, 2 pos Fan switch + one other I can't identify as it just says "courtesy light/ door light " ?

There is only one bulb not working on the whole dash believe it or not. I bought one locally for £1...bargain. 

I actually bought two hoping one would fit the "unknown" lampholder . However I've wasted a whole pound as it did not

So, my resolution is " Do not replace if it works, Only buy whats needed to pass the M.O.T test.

I only did the above after a blitz of removing the 5"x7" shed which housed most of the MG parts along with tons and tons of other stuff.

Shed Gone !

Most of the stuff is hived away in about 5 other locations till the new shed arrives ( Late August/Early Sept),  Still, a little bit of Concreting  and floor levelling to do first.

I've got/had all week off so plenty of time.
I should have been fitting the splash panels and undersealing the inner front wings, fitting splash panels and re-aligning driver door but its been raining most of the week, bloody typical !

The pubs are opening on Saturday though .........Whooopeeee !

More soon.

Faffing before the onslaught.

Another day of faffing.......all's well that ends well.

No photos today sorry ! ( see later)

The plan was as I had a 3 day weekend to get the RH brake pads back in with the new rubber hose (even though I think the hose is too short)

Well problem 1/. was that the nut to undo the hose at the caliper end is 19/32" ???!!!. Whateever,  it spins rounding off the edges nicely. sawing through the  crimped end broke the junior hacksaw blade less than one third of the way through. Could I find the packet of hacksaw blades...........could I f***.
I definitely have some but where they are anyone knows. Hacked off using a pair of nippers.

In the end I removed the caliper as a whole and sliced most of the sticking out end with the scary thin wheel grinder thing..eek.,  even then the nut would not budge. After a lot of faffing with various sockets, chisels, screwdrivers and drills, yey-ho.........off it came TFFT !.

Problem No 2/.
How to get the pistons back in the caliper enough to allow the pads to fit.Sounds simple enough, " using a screwdriver prize them back with a little leverage". No, no, no. They were not moving. Fair enough it must have been five years since I fitted new pistons, seals and so on. And they've not moved one milimeter since, ( they've had no need to).
So I fitted the hose and pumped like mad, success, small movement, more pumpimg and more movement. Maybe too much.  The pistons had quite a bit of surface rust and some pitting. However now is not the time for another rebuild. How the F*** was I going to get the pistons back in to fit the pads ?  After a liberal clean with 3000 grit emery, WD40 and a good wipe to the piston outers a combination of a long thin chisel, wood scraps and  a big adjustable wrench...in they went ! Twas a big faff though. All the time from 10.30 am onwards it looked like it might rain so best thing is get head down and crack on with plan.

Needless to say halfway through 2/. problem, wifey came back from Morrisons to say " they have a nice container for your tools, its a patio container but big enough for some of your  crap stuff". After a quick think off I went. It was a welcome diversion from the problems of 2/.

Anyways after the haitus of thinking and scrambling round  container #1,  boot of MG and doorwell, eventually found 2 split pins and spring clamps.
Its funny how you mind retains some things and not others. I knew exactly where they were after maybe 2 or 3 years, but where are the  steering column bolts ( F*** knows, never come across them ever !!!).

I sent a friendly e-mail to the MGOC last week regarding the rubber hose being short. Not had a reply yet ( 7 days). Funny though they called me next day when I wanted to order something saying by e-mail I could'nt get through.

So whats next ?..................I dunno. Having Box .#2 has helped a lot. I've emptied the car inside ...almost. So all the useful tools are in box #2. box #1 contains all MG misc bits, lots and lots plus some aerosols and liquids and tubes n stuff.

Through sheer logic the drivers side door alignment must come next, but you know me.......lets mix it up a bit and get the interior ( dash and crash pad) fitted. Yeah baby !

Well lets see, lock-down and a 3 day weekend can do that to you, plus the exitement of a new bottom of the garden shed ( 10x6) a big improvement on the rotten 7x5. That's another story as that's currently where most of the expensive bits of the MG are.

Only emptying, demolition and disposal said shed  plus new concrete base to make...........not much then !

Oh the life of Fufferfour.  ...........................wow. the blog now connects with mi phone without asking, so go on just to keep it interesting.

More soon !

Lockdown plays its part or Not ?

So, as mentioned in previous thread, I have bought a few parts to Fit to the MG.

Namely LH door rubber surround,  Under quarter-light sealing rubber ( cheap foam), a bag of shiny 1/4" nuts, screws and washers ( methinks for window winder mech inside door- never used as yet, made do with rusty oddments as found there), Both inner wing splash panels + nuts/washers ( no sealing rubber for over their edges as they are all out of stock) and and and new rubber front brake hoses. This is the saga I mentioned in the previous post.

When I ordered the hoses only one arrived, even though I was charged for two. No bother I thought a quick phone call and its sorted. NO !  about 23 calls to eventually speak to someone, then easily resolved, TFFT.                         NO !  come the day of fitting the bloody things they are too short. The hose is almost stretched at 90 deg when on full lock. Deffo  not right, the hose at the caliper end is really squashed. So after a bit of spilt brake fluid and fitting the wheel to check if the suspension was out of kilter      NO ! The hose was wrong !

Look see

So, after another attempted 23 calls to MGOC trying to speak to a person, I get the happy chappy (not) who informs me " its 14 inches long innit ?  ", "Nah...all MG are 14" long mate". Despite me  informing him the overall length is relatively unimportant, its the distance between the upper and lower nuts that determine the working parameters...........and its shorter than the one I have removed !!!!!

So what shall I do ?   I don't think the "new" replacement is safe. For now I've fitted it and sat quietly fuming. Maybe I should send said photos to them which I feel demonstrates the problem. I'm getting quite pissed off with the MGOC as nearly always,  either the wrong thing turns up or not enough  quantity as ordered or what turns up is sub-standard but shiny and new.  Maybe I should sue them when I crash in a ball of flames !...            ...              ...           Rant over.

So at the end of the last sunny day all I had to do was resolve above and fit splash panels. I did decide to underseal the inner part of the wing hidden behind the panel. This has sort of been under-sealed and red-leaded, and as we speak I can't find the underseal and I have a full tin I've not seen for a year or two. Since its been decided by the family accountant we are having a new shed ( 10x6 ) better than the rotted 7x5 that holds most of the MG and a whole plethora of misc stuff ( including mice that have nibbled the sponge pads on the bike rack into utter nothingness) I found said under-seal and other parts MG wise that's not seen the light of day for years.

I did have a great idea after the half- hearted attempt at emptying the shed, why not use the "old" door seal instead of the out of stock splash pane rubber seal.......to be tried yet though as every day since has seen it pissing down with rain and a little wind.

I'll let you know how I get on with both little conundrums.....promise.

Back stronger !

First of all many apologies for not posting THIS YEAR  Time does fly !

The year started well till the second week of Jan when a bad Chest infection struck. Not that I'd be doing much on the MG anyway, but I did have spare cash to buy stuff.

My last effort was to get the passenger door aligned with A & B post equally each side. My last thought was to weld on a strip of £2.99 3mm round steel rod bought from Wickes, and yes they now have steel, aluminium  and brass stock in all shapes and sizes. I sat on this steel all through the winter months debating if I should weld it on or explore other Bodges  remedies.

So I did a very Fufferfour thing............nothing !
I faffed around with the winder mechanism, mounting brackets, quarterlight and lock mechanism. All seem to be working well-ish. What was not working was the key to the lock mechanism. I did have 2 spare doors ( scrap but that's another story, as I only have one now)
So in effect I have several keys. The Ignition key. Obvious which this one is. Then four others ? None of which appear to work FFS. A quick look at the MGOC website informs me a new one set (1 Pair ) is £60 ........ I guess I'll soldier on until I really need to lock the door then. However the lovely renovated door escutcheon ( sprayed metallic silver then clear lacquered, looks very pewter colour just like the factory finish) was missing a captive plate and screw. I seem to remember I had to drill it out moons ago. Anyways, some butchering of said spare door innards gave me a plate with the correct threaded hole and screw. The escutcheon has 2 captive plates, one large and one small.

So fitted it was and then promptly ignored due to above reasoning.
After perusing that Doyen of all things ..MG John Twist : Brilliant Brummie - Hammer and Spanner : and various BBS forums I had developed a plan for the doors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU77OVfWuys     SOUP - my Fave youtube watch
https://mg-cars.org.uk/cgi-bin/or17?runprog=mgbbs     BBS forums......a must
http://www.mgb-stuff.org.uk/hammertext.htm              Hammer & Spanner , Its got it all-Invaluable
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCFB510794339861C   The Daddy of them all


 This was  only 3 weeks ago.
I bought a new tool !!! and a set of new Door hanger screws. An impact driver ( Manual only, as I already had a big lump hammer). It was nigh on impossible to undo or re-tighten the door hanger Posidrives as they were mangled, mostly.

The plan was to place shims behind the A post door hinges to allow the door to be slid further back.

Viola ! Before and after.

Oh thing of great beauty. I love it when a plan works. It took some graft though. I made the spacers from the winder mech innard of the scrap door, 4 per hinge, galvanised and lined up perfectly. It transpires that I had put the rear wing on, many moons ago,  maybe 2 mm further back and bent the B post rearwards slightly as well as the new doorskin being slightly forward. HeyHo, done now. The door sits nicely, flat even with only an outward kink of 1/2mm at the bottom rear.  Twist the door I hear you say  !!....No, I tried this and suceded in unwelding the door top skin under the quarterlight. 

I have several parts to fit too. Namely Front wing splash plates with screws, Complete passenger door rubber and chrome clamping strip, Quarterlight sponge washer strip and new rubber brake hoses.
I did have to remove one brake pad months ago to allow me to push the MG fwd/back on the drive as it was binding and impossible to move so I have plenty more to finish off with this burst of post covid spring sunshine.

Also a neighbour donated a very nice and new car cover. This is a real help as previously I had to remove about four large and very tatty polythene covers rescued from the woodyards skip after a delivery of vaccuum packed soft wood in 30 foot lengths.

A rant is coming in the next post, after I've calmed down a bit and got the work on-calls out of the way. I also have just found the small captive plates for the door escutcheon whilst I was searching for an odd grubscrew to repair the spare bedroom door. Happy days.

Gone but not forgotten

Another strange title. Let me explain. Imminently the men are coming to replace the soffits and fascias on the house, and need access to all three sides of the property. So the MG had to go. Go where I hear you ask. Alas not to a warm and dry Garage somewhere. She's moved 30 foot up the driveway onto the (sort of) garage base. I must admit its a good place as it gets lot more light. Plus it will/may motivate me to make a substantial concrete base/foundation for a real garage.This really shows up the grotty state of the original driveway and associated grime and oil from my beloved MG. A re-tarmac of the drive is a must..........eventually ( its only been 27 years of deliberating)

Anyways more of what I've been up to. I have a whole 10 days off work so, set too Sunday lunchtime to re-tackle the door alignment and window mechanism. What a fafffff. No matter what I tried the window sides always came adrift if their up/down runners. Not helped by the fact that when the window was out the channel below was well lubricated as was the pivot runners so it all moves like a well oiled whores knickers, in fact better . It slides back and forth lightly like a Fred and Ginger twostep. Not to over-egg  the story but I made two ( or maybe three) angulated brackets several year ago to replace the rusted and rotten ones at the base of the doors. I subsequently replaced the door skins but only now have started the door refit maybe 8 years later.  Anyways It turns out the bracket I had envisioned and made, was a figment of long lost obsirfucation, Imagination, superb memory, was all wrong. I had been thinking it was to be offered up and fastened one way ( even the Moss diagrams showed my clarity of thought) when in actual fact it was 90 degrees out.  I didn't realise this until I'd fitted the sidelight and screwed it tight, done some test up/downs and got an idea of the dimensions.

Yes I know its rusty as hell but I imagined fitting @ 90 degrees Clockwise. One thing I will add is  I tried using some of the miracle rust converter on it, only in GEL form. I've had it a few years. Now I know why. Its rubbish. several soaks and 2 hours later its no different. So back to the normal white  stuff that turns it bluey, a good coat of primer and paint in what ever I've got left over.

Speaking of which, since a birthday a few weeks ago I have about £100 to spend but for the life of me can't decide what to spend it on. Windscreen rubbers ? which means installing the vinyl dash top, dash + bulbs and heater pipes and controls + scary windscreen fitting !!!!

or Door rubbers and door locks. Fcku, me have you seen the cost of the door locks !!! My locks and keys are another story and complete mystery worthy of its own mini series.

I did spend near on £20 on nuts,bolts, and washers for the above brackets and it appears it was wasted as  I have all the parts, if a little rusty anyway. I now have a near on perfect derusting tool new to the stable courtesy of uncle Bri..............................Lo

Loud as Fcku and vibrates as well but damn good for making rusty nuts an stuff shiny. This as well as a liberal tin of Vaseline will help no end. Stop sniggering  there at the back !

Now for the tricky stuff !! 

No matter how I pull and push the passenger door the panel gaps are crap. Tight at the front and huge at the rear. I did fit a rear wing and door skin in the past. And yes I removed the door to fit the rear wing, and even the front wing so I guess its my own fault. But look, I did for several hours, wondering how to remedy it. The doors is adjusted as far back as it will go. The door glass is also right up to the rear edge.

The rear is about 3/4" gap, the front about 1/8" gap. The front wing can be sanded( to make the vertical seam wider) back along its vertical edge as their is a lot of filler there. But the back .........Pffffffftttt. I'm seriously thinking of adding a bent over strip of metal welded to the edge of the door and grinding near as and filling with filler.

Let me know what you think.............Please!.

Meanwhile here are some photos to show I am enjoying my playtime with the MG. Its a rarity.

No doubt more this week folks.

just a little one

Post that is !

My office for today .....with executive chair.

Since it was a lovely sunny day, I had the day (FFFFFFFFFriday !!) off and had some energy after a lie in I thought I'd uncover the MG. Normally at this time of year some water has managed to creep in and flood the boot ( trunk) area. So, I fully expected to spent most of the day drying tools mopping up wet/rusty areas and having a good tidy up and re-arrange of all the tools and car parts.

Not so. Very little water ingress. There is a lot, and I mean a lot of little /medium/ large boxes of stuff that keeps on growing. I have an internal memory bank of what these are, where they came from and what I'm going to do with them....................someday !

Its over ten years since I started the project and think that the memory banks are now showing signs of failure.

For example, today's job was to weld the wheel arch inner outer inner patch. But could I find the templates I'd made last summer. It took an hour of searching the shed, outhouse, conservatory, boxes in the car, boxes out of the car, dining room x 3. After a well deserved lunch I found them. They were in a box right opposite the kitchen door and I'd walked passed about fourteen times that morning after the initial tidy-up.

The during welding the sparks start playing up as the nozzle was getting hot/damaged. Could I find spare nozzles ..............no, not , nyet, never. I do have some but could not be found in all the usual places ( conservatory desk drawer). Neither could I find the small needle files to open up the 0.6mm nozzle hole. 

So the upshot was the welding was rubbish. Not at all how i saw it in my head or envisioned how easy it looked.

Lo......crap welding,but my welding and its done !  Its never gonna be seen as it will be under sound proofing and carpet. Beneath will be treated to a good coating of under seal too.

 I am worried about the parts still in boxes though. For example, one box contains a front RH side brake disc,pin and spring plate, another lock mechanisms with window sliders and brackets (no screws) another fuel overflow pipes and wing screws and it goes on and on. Must crack on and get bolting things on. One source of frustration is all the screws and nuts and washers. So many different sizes and types.

Anyway, I finished the rear LH light aperture and filed the hole to allow the light base to fit

And here it is fitted. Well balanced in position anyway. Next up door glass and sliders, but that's for another day soon

Has it been that long ?

In a word yes..........9 months of not very much MG wise.

So let me fill you in a little on the last 12 months.
Both twins have left home properly, one to the environs of Birmingham to live with girlfriend but work in Coventry. The other to the northerly climes of Newcastle to live with her boyfriend and work Three, YES THREE jobs. Now her boyfriend has a Radiology post in the area they are looking at houses to buy.

I also have a new job. 20 yards down the corridor in Interventional Radiology. It has different hours . Four long days of 10 hours with a random midweek day off as well as weekends. And we  have to cover on-calls, roughly 2 days per month for 12 hours ( 24 hours at weekends). Not so bad.

Theirin lies the tale though. I've been so shattered midweek that I'm often in bed for 9pm, since my day starts at 6am. I love the job though and work with a great team, its complex but less stressful with less pain to the knees.  Even though I wear mi lead tabard most of the day, have a jcloth on mi head with green jimjams its fun. These hours were only changed weeks after I started so I'll have to see how it pans out for summer weekdays working on the car.

Some time before last Christmas uncle Bri visited and left me with more tools. A fantastic bench grinder with wire brush, Bosch grinder and a jigsaw with laser guide, wow. Just need a sander now.

For now, residing in the back of the car, together with all the other stuff that won't fit in the shed.

The future plans for the  Fufferfour household are new soffits and fascias, failed window glazing replaced, house re-wire, re-decoration and if any any dosh is left, a new shed.......whahoo.

 All due to the fact the mortgage is finished soon, as is my student loan and a salary increase come April.  

Wifey even admitted she would like me to have a big shed or garage. Methinks I will build my own garage after the aforementioned stuff is done. A new Larger shed will fit at the bottom of the garden where the existing 7x5, fit to bursting, resides. A nice 8 x 10 will do nicely. I might even re-locate the 7x5 near the house temporarily till it is no longer safe or weatherproof or in the way of a garage build.

This is the current state of the MG restoration. One last welding job to do ( never say never eh ?) on the rear LH inner wheel arch. I've cut the templates using CAD ( cardboard aided design) and was going to weld  up today but am just too tired after cutting the lawns and repotting a bush for wifey. Besides, it was too windy !

Normal view of my workshop

Additional storage box which has been very handy and only cost £30 from B&Q. Wish I got two.

So what next then ? This time of year ( traditionally spring Bank Hol in a few weeks time) sees me re-organise the conservatory outhouse mess, shed mess and car mess. Basically a 2 day job of re-arranging stuff and throwing away very little after swearing this year I'll be ruthless ( I could be if Wifey wasn't hovering by my shoulder all the time inspection everything).

I'm not that far off completion........really. Now I've decided that a vinyl wrap ( £600) may be the way to go instead of a full respray ( £2500) and a full interior is not required for the m.o.t.

So after the welding to the rear arch I'll fit the window mechanisms, winders and locks. I don't know why but I have 3 locks and 2  keys, neither work. F**k me, the locks are expensive , and here's me thinking I'd fit remote central locking easy peasy, and cheap second hand. I bet the mechanisms are going to be fiddly and the window channels even worse, let alone the door and seal alignments.

Next up will be the headlights, bulbs and rear lights, the the dash and windscreens/seals which is a part I'm dreading. So if I can get all that done this year I'll be a happy Fufferfour.

I must add the impetus for the resurgence is down to me watching a lot of YouTube videos. Namely The lovely George at "SOUP" whose restoring a Range Rover ( like me outside) and a fantastic Lotus Esprit. The quality of the production and editing is brilliant. Also a mention must go to Elin Yakovs "Rusty Beauties" who restored  a Triumph GT6 and TR6. Funny guy and a wizzard.

  TREASON ALERT..........I think I want a TR6 next !!!!!!!!      ooooooooooh Matron.

Now I can get photos from my phone onto this account and now know......and more importantly wrote down, the account name and password I should be able to do this more often....hopefully !

New beardyface Fufferfour enjoying Christmas with the kids

 


More soon

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/

still Here !!

Its just too bloody cold so here's a photo mid way through the last work. Its now finished in a lovely shade of dark metallic Grey.

Merry Christmas peeps

Update

I'm still at it..................I think.

Money is tight, the sun is high and work long.

Struggling to keep up the enthusiasm without cash.........the kids need new shoes......blah blah.

Seriously, having money issues with life in gereral but thought I'd post just to let you all know I'm still here, the MG's still under tarps on the drive and still in my dreams.

Promise I'll post soon.........now I know my google account and password !

This is what the wind did in early January 2017 to the Tarps !!!!

3 strikes and your out ! not quite.

Another odd title.

Its because that's how many colours I've tried on the engine bay. Bear in mind the engine bay should be the same colour as the rest of the car.
So, in theory I had to make this monumental  decision  NOW ! as I was keen to get all the stuff I'd taken off, back on before I either lost the parts or forgot from where or both. The Inner engine bay sits in a nice shade of fresh grey primer. The pedal box, Vacuum cover, coil, expansion tank, heater and various brackets, nuts , screws and bolts have all been cleaned and are looking great in Black gloss  (Halfords).

Thing of beauty, Brass Expansion tank. Seems a pity to cover it but needs must. Came up excellent after 2 coats of black gloss and probably the best looking thing so far. The cap looked good in Plasti-cote Silver too.

Above was the Vacuum cover before cleaning with wire cup in drill for 20 mins 

After 2 primer coats and 2 Black coats

Same treatment for heater  too. ( Note it looked this good 4 years ago when I first did it )

So now the real gripe of late and cryptic answer of title thread.
                  The colour took three attempts at a costly £8.00 per can to decide, and I'm still not convinced but went ahead anyway.
First Attempt was Plasti-cote Brushed Aluminium Silver. Lovely coverage but oh so very silver and reflective. It also showed any flaws in the bodywork ( several small patch welds by P.O ) like a poke to the eyeball. Was very surprised how metallic it was, but not a good look for under the engine bay.

Next attempt was Peugeot Iron Grey Metallic. This I thought would be very close to the body Colour I envisaged. WRONG ! Very WRONG. It was almost Iridescent bluey/green. I don't have photos as I'm too embarrassed. Besides, money was low and I needed to crack on.

My Third and final option was the Halfords Gloss Black. I bought this at the time of the Iron Grey so I could re-coat some bolts and brackets etc. But in it went to coat the bay, quickly, the original colour I bought it with...doh

Below is the engine bay in 1 & 2 wire wool'ed and cleaned then 3 & 4  just Grey primered

How I wish I'd left it in grey primer, it looked good. But the deed was done and there was not a lot of time left in Lostsocks weekend.

An early start saw the heater go back in without drama. Pedal box too, although some BSF bolts seemed to strip partially or at least grab gingerly. The vertical bolts on the outside were a swine for me with my fat-ish mitts.

This is where I hit the frustrating and typical Leyland enigma !

The coil bracket (2 fasteners), Pedal box (7 Fasteners) Fuse box (2 fasteners) electronic Ignition (2 fasteners) earth screw ( 1 fastener)  2 relays ( 2 DIFFERENT fasteners) and overflow tank brackets ( 2 Fasteners)

WERE ALL DIFFERENT SIZED BOLTS/SCREWS !!!!

So In an act of complete rebellion and a vote against BREXIT I used M5 bolts, nuts and washers for the fuse box, relays, earth screw and Ignition box !!
It looks good, has a shiny chrome Phillips heads in the bay and M5 nuts in wheel arch but who cares !

I must admit it was very frustrating when undoing them, as if rusty , old, gnarled heads were not enough to deal with a different method was required. In truth most needed mole grips as the phillips heads were well rounded or slotted heads gnarled.

So this is how I left it. Look at that expansion tank and cap gleam.  Still needs more work after spending hours cleaning the mess of wiring with WD40 and brillo pad thing. It shines. Just ordered some new black wiring tape from Frost Auto, so when that's done I may actually start the engine before winter, I may not, who knows. Here's praying for a mild winter or money and a garage/shed

Keeeeeep restoring !!