Some Non news

Well folks I thought I'd post, post about nothing really.

The MG has not moved or gone any rustier I think. I did spend some time attaching a thick clear polythene to the front window and side windows in preparation for the cold winter.
Normally the two large Blue poly covers are usually enough to keep out the water, however on the last few excursions under the cover I have seen a large puddle of water collecting in one of the many poly boxes storing stuff inside.
It serves me right, I should not have removed the windscreen before I was ready to.
Still, it gave me good exercise since I had done a clear out of the shed and outhouse.
Thus finding Duck tape and thick clear poly sheet.

I have a Job..............................................a butchers dog/gopher

Since the big change in my circumstances, then even bigger shock with good old Tax office ( Don't get me started...................................Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)
I decided to help our Christmas be less bleak and earn some dosh.
Hopefully some MG type goodies wend their way my way or at least I can afford to save for some suspension bushes.
Hope I get the time to post as I'm going to be rather busy up to the festive period.

p.s comments are welcome as they usually cheer me up !!!

Its getting there, their, they're

Had a good couple of good sessions the last few weeks under the bonnet.

Things MG wise have taken a bit of a back seat, obviously. 

Prior to the big decision I did manage to visit another MG part retailer "darn sarf" and bought some oil cooler pipes and petrol pipe unions ( might as well have been Onions......see later ) 

+ second hand heat shield for carbs. 

 Retailer- ere, this ull fit...... ( When asked if they have said heatshield)  

Me - It looks a lot different... ?

Retailer - naw, they all fit, just slightly redesigned....  

Me - how do you undo the oil cooler nut when its sheared on the cooler matrix thread ?  

Retailer - Need a torch guv, an plenny of eat...

Me - Won't that melt the ( rubber) pipes ( within 1" of union )

Retailer - scuttles away to answer some unheard cry from out back

Retailer # 2 , That'll be £22.55 please

Anyways, that lot of bits stayed hidden in my desk drawer till wifey came to do the dreaded receipts and finances ( she now knows where to look to find the receipts..........my eyes !!!!)

Since all the ancillaries had been cleaned during summer, I had the relevant gaskets ( bought months ago from Mechspec via good ole E-bay) and now I had all the parts.....whopeee

So, fitted the gaskets x 4, spacer x 2, more gaskets under heatshield, heatshield ( after good cleanup with wire brush in drill)  Bracket onto heatshield to hold carb throttle union, 3 lower springs and the two carbs. It took a bit of working out on how to fit the two mechanical linkages

and some flicking through the photos and books, but job done.

I should say at this point the previous "good session" I had fitted the inlet manifold, exhaust manifold + gasket, cleaned up the mounting studs and attached with liberal coatings of copper grease.

The fuel union recently purchased was crap. It fits between each carb. It looks good, being braided steel outer, with SS jubilee clips at each end but......................it was too short !!!!!

So I cleaned up the old one and re-used the existing springy clips.....they look as good as new.

This was the only ( union) thing I was sure would be O.K from " darn sarf"  so an ONION would have been as good.

The heatshield did fit fine though, so the trip and cash was not wasted.

I still have to get another thermostat housing from the MG owners club as the last one purchased is still not the correct one.

What makes this difficult is I'm not trolling up and down this fair isle anymore so it will have to be good ole Mr Postman. And a top water hose is also required and an oil pressure pipe union (x2) which sheared on undoing. 

The oil cooler and hoses are in place and finished, the fuel overflow pipes also.

So, soon I will be able to refit the fuel tank, re-connect electric sender unit, fill with lifefluids and try starting her up......................................................perhaps.

I'll have to give some time and effort in to what I think I might have forgot.

I have a feeling that I may have to re-fit the dashboard first which means connecting the heater vents which means fitting the heater which means re-furb to heater which means finding lost vent trim and so on.

Who said it was going to be easy. 

At least i have ALL of next week off................more then, possibly.

Above are the Heatshields...........are they the same ?  ( yes they both fit !!!)

All Change.................slow,slow ,stop.

Well its finally come to pass.
Yes I bit the bullet and handed in my notice.
Not shared with you on the blog was my restlessness to do something different, to help people and to sleep in my own bed every night.
So three years ago I embarked on an access course at the local college with the aim of applying for a place on a Radiography course. I never thought I would be offered a place. The courses are very over subscribed and its not your usual "student life". Being medical the course is very tough with 3 years academic study and 3 years on placement all crammed into 3 years !!
I thoroughly enjoyed the access course and would reccomend it to anyone, even if its just for fun.
I ended up with the equivalent of 3- 1/2 A levels ( I added extra units to enhance my chances of selection) The people were like me ( older) all had busy lives and jobs and we all had collective whinges, fun and a great sense of camarardarie ( spelling!!)

It was a tough decision to make when I discovered I had been offered a place. It involved all the family and everyone has had to make sacrifices. I must admit this was very tough for the wife as she's the worrying type and was at her wits end over the decision.
However, I will do all I can not to let anyone down over the next three years.

So the restoration will go even slower now. Finances are stretched to breaking point so I may have to resort to begging and borrowing.....................I'm good at this though.

I will miss my friends and associates from work, the company car, laptop ( now replaced with new one with a FULL KEYBOARD- note KL) expense account, mobile phone, whining customers, hours of e-mails ( replaced with hours of essays) motorway traffic jams, M25, A14, M1, A12, A405, Slough , Jedburgh and last but not least all the comfortable little offices I had dotted around the UK ( Motorway service stations to the un-initiated )
I will reallly miss the large Wild bean cafe Latte's that kept me sane.

Another positive note is I've stopped smoking at last, and kept the alcohol units under 15 for most of the last few weeks........................here's to a healthy lifestyle.
Well I could hardly be let loose in hospitals as an Oliver Reed apprentice could I .

So expect in the coming months some restoration fun, a few stories of acadedmic life and other hospital related tales from a student radiographer.
Please note that since I'm now a professional in the health service I'm expected to behave like one. Back to the old lifestyle then ??????? I'll let you know.

Restoration wise I'm afraid I have left a little gap in proceedings.
What is done is as follows :-
All of bodywork, except :- Rear inner wing repair section, sanding of F- RH lower wing repair section, Bonnet clean up, Rear tailgate clean up, chop off front chassis ends to accomodate chrome bumper mounts. Weld in captive nuts.

Engine :- Fit carbs & manifold. Buy two new hoses for cooling system. Fit oil cooler hoses + gauge pipe ( broken when removing former) refurb and fit heater box.

Suspension :- Inspect, clean, rebush, fit lower springs ( got on e-bay) Front & Back

Well you get the picture, its coming along nicely. But so is winter !!!

Any donations gratefully recieved.

Back to Black..........hopefully not

Well, technically black is not a colour, but it is for the purposes of my vehicles previous owner is must have been a very attractive and desirable colour.
I say this because I spent the best part of four hours removing some/most of the stuff liberally covering anything remotely not chrome plated in the engine bay.

Lets start at the beginning of this topic though.
The cylinder head is on and looks, well..............not like it did before.
Before everything in the engine bay was either dark oily greasy black or covered in "horsehair" fluff from the shedding of the under bonnet lid protection.
Actually everything was covered in both. So thats why the cylinder head now looks like a cylinder head. Albeit still has some small corners still holding onto the black paint applied at some stage. The Ally intake manifold was the same. This however could take a lot more aggresion being lighter than the C.H.

The carbs were next on the list for re-furb. They looked awfully dark and "fluffy".
Trouble was meths,white spirit, petrol & thinners didn't touch them.
A trip to the local boy racers heaven ( Motor Factors, full of wheels,graphic equilisers, polish and LED lights ) and a large spray can of "Carb Cleaner" purchased, together with spray on engine de-greaser.

Well they both worked a treat and did exactly what they said on the tin.
The carbs look .................well again almost new. I enjoyed cleaning the carbs. I sat down the drive under the shade of a tree, jacksy parked on nice plastic chair with all stuff laid our before me on old pinic table. What joys !.
I even managed to find an old battery powered toothbrush for the fiddly corners of the carb.
The engine de-greaser was a little scary as it stated rinse off with water.
I'd just covered the entire LH side of the engine and chassis frame.
However, I bit the bullit and sprayed with high powered cold water and guess what, it works. No more smelly, oily, fluffy engine.
To prove a point on the progress here's a before and after .........look up

( for some reason I still can't reposition the photos where i want them...come on Blogger, sort it!!!! )
Lots of the ancillaries have been cleaned too. My point about the black is that at some stage in its early life the car had had a good and thorough ( mild understatement) respray from white to black. This included the inside of all the boot,door, bonnet, sills, engine bay and ancillaries including THE WIRING.
So it took me four hours of back breaking cleaning the wires with thinners to reveal the colour before I could connect up the various ancillaries. Plus the sticky and grimy black electrical tape binding so many wires.

What lets the whole thing down is the area where the large smiths heater sits. It looks a little rusty and still white in parts. I didn't think they would remove this when converting the colour since it took me best part of 2 days to remove.

Next post will reveal what I found hiding in the car from Mr Bodgit & Scarper, or was it Mulder from the X-files ? .................more soon !

Now I've published the post the pictures don't do it justice. I'll try to give a better before and after of the carbs..............promise. And, And ,And what colour should I spray it ?

My feelings say Carmine Red, wifey wants old English white ( Original colour) kids say pearlescent light Blue...........................tell me what you think !!!!!!!!!!!!!!please