Fighting wind and rain

 Next up on the never ending list was the handbrake lever refurb. Gawd, what an ordeal. It was stiff as hell to move up/ down, very very stiff. I managed to mangle the slightly mangled workmake jaws even more gripping the lever plate and trying to move it. Left it it soak in WD40 for a while and levered some more, not much difference !. So I did what I normally do, ignore it for a while and get on with something else. 

Halfway through, still very stiff. Why I didn't re-attach it to get better leverage I don't know. Old age and senility probably. More of that next post, if I remember !

Some of the chemicals used of late

Namely the cable itself. It came away from the car easily enough, except for the guide under the battery box. That was a swine. A pozidrive screw inserted from the top which was impossible to see. It was only after being 15 minutes on my back under the car, freezing cold and getting all the rusty crap falling onto my face that it dawned on me the nut on the underside was spinning because the screw ( not yet seen) was turning.

The cable itself was also very very stiff, neigh on impossible to move back and forward. Some impromptu invention saw me attach one end to the hosepipe mounting and the other to a bush on the drive the spray with WD40, several times. Still very stiff, then I found out maybe why.

The photos a bit blurry, but, the nylon sheath over the wire had split about halfway along its exposed  end near the handbrake pivot. A little heat from the heat gun cured this "snag" but it needed many more soaks and slides yet. I thought f**k it, leave it to soak vertically for a few days. I took off all the hardware off at the pivot end and noticed the spring had all but rusted away, another little purchase requied then, pfft !

It was actually hung up in the shed with a finger of a rubber glove over the top end full of oil.

So on to something else while waiting oil to seep, small packet to arrive and weather to settle. 

All of this occured over a period of about 12 days waiting for the wind and rain to stop. UK weather is difficult to predict and reports often change between bedtime and breakfast so its a frustrating lottery.

Whilst I had on another subsequent day time, inclination and sunshine I tackled the seat runners which were easy to find as they always fell on my head in the shed when I was rooting out long stored away parts.

They were tightly bound together with very old dry flakey masking tape. The bolts and washers had fallen off the tape and languished behind my MT bike a 1.5 mtr drawing board 3 rolls of carpet in black binliners and other assorted " sizeable" items. That hunt was for another day, on with the wire brushing. 

Since I had made a good job of the seats I debated how far I should go with the runners. After all they won't be seen.

However I found a can of  Halfords nice silver long abandoned due to the nozzle being blocked and long since lost. Found a new nozzle also. Decision made. Result below.

I even found the bolts and spacers pretty quickly too. Well six of the eight spacers, I'm using two nuts which have the same dimensions as the spacers...result.

I even managed to run a tap down the seat bolt holes. 1/4" unf I think,or maybe 5/16".

Another task completed last weekend was the fitting of the under carpet deadening. What a joyous task that was. So great to work with, soft, sticky, easy to cut and pliable.

 Lo

This was acheived at quite a speed as the weather was looking very dark and brooding. Managed it just before the rain and darkness set in. My only criticism is that the covering ( neoprene like rubber) is quite soft and easily damaged but the glue backing remains. Its going to be a swine if ever I have to remove it.

I bought another two metres of similar stuff but with foil backing to finish off the footwells and rear seat/ rear wheel arches. This has not been fitted yet but feels much stiffer and maybe not as sticky. We shall see.

Amidst all this on another sunny day I cleaned the fuel tank ( also done several years ago ) but this time removed the fuel float assy to see the rust inside the tank. I was dreading this as its been out and back on when i first got the car but i never looked inside.

Good gawd.................. it looks good and just about rust free. The float assy looked brand new too !

About time I had some good luck with the project. As well as the small blob of Araldite I applied all that time ago to a small rust hole was solid as a rock. Just light surface rust staining in a few areas and it looks good as new.

The Araldite can be seen just left of centre, gladly painted over with slightly thinned down Hammerite.

The tank fittings had long since dissapeared so I ordered a kit from MG hive together with other missing nuts, bolt and washers. They came the following day, but so did the rain ! As did four days up in the NE of England seeing daughter #1.

The fitting of the tank and attendant tubes, wires and screws is another story, of frustration and weather watching. More soon.

,

Two steps forward one step sideways

 At least I'm heading in the right direction.

Fitted today ( after 3 days of absolutely pissing with rain ) the three fuse holders that wizzo auto elect Tony condemned. Took  2 weeks to get hold of them and used yet another supplier. MGOC had none in stock, Bhive didn't stock them and ANG/Mechspec neither. Only option was Moss ( they have the most info  on-line but are the most expensive) not to mention their tech set up for order processing , see last post !.  Trouble is I forgot to take a snap of them fitted, doh.

So on to fitting the interior sound deadening ( 6mm closed cell rubberised foam with adhesive side)

Gave the areas a good clean with white spirit and a light blow with heat gun whilst I cut out the shapes. See below for me trying to make the most of the 1 mtr x 3 mtr length. After all I am a Yorkshireman so I like getting my value for money.

One side had a newspaper template made comprising of floor, outer footwell, inner footwell, sill vertical, toeboard and transmission tunnel. The templates are simply turned over for the other side with only minor amendments for the drivers side inner due to the pedals. It took ages to maximise the 3 mts square mass with the templates but as it was getting late I was glad to finish, so in the shed it all went until a good day weatherwise.

Saturday dawned bright , sunny if a little bit breezy. I also felt a little better myself as since my Covid booster I felt rather tired and foggy. Onwards and upwards.

I really dreaded fitting the sticky sided closed cell rubber stuff. I was convinced It wouldn't stick or just unfurl half way through. No fears though, the stuff was a dream to fit. Test fitted before removing the backing, trimmed as necessary even with crap scissors.

According to the template planning I was toeboards and footwell outer shapes short ( both sides) so I did a very Fufferfour thing and ignored them all completely. Did the trans tunnel first, then floors, then  inner sides finally the sill verticals both sides. I used a couple of large offcuts to make the inner footwells in 2 pieces each and job done. Even had a couple of sizeable rectangles to do the door skin inner both sides. Well chuffed with the result.

Before

After

Next job is to refurb the handbrake mechanism as it looked a little manky ( rusty) as did the underside mechanism, spring and adjuster as well as the fuel lines looking flaky. Also to be done is the rear seat cover fitting and I've still not bled the brakes yet. Son No 1  ( I only have the one son, same as No 1 daughter, yes they are non identical twins) is 3 nil down in the favours stakes. Parenting means you are forever at the service of their needs. As he was ready to set a date for helping he had an urgent repair on his house that need my assistance. Hey ho.

Deffo next job is to protect the sound deadening as the rubber is rather delicate. I have tons of carpet in the shed left over from hallway refurb a couple of years ago. This will be used on the outer of the car under the new cover to give some air circulation. Also employed in the car over the polythene .

I had to add this photo from the dog sitting day for said son on what must have been the rainiest day of the year so far. It still makes me and wifey laugh at the sheer misery of us both out and about in that crap weather. Little boots enjoyed in not one bit, for hours.

I also purchased from Amazon a 6 layer winter cover which arrived nearr the end of todays efforts. Its massive, thick and silver. So gone is the Swedish thick timber polythene which has served its purpose well for about 8 years. It will be re purposed to protect the deadening whilst bleeding the brakes etc. 

More room in the shed too as an added bonus now the carpets gone. Sadly a load of  stacking crates being given away by out local bistro/ coffee shop has replaced them. But at least its organised storage yet to be utilised. I also took the opportunity whilst in the shed to review whats stored in there. F**k me , lots of MG bits. I did find things I knew I had, had lost and now found again. Like the seat runners. All taped up some 10 years ago. The writing on the masking tape had long since dissapeared and unfortunately so had the  8 spacers and nuts. They were found in a random ice cream tub in another  box. I think the writing on the crispy masking tape said " look in the ice cream tub" !.

More very soon..............depending on the weather of course.

One step forward three steps sideways.

 A few weeks back I fitted the new secondhand shorter springs and painted the suspensions in black hammerite ( at least the parts I could reach).

Whilst doing this I noticed a lack of castleated nut and split pin on the upper fulcrum LH side. A nylock nut was employed, this is an acceptable substitution according to MG OC. So I thought that whilst I was fitting the grease nipples and bleed nipples, I did an unusual thing. I looked in the Haynes manual for the torque setting for said bolt ( upper fulcrum ) 40 lb/ft.

No way could I get the nut to anything like this as there must have been only two threads engaging on the nyloc nut. 20 ft/lbs was the max I could manage without the nut spinning. Very risky indeed so used MG Hive for a new pair of bolts, castleated nut and split pin. The threads on the old one were badly cross threaded.

So easy to order, efficient staff and quick. Not so with most other vendors. And the part came in 2 days.

Some vendors are painfully slow, inputing details, doing the search even when you know the part number, checking address, da de da ditto. I'm whinging now because with my new found enthusiasm and funding I've tried most of them lately. The chap from Moss was very nice but painfully slow on a circa 1970's ZX spectrum computer, was confused because my name and postcode showed someone else !!!!!!!. In fairness it sounded like it was his first day. One of many to come it think with their computer set-up.

Back to the adventure. Fitted the bolts easy peasy. I expected trouble aligning the slots in the castleated nut with the hole in the bolt, but no, job done, torqued up to 40 ft/lb, more grease pumped into nips.

Cor what a faff fitting the lower grease nipple though. Its angled about30 degrees from the vertical and impossible to get a nut on due to the proximity of the brake dust shield. Managed it eventually with a bit of medeival sourcery and derring do attitude. I also found the location of the third nip whilst fitting the RH fulcrum bolt. On the RH side its at the front middle. On the LH side its at the back middle. Another task complete.

Next job up was seam sealing along the footwells and inner sills plus any other ( lots) of misc patch welds in the floor area.

No.

A step sideways. I'd read that if new doorskins are fitted ( mine has, several years ago) that seam sealer shoud be applied on the upturned inner edges. It took ages !

Couldn't find the caulk gun in the bowels of the shed, found one that didn't work then one that did.

Caulk all dried up in tube. Trip to Wickes to buy another tube. Got home the knocked white spirit over so back to Wickes again for another !

Did LH door on back and lower edges, front edge impossible without taking door off. No chance of that.

Cleaning the footwells was another matter. Tried Meths ( methyated spirit ) first. Rubbish, took ages to dry and didn't clean very well. Tried  "Gunk", I had high hope for this but same as meths, rubbish.

The problem appeared to be the original rubber sound deadening. Iv'e decided to leave it in situ, whats left of it , around 70 %. Its only been removed on the outer edges and footwell ends where I welded years ago. Fortunately I'd Red leaded soon afterwards. Cleaning just seemed to soften the edges of the rubberey stuff and make it snotty and smear. Lots of dust and crap was also ingrained into it as well. You could be sweeping the grime up till doomsday and it will still keep coming.

So I bought another tin of Hammerite from Halfords ( yet another trip out) but this time I'd read you could  thin Hammerite with white spirit, not the very expensive Hammerite thinners. I gave it a try. It worked. Still all the fluff and grime got into the seamsealing but by this point I didn't care.

Sat in the shed is 2 mtrs of sound deadening bought a few weeks ago after lots of soul searching and guilt at the amount I'm spending of late, not to mention the hours wifey don't see me as I'm a man obsessed.

My choice would have been Dynamat, or Noico or some other horrendously expensive stuff, but considering most of my original sound deadening is still there I bought sticky 8mm rubberised foam for £26.00.

Whilst waiting for the paint to dry in the LH footwell area I moved on the th RH cleaning. But first remove the handbrake lever. Two very tough Phillips screws, one other Impossible to move with ensuing gnarled slots.

This meant drilling out carefully with three drill sizes, then inspecting said lever and deciding it needs a clean-up and refurb..........another row on the to-do list.

A view halfway through the Hammeriting.

Almost finished

I decided to tidy up the wiring in the engine bay whilst waiting for the paint to dry. In real time I did this the previous day as I tend to have several thing ongoing at the same time. 

 

Before, as left by me and wonder auto electrician Tony, waiting for new In line fuses to be delivered.

After.

Took all day to do this, under the new fuse box, relays and ignition box. As usual I spent even more time wondering what the three stray wires are. I also hooked up the horns. Pfffft. One pair of purple wires gives a constant voltage thus loud horns, the other pair of purples does nothing.

More to follow later on in the week on other trials and tribulations.

Amazing progress at last

 The seats are done ,

I think they look rather good. Not perfect, but no wrinkles and fairly firm.

Let me pass on a helpful tip. I was going to buy new seat base foams but that would bo approx £55. I may still do yet but thats for much later on in its life. 

I used a wallpaper steamer on the old foams and poof  !!

They came up like they were inflated pretty much.  Bear in mind it won't make them firm again just back to its almost new size. Time will tell how long they keep their shape.

I couldn't resist starting her up after the electrician had finished but alas it was not to be. There was a constant leak from the gatorade bottle lash up tank and a big drizzle from the butterfly pivot hole.

So I decided to really splash out and buy a new sealing washers for the spindle at the grand sum of £1.25 each. Sorry to say that didn't work, it was still leaking this time much worse.

So I splashed out another £30 odd quid on a seal kit from Burlen fuel systems. 

Meanwhile removed the carbs to clean and fettle. What a struggle. He RH lower carb nut is really difficult to get at and it has to be unwound about 1/2" . The thread was very tight and it took a lot of effort, bent over the wing legs splayed. The other three were not as difficult but nevertheless a long back aching job.

There is a very good Youtube vid by a nice Irish chap named Endfloat who refurbs his HIF4 carbs so I followed this and it proved a great help. The RH needle spindle was stuck solid and float bowl full of a white chalky residue everywhere. So The cleaning was well justified as it would never have run properly anyway.

I'll not bore you with the details but several chemicals were used to get a cleanish looking finish. They all failed. I put four of the seals in the wrong way round then after fitting had to remove them again as the throttle spindle lever was the wrong way round.  Repeat for the choke lever assy, dohh !

One further tip I would reccomend is run a 5/16 unf die down the studs and re-tap the nuts too. This made the awkward nuts fairly spin on.

Looks much much better now and hopefully now no leaks as the gatorade bottle has had a smear of silicone sealant.

Also fitted a new front hose easy peasy. Fitted new fusebox and new starter relay. Bound the behind grille wiring after a bit of tidying up and now have only six stray wires to sort out for the horns, all Purple and purple/black but thats for later. 

Fitted new front brake bleed nipple and grease nipples because after a dog sitting favour for my son he promised to assist me at the weekend.

The lovely 6 month old Boots, an Italian greyhound ( a tiny whippet)

Just ordered a quantity of sound deadening so next up is a thorough cleaning of the inside, a little seam sealing then maybe test fit the seats.

Before all of the above happened though I fitted the dash and dash top and crash pad. This was by far the most knuckle grazing and frustrating job. It took all day and at one point was ready to walk away through frustration. Its in now though and looking good.

Just the heater controls to sort out and a few switches and it may be time to turn attentions to bodywork prep, bumbers/ brackets and front spoiler.

 More very soon folks.