1977 MGB

So what happened to my B?

2010-12-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

Out of the blue yesterday I received a phone call from a nice chap from Ohio. Apparently he bought a blue MGB from someone in West Virginia in September and had been doing some online research about the car. He came across my blog and thought the engine bay pics looked familiar. Turns out he bought my old B! We had a pleasant chat, and I have to say that I was pleased to hear that the car was in safe hands. Happy motoring and safety fast!

MGB Blogs

2008-12-26T08:19:00.001-08:00

I thought I would compile a list of other MGB blogs after a comment from a blogger on my last post so, in no particular order here goes... I'll add more to this post as I find them. Feel free to contribute by commenting.

Blogs:

mylastmg.blogspot.com

mgbracer.blogspot.com

dans65b.blogspot.com

73mg.blogspot.com

mymgb.blogspot.com

1972mgb.blogspot.com

devinemg.blogspot.com

mgbproject.blogspot.com

thinkracing.blogspot.com

mdsmg.blogspot.com

myoldmgb.blogspot.com

78mgb.blogspot.com

mikes76mgbproject.blogspot.com

in-the-key-of-b.blogspot.com

whyisitnotworkingright.blogspot.com

1974mgb.blogspot.com

www.keepthemdriving.blogspot.com

timsbritishiron.blogspot.com

Enthusiast's websites (not exactly blogs)...

miller-garage

www.mgclassiccars.com

http://mgphoton.com/

And finally a lego MGB: lmotd.blogspot.com/2008/02/mgb-roadster.html

Farewell to the B

2008-12-03T14:16:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately my car was involved in a wreck (not my fault - I was stationary at the time). It was a total loss (although from the pic it doesn't look that bad). Anyhow, they came to take it away today.

I won't be buying it back, and I'll be getting out of MG ownership for a while I think. But I'll leave this blog up in case anyone finds it useful.

I would recommend getting an agreed upon value for your classic car with your insurer - this will reduce uncertainty about the insurance claim. Your best bet is to use Haggerty or some other specialty insurer.

So I'm signing off. Safety Fast and drive carefully!

1/17/2009: As a postscript - I learned today from my friends at MGExp.net that my car was sold at the auction for $2500 to someone in West VA. I hope they enjoy the car.

Electric MGB

2008-10-13T06:34:00.000-07:00

I don't normally post stuff that is not related to my car, but as my car is running pretty well right now, I thought I would branch out a little. This guy (on youtube) has documented how he built an electric MGB. It looks pretty simple, although, as we know, the devil is in the details. Anyhow, check out the youtube video (you'll want to watch his earlier videos too.

MGB Poster

2008-09-30T20:11:00.000-07:00

Over on mgexperience.net there is a thread for people to make their own MGB posters. Here is a great one.

Cylinder Head Identification

2008-09-08T19:39:00.000-07:00

A friend was looking at my cylinder head and he noticed that it doesn't have air rail holes drilled for the air pump. Hmmm. Very puzzling. On the suggestion of folks at MGExp I pulled the valve cover gasket and made a note of the number. The head is a number 12H4736. Pat# 565394. This is actually a British Leyland produced replacement head for the B. I think they came without the air rail holes drilled so that they could be sold in both the US and UK market.

If you want to ID you cylinder head, here are a couple of useful sites...
http://www.flowspeed.com/cylinder-ident.htm
and

http://www.mgbmga.com/tech/mgb25.htm

Ray, owner of the famous supercharged B writes on his site...

The MGB engine used four basic cylinder head designs. The fourth version of the cylinder head was a slightly modified version of the 12H4736 cylinder head first introduced on the Austin Marina and used in the UK/European market RB MGB (74½-80) as Original Equipment.
This cylinder head was also used as a replacement cylinder for the CAM1106 on the US RB MGB (74½-80). They are essentially the same as the CAM1106 with slight modifications. It was referred to as the "lead-free" cylinder head and was induction hardened to withstand higher combustion temperatures of lead-free fuel.

The process involved 1% tin being added to the molten iron before casting, additional depth was used which was machined off before the induction hardening process was applied to the valve seat area, all valve seats. This was a complex process and applied only to the US market cylinder heads. It used 1.5625" inlet valves and 1.343" exhaust with a more efficient "Open" Kidney-Shaped combustion chambers featuring a larger squish area as well as reduced promontory between the valves, a chamber height of .375" with a volume of 39cc, (UK 43cc). The rear rocker shaft pedestal had an offset oil feed in order to accommodate the redesigned cooling passages that assisted in preventing overheating of the rear cylinder. These larger coolant ports also provided a greater service area to assist in dealing with higher combustion temperatures that resulted in efforts to reduce emissions. It has air injection ports and a water choke outlet at the rear of the cylinder head. The main difference compared to the CAM-1106 was a slightly more improved intake port design and the outer shaping of the head was revised giving a much smoother appearance. The Patent Number 565394 located by the thermostat housing was removed and marked inside the cylinder head.
We felt this cylinder had that little extra and when ported would provide us with low and middle range torque & power for increased street performance that we wanted.

Most likely the original head cracked and was replaced with this one. All fascinating stuff...

Clutch slave cylinder part deux...

2008-09-06T19:39:00.000-07:00

A good while ago I rebuilt my clutch slave cylinder - to tackle a leaking problem. Well, it still leaked. Recently it has been leaking at a pretty good rate leaving plenty of clutch fluid on the garage floor. I think the rebuild failed because the drum was pitted. Anyhow, I installed a brand new cylinder today and I'm hoping that the leaking will stop. Frankly, given the relative low cost of a new cylinder, I would probably recommend just going ahead and replacing it with a new one rather than messing with a rebuild.

Bleeding the clutch system is a lot easier with a Gunson Eezibleed, but you still need someone to do a little pumping of the clutch.

Bonnet props

2008-09-06T19:36:00.000-07:00

I just installed new gas filled bonnet props. They are really great - they allow the bonnet to open to near vertical with no effort. I ordered them here from a guy on MGExperience.net.

Brakes part deux

2008-08-17T17:43:00.000-07:00

My post a couple of days ago talked about looking at the back brakes. I noted a few problems.
1. There was a crimp in the rear brake line - probably due to someone trying to tow the car with chains around the axle (even though there are tow hook spots on the back).
2. A leaking wheel cylinder.
3. The brake shoes were in the wrong way around, and some of the springs were aligned incorrectly.

So today I tackled these issues. I had ordered a new brake line from MossMotors. I also bought a new wheel cylinder from Advance Auto. You can get them online, but Advance could get me one in 24 hours with no shipping. Its worth bearing in mind that you might be able to get parts from your local auto parts store from time to time.

Before starting this project, I watched John Twists video on rear brakes again and took notes. Here is the video. Watch it over and over before you start!! I also used a Gunson Eezibleed - these are awesome - google it to get one.

First I dismantled the brakes. After jacking up and safely supporting the car on jack stands, I removed the brake shoes and springs. The cylinder is easy to get off, there is a U shaped spring clip on the back that holds it in place. You also have to remove the brake bleeder to get it off.

The new cylinder goes in pretty easily, although it is a bit of a pain getting that clip back in.

I put the shoes back in according to John Twists video. Basically one shoe is up, the other down. Also it is important to align the springs so that they don't interfere with other components.

The new brake line comes coiled. Its copper tubing with little nuts on the end that screw into the junction at one end (near the differential) and the wheel cylinder at the other end. You've got to be careful bending this so that it fits. I used the old tubing to get the basic shape and that worked pretty well.

Next, it is time to bleed the brakes. The Eezibleed hooks up to the spare tire and uses the air pressure to force brake fluid through the system. It literally took about 20 minutes to bleed the brakes.

The final part is adjusting the brakes. There is only one place to adjust brakes on an MGB and that is on the rear wheels. There is a square bolt that changes the spacing of the shoes. To set this bolt, first you tighten it until the wheels won't turn. Then jump in the car and pump the brakes. Hop out and see if the wheels turn. If they do, then re-tighten. If not back off the bolt a quarter turn. Hop in the car and pump the brakes again to see if the settings are good.

And while I had the car jacked up I tightened up the hand brake so that it only needs 4 or so clicks to be fully engaged.

Now the test drive!

Folks say that the stock MGB brakes are pretty good. I was previously unsure of this. I had never locked up the front wheels. Well, there are now black skid marks on the my street that attest to how keen my brakes are now. This service has certainly made a difference.

The whole thing took about 3 hours. Go ahead and do you brakes today if you haven't looked at them since getting the car!

Brakes and a tuneup.

2008-08-15T16:44:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I posted, largely because I haven't done any work on the car - which is good!! I've driven it quite a bit in the meantime. I did replace shoes and rotors on the front brakes a while ago and today I took a look at the back brakes.

Before you get started take a look at this video by John Twist. It goes through the components and assembly nicely.

To do the back brakes, its worth taking a look at them before you buy any parts. (If you can't get the drum off - check you don't have the handbrake on!) Here is what one side looked like

Clearly there is plenty of life left in these shoes, although the cylinder is leaking. I checked for movement in the components by depressing the pedal and making sure everything moved it should. Then I put the wheel back on. I'll order a new cylinder and do that replacement another day.

If you have a sharp eye, you'll note that both shoes are in the same way. This is not how they are supposed to be. One should be up and one should be down - they are not supposed to be symmetric. I actually just realized this and I'll fix them next time I have the brakes apart.

I also have a pinched brake line which was probably caused by someone trying to pull the car with a rope or chain around the rear axle. I'll replace that when I do the brake cylinder as bleeding the brakes will be called for.

I also did a few other maintenance items. I had noticed a little exhaust noise from under the car, so I re-positioned and tightened the exhaust brackets.

I also did a tuneup. This involved:
1. Check spark plugs and gaps. - The plugs were all nice a clean with no bad discoloration or oil.
2. Check timing. Its where I left it at 14 BTDC.
3. Check valve clearance. This is something I haven't done before, but it is pretty easy. Check out first these two videos.

First, it helps if you can turn over then engine from under the hood. This video shows you how to do it. But basically you run a wire from the brown/white pin on the ignition starter relay to the bottom fuse of the fuse box. I also disconnected the HT lead from the top of the coil.

The second video shows you how to set the valves - basically we are adjusting the gap between the tappet and the top of the valve. The system is easy once you see it! You follow the rule of 9. There are 8 valves. When a valve is in its lowest position, its' pair (they should add to 9) is the one to adjust. So the pairing is as follows:
1 - 8
2 - 7
3 - 6
4 - 5
5 - 4
6 - 3
7 - 2
8 - 1

You get the valve in to its lowest position by just turning over the motor.

I did this with a cold engine and set the gap at 0.015. It'll be a bit narrower when warm - and the shop manual recommends 0.013 for a warm engine. I'll probably go back and check it in a few days.

You do not want to set it too tight!!!! You'll wear out the cam and you'll hurt performance. If it is set right, the valves should sound like a sewing machine!

Finally, I put a 180F stat in and took out the 195. Its been running a little warm and I want to see if this makes a difference.

Oil change and lube!

2008-03-12T11:31:00.000-07:00

Changed the oil on Saturday and I remembered to lubricate the front suspension and steering. So, if you haven't given your swivel axles a good going over with the grease gun recently, then get out there and do it. It only takes a few minutes and it will prolong the life of those axles dramatically. You should do it every 2000 miles or so (even though the recommended interval is longer). The PITA part of it is getting the grease gun to work.

Next job - brakes!! I ordered the minor brake kit from Brittek and I plan on doing my brakes soon.

Electric radiator fan

2008-02-23T17:03:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to installing the new fan. That was after I put in the new radiator because I punched a hole in the old one. I'll still try and get the old one fixed though.

Installing the fan was pretty easy once I got going. I installed a thermostat control so that it comes on when the radiator is hot. I also wired it to the ignition side of the fuse box so that it will go off when the engine is turned off. Finally I included a bypass switch that is mounted on the dash (in place of the dimmer which I plan to bypass as it is useless). The bypass switch allows me to turn on the fan even if the thermostat hasn't kicked in. Basically an override. I even found a switch at advance auto that has a little red LED in it that comes on when the fan is on. Cool.

Ignition relay

2008-02-20T09:06:00.000-08:00

I installed an ignition relay last week. Its pretty easy really, basically you are using the power from the ignition switch (white wire) to turn on the relay and let power from the battery flow to the fuse box and the starter and coil. The advantage of this is that all that power no longer flows through the ignition switch.

The process is pretty straightforward. Incidentally, later model cars came with an ignition relay. My car had had it removed at some point! But adding a relay to an older car makes sense to.

Aftermarket cooling fans

2008-02-20T08:59:00.001-08:00

I am in the process of installing an aftermarket electrical cooling fan. This basically involves wiring up the fan that will sit in front of the radiator. Once this is installed and running, I will remove the belt driven fan.

Why?

Because: the belt fan draws constant HP. It runs whether I need it or not. For example, you don't need a cooling fan at 50mph. It also runs when I don't want the engine to be cooled - for example, when I start the car in the morning and its cold. The cooling fan is also quite noisy.

The later Bs came with twin electrical fans as standard, but my car had it removed at some point, so I am basically returning it to its earlier state.

OK - the point of the post...Be very careful installing the fan - they come with plastic wires that are supposed to be threaded through the radiator. I did this and punctured the radiator - DISASTER. So now I either get a new rad, or get this one fixed. A better solution is to build a mounting bracket for the fan. I'll post more details on my solution later.

Apparently, from others on MGExp forum, this is not a unique problem - other folks have inadvertently damaged their radiators installing these fans. So you have been warned.

Book Review: MGB and MGB GT problems and how to fix them

2008-01-26T18:57:00.001-08:00

MGB and MGB GT problems and how to fix them by Roger Williams tackles some of the more common MGB problems. It is written for the amateur mechanic and is very readable. Each chapter tackles a particular issue, for example, chapter 1 is titled "engine will not start from cold". The chapters are then nicely broken down into sub paragraphs that deal with the various aspects of the problem. Throughout there are excellent photo graphs. This is a great book. I have used it for dealing with specific problems, and also to give me some background information before I tackled some general maintenance problem. This is a great book, and a must have. I give it 9/10.

Book Review: How to power tune MGB

2008-01-26T18:37:00.000-08:00

How to Power tune MGB 4 cylinder engines for road and track by Peter Burgess is an interesting book, but I think it is of limited use for most amateur wrenchers who are just mucking around with their daily driver. Most of the modifications involve pretty drastic work to the cylinder head or fuel system and are really the only suitable for someone with a pretty high skill level and also some experience in machine shop work.

Having said all this, the book is still very interesting and provides a lot of information about how the potential of the engine can be realized. I enjoyed reading it, but I don't think that I'll be doing much from it any time soon.

So, I give it 6/10. For a shade tree mechanic, you can probably skip this one if you are looking for books that will help you work on the car.

Book Review: MGB Electrical Systems

2008-01-26T18:19:00.000-08:00

MGB Electrical Systems by Rick Astley is a fantastic book - a must have book for any amateur working on an MGB. The book is beautifully illustrated with lots of high quality pictures of components and very clear and well labeled circuit diagrams. The book is very well written and very readable.

The book is much more than a fix it manual. The first 7 chapters provides a lot of really useful introductory stuff. For example there are sections on tools and wire handling, electrical theory, fuses etc. The subsequent chapters each focus on a particular electrical system, for example, chapter 10 looks at the starting system. In each chapter, Astley outlines how the system works and what the major components are. He then outlines potential problems and diagnostics as well as solutions. The best way to approach any of the chapters is to read them from beginning to end before you start work and then have the book at hand as you go to work.

I give this one a 10/10.

Fixing a seat

2008-01-26T18:06:00.000-08:00

The hinge on the back of the drivers seat broke, basically making the seat useless. Rust was the problem, although the car is pretty much rust free, so I don't know if the seat was original or not. After some searching, I found a pair of seats on ebay. The vinyl on the seats was torn, but I wanted the frame. I basically used my seat cover and foam on the squab frame (the back of the seat) of the seat I bought on ebay. The "new" seat works great, and is pretty much as good as new.

Of course now I have to get sell the extra seat that I bought!

Temperature and Thermostats

2008-01-26T17:23:00.000-08:00

The car has always run pretty cool. In fact I don't think the temp gauge has ever made it more than 1/4 of the way to N, and that is the middle of the NC summer. Normally the temp gauge won't get above C. I checked the temperature sender and it was working fine. You can test it by just making a circuit with it and the temp gauge should go to H. The sender seemed fine. I pulled the thermostat, it was rated 180 F. It also worked OK when I dropped it in a pot of boiling water. I also have another one that I ordered from VB. This one is rated so 195 so I decided to experiment. First of all, the new one also worked fine. One difference was that the 180 F thermostat opened much wider than the 195, so it would provide much more rapid cooling.

OK, so I went ahead and swapped out the thermostats, and went for a long drive. First of all the temp gauge moved!! Very quickly it moved to the left of N, and pretty much stayed there all the time.

So what???
Well a few things...
First, the car reaches operating temperature much more quickly. This means that I can put the choke in more quickly. This will save gas, reduce emissions, and result in less running rich which can coke up the engine.

Second, the car is now running at a higher temp, and within reason, a hotter engine is a happier engine in that it will run more efficiently, and in fact generate more power.

The results were quite dramatic, the car drove much better and performance was better as well. Its amazing what a $5 part can do.

I am running a 195 thermostat, which I might need to replace in the summer with a lower temp rated one, but I think that the old one was opening too much and letter too much coolant flow through the engine.

For an excellent discussion of thermostats, see this site..
http://www.mgcarz.com/thermostats.html

The key point here is that a fully functioning thermostat doesn't prevent the car from overheating. As the car gets hotter the thermostat will be wide open and the radiator is working flat out. The thermostat does provide a minimum operating temp, unless of course it is sticking open, in which case the min temp is going to be too low.

Compression Test

2008-01-14T16:12:00.000-08:00

I did my first compression test on Sunday. The correct procedure is subject to a lot of debate but I did what I had seen others do. First, the car was cold. I removed the plugs and wires and tested the first cylinder first. I turned the engine over 10 times and recorded the value on the meter.

The results from the front to back were: 145, 140 140 145. The engine currently has about 116k on it. These numbers are pretty good. The nice folks over at MGExp suggested that these are well in line with where they should be. As a reference point a brand new rebuild should be around 150-160.

The important thing is that there is little variation between the cylinders. I could have done a wet test (putting oil in) to see if any variation was due to rings or valves, but given that these numbers were good, I decided not to worry about it.

Finally the front plug was a little sooty. I may be running too rich - remember I just put in bigger jets in the weber. So perhaps the next size down would be better. On the other hand, I haven't done much distance driving and most of the trips of late have been on cooler days with more choke, so that might be part of the issue.

Brighter brake lights

2008-01-10T18:09:00.001-08:00

My brake lights are really not that bright, so I decided to refurbish them a little. It was an easy project. I removed the lenses and put them in the dishwasher. The reflectors got a good cleaning and then were sprayed with a shiny silver paint. The end result is a big difference.

But what if this is not enough - what can you do to make them even brighter?

First of all, I also plan to install a third brake light on the luggage rack, so although this doesn't make them brighter, it will improve overall visibility. For the brake lights themselves, you might be tempted to put in halogen bulbs - but I have heard that these can melt the lenses. Also the extra current draw would shorten the life of the brake switch. LEDs are a possibility, but these have the drawback that they are directional, and therefore the reflectors will have no effect. Super bright LEDs are available, but they are pricey. Upgrading to more powerful incandescent bulbs will also strain the electrics, but you can get around this by installing a relay to handle the brakes.

For now, I'll stick with what I've done, and install the third brake light.

Steering Wheel

2008-01-10T18:06:00.000-08:00

Just a picture of the new "Tourist Trophy" steering wheel that I got for xmas. A huge improvement over the old rubbery one.

Weber Jets

2007-12-10T14:34:00.000-08:00

When I installed the new dizzy, it was recommended that I also change out the jets on the weber carb. The original jets are sized 140 and 135. Several folks who have installed recurved distributors have put in 150 primary and 155 secondary main jets. The air correction jets are left alone at 165 primary and 160 secondary.

The jets are tiny little brass screws with small holes in them. To replace the main jets you have to remove the air filter assembly and then remove the top of the carb. Removing the top is a little tricky because of the choke linkage. You can remove a small split pin that holds this in place.

After installing the new jets, I adjusted the timing and then the fuel mixture. I also altered the timing using the timing gun. With the vac on the carb plugged, I set the timing at around 14 BTDC. It doesn't ping (or knock) when I drive, so I assume this is good. Adjusting the idle took a little trial and error, and I may revisit it.

Prior to changing the jets I pulled the spark plugs. They were a little white, which can indicate a lean mixture, so the new jets were probably a good idea. The new plugs are gapped at 0.030.

National Motor Museum at Beaulieu

2007-12-03T20:05:00.000-08:00

I took a trip to the UK recently and managed to pay a visit to the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu. This is a must see for any car enthusiast. The link to the museum's website is here:

I also took quite a few pictures which are hosted on the photobucket site here

Enjoy the pics!

New Distributor...

2007-11-18T18:49:00.000-08:00

Distributors are pretty simple things really, they "distribute" the spark from the coil across the four spark plugs. You'd think that there wasn't much more to it, but it turns out that there is a whole dark art to distributors - and it lies in understanding "advance". The basic idea is that as the engine revs faster, you want to the spark to be a little earlier in the combustion cycle. But how? Well distributors have springs in them that cause the rate of advance to change as they spin faster. This can also be augmented by vacuum from the carb manifold. As the engine runs faster - there is more vac - and more advance. Great stuff!

What happens if your distributor is old and tired and has worn springs and perhaps the vac advance is not working too well? In this case the engine won't get the advanced ignition that it needs at higher rpms and the power will decline. The engine will feel "bogged down" at high rpms.

Ok, so back to my car... I have noticed that at 4000rpm the engine does bog, it basically doesn't really want to rev higher. This is despite the dual barrel weber where the second barrel kicks in at higher throttle. I think these symptoms are consistent with a worn distributor. So I ordered a new (rebuilt) one from Jeff at advance distributors.

Let me say something about Jeff. Here is a guy who knows distributors - the guy is an expert and frequently posts on mgexperience.net. He rebuilds and, very importantly, recurves distributors. Recurve???? This is the process of putting in new springs and advance mechanics to make sure that the advance works as it should and also that the advance works for your specific engine set up. When you order a distributor from Jeff, you have to give him full details about your engine, carb, exhaust and other mods, so that he can set the advance just right for your set up. Its really tailor made and better than the factory set up or any that you could get from a large retailer of parts.

Back to my car, again. I also ordered Pertronix electronic ignition and a higher power Flame Thrower coil. Electronic ignition removes the need for points and is virtually maintenance free and more reliable. The Pertronix set up also gives you more consistent sparks and more steady sparks.

Swapping out a distributor is not too hard. I removed the old one after noting the position of the rotor arm (very important). I put in the new coil, and put in the new distributor and wired it all up. The little mounting bracket is a little tricky as you have to loosen it enough to get the distributor out. I ended up removing the bracket - and loosening it. The main thing is to try and put the new one back in in roughly the same angle as the old one.

When the engine was fired up - it started and I adjusted the timing to 14 BTDC. I took it for a drive and WOW!!! First of all - no bogging down. The car would red line if I let it - and this is on the highway not when parked. Second the performance, particularly at higher revs was much better (this is consistent with the old unit having tired advance).

Setting the timing is pretty easy with a timing light. Mine is a dial back type that allows you to put in the amount of advance and then you adjust the timing so that the marks are a TDC. It makes it very easy. Jeff includes his recommended timing settings for the unit when he sends it to you, so it really takes out the guess work.

He has a great article written on timing. Here is the link...
Read this before you start messing with your timing.
http://www.mgexperience.net/journal/B-racer/1818

Anyhow, all in all, a nice upgrade that without a doubt bought me some extra HP. And as most folks know, HP is not cheap. In fact, with the new exhaust, carb, and distributor, I have probably bought all the cheap HP I can.

Jeff's website is here...http://www.advanceddistributors.com/