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Rebuilding Ramblings

To: british-cars@encore.com
Subject: Rebuilding Ramblings
From: Scott Turner <srt@CS.UCLA.EDU>
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 91 12:52:09 PST
I see that Scott Fischer has finished his engine rebuild, and that's
prompted me to post a little update about my rebuild ('79 MGB).  As
you may recall, this all started when I was wandering across a
cornfield and I heard a ghostly voice whisper:

                "If you rebuild it, it will run..."

The final major step of preparation - buying a second car to drive
during the rebuild - was completed about a week ago when I bought a
friend's 1981 Toyota Corolla for $800.  Quite a change from the MGB -
a purring quiet Japanese motor (with 100K on it, no less) - and a
tendency to sway through turns and bounce the back end around a bit.
I think it needs new rear shocks.  Did I mention it is painted BRG? :-)

The rebuild is happening at the Auto Hobby Shop at the Los Angeles Air
Force base.  The Shop has about 30 bays, four lifts, a complete paint
shop, air compressors, part washers, a steam cleaner, a tool crib,
workbenches, creepers, jacks, and so on.  All of which is available to
service personnel and selected others for $5/day or $90/month.  It's
amazing how much more fun it is to work on a car under professional
conditions.

As for the work itself...  About 10 hours of work has the engine just
about out of the car.  I still need to break the prop shaft, lower the
transmission and pull the engine, but all the ancillary components
have been removed.  There were a few surprises.  The brake servo
vacumn line was in bad condition, and may be partially to blame for
mushy brakes.  A small vacumn T had broken since the last time I had
the hood open.  The clutch slave cylinder hose is becoming cracked and
old, and I may replace it, though I'm not keen on dealing with yet
another hydraulic system.

The inside of the air duct/air filter assembly was oily.  Any ideas on
how that occurred?  Might it be indicative of a failed EGR or gulp
valve?  (No PCV valve on late model MGBs.)  I hadn't planned on
replacing either valve, but if this indicates a problem obviously I
will.
                                        -- Scott Turner


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