Hey, all --
For those interested, or who may have been following the saga, Rags is now
(nearly) roadworthy!
Today's been a long, brutal day in the shop. Replaced all 3 motor mounts,
fixed the 'cant' the engine had, remounted the front crossmember, tightened
down the rear wheels' bearing retaining nuts (FINALLY found a 1-5/16" socket
small enough to fit inside the hub), juiced up the brake system, put oil in
the motor and set her on her wheels!
Rags came back from the frame shop Tuesday, no problems and the weld looks
very good. During the frame pull, apparently they disconnected all my front
lights and then reconnected them in random order. Still running that one
down. They also completely separated the two upper halves of the steering
column. ::sigh:: Long time figuring that one out.
After 10 hours straight in the shop, I cranked over the motor and voila!
She's a car again! Even managed to drive her five feet.
Couple of little glitches to work out yet; the front light clip (that'll take
me an afternoon to sort out), the exhaust system no longer bolts up properly
(but then, it was set up when the car was crooked, so that doesn't surprise
me), and I've got two little problems leftover from the steering column
glitch. First, the horn sounds when I turn the wheel. Charming little
feature, that ... sort of like an audio turn signal for blind drivers.
Second, I can still move the steering wheel in and out about an inch or so.
While the car seems to steer fine, this sort of worries me. I don't know much
about the steering column on these cars, and I'd like any advice that can be
given.
I'm so up to my ears in work, and have been plugging away at Rags' little
problems for so long, I'm tempted to drive it (gingerly) up to Motorhead,
point at the steering column and say, 'Fix that, please' and come back in a
week or so.
Thanks to those who've listened and given advice over these last few months.
It's been a trial, but one I'm certain will be well worth it in the months to
come.
Cheers, all!
Corey
75 MGB 'Rags'
...nearly roadworthy
|