Carol,
Ah, my favorite subject- MGA technical stuff! I have been reading your
posts with great interest. I hear enthusiasm in the words. MGA's are such
good looking cars, its tough not to be excited.
Concerning the front wheel bearings- I have not heard where A's have weak
front bearings. Barney beats his to a pulp and I don't remember that he
said these gave him problems. Personally, I would replace them with new
versions of what came out. "Improvements" are not always for the best.
Concerning lubrication of sliding surfaces such as splines- I would use
synthetic greas such as Mobil 1 (no, I do not make money off Mobil sales, I
just like their products) Vaseline is not a lubricant per se. I am also
not sure whether it evaporates over time.
Concerning thread lubrication- I guess I don't understand why you would
want to lubricate them. For assembly, I would use Loctite on ALL
fasteners. There are different grades- I believe Blue would be used for
most fasteners. If originality is not a concern, I would recommend using
stainless steel fasteners wherever possible. Clean any reused bolts well
and, after assemble, use some rust preventative coating (paint?)
The only thread that I can think of that you would want to lubricate is the
Knock off thread (my car doesn't have wire wheels so it didn't occur to me
right away). Again, I would use synthetic grease. I suppose Vaseline may
look cleaner but, having had to use a torch to get one wheel off my B years
ago, I would go for as much protection as I can get.
Good luck with the A.
Bill Eastman
61 MGA presently hibernating.
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