Well, last weekend saw some real progress on The Green Car. (To recap
for latecomers: '71 MGB, bought ...five years ago TODAY, 12-7; used as
daily transport almost continually till last April, when it made Ugly
Noises and wouldn't start. I freshened up the spare motor sitting on
an engine stand next to it, and with the help of Chris Kantarjiev,
Daren Stone, Robert Keller and Tim Pettenati from the Britcars list,
I have been doing the world's second slowest -- hi, TeriAnn! -- rebuild
of a British sports car.)
The last two big hangups, you might recall, were the exhaust header
and the engine mounts. In neither case would all the holes line up to
anything even remotely like the degree required to push a bolt (or a
stud) through them. I had tightened all the nuts, bolts and studs
on the header-to-downpipe linkup while the motor was out, and then
found that they're supposed to be left loose to fiddle the manifold
into place.
Well, Saturday, a combination of brains and, well, maybe not brawn but
at least beef, put paid to both problems. I couldn't get the motor
mounts to line up because they were supporting the weight of the motor,
so I put the floor jack under the oil pan and raised it an inch or two.
Then by pressing my, um, 2+cwt mass down on the fender, I was able to get
enough slip to tap the rubber-mounted plates into position. With a
minimum of force I got bolts through the holes and started tightening
them down.
While leaning on the driver's fender (which is on the carb side of the
motor in this country), I wondered whether I could apply enough mass to
do the same thing to the header studs. I could! Within a few moments, I
had got all the studs hooked up and tightened down. Then on went the
intake manifold, and work stopped when I realized I didn't have any
gaskets for the heat shield/carb setup. Too bad, it would have been
great fun to see the car with the carbs on it.
I did install the valve cover, the alternator, the ground strap (of
course, while I was bolting the front motor mounts into place) and the
alternator drive belt. I hooked up some of the wires, found one (only
the hot lead to the starter solenoid!) still hanging loose under the
car, and then decided that it would be easier to install the radiator
and shroud with another pair of hands to hold it in place while I
worked the wrench.
I still need to tighten all the back-plate mounting bolts and nuts,
replace the starter cable, put in spark plugs and an oil-pressure
gauge. I'll probably do the cheap-and-dirty thing and rig one up
into the bracket on the trans tunnel rather than on the dash, as
it's just so bloody miserable to get to that gauge. Then oil cooler
fittings as part of the radiator installation, carbs, fuel lines,
appropriate vacuum breathers, and finally of course the bonnet.
I'm going to play with it some more during upcoming evenings; the
weekend is still questionable, as this is Torrey's sixth birthday.
Both she and Bronwen have requested rides in it when it works again.
Torrey has actually helped me do some work on it this time, which
is a lot of fun; I recommend father-daughter restoration projects to
anyone with cars and kids. But I hope to have it running by next
week, and based on how *well* it runs, I will make a decision on
whether or not to enter it in La Carerra Classic (I want to say
"The La Carrera Classic," but that sounds as redundant to my ears
as does saying "RPMs" instead of "RPM"). I haven't run this motor
since November of 1991, and while we did a bottom-end rebuild on it,
I have no idea about the condition of the rings, the rocker shaft,
etc. I'll putter around the Bay Area for a month or so before I
commit to driving it to Mexico to race over 125 miles of Baja California
and then drive *back*. I may be a mental case, but I'm not an idiot.
Oh, and something else. If all goes well, I'll have a new LBC,
though I won't actually take posession of it for probably two to
three months, minimum. Miq Millman has found me what sounds like a
fabulous deal on a project Spridget -- great shape but motor and trans
out of the car, wife of present owner says sell or she'll have it
towed and crushed. Price might be just right. With luck I'll be
able to have the car repaired up in the PDX area and drive it home
either later this winter or early next Spring. Worst case, I'll
browbeat one of my pals up there into dragging it down to my house
where we'll spend *next* summer working on a BRG 1970 Midget instead
of a BRG 1971 B.
(I have to say... it's very rewarding to think that the B will run
again solely because of the effort expended by myself and my friends,
but it's also very rewarding to finally be in a position where I have
enough money to tell someone, "Make it go," and then I can drive it
home.)
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