[Mg-t] Burned out, restarted

[Richard Lindsay]

Hello Friends,

Yes, I burned out...but not on the T-Series. For the past few weeks I
have been working on my '78 Lotus Esprit. Its a great car and the
engine is a dream BUT, its the hardest car I have ever serviced! And
that's from a guy who restored a Testarossa! The problem is that
everything is just a little too far out of reach, or behind something
else, or whatever. For weeks I had bruised ribs from leaning in over
the rear wings for hours at a session.

Don't stop reading because there's restarted MG work yet to come. But
first, I do report that the Esprit's engine and engine bay are
completely restored and the Lotus 907 is running and looking great!

http://aubard.us/Esprit/20150613_164907.jpg

http://aubard.us/Esprit/20150625_105355.jpg

http://aubard.us/Esprit/20150619_160833.jpg

Okay, enough of that.

Today I wiped down the TD's paint, using a detailing spray, of course,
and installed the windscreen! I had previously restored it by
polishing the glass and chrome until it sparkled. The body mounts were
already on the car where I had put them earlier. They too are polished
nicely and mounted on new rubber. Of course, I had to unmount one to
fit the windscreen in place. I chose the left hand mount to loosen.
The attachment nuts on that one are much easier to reach on LHD cars.
Here's how it looks today.

http://aubard.us/MGTD/20150705_143733.jpg

Yes, the headlight mount should be red but I forgot to paint them!
Ergo, they are now black. That's not a problem that's hard to fix,
if/when desired. The grill color is tan to match the interior - of
course. But I do have a qustion.

The oil pressure gauge works perfectly but the temperature gauge is
inoperative. That doesn't bother me much but I will eventually want to
have the gauge repaired. Do you have a recommendation? It is hot here
in Houston so temperature monitoring is a concern, but in my early
tests, the 'correct' coolant thermostat is handling the heat just
fine, as verified by my IR thermometer.

So that's my quick update. Tomorrow the Esprit goes to storage
affording extra garage space for the TD work. Right front wing left to
mount. Oh, that begs another quick topic.

I mounted the left front wing only to discover that it sits a little
too low. Said another way, the bonnet line is too high. When I mounted
the tub, I used new correct pads and the cowl has fresh rubber. With
the bonnet resting snugly on the radiator and the cowl, the wing is
too low. Well, its about right in the front at the radiator, but too
low in the rear. I haven't loosened the bolts and attempted to drift
it upwards a bit. That may work. If not, I may elongate the mounting
holes in the wing so it can fit better. There is certainly enough
adjustability in the running boards to make that work. Still, your
stories of reassembly would be appreciated.

Happy 5th of July!

-rick, '53 TD and 9 other fun cars