[Mgs] MGB Fun and Games

[h.duinhoven at planet.nl]

Very nice you picked up the actual work on an MG Mark! 
When I bought my GT in 1990, I already had a Haynes manual. 
With the aid of this list, I almost tackled every issue on my MG with this book. 

Backfiring in one carb only I think it is bound to that carb. 
Air leaking into the carb via the butterfly shaft might be a cause. 
Any play in this?

Cheers,
Hans

71 BGT NRG

-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: Mgs <mgs-bounces at autox.team.net> Namens Mark J Bradakis
Verzonden: zaterdag 12 september 2020 15:47
Aan: mglist <mgs at autox.team.net>
Onderwerp: [Mgs] MGB Fun and Games

I've been messing with Little British Cars for some time.  First one I drove was a Mark 2 Sprite.  Nearly killed us all.  I was used to driving the family wagons, honkin' big land yachts where you don't make a turn, you come about.  So at the wheel of my friend's Sprite, I started to make the turn way in advance, and to my surprise just a small movement of the steering wheel resulted in an immediate turn.  Wow!

The first one I owned was a 1969 Triumph GT6+, which I bought in '76 or '77, can't remember.  Now decades later, I really wish I had kept records of each and every car I bought and sold, commission numbers, dates, price, etc.  Anyway I got hooked and LBCs became a large part of my life for many years.  I ended up running Intermountain Vintage Racing at one time, and holding half a dozen "road" races each summer out at the old Wendover, Utah airport became too much of a chore, putting more into it than I got out of it.  I just got burned out, turned my back on IVR, the British Motor Club of Utah, Utah Region SCCA, Vintage Triumph Register, pretty much everything.  Luckily I did not turn away from Team Net, kept maintaining the mailing lists.

My cars sat neglected, the Fat Chance Garage became just a big storage space, junk everywhere.  But deep down a tiny spark remained, kept alive by sticking with Team Net, especially a private Triumph racing group. Went to a number of Kastner Cup events over the years, most recently Buttonwillow, California, May of 2019.  That event got that hidden spark burning a little brighter.

So I am working on getting back into it.  Currently assisting a young fellow up in Layton, Utah, with his collection.  Currently a squaretail Spitfire, a Midget, a very nice rust free TR4 he just bought and three MGBs.  Over the last month or two the work has focused on getting the green '73 B running.  First big problem, the rear SU HIF4 was dripping fuel.  Obviously a needle valve that wouldn't close.  He pulls the carbs off, I bring them to my garage.  I clear a small space to work on them, and await the arrival of a rebuild kit.  Go through the carbs, take them up to his place.  He bolts them on, rear carb STILL leaking gas.  Off they come, back to my garage.  Turns out I made a simple mistake, forgot the sealing washer for the needle valve.  Fixed it, check my work on the front carb.  Took them back, bolted them on, no leaks!  Took some cranking, but got the engine to fire, sort of run, finally warmed up a bit and a nice idle.  And on occasion, it revved nicely.

But the rear carb has a serious problem with backfiring and spitting out small clouds of fuel droplets.  More so than I remember from past experience working at my friend's shop.  I suspect a burnt, cracked intake valve at the moment. But it was running, that's progress.  I plan to go back up to Layton, about a 25 mile drive north, with a compression gauge, and my trusty old timing light, see what that tells us.

But I am enjoying getting back into it, even though my skills have certainly gathered a bit of, shall we say, patina to them. Wonder if I should buy a Bentley's MGB manual?  Triumph manuals I got.

mjb.


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