Body removal

I conquered removing the trunk and wiring today.  Took out the lights and bagged em.
Pulled front and rear bumpers.  Front bumper needs replacing it's a little knackered.
Then moved to the interior that got vacuumed out *again* and on to the front fender.
  Some bolts let go like they were put in yesterday, some don't give up.
So start by spraying EVERY bolt and thread you see with PB blaster before you get to it.
If this stuff came in cologne bottles, I'd use it - its that good.

 There are 5 lbs of bolts that hold on a 7 lb fender.  Just always have a 7/16" AND a 1/2" wrench
with you- there's some of both on every corner of the vehicle

4  internal along the vertical stripe in the picture below (only 7/16" I think)
3  internal around top near dash/ windshield frame bolts, 2 with oval washers
3 screws bottom rear outside of fender, had to remove with vice grips- need new ones
3 to the air dam under the bumper and lights
2 inside the grill area
9 obvious along the length of the hood, 1 longer one 2nd from the front
2 screws for the hood bumper


Pleasantly surprised on this one- A lot of B's have rot here- not this side. 
If you'll notice, the original color was Mallard Green.  Not a bad color choice to go back to either.



No rust again on the bottom of the fender, but you can see how much dust/dirt
was collected that would eventually rust it out... need a new splash shield gasket



The undercoating and splash shield, nice and tidy.  It did its job here...



The chassis of the B.  Note the two huge nuts that hold on the door hinges,  Simple KISS engineering!

slow progress

  So if you have had the pleasure of removing a wiring harness intact from a B, you know how much fun I had today.   I am going to plasma cut a 1' x 1' hole back through the firewall to make installation easier.  
  The thickest part of the loom is where the windshield wiper plug is at the inner firewall, so just gently pull it in the cab?? No.  It hangs on everything, the brake and starter branches need to be fed through first, then fight the plugs to the rear wiring, starter relay, and fuse box without ripping off the i.d. tags I put on the wires.
  So after an hour or so- the only thing left is the plugs to the lights under the car and the headlights.
I tested the run on valve when I took it out-   The thing still works after 42 years believe it or not. 

Naked.

Naked

The new floorpans came in today also.  They are made in Britan, by Ashley Hinton (kinda rhymes)
PN MGB051L and I guess R.  I tried looking them up by this part number, but last I saw them mentioned was early 2000s.

They have caged seat nuts already installed and have a lip that may help.  I will have to add a few studs for the piping and wiring under the B. 
 This is the big board of parts.  Since floor space is limited- the only way to go is up. (the loading ramps didn't come out of the B.  All of the bolts from an assembly get thrown in a ziplock, marked what they are, then thrown into a milk crate at the bottom of the board.  It is going to be tight when the axle, front end, doors and windshield are off the body!

Stripping the chassis

After licking wounds as it were...
I continued tearing down the body.  In order to access the windshield bolts- all four of them- you have to take off the 700 bolts that hold on the dash. All in the worst places possible.  All put together by tiny contortionist monkeys that can reach these damn things.
 There are actually 7 of them that go through the upper cowl and a couple that screw onto the 3/4" lower crossbar. 
Its easier to get to them if you take out:
the glove box liner
the center vents
speedo and tachometer
oil pressure gauge
and are a contortionist monkey with a 7/16" wrench.



right side dash wiring



mid dash wiring



right dash wiring

 
 
  I usually use blue painters tape and mark the wires that way, but I just used the label maker so it will be quicker to re plug it when the time comes. 
  The wiper motor and wheel boxes came out easy - except for that one nut- there's one in every job- that had to be heated to get the wheel box off.
Remove the defroster vents, then you can get out the washer jets.

On the other side of the firewall,
  Remove the brittle air duct hoses behind the radio area, unbolt the heater, pry the heater out with the biggest crowbar available, remove all the crap that's gotten in there over the past several decades.

She's a runner!

  I bought an *actual* SU carb rebuild kit and re-did the carbs.  Not your average $14 rebuild kit.  It came with everything and for the price it should.
  The first carb took about 1 to 1.5 hours to disassemble, clean, install throttle shaft, take out throttle shaft, install it in the direction the front carb needs, not the back one.
  Install throttle plates 3X (they can go in a couple different ways that aren't right, but only one way that is), look back at pictures, figure how both springs go- etc.. etc...  Eventually got it together..


Rebuilt- new shafts seals and everything.  Note the Throttle plate has no valve in it- it's solid!

New fuel pickup tube orifice.  This part is controlled by a screw on the side that
moves it up and down into the airstream to make the vehicle run rich or lean.

The second carb after lessons learned took maybe 45 minutes...

Slapped them on the car and...

Idle is high with all adjustments out at around 1000rpms.

Need to check for air leaks elsewhere.

After the old girl warmed up, I gave her the juice.  She sounds sweet after 3000 rpms...

Not just a couple seconds after this video was shot- the water pump started puking and the radiator cap blew off.  Steam, scalding water, ow, ow, ow.
My arm got scalded by the radiator cap blowing off. I don't know where the old thing went to.. Probably hiding.

Next plan is to pull the dash, windshield, electrical and drivetrain.  Then set it on a rotisserie for floors and sandblasting.