Finally got an exhaust

Skipped the front muffler per popular advice and put a boral 115-070 on the B-  bolted a seat and belts in and " towed it to the muffler shop" about 2.5 miles away.  Yeah- right.  Longest drive its been on in 26 years.
The open exhaust starts getting super loud at 2500 rpms with any throttle applied.  Seems like it kicks in more at that rpm too.
Found my first oil leak- oil cooler hose that Moss can't find a braided replacement for.  Oh well, free undercoating.

Still waiting on leather seats and interior from the UK
Need a top- rains a coming!

Dont hit me!  Dodge 2500 lifted on left, stock Dakota on right.

"one of the thinnest cars I've had on my rack!" - the muffler guy

There was just a 3 foot long piece between the flex coupling off the downpipe and the boral muffler.

The muffler guy left a slit in the new pipe so the muffler can be removed..  There is a hanger coming off the battery box.

The Boral is really quiet up until you get on it.  Then after 3000 rpms there is a throaty sound at cruise throttle.  I'll have to see how it sounds down the highway...

Ladies and Germs- First time the MGB is moving under its own power in 26 years

Sitting on a seat cushion, straight exhaust- doesn't get much better than this!

And the radiator showed up....The ins and outs of aluminum

Initially I was extremely impressed with this puchase- lighter, shinier, gives an extra 20 hp at the wheels.  Really.  Read on for the actual install problems....

Original MGB radiator

New fangled aluminum radiator

A 7 lb lighter radiator cantilevered in front of the wheels about a foot shaves off an extra 14 lbs off the cars nose.

China again....

No holes came in the mounting plates....mark and drill

There was a question on how many rows- 3 total.  Just by looking theres the
same amount of rows in the core too.

Installed! It covers up the upper gap nicely and it has a drain plug.

BUT heres the catch-
I had to cut off 1.5" off the bottom radiator hose, The overflow tube barely fits on the nipple,
And thankfully my car doesn't idle at 3000 rpm because even with a rubber washer spacer between the radiator and the shroud, there was a FAP FAP FAP sound as soon as I turned the key. I don't know how to spell that sound any better- but definitely a FAP!

I spun the fan by hand and found that the lower tank was being hit by the fan just barely. Its the way the mounting plates are TIG welded on.    No damage- but ,,,
So in the interest of invention I shimmed the radiator out from the shroud with 3/8" nuts over the 5/16" bolts.  This gave plenty of space on the lower side of the fan to tank.

The shiny finish disappeared as soon as you try to wipe off any spills.  I'm guessing its a silver colored shipping anti corrosion finish. 

On the upside
Idling in the garage 80* 85% humidity- the needle only goes to the right leg of "N" on the gauge.
Before when idling it routinely got up the gauge 75% of the way.
And its not leaking. 

AND this looks EXACTLY like the aluminum one Moss is selling for $300,

seat 2

I was having issues moving pics into the last seat post, so heres the new and improved version...

The frame was wire buffed, muriatic acid'd (if thats a word), down to steel, then acid etch primered
A coat of paint to follow...

Here is the new and improved rusty pile of British steel

Remember the large missing piece of the frame?  Me neither.
The original frame was cut back to good metal at a 45* angle on both sides,  then 
the new piece of tubing welded in and ground smooth.  The 45* cut is to 
allow more surface area for the weld to spread the load of my butt.
After this I stood on the frame in 4 spots and it didn't have any problems
supporting me.  The recliner lever works better than ever,- just waiting for cushions 
and covers!

When MG gives you lemons- seat frames

Seats that is.

2 large clips and 4 small holding seat back on the lower side
pull chrome recliner lever and 2 lower side screws and headrest
to remove seat back cover

I was thinking of taking photos of how it came apart to remember how to put it back together, This is why British steel got a bad rap.  The seats seem pretty good at first....

cardboard held on by 2 screws lower corners
many years ago



After removing the seat base clips I got to the back
and the screwdriver went straight through the frame!

rotten.

Oh the humanity!  The entire rear section of the seat base frame disentigrated, leaving a gap 8" wide

More British steel.

This is the seat reclining mechanism.  It was rusted almost solid.
PB Blaster to the rescue, and 15 minutes later it moved

 Some would say thats the end of those- lets spend $1200 on new seats.
The rest of the frame, sans surface rust, is solid.   The gap will be filled!

The little teeth are the reclining locks.  When the chrome lever gets pushed
back, it disengages the teeth, This took several times before it
moved and then decided to recline

This is the end result- it creaked and squeaked
the first couple of times, but is much easier now.

The rusty crusty frames were wrapped in paper towels soaked in evaporust ( the stuff that wouldn't work on the hood when it was cold) Now that its warmer- the stuff converts rust pretty good. More to follow....

Delays, Delays. Radiator got tired. New one ordered.

After getting new points, and condenser,  adjusting the valves, timing, and getting the carbs
synched and adjusted so it could run under 1000 rpms- This happened...

Well, when it rains it pours- or gushes antifreeze.
The old radiator decided to pop a cork and start streaming antifreeze all over the garage floor.
I sent it to a local shop to see what it woud cost before dropping $170 for an aluminum radiator or 220+ for a new stock one.
The local shop looked it over and said "boiled, tanks removed , and leak fixed for $75"
Sounds good to me.

SOOOO- update.  ye olde local radiator shoppe says they would have to pull the tanks and plug off mininum of 2 tubes maybe more to stop the leak.  They say that at the 3 tube mark it starts affecting efficiency of the cooling system.  Not good during the Texas summer.  Not at all.
The other option it to have it re cored for $200 to $225.

So there is an aluminum radiator en route.  I saw the same one on a u tube video of a BGT race version so it must be decent.  It is supposed to have a drain in it which would be nice.

That damn clutch- 6 steps to bleeding

So if you have had the JOY(its a lie) of trying to bleed an American spec mgb clutch- I may be able to help...

I tried the usual bleeding method- got 1/8" travel at the slave cylinder after what I call "MGB clutch bleeding burpees." 
  You'll lose 3 pounds from getting off the floor, ducking, pumping pedal, looking underneath, running to the other side, etc... etc
  I believe the main problem is the large piping hoop that goes above the master cylinder that can trap  A LOT of air.

After a couple more tries bleeding the clutch, protein shakes, and sports drinks to recover lost nutrients I came up with my own method of helping it bleed itself.
I found my mityvac kit btw- it was m.i.a. after the move and it finally showed up.

Anyway I took the long hose , the right angle nipple attachment, and the bleeder bottle from the kit.
Hook the nipple adapter over the clutch nipple,  hook hose vertically to that so its as high as the top of the valve cover, fill the bleeder bottle 3/4 way and hook the pump side to the hose keeping the bottle sideways. It would normally pour out if you did this..
This creates a higher head pressure than the master cylinder.  You will have to watch that the master doesn't overflow or go dry.

Crack the slave nipple till it just is barely open (mine was dripping some)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1  Now go pump the brakes a couple times slowly. Since the nipple has pressure coming from the other side, no air gets in.  Check the master lever so its about 1/4 to 1/2 full.

2 Crawl under and slowly compress the slave to burp it. (push rod back into body)
  I burped it too fast and spit air and fluid out the master.  Quite a mess and bad for paint.

3 Repeat step 1

4 This fills the mityvac bottle some, so blow gently through the other side of the mityvac bottle to refill the master.  I could hear some bubbles coming out.  Check the levels again...

5 Repeat step 1,2,4 Check levels again and have the master at least half full...

6 Hook mityvac to other side of bleeder bottle and give it a 5" vacuum squeeze  then quickly release vacuum. Don't pull the master empty or you might start over!
This pulled a ton of bubbles up the tube to the bottle.

7  Close the slave nipple.

And for the first time I have a working clutch!

Autographed bumper!??

Something that I didn't notice over a year ago while taking off the front bumper.. Seems someone decided to autograph it- 42 years ago

Original state

Original

scribbled over with a pencil

I think it says "mazac"

"BSI 9-3-74  1C" signed in a few places...

then there's a couple other "aute" or something like that...

Unfortunately for the front bumper, it was dechroming and had a large dent.. Don't think I'm going to keep it.

Wiring= lights! Dash in, electrical working

Went through the wiring, sorted out some stuff, now the B starts on the key, and has interior courtesy and some exterior lights.  I'm replacing the front headlight harness with relays.

Dash is in, fuel and temp gauge works after grounding the voltage regulator.

need to fix license lamp, probably a ground. And left side marker red wire.

the lights at night- are big and bright

deep in the heart of Texas!

I just ordered some speedo and tach lights. Suprisingly this is all that doesn't work. 

  At the multi- ground junction behind the dash I soldered in an extra 14 ga ground wire that was run to the metal radio support. 

Need to check reverse switch. With power to the green/ brown wire the reverse lights work, just not in reverse.

Putting in the center dash vents I kept knocking off the rheostat wire- not a lot of slack.

The brown wire junction behind the glove box got redone as a brown wire was frayed from the crimp that would have cooked the entire harness. Just saying- if it's something that you can fix easily now instead of behind a bunch of crap later...well you get the idea.

The turn signal plug had a problem in the past and had a new plug had been crimped into the switch side, and a blue/white wire out of the harness side that was quickly fixed.

The steering wheel boss was wire brushed and looks magnificent, and the column cover was screwed back together. Starting to look like a car again...

I used some mag/aluminum polish and a wire wheel on the steering spokes and the came out fairly shiny.

As for the leather that looked like it was left in a field for decades...
I used leather furniture conditioner soaked rags and left them wrapped around it overnight.
The next day there was a distinct subtleness to the leather.
Then 3 coatings of black boot conditioner .