12h 2923

Did you know... that for a couple of short years that mgb had a large valve factory head on their low compression cars? They had 38cc heads instead of 42cc heads like every other model.
 1.6" intakes and same size exhaust  valves.
Putting one of these on an early 60s engine would put out a whopping 9.6:1 ish  compression -stock.
On the other hand, with the 16cc dished LC pistons, a 42cc head would make a 7.3:1 engine. - Sad.
My actual stock head decided to get a external crack after a 120 mile long drive at the common #2/3 cylinder location above the plug.
If the crack went in the head or valve water would mix with the oil and toast the engine.

New head, w new seats etc. Dont ask what this cost.  

Test drive and cooling

So I got a good 80 mile round trip under her belt, this is at 80* in the morning-  yesterday's  100* 25 mile afternoon picture melted.

Notice no charging light glowing at you...

Everything's working good, noticed the temp gauge hovering high while driving, then in stop and go idling it headed towards H!

Found that MG was not known for accurate temp gauges on the forums. Kind of a suggestion gauge....

Anyway I got back here and with my nifty new radiator,  drained it and flushed it then refilled 50/50 premix. Draining and refilling radiator is just over 1 gallon btw....

So i used some technology to assess the engine with a Bullard TIC.

Idling, 90* ambient with gauge reading just above N.

Note the looped heater core hose the upper part of the picture.

Radiator is receiving about 165* water and very bottom return is at 100 ish.

Heres the plug side while it was just warming up.

Double your power, double your fun

The old lucas was giving out. At maximium 45 amps output 43 years ago its not cutting it anymore. The new saturn is either 96 or 105amp depending on which one you get. Plenty.

Saturn alternator arrived along with plug.

Step 1- rotate front cover by unscrewing bolts.   This makes the saturn match the old tired lucas.

Step 2- Remove the serpentine belt pulley,  put on a replacement  (i got a late 80s gm stock pulley) 

Wiring is easy.  

New plug , i got a dorman 8584 ,whether 4 wire or 3 wire , just gets the 1st large red wire hooked to" bat" along with stock brown wires,  and third wire gets hooked to brown/yellow dash idiot light. 

Installed in stock position, needed 1 longer bolt for upper water pump mount and grind corner of adjusting bracket to fit.

Plug in situ...

So whats the difference?

How about ignition light going off before the engine starts and being able to run EVERYTHING and still have 13.1 volts at idle

Things to come?? / Shes legit now... / alternator coming

Well, I pulled the trigger and got old girl inspected. Started towards the station and drop..drop...( turning around running back to the garage) sprinkle... downpour for 5 minutes. Then its an even hotter and more humid mess.
- - - -
Half an hour later...
Pulled in to the station and the guy "gave it a thorough once over "
Found out that the high tone horn is lame.
$7 later, went across the street (literally) to get the plates i bought registered.
 - - - -
  In Texas you can have antique plates or classic plates.  Either you buy YOM ,year of manufacture , plates or get
some from the state. Both cost the same plus purchase cost of YOM plates.
After having princess behind the counter being annoyed by having to do extra work - 30 minutes later
and $75 leaner,  the new plates went on.
Feeling victorious,   I promptly jumped in and hit the key- - - click.  Nothing.  Damn.
Relay would click but nothing else. Tried jumping to solenoid, tried white brown wire trick, nothing.  Finally found someone with a booster pack to jump it, running rough.. but made it home.
After half an hour reading posts i started working on it.  Main power wire tightened on the solenoid , tapped -nay - whacked starter and solenoid.  Nothing.

After running out of under bonnet stuff, I went to the battery.  Power wire was good and tight but negative was a little loose. Tightened the post and tried cranking, partial crank then stopped.
Felt the negative wire and it was warm because the chassis ground was loose.

Started with no problems.  Going to give it a better ground connection today.
- - - -
Drove it for the first time in the evening- only half the lights didn't come on- fixed with cleaning the fuse box connectors-  Made it a couple miles away- even the wife was happy with it.

When we left at dark it started and ran alright, but the alternator warning light was glowing barely.
I tried it with the lights off and it still glowed- so we headed home asap.  By the time we got to the garage the light went from barely on at idle to a dull glow with rpms.

All in all it was a really nice night for a drive in a convertible though.
I'll chalk all this up to a shakedown run.

Ordered a Saturn alternator- I'll let you know by the end of the week.

http://www.mgexp.com/phorum/read.php?40,2462489

One of my brighter ideas

Since so much maintenence/tinkering happens underhood the thought of a light occurred to me.  I was always grabbing a flashlight even in the garage with the door open.
GM ,and probably all other brands, used this hooded light with a built in switch that turns it on when the hood is opened.

By placing it just to the left of the valve cover it illuminates the electrics, oil, and the carb adjustments. 

With a standard 12v bulb it gets hot as blazes though- im thinking led.

Interior "cest fini" after 2 days.

At the bottom of the box I found the
"missing" interior panels. My bad.

I started the interior with carpet, then seats, then panels.
 The passenger toeboard carpet was glued to the drivers side mistakenly.  A putty knife fixed that.
 I think it was the combination of the 97* TX heat and spray glue.  Dude. Whoa.

The seat frame needed a new piece welded in to fix the rusty back pipe. 

This got cleaned of rust and repainted.

Carpet installed,  I used stainless snaps on the floor mats, 2 at back 1 in front of heel pad. The snaps took awhile to install and match to the carpet.

Seats. I used the bag trick to put the backs on the cushions.  Super easy.  

Getting the rail bolts through the carpet into the floor holes was harder than covering.

Heres the tetris piece of carpet. About 1 foot square.

 Had no idea where it was supposed to go. 

 Had stitching in it but nothing else. No edging.

  I found it went inner passenger side over that hump.  It needed trimming for the floor vent and around the front near the floor.

Your personal guided tour ...

Family commented that the seats were
" more comfortable than the sofa"

Coming along nicely

Passenger seat looking lovely

Used this as a learning curve to make the drivers seat "perfect"

This frame was repaired coated and repainted.

Passenger seat and securon inertia seatbelts in along w rear deck carpeting.

Then the headrests which need to rest of it looks good.

On to the drivers seat....