Your wiper system

I took apart the wiper system since it was over its 42 year/50,000 mile service interval.
To remove it you need a 3/4" wrench for external wiper shaft nuts & 7/16 wrench for wiper motor mount.
To disassemble use a 3/8 in the wheel boxes and 1/4" on the gear box.
There are c clips and bushings on the arm that goes to the cable , and the gear shaft that goes through the housing.
I cleaned the dried out grease & regreased and added some drops of synthetic gear oil

The internals of your wiper system:at the top, wiper motor w worm gear and gear housing, 

driven eccentric gear,

arm from gear to cable, the cable is like a low E string on a guitar-just mega sized to drive the wheel box, 

Then the cable goes through the tubes to the wiper boxes. 

The beauty of this system is that it can be any length and curved around objects.  The dark side: made by lucas.

Quick update: the car was rolled under cover for storage at a friends house while house hunting... May have it going by new years lol.

Heart implant

I got around to getting a hoist and moving the lump (engine) and transmission vertically for a change.

After hoisting, I used gunk gel engine cleaner.  Stuff works pretty good with a bristle brush.  It says on the can to warm the engine first, but since it's already 100* outside, I figured that would work too.

I didn't move the chain from the pull so the transmission down position was pre set.
I took off the shifter ring and 3 bolts so it wouldn't snag on the way in.

The only change was I had to lift the front of the B to get the hoist under it.

Here's part of the trick... It gets this far and you forget about the Damn crossmember that the tailshaft has to go over.  I didn't have enough hands to move the tailshaft and get pics. 

Almost in situ.  The front motor mounts are dead on, the transmission mounts are the biggest PITA ever.  I need to re pull the xmember to get the last two pad bolts in.

On to engine accessories.
 I can sandblast then paint around  the engine without pulling it I think.

Strippers, boots, and blowers.

I got your attention.

*I stripped the paint off the trunk "boot" lid, the blue paint came up immediately, most of the mallard green came off without any difficulty.

Crappy respray

Came out better than expected

Pre strip

*Took the heater apart to clean and paint, most of it went well.  I noticed the blower fan wouldn't spin one revolution by hand so I broke into the casing. 
There is a clip that holds the fan cage onto the shaft that wouldn't let go. I tried tapping the shaft out of the fan and ended up cracking the fan cage.  Figures.

The wires unplug from the end case, take note what side they plug into.
mark a side of the case to keep it aligned.

(2)  nuts come off, then the rear cover comes off.  Try not to lose the 3 shims that go on the shaft near the armatures rear.

This exposes the brush plate,  my brushes were in great shape. :)

  Clean out the rear bronze bushing, then I put some silicone grease and a drop of synthetic oil in it.

Remove the brush plate, don't lose the 2 spacer springs off the bolts.

I found that the armature contacts were tarnished, so I used a scotch brite pad ( fine sandpaper does the trick too, just make sure its clean afterwards)

The entire armature would not pull out of the front fan-side bearing- probably why the fan cage wouldn't come off either!  So I worked some synthetic oil down around the bearing and it started turning a lot easier.

To put it back together: put in the 2 case bolts, the brush plate around the shiny armature contacts,
the motor mount ring noting the little alignment tab, I put a tiny dab of silicone grease to hold the 3 shims, then the rear cover, lock washers and nuts, and plug in wires.

After this, mine would hand spin over a revolution without the fan on it. 

Test it out to make sure everything works.  Mine is quieter, probably because the gravel is out of it.
The shaft, while looking at it, should rotate "anti clockwise" or counter clockwise as marked on the fan .

Transmission and engine seals + clutch

So the front bearing shim was installed in the transmission, a .05 came out , I put in .06"

The rear transmission nut laughed at my attempts to put it back on, so I had to take it to a shop with a large impact.

 One dirty back plate. The rear main seal is the typical weepy orange type.

 I keep hearing about how much better these are so we're trying vitron seals

 The flywheel had the nearly new disc partially froze to it for decades.  Not glazed over, but probably the second disk on it.

Prettiest part of the vehicle and nobody is going to see it. $37.50 well spent.

 the pilot bushing

Was worn enough a 5/8 deep socket fit in it. Way too worn.  

I tried the grease hydraulic pressure method of removing it but ended up hand sawing a groove into it and pulling it that way.

New one went in with minimal exertion.

Wheel cleanup and starting gearbox...

OK- got a lot done today! Wheels were poorly repainted with a paintjob of matching blue centers and silver outers when I got it:


Got this paint stripper from O'reilly auto,  USE IT OUTSIDE!  this stuff will
take points off your IQ like it takes off paint! 

New(er) looking

Almost shiny in spots.  I also took a 4.5" angle grinder cup brush to them.  Then primed...



It used to be dirty.. enough said.  I used multiple wire and nylon brushes and
mineral spirits to find the metal underneath.
The inside of the bellhousing  was black hole black.  I mean black.
Must have been from the former carbon throwout bearing and oil.



This , it turns out with the help of the MGExperience,
is what is left of part #7 on the moss gearbox diagram.
It is a bearing shim that's supposed to be between front gearbox cover and the
large input bearing.  It aint.



This is where the shims came to rest.   I replaced the front seal while in there.

Upper= practically unused carbon faced throwout bearing.
The clutch looks new too!
Lower= new throwout bearing that's actually a bearing.
The clips straight pin goes into the ear of the bearing
and clips it to the fork.

New gasket of course!  That's the big bearing
that's supposed to have shims in front of it.

All back together.  Silicone greased the fork bolt before install.
Ripped the throwout boot- need one of those too.

Handbrake re installed, waiting on parts

  I found all the parts to the handbrake and reinstalled the 3 screws to the transmission tunnel.
The handbrake cable was greased prior to install and slack was pulled to the handle side, since the drum side isn't hooked up- awaiting boots. 

  Make sure the bell crank on the axle where the cable goes through can sway to and fro.  Mine needed to be hammered apart, cleaned and greased to work.

  Hoping parts get in soon, as I need the mg back on its feet to get the drivetrain back in and move to a newer home.  After Victoria British sends the front wheel bearing shims, the brakes can get bolted on, then the wheels and tires. 

  The hard lines that bolt under the car through the rubber isolaters were put back in-
   Honestly- it had been 3 months since I'd messed with them and forgot the order that they lay so I asked the MG experience people and they replied with this:

"On my 74m starting from outboard, it's rear brake line, evap recovery line, battery cable, fuel line."

Thanks to AVIMAX from Canada

I completely forgot that I had to add in the battery cable to the mix, since I never had a rear mounted battery car before.  Need a new cable really.

progress!

  I made some progress, but missed some pics due to busy hands and spring shackles that were about to piss me off.  Then I added some 85/140 gear oil ( yes, yes its thicker than it should be, but it wont hurt anything.) 

UPDATE:  new rubber axle limiting straps already starting to split, haven't even drove with them yet!  $18 down the tubes. It has been noted that a lot of aftermarket stuff is crap...
 I saw some nylon strap ones on fleabay for $30 that I'll try.

I even got brake lines and hoses installed with new wheel cylinders!  The spring shackles kept pushing out the
new bushings, it took 1/2 hour to get those in.  Axle limit straps arrived a day after this. 

The tank wasn't that bad except the bolts between the tank and the rear valance.
I ran the rear fuel / brake lines prior to axle install, which made it a bit easier.
Also ran the rear wiring harness.
Just need to run the chassis fuel and brake lines to the new master cylinder.