Some cancellations, and Deliveries!!! and rants,

Called up moss motors US and cancelled the stainless braided oil cooler hose that was on back order since March.
"oh we're getting the 25 of the short ones on the 30th, the long ones won't be in til the end of July"
  - cool I'll just carry a bucket to catch the oil dripping out of the hoses!

Guess I'll call victoria british since they have a "sale"
Ever noticed the "sales" at these places are like the "sales" at harbor freight?
Here's the range of prices we advertise- we'll move it to the lower end of the spectrum and call it
a "sale".  even though that was the price of it 2 months ago.
Rant over.

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Anyway-

This is en route, shipped 6-27 after Brexit.  Hope its nice.

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Duck! Rant coming.
It's hard to believe that 2 boxes can be $1500.  It's harder to believe that companies over in the US bring in the same thing, charge an extra $750, then charge shipping on top of that!

Packages showed up super fast. 2 days from a North West London 'burb To Texas.
(read about Luton GB)  funny reviews of the town....
Boxes were beat up on the corners- the only damage is a 1" scrape on one head rest cover. Think its from a box staple...
Leather feels supple, Stitches look good. Smells like a cow. Moo.


Came with:
 *4 leather seat covers with headrest eyelets  installed
 *seat foams x4
 *2 made in china seat webbings
*burlap
* 2 headrest covers-   Leather- Though the car is a '73, I have 1979 seats, but with a little additional                                        padding can fill in the side bolsters on the head rests.
 *Full carpeting with heel pad
 *clips for the seats
 *seat back cards with clips
 *extra vinyl for door caps and rear trim rail
 *Full set of door cards     Note- This did not have the chrome door card trim strip on it or holes for                                               pull handle or window winder but have a nice doubled up upper and lower panels                                  
*panel trim screws


and I ordered a center console armrest to boot.  Now where did I put the hardware for it???
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Shipped from Luton GB to Castle Donnington, GB to Philly USA to Louisville KY to DFW to Mesquite out for shipping. 2 days.  Freaky.

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.