First Drive and Some Work

 

Yeah, I had the windshield on for a while already but...

One of the four mounting points stripped when I tightened it. Not over tightened mind you, just tight, or not quite tight enough, then it spun. So out it came, in went four heli-coils, no problem, all back together now.

The battery received a hold down bar, custom made.

I ordered a battery cover seal, a round piece of foam like a long fat string showed up, no way to attach it. I had some self adhesive weather stripping laying around, stuck it on.

Now that is done, of course I had to fix one of the anchors, because nothing is easy.

There were about a hundred steps to get to here, but this is the dash fully assembled on the bench and ready to go in.

Dash in with just two bolts holding it for now, just in case.

And just like that, there are 115 mile on the car. This took me three days with a few things to be tweaked after each outing, but nothing major, it runs perfect, it shifts perfect!

The latest change, a bumper! The pile of parts on the shelf is shrinking rapidly, awesome! Just need to put another 400 miles on the car and then I can change all the fluids.

Center console went in just to hold the wires, oh, and I needed the hazard switch for the blinkers to work.

I have a seat belt, it is not set up perfect, but considering the other, non-existent safety features of the car, that is the least of my worries.

I figured out in the first two miles driving that I needed the shifter gaiter in place, hot air was blowing straight at me from under the car, maybe in the winter that would be okay, but not my preference in June in Virginia.

Seat Installation

This seams like the simplest of jobs, four bolts, easy. Not so fast, putting in a seat can be "not too bad," but it is not easy. Even with no carpet in the car I was was considering burning the whole lot! So here are the steps that worked for me and hopefully the process will go "not too bad" when I do it again with carpet. First step was to clean the rails. The bottom rails slide right off and it is important to clean the top portion where the rails fit together. I used some brake cleaner to get the gunk off. Then I put a light coat of Teflon grease on the rails and fitted them together. Not so fast. If you have both seats out you may have mixed up the rails that fall off. The rail with the stop block bolted to it goes on the outboard side of both seats at the rear end so the block can hit the stop bolt on the bottom of the seat.

 

Next I got 1 1/2 inch long bolts and installed them from under the car in the rear seat mount holes. This will hold the seat in position and in alignment while you start the front bolts. Make sure to put the spacers on the studs so that the rails will be even with the floor. One more trick before dropping the seat in, the inboard rail will fall off when you lift it, and you don't want it falling on your new, or old, body work so zip tie it in place towards the front of the seat so you can easily cut it off once in position. Okay, now you can drop the seat in position. I don't know why there are three holes front and rear on the seat rails but it should only be one or two. If you are tall, definitely install the seat as far back as you can, the studs in the floor should go through the third hole from the back, this will line up the front seat anchor holes with the second rail hole from the front. Cut your zip tie, slide the seat all the way back to the stop on the rail. Now you should have okay'ish access to the front bolts as seen in the first picture. This still isn't easy to reach, but it can be done. Don't forget your 1/4 inch spacer. I used a racheting box end wrench which made it go much faster. Now you can proceed to the rear bolts, which are easier after you slide the seat forward and flip the seat back up as well. Don't use washers on any of the bolts, there is very little clearance between the mechanisms on the rails and the bolts and if they hit you won't be able to move the seat. Maybe just remember to tighten the bolts once a year.  I did this without carpet just because I am not at that point of my restoration, but as it turns out this would have been so much harder to do if the carpet was in the way and the seats were not setup properly first. Good luck if this job is in your future.

First Engine Start After Rebuild

First things first, we need oil pressure and RPM, water temp doesn't hurt either. I have this setup because the dash isn't ready to go in, also the windshield isn't ready. So we will make due.

On the first start attempt the aft carburetor was leaking fuel into the engine, so despite wanting to wait on carburetor rebuilding to ensure an easy start, I had to do it first. This turned out to be a non issue, the only setting to mess with as far as starting it adjusting the jet for richness. Easy, bring the jet flush with the carburetor throat, then back it off two turns, it is easier to count the flats of the bolt so they commonly say back it off 12 flats. The rebuild fixed the fuel problem.

Next I tried starting again and could not get the static timing right, it can be a pain to dial it in even though it seems simple to line up as the manual states. All I can really say is take your time and be patient and methotical.

After all the work, on June 7th it started, 357 days after I pulled the engine from the car. I got the first brake in run done, 2500 RPM for about 25 minutes. This is the suggested break in for the new cam shaft. The oil pressure was holding steady at 60 psi, so all is good. 

 

Here is the engine running for the first time. That whistle is an exhaust leak but nothing more serious happened during the run. After this run I returned the next day and checked the valve lash and ran it again to dial in the ignition timing, and set idle and adjust richness on the carburetors. I am excited to take it for a drive but there is bunch more to do. I kind of need a windshield and dash board, also a seat would be nice. More to follow.

 

 

 

Engine Install and More

 

Time to put this back in.

Add a new clutch, mate transmission.

And in she goes. The trick here is jack the back end of the car as much as possible so that you can tip the transmission into the car with the gear selector installed, this makes things easier down the line, as well as allows you to get under the car to secure the transmission mounts.

 

One tip here, if you have the exhaust manifold installed and the steering rack in the car, they will not clear each other. It is close though, just loosen the manifold bolts to let the exhaust sag a bit and you should be able to get it by.

Here is the mount on the transmission support cross member. What did I learn here? Well, first, it is a bad design, but you are stuck with it, so moving on. The rubber buffers go on the cross member first, front hole for standard 4 speed, rear holes for OD trans, tighten them down, you can't reach them later. The Butterfly is installed with pointy side to rear, which will make sense if you have these parts in your hands with a confused feeling. Next, put the bottom bolts into the cross member loosely and then attach the butterfly to the transmission leaving those bolts loose. Now the fun part, put the four supporting  bolts through the cross member into the car frame, they probably won't line up well, you can do yourself a favor and run a tap through the threads just make sure you are starting with clean captive nuts. Installing the bolts will take some prying and swearing, but it will happen. Now just tighten everything up, the front bolts on the rubber mounts will take some time, be patient. Finally you can put on the forward brace if yours has one. 

Next the exhaust down pipe can be bolted up, this is a new stainless steel one, the rest of the exhaust is in much better shape than the old down pipe, so I will reuse it. 

The drive shaft should be installed the same way it came out, so hopefully you have marks on the flanges to match up, this will ensure better balance of the rotating parts. Also on the spline and shaft there are arrows stamped on the metal so that you can put the shaft back together as the factory intended.

Oil cooler back in, easy.

Oil filter. Things are starting to feel like they are coming along now! Alternator back in place, belt installed!!!

My original brass radiator was in good shape so I am reusing it. Just cleaned it up with vinegar and baking soda and then touched up the paint, pretty easy.

Important not to forget oil in your new engine! Factory recommended 20W-50 plus some ZDDP additive for break in. 

No, I did not skip ahead, the dash is only resting on the cowl, but the tach and oil press gauge are connected, yes that is oil pressure you see! Big day, the engine cranked over very nicely and built oil pressure, very exciting!!!

No spark initially, just required splicing a broken wire and all good!

I know this car looks a long way from needing a license plate, but I just wanted to show off the new bling. But, I think this car will be moving under it's own power within two weeks. The reason I haven't started the engine is the exhaust is not on yet. The exhaust is not on because the new axle straps broke immediately, so I am waiting for the new and improved ones from Strapping Lads Shop. The axle sits right behind the exhaust right now without droop straps installed, so I wait. Once the axle and exhaust are complete all that is needed is to hook up the fuel line and crank it over. Fingers crossed. One more note, after some advice from MGEXP.com I have decided to leave the carburetors alone until after I get the engine started, then I will pull them and rebuild them. This is more work but eliminates some variables if I have trouble with the initial start up since it was running when I pulled the engine.

Now we are rolling

With the painting done, it is time to get this thing rolling again. I started by installing new bushings in the rear springs.

Next some fresh paint. These are not the original springs, they still had the Moss sticker on them, but they were not brand new either, just making them look new again.

Where does all this stuff go? Actually it wasn't too bad putting on the rebound buffers, with a picture to go by.

Here we go, progress. The front cross-member is installed, shocks in place.

 

Done with the right. Lower A arm installed, pressed up on the new spring, just the hub to go. 

 

The rear end going in. The springs are just mounting on the front bolts and I'll wheel it under the car on the dolly, bolt up the springs to the axle, then use the jack to lift the diff and springs up to their mounting points. 

Just like that. Then the parking brake goes on. Just a few brackets and it is good. It actually stopped the wheel spinning on the first pull of the brake handle! 

Next, the steering rack has to go in. Fresh seals and boots, and oil, and clamps and ball joints and... that's it, I think. 

Hubs, wheels and steering wheel on, a slight adjustment to the wheel toe.....

And she is out of the garage for the first time in about 10 months, not too bad.

Back in the garage already! This time centered under the I beam for the engine hoist, yeah this is coming along now!

 

Paint: Base and Clear

 

No, I am not painting my car with blood. The car was Blaze, which is a red shade of orange, but when I ordered the BLVC16 color code for painting the engine bay, I didn't like the color, it seemed to have a slight bit of blue in it. Fine for the engine bay but that wasn't what I wanted to see every day so I went to Sherwin Williams automotive paint and picked out the color by eye, comparing it to the hood of the car.

I hung the doors and boot and bonnet lids to ensure I could paint all the gutters and sills on the car easier.

This is what the color looks like on the car, more orange. I like it! This is just base, or color, no clear coat yet. 

 

Finally here are are with two coats of clear on everything. Everything turned out perfect, except the hood, the part I really wanted to be perfect, it got a huge run. Maybe perfect is a bit overstating things, there are dust nibs to take care of, but not a lot, this is normal. The hood can be corrected too, it will probably take a whole day though. More to come on the final finish. 

 

 Here is a nice shot of the boot lid that shows the depth of shine. This is less than 24 hours from spraying so it is not even set enough to start color sanding or buffing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paint Preperation, and more preperation, and more

 

Started with the boot lid, it's big, flat and steel. I removed the luggage rack so I welded closed the holes. The filler is just to smooth it out.

This was the side marker, and there was a chip below it so I got that filled while I was in the neighborhood.  

Sanding the transition to the new steel fender bottom. This is block sanding, buy the dura-block set, makes life so much easier, they bed to match the shape of the panel allowing an even curve. 

 

 

Both dogleg panels needed the same treatment. The panel is easy, it is getting the door edge even that will make you want to throw things. I probably added more filler eight times and then sanded 98 percent of it off again to fill every little hole and ensure the door opening contour was even, it really just takes practice.

Here is the rear valance panel. I had to ask the experts at MGEXP.com if this was normal? Yep, the bumper covers these ugly welds that come with it from the factory.

After finishing the filler, I hand blocked the whole car with 120 then 320 grit paper.

The new weapon, about $40 on Amazon, comes with three nozzles of various size.

I decide to hang the panels for paint so I didn't have to worry about painting door jams separately and other inconvenient procedures.

Tape and paper.

And finally, primer. Aaaaah, that feels good, such a milestone. The $40 gun worked like a champ, two coats gave great coverage and held up to 600 grit hand sanding before paint. Not yet though, while sanding I of course found about ten little pin holes in the primer from the filler. Time to go back and fix those.

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My nemesis, the front valance! I have already spent days, maybe a week total replacing metal, cutting bumper slots, pounding out bends, filling and sanding, and when I the primer dried, it still looked like crap. I changed tactics, rock guard.

Three good layers of rock guard hides most of the irregularities and is common for a lower valance. The bumper hides most of this anyway. My choices were limited here. Everyone reports that replacement panels fit badly, so this really was the best option. The 600 grit primer sanding is done, just need to clean it off and shoot base and clear, maybe tomorrow or the next day.