Day 8- Pedal box

I had a few hours for the MGB- so I decided to remove the pedal box.  Basically- the brake master cylinder, clutch master cylinder, and both clutch and brake pedals are attached to metal box that is then bolted to the engine compartment. 

The pedal box

 The box is attached with 8 bolts, but only two of the bolts were actually installed.  Obviously, if the box is not rigidly attached to the car, the master cylinders move when you operate the pedals- not good.  The unused attachment holes were full of crud and rust, and the only way to clean them out was to remove the box. 

 The pivot bolt with both master cylinder forks- the hole below opens into the footwell

The pedal box- starting the removal. The brake master cylinder is on the left.

No real difficulty removing the box, except the pedals need to be removed first.  Just remove a single nut on the end of the pedal pivot bolt, drive out the pivot bolt, and they just dropped into the footwell.  The last step was top remove the hydraulic lines from both master cylinders (two for the brakes and one for the clutch).  I used an old turkey baster I stole from our kitchen (years ago!) to remove as much of the brake fluid from the cylinders first.  A flare wrench makes quick work of the line fittings- and out the whole thing came.

Brake pedal- soon to be stripped and painted

Once the box was out of the way, I needed to vacuum out about a cup of acorn shells- I guess some chipmunks had some good living arrangements in the past here! I cleaned up the area with some brake fluid, and then started cleaning up the cruddy mounting holes.  I borrowed a thread chaser kit from Ben, which worked perfectly.  You can see one of the chasers still installed in the next photo.  You just run the correct size chaser through the threaded holes a little at a time until it spins freely.

It's out!  The big oval hole in the firewall is open into the dash

Thread chaser at work- it's oily because of the lubricant I sprayed to help the thread chaser.  The two lower holes have already been cleaned up. You can see the black floor board through the big square hole where the pedals used to be.

That's it for this limited day.  I will have a blast cabinet soon- and it's first job will be to strip the pedal box, box cover, and pedals in prep for paint (or powder coating....).

Day 6 & 7 (weekend #3) Carb work

I spent most of the first day of the weekend working on the Miata rust repair- basically fabricating a replacement steel sill panel from a 22 gauge sheet and beginning the fittment.

On the MGB- I started by removing the SU carbs from the intake manifold.  First step was to photograph the throttle and choke linkages so I had them for reference when I go back to install them.  Here are a few of the dozens of photos:

Cotter pin

So first I removed the four nuts (two behind each carb) that hold the carbs to the manifold.  The bottom ones are difficult to see, but it's not too bad once you can put your eyes and some light on them. Next, I removed the various fuel and vent lines.  The last step for removal was to disconnect the two cables by removing their respective cotter pins.  They came off without problem.  A couple of the gaskets between the thick spacers between the carbs and the intake manifold (maybe the spacers are heat sinks as well since the exhaust manifold comes out between the intake manifold) tore when I pulled off the carbs.  Whoever was there last used some red sealant on the gaskets. I'll need to research if that sealant is necessary- I would doubt it. It's strange to have three exhaust ports for a 4 cylinder engine!

Now that the carbs were off, I called it a day and brought them inside to get them warm for the next days work.

The next day started by cleaning the outside of the carbs so they were easier to work on.  Just some carb cleaner and a couple of small brushes, and most of the grime was gone.

Once they were clean- I started on the rear carb.  I printed out the workshop manual pages for servicing and dismantling HIF4 carbs.  Step one is to remove the top suction/ oil reservoir. No problems and many more photos.  Everything here seemed in order and the piston operated as described in the manual. 

Next up was to remove the float chamber cover on the bottom of the carb.  I assumed that my fuel problem would be in this area of one or both of these carbs. Once the cover was off, I could manipulate the float while I blew into the fuel line connection. In theory, as the float rises, it pushes on the float needle and stops the flow of fuel This carb operated fine and closed off my air as I pushed up on the float and the float needle sealed the passage as designed. So, I pulled the float so I could submerge it in the carb cleaner can and see if it leaked.  No bubbles and no liquid inside the float.  I reassembled everything so as not to lose any of the small parts and moved onto the front carb.

Float chamber cover, i.e. bottom of carb

Inside of the float cover- Yuck! old crystallized fuel I had to clean out

Float chamber- the float is the brown "c" shaped thing

Ready to go back together.

Next, I started on the front carb.  Basically, the same process as the rear/right carb.  But, when I got to the float test with air, pushing up on the float the did not stop the flow of air.  There was my fuel problem!!  So, I took out the float and needle so I could clean the needle and seat.  Inside the seat was a tiny piece of black stuff.  It looked like a piece of rubber, but who knows?  I also tested the float for leaks- no problem.  I put it the needle and float back together and tried the air test again and it worked correctly and stopped the air. Cool!  So, I put everything back together and called it a day.

Left/front carb

Float chamber

This side was even worse with fuel gunk!  It's all cleaned up now.

So, it was a successful day!  I will still need rebuild kits for these since most of the gaskets and o-rings are no good.  I'll replace the needles and floats as well since they looked pretty cruddy.

Next up- maybe I can get this thing running once I rebuild the carbs!  Wishful thinking!

Day 4 and 5 (weekend #2)

Well, there was a bunch of progress on the MGBeast this weekend:

My parts order (with new fuel tank) arrived on Friday- perfect timing!  So, on Saturday, we started by removing all of the flexible vent lines in the engine so we could take them to NAPA for new hose.  With this old car, every hose clamp was a little tired, so new clamps were in order as well.  No big surprises with this- just pull off the old and replace with new.

Old cruddy fuel lines

We started replacing some of the hoses, painting brackets, painting some of the metal lines and finished them on Sunday.

New fuel lines.  The rusty main feed line on the left has been replaced since this photo was taken.

I also installed the fuel pump- no problems once I figured how the newly painted bracket was aligned with the pump (looked at the older photos). Obviously from these photos, the battery box is rusted out, but I'm just going to install some plastic inserts that are available and deal with the rust later. How on earth did the designers of this car think that these flimsy steel battery box frames under the car would not rust is beyond me!

The pump is in!

We also got the underside of the trunk cleaned (since the fuel tank was out), taped off, and painted with some truck bed liner to protect it a little.

After cleaning

Looking better under here!  The blue tape is covering the studs that hold the tank.

Next up was the new fuel tank install.  We got it almost completely installed, and then realized we forgot to install the new foam gasket that seals the tank filler pipe to the trunk- so we had to pull it back out!  Once we had the gasket in place, I also installed the rubber strips that came with the tank to isolate the tank from the trunk floor (some people have decided to skip the strips since it invites a place for water to sit on top of the tank and rust but I figured that this MGB will not see rain very often).

Fuel tank level sender wiring

The new fuel tank is in!!

So, with a new tank, new fuel and vent lines, and a functioning fuel pump, it was time to try and fire her up!  Drew installed the muffler (we removed it to make it easier to get to the driver's side tank bolts) while I went to get a few gallons of gas.  I dumped a couple ounces of Marvel Mystery Oil and the fresh 4 gallons of fuel in the tank.  We also installed some flexible tubing at the exhaust tip to vent the (potential!) exhaust gases out of the garage.  I pulled the new fuel line off of the carb so I could keep the first few ounces of fuel (and whatever crud might be in the lines) from getting into the carbs.  I stuck the line into an empty bottle of pinot grigio (sp.?) and had Drew turn on the ignition. After a few seconds, fuel started pumping into the wine bottle, and it looked clean!  At the same time, I saw a small drip of fuel coming out of one of the vent lines from the carb..... uh oh, looks like I might have a stuck float in one of the carbs!!  Well, we decided to give it a shot to see if she would run again, but she only coughed a couple of times and started to leak at the charcoal canister.  She was not going to run tonight, but we made great progress.  Now I know why she leaked a little fuel when we ran the car at the previous owners house.....

Filling a wine bottle....

Tucked away for the week.

Well, it looks like rebuilding the carbs is next on the list.  I bet I'll know a lot more about SU carbs in the very near future.

Day 3 .... a little progress and some Miata rust

Today, I decided to do some online MGB research and start the rust repair of the rockers on my 91 BRG Miata.  I'm going to sell the car, so it's a job long over due. These Miatas are prone to body rust in the lower fenders/rockers in front of the read wheels, and mine is no different.  I cut out the bad sheet metal, made a cardboard template, and prepped the now raw steel for a POR15 application. So, here are a couple of photos:

Cutting away the bad sheet metal

Cardboard template for patch panel

Ready for steel prep with POR-15 system

So, back to the MGB.  I've decided to just order a new fuel tank from Victoria British instead of messing around with the old rusty tank.

 fuel tank kit

I'll also order the flexible clutch hose and tail light kit.  So, very quickly I will spend 25% of the initial cost of the car!!  I might even add on a few other things while I'm paying shipping anyway....

I hooked up the now-operational fuel pump to the car, and it worked fine.  I just put it back in the basement until the new tank arrives.

Also, I spent some time just lubricating various latches, handles, cables, etc.  Not really necessary just yet, but I felt like doing something a little brainless. I also decided to put a little polish and wax on one of the fenders to see how it looked- not bad.  Now, since the fender was sort of shiny, I noticed two small dents!

After a little wax on the front drivers fender

 I also took some inventory on what will be needed for initial cosmetics (after she is on the road) and she needs carpets, almost all rubber body seals refreshed, steering wheel repaired or replaced, door panel tops, and rear tail lights (one is broken). The seats are marginal at best, but covers will do for a while.  The drivers seat sags to the left- so a little added padding will be needed. Whew.......this is going to be a long journey!

Next up (next weekend) hopefully more fuel system and clutch work if the parts are here. I'll also plan on cleaning up the trunk underside while the tank is out of the way.

Day 2: Fuel tank and pump, clutch

Day two started with confirming that there was power at the fuel pump with a test light.  I turned on the ignition and confirmed that there was power at the pump.  So, the pump was dead and had to come out for rebuild or replacement.  No problems on the removal.  I took a few photos to confirm I reinstalled it correctly in the future.

SU Fuel Pump

I ran some compressed air through the fuel line to the engine to make sure it was clear. No  problem.

Hooking up the air

 Next up was draining and removing the fuel tank.  We tried to siphon it out,but decided to just drain out the fuel through the drain plug in the tank.  No problems there, except I couldn't find and eye protection, so I used a swim mask! I wasn't sure if the fuel was going to splash everywhere, so I decided to look more goofy than usual for a while....

 

After draining out the rusty fuel, we got started with removing all of the bolts, wires,and vent lines from the tank. After placing the floor jack under the empty tank, we took out the last couple of bolts and lowered the tank enough to slide it out from under the car.  I took a peek inside the tank and saw a bunch of flaky rust, which was (obviously) in the drain bucket as well.  Looks like the tank will need to be repaired or replaced- looks like a new one is about $150.

The tank is gone!

 

 

I had Drew start with the arduous task of cleaning up miscellaneous electrical connections.  He REALLY seemed to enjoy working with emery paper and dielectric grease....

The last job of the day was to start looking into the clutch hydraulics.  The previous owner had installed a new clutch master cylinder and slave cylinder- but neither one was installed correctly.  The master was only partially attached to the car.  It's held on with two bolts, but the one he left off is difficult to get to and is accessed through a small hole up under the dash!  A few socket extensions and a magnet got the job sorted.  Next, I crawled under the car and had Drew operate the clutch.  Nothing moved at the slave at all- but I noticed the flexible fluid line was twisted and cracked.  I removed the bleeder from the slave cylinder and had Drew operate the clutch- no fluid!  I assume the flexible line is kinked, or the master needs some better bleeding.

Back in the house, I decided to crack open the fuel pump and clean the points.  I found a video online of the process.  It's actually pretty simple.  Long story short, the pump fired to life on the bench!!

Tomorrow, I'll connect the pump to the car and see if it works there.  We'll see- it might still be better to replace it or have a pro rebuild it.

Brake and Clutch master cylinders