It's Alive! plus more brakes, electrical

So next up was to finish rebuilding the carbs.  I was having problems getting the new floats and float needles to work.  Once everything was together, I would test with lung power to make sure the float needle would shut off fuel when it was closed.  The test results were inconsistent, so I waited to talk to the person who sold me the rebuild parts and he informed me that the fuel pressure would take care of any sticking float needle.

rear carb

new parts for a single carb

dashpot removed

new parts in the float bowl- the float turns out to cause some problems later...  the carb is upside down in this photo with the main jet in the middle and new white float

finished, or so I thought

Next up was to install the exhaust manifold, exhaust downpipe, and intake manifold.  I replaced the two outer studs in the head that hold the manifolds with stainless bolts so it's easier to remove the manifold in the future.  No real problems with the manifold/gasket install- just nuts and bolts.  I installed the carbs once  again.

cleaned intake port on the head

intake manifold flange

manifold gasket

cleaning the head studs with a thread chaser

Done, and awaiting carbs and heatshield

carbs installed- I'm getting good at removing and installing these

view from the front of the car

While I was working on the carbs, Drew worked on the front brakes.  He installed the calipers and new flexible lines.  When it came time to install the brake pads, they would NOT fit in the rebuilt calipers. Weird.
After some research, we discovered that we were trying to install them backwards!  In our defense, we were just matching the old pads, and they were installed backwards......

drivers side front brake, without pads yet

I also spent some time cleaning up the engine bay and the area in front of the radiator while I had some time 

to kill.  Many years of grime in there- but it's looking better every day.

getting cleaner

drivers side inner fender before installing manifolds and carbs

I spent some time installing a new headlight switch, and new turn signal flasher.  At the same time, I cleaned up a couple of grounds.  So, now I have headlights, tail lights, trunk light, etc.  There are a couple of burned out bulbs I'll replace later.

trunk light

we have headlights!

I also started to strip the wheels.  I bought a set of new tires off of eBay, so I had my mechanic remove the old tires to make painting them easier.  Just some time in the blaster, a little sanding, a coat of primer, and finally paint.  I'm going to go satin black on the wheels- it should look good with the chrome center and chrome beauty rings.

after blasting

after primer

wet paint

with center cap, chrome ring, and lug nuts just to see how it looks

 Here are a couple of photos of the blast cabinet, by request from one of my many many followers....

with a wheel inside it- you just close the clear lid, shove your hands on the gloves, and get blasting

it has a light inside it so you can see what's going on

 So, I went to start the car again.  And once again, it ran like garbage.  I couldn't figure it out.  The rear carb was not taking fuel at all, so it was running on one carb.  There was fuel at the line to the carb, but that's as far as it got.  The float needle must be stuck!!   I gave up on the carbs for now to let me collect thoughts.  I ended up emailing the photo posted above with the new white float to the SU carb master Joe Curto.  His reply was pretty clear- "you have installed the front float in the rear carb- switch them".  The new floats are completely different design than the old one.  The are handed left/right just like the main jets.  The jets have a brass ring on one, and a silver ring on the other to identify them.  The floats have a brass tab on one, and an aluminum tab on the other.  I assumed they matched the brass with brass, and aluminum with aluminum, but I was completely wrong, again!  Well, long story short, once I switched the floats and installed the carbs (again....) the car fired to life beautifully.  Now she sounded like I imagined an MGB should sound like.  Great oil pressure, the temperature came up nicely (the gauge actually works!) and she settled into a nice idle.  I adjusted the idle speed and mixture a little and called it a day with a celebratory beer or two.


Next up we'll finish the clutch and brake hydraulics, paint the floor, and maybe adjust the carbs some more before installing the air cleaners.  Who knows, maybe I can see if I can actually get the potentially stuck clutch working.

Day 18-20 front brakes,carbs, side covers etc

The rebuilt distributor showed up, and I can't believe this is the same distributor.  It was a shame to install something so clean and shiny on such a filthy engine.  But, I went ahead an installed it with new spark plugs and new vac line for the advance.  I would try to run the car a little later.

I also installed the painted valve cover.

Shiny rebuilt distributor

installed distributor with new coil and plugs

ready to run again

I also installed the pedal box and pedals.  No real problems, just very tight access to the mounting bolts.
I'll wait to bleed the clutch and brakes until the new front brakes are installed.  Speaking of brakes, I started to take an old front caliper apart for rebuild, but the caliper piston was too rusty, so I just ordered two rebuilt units.

pedal box installed

pedal linkages and pedals installed

painted pedals, with new pads

Drew worked on the front brakes and wheel bearings.  We got one side ready for install with it's shims.  So, it was time to mount the new front rotors to the hubs.  But, when we went to torque the 4 bolts down, they just distorted and destroyed themselves.  After a little online research, I figured that some previous owner replaced the bolts with some garbage hardware.  Why someone would skimp on brake hardware is beyond me. New bolts were required before we could continue with the brakes.

So, we decided to see of she would run.  I hooked everything up and gave it a shot..... but there was no noise from the fuel pump.  Well, this is not good.  I smacked on it a couple of times but that didn't work.  I checked that it was getting 12 volts, and it was. So, I started to remove it once again.  When I loosened up the fuel feed line from the pump to the carbs, fuel sprayed everywhere!  With the pressure relieved, the pump worked fine. Why was there so much pressure?  After a phone call to an SU carb expert, we figured that one of the carbs had a float needle that was stuck closed. I ordered two rebuild kits. 


That was about it for that day.

The next day, I removed the carbs....again.  No problems.  Since the carbs were coming off, I decided to remove the entire exhaust and intake manifolds so I could install new gaskets and replace the two side cover gaskets as well (one was leaking oil).   No problems with the removal.

carbs removed

intake manifold is removed

exhaust manifold removed, front leaking cover removed- you can see the pushrods

intake manifold after blasting

exhaust manifold, down pipe, and front side cover

Drew started by installing the new brake rotors on the hubs with the new bolts.  Then he greased up the new wheel bearings and installed both front rotor/hub assemblies onto the car.  Hopefully the rebuilt calipers and new brake lines can be installed next weekend.

new rotor and hub installed- driver side

new brakes (almost) and new bumper (more on that later)

 I started with rebuilding one of the carbs.  No real problems, just time consuming.  The second one will be much easier. As a side note- it was a nice sunny day today so I just set up a table in the driveway to work on the carb!

starting to take it apart- lots of new tiny parts

these are the two adjustments for idle speed and throttle enrichment (choke)- in the finished photo below, you will see that I replaced the lock nuts for these adjustments with springs so it is MUCH easier to adjust later

assembly progressing

Finished- with new adjustment springs

I also cleaned up the side covers, installed new gaskets, and installed them.

cleaned up

cleaned and old gaskets removed

new gaskets installed with sealant

Installed.

And finally for the day, Drew installed the new (to me) bumper.  I saw an ad on Craigslist for some free MGB parts.  I got in touch with the owner and got the "new" parts this week.  He had done a restoration and wanted to get rid of his old leftover parts.  I got a valve cover, timing set, rocker set, side chrome trim, chrome trim rings for the wheels, a white front valence, a bunch miscellaneous hardware, sealbelts, and used bumper.  The bumper was in much better condition than mine, so Drew installed it.  It looks great- just needs a little polish.

old rusty bumper

new bumper- I left the overriders off for now- I like the cleaner look without them.

That's all for now.  Hopefully next week I'll rebuild the other carb, install the manifolds, install the carbs and run the car again.  Aslo- work will continue on the front brakes with installing the calipers and brake hoses.