MGB in the Garage: July 2016

After finishing up the paint- I redid the seat covers and seat frames. I bought a nice set of original style seat covers off of Craigslist. No real tricks to replacement- just take off the old covers, clean/repaint the seat frames, get the recline ratchet to work, and recover. Came out pretty good.

Frame after paint with new reinforcement backing material

I also installed a battery cut-off switch behind the passenger seat. This comes in handy all the time. I kill the battery every time the car is parked.

Next up was a new overdrive transmission. I have always wanted one and found one an hour away for under $500, so I bought. My plan was to do the basic maintenance on the overdrive and test it. I bought all of the o-rings, seals, gaskets, etc. for the job and got started. You need to remove the bottom sump cover from the overdrive and replace O-rings at the oil pump, pressure valve, and solenoid. Everything was going well until I hooked it up to a powerful drill so I could test the overdrive. The overdrive activated correctly, but would not disssconnect when I took the power off of the solenoid. So- it needed to come apart.

Overdrive components- solenoid on bottom, then oil pump, then pressure relief.

I opened up the gearbox as well to measure/inspect. It seemed to measure out fine.

The overdrive gears and cone clutch.

The sump of the overdrive. The two bars are going across little pistons the move under oil pressure created by the overdrive pump. This motion pushes the cone clutch into the outer portion of the overdrive and activated it.

Damage to the original cone clutch. I had to sent it off (and the OD itself) to get replaced.

So after installing the new cone clutch and a new bearing, I just put it all back together and started on removing the engine/gearbox out of my car.

To install the new overdrive/gearbox, I first needed to remove the current standard gearbox from the car. It is removed with the engine and then separated from the engine while on the engine hoist or bench. While the engine is out, I was going to paint the engine bay, paint the engine, replace the clutch, new motor mounts, etc. Here are a few photos of the process.

Ready to pull the engine and gearbox

Almost there....

After the first washing/degreasing

Gearbox removed showing old clutch and flywheel

On the stand

cleaned and masked ready for black paint

dirty engine bay after removing most components

after cleaning/sanding and ready for primer

after primer, ready for color. I used foil to wrap parts I didn't want to remove (wire harness, hydraulic lines, etc)

After paint.

Next up was to inspect the engine while it was out. I'd replace all seals, external gaskets, etc. I wanted to remove the camshaft to inspect since I was planning on replacing the timing chain anyway. Once the chain is out, the cam just pulls out of the block. The original cam measured out o.k., but one of the lobes was damaged so it needed replacement. I bough a little more aggressive cam just for fun. So I put the new cam in, and painted the engine. After that, I installed a new water pump, thermostat, rocker shaft, etc. Once the engine was painted, it was time to attach the new-to-me overdrive gearbox and put the lump back in the car. No problems at all- just the usual British quirkiness (like the transmission crossmember that bolts under the car has 16 different ways it can be installed). So, that is where I am now- starting to put stuff back on the engine (alternator, starter, etc)
I'll soon fill it with oil and spin it up with the starter until I see some oil pressure, then hook up the ignition and fire it up. The new cam needs a 20 minute at 2500+/- rpm break-in period on initial start-up.