These cars can KILL YOU!!!

After finishing the rear re-spring and suspension/brakes rebuild the other night on the GT, I immediately started on the front rebuild.

I pulled the passenger side wheel off and started fighting with 44 year old bolts which mostly wanted to break off rather than turn. I then noticed the tie rod end seemed to be sticking up from the steering knuckle about 3/4". I wiggled it and it was very loose and completely worn out.

I got that side stripped down, cleaned & painted everything,etc. then moved to the driver side. I looked at the tie rod end as soon as I got the wheel off and it looked just as worn out.

But when I pulled up on the driver side tie rod it just came apart. The post in the tie rod that is attached to the steering knuckle just popped out of the tie rod body with almost no effort!

That certainly explains why the front end felt so loose driving down I-40 at 75 mph.
If that had come apart while driving the result could have been...challenging. The two front wheels pointing in different directions while driving is not a good thing.

Reminds me why it is important to check EVERYTHING on these cars on a regular basis.
I do trust the engineering of these little cars but some of them are almost half a century old now.

A nice reminder for me as I get back into working on and driving MGB's again after a 12 year hiatus...lest I forget they are machines and do not care if they kill me.

Rear rebuild finished. 4-2-2011

After 4 weeks I’ve finally finished a job that should have taken one or two long days. Most of that was due to the fact that every time I’d be deep into the job, I would find something else that HAD to be done or I would find there is one small part I didn’t have and have to stop and wait for it to be shipped. I’m still waiting on some parts so I just wound up cannibalizing my 74 roadster whose rear end was already completely rebuilt.

So far, here’s what I’ve done…
New heritage leaf springs
Teflon-impregnated suspension bushings
New brake shoes, pads, springs, cylinders, adjusters. Bled and adjusted
Underside, wheel wells axle, suspension, completely scraped, wire-brushed, degreased, rust-treated, undercoated and painted.
New metal welded in to replace the rusted rails at the trailing driver side leaf spring attach point.
New axle oil seals, adjuster cleaned, adjusted and lubed. Axle fluid topped off, breather cleaned out. Driveshaft u-joint nuts & bolts checked
Exposed wiring harness covered with plastic split loom
Trunk/cargo area repainted and new carpet installed.
Factory wire wheels degreased, cleaned and repainted.

I still have to replace the oily, dented and apparently leaking fuel tank but that can wait a bit.
Next comes replacing the rotted metal in the floorboards, firewalls, and inner sills on the driver and passenger sides, urethane bushing replacement and front end rebuild, Acoustic and thermal installation and installing new carpeting, interior panels and a bunch of other misc interior work.
All this has to be done by April 17 for the British car show at Shelton Vineyards in Dobson, NC.

Oh, and I have to get the Spitfire running too…
…and the 74 Roaster…
…and the Corvette…

The fun is in the overdoing!

Quick update 3-3-2011

Update:

The leaks from the rear axle were actually the rear brake cylinders leaking. Surprising to me since the previous owner said all of the brake hydraulics were replaced. The oil seals seem to be okay but since I’m tearing everything apart anyway, they will be replaced as well. I ordered the brake kit from a member of the MG Experience forum which includes all the springs, clips shoes and cylinders for the rear brakes. Rebuilding brakes is fairly a fairly easy job, but since it is so damned filthy up under the car, half the battle will be getting it all cleaned off so I can work on it without looking like the Swamp Thing when I’m done.

3-14-2011

Happy Pi day…my stepson instantly thought that it meant we should go out and get a pie for him. We did not. What it meant is that everything takes 3.1415 times longer than you think it will.

Here’s the list of fun in changing out the rear springs and bushings that has turned a single long afternoon job into one that is up to a week and counting.

1. The sub-frame rail right over the aft driver side spring shackle mount had some fairly serious rust through which meant I had to do some welding…and I am a shitty, shitty welder. But I got it done, ugly done, but done.

2. I broke one of the rear u-bolts that connects the axle to the leaf spring so I had to scavenge that off the roadster which took for-fucking-ever. Then I had some stripped shafts on the old GT u-bolts so I had to rethread them. Actually, I didn’t have to, I’m just too impatient to wait for the new ones that I ordered.

3. The underside was so caked with 40+ years of grease, crud, dirt, road spooge and rust that it took forever to get it all clean. But it is better than working on a dirty, greasy car.

4. I got rear axle oil seals for the GT at O’Reilly’s auto parts. The girl behind the counter assured me that they were the correct ones. I had her cross-reference the part number with other year MG’s to check it. She assured me that they were the correct seals. They were correct…for a Volvo! I went to another O’Reilly’s and talked to a greasy guy behind the counter. He couldn’t figure out how the girl got that part number, but we both knew how. I should never order parts for an MG from somebody who was not yet born when MG’s were still being made. Greasy guy had to order the correct ones so after another 2-day delay I finally got the right ones…but greasy guys are worth their weight in gold!

5. The brake kit I ordered was missing two springs and the clip that holds the hydraulic cylinder to the back plate broke when I tried to use it…they’re all junk. Luckily I’m a hoarder so I had extras to use.

6. The brake shoes were so tight that I had to tap the brake drum on with a very big hammer. I’m still not sure why it’s still so tight, especially with the cylinders retracted and the adjuster backed all the way out…hmmmm…

7. I spent about an hour looking for the castle nut that holds the hub onto the axle. And then I spent another half hour trying to get the passenger side hub nut off. It is not being very cooperative. I shot PB Blaster on it a few times and I’m letting it soak overnight. Hopefully that will let me get the little bastard loose. If not, I’ll have to hit with the torch to try to loosen it up a bit. If that fails I may have to break down and buy an air impact wrench.

And if there wasn’t enough bad news, I found more rust on the front reinforcement panel called the “trumpet” that extends forward off the outer, upper areas of the firewall underneath the rear tops of the front fenders. The one on the passenger side has been repaired and still has a rust hole on the top. The driver side one seems intact.

The replacements are only $35.00 each for the 2 Heritage panels but to install them, I have pull off the front fenders which involves a whole ’nuther horror show of rust for me when I see what’s under there.