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.