On the move: Steve with a Jaguar Mk2 & Lotus Europa

A temporary respite from the deep freeze created an opportunity to reshuffle our work areas.  We were ready to start tuning work on a series 2 E-type which has undergone a fairly major brake & suspension rehab in our cellar service bays.  Because of the relatively poor winter access, and the fact that subzero weather heaves the floor enough to wedge the doors closed, we decided to move it topside for tuning work and deposited this late 5-speed big valve Europa in its place.  Beginning Monday, Patrick will be its technician.  This car had been sitting outside for at least 12 years, meaning lots of things, beginning with the engine, are stuck.

John monitors the drip feed to an E-type

This series 1 E-type is another car long off the road.  When we encounter a car which has been sitting for many years we like to start by getting them running on fresh gas, not the accumulated shellac that used to be gasoline in the fuel tank.  This is truly Shade Tree Repair 101, but it works.  We take a soda bottle and attach a length of fuel line to the carburetor fuel inlet and set up a gravity feed.  Usually we just hang it off the hood catch, but for some reason this Jaguar needed more fuel velocity so we hung it off the fluorescent light.  Butch is running up the engine while John is monitoring the fuel delivery.  Now that we know the engine runs O.K. we’ll clean the tank and the fuel lines.

Butch fettles the carburetors & linkages

But let’s back up a little bit.  A scummy-gummy fuel tank is Prima Facie evidence of a similar condition in the carburetors and vice-versa.  Secure in the knowledge that this was almost certainly the case, Butch checked the carb piston & suction chamber assemblies for ease of operation and had a look at the condition of the float chambers (aka fuel reservoirs).  He pulled the front carburetor to free it off, adjusted his linkages and replaced a carb float that was damaged.  Now it’s on to resetting the front torsion bar ride height and looking for a window of opportunity to evaluate this car out on the road.

For the record, cars moving up & down in the queue today were E-types S1 & S2, the blue Mk2 sedan, the Lotus, a TR6, two MGB’s, an Austin Healey 3000 MkII, and two TD’s, slightly more than half of them under their own power.

Wednesday morning: Studded tires make it safe

Butch welds up a broken brake hold-down bracket

An Alberta Clipper is making its presence known  here.  The outdoor thermometer needle is bouncing off zero (it’s 48 degrees here in my office right now) with a fierce wind that is propelling the wind chill well into the minus numbers and making the needle bounce.  Winter in Vermont.  That small distraction not withstanding we’ve managed to get some work done this week, but only one roadtest because it’s been so cold.

We finished up with the red MG TD Monday. The picture is of Butch welding up a broken brake hold down spring bracket.  Indications are that it had been broken for a long time.  I’ve never been able to gauge their actual importance.  These cars still seem to stop fine without ’em and the front drum brakes don’t even use them because of the twin leading shoe arrangement.

John & Steve prep a rebuilt MGB engine for installation

But they were part of the design specification for a reason, so we just do what we gotta’ do.

On Monday John and Steve installed the fresh engine in the MGB.  We’ve been kind of unhappy with the girly feeling AP Borg & Beck MGB clutches currently being supplied.  Give me a break !   I mean this is a sports car not a Toyota Corolla.  So this MG now has an AP Racing clutch installed which feels like the MGB clutches used to feel. If you click on the picture and enlarge it you can see the white alignment marks on the clutch cover and flywheel.  This is a fully balanced engine

Initial run up

Tuesday we ran it up for the first time.  We have a strict protocal around initial start ups.  First we oil prime the engine by pushing it backward in 4th gear while pouring oil down the outlet to the filter on the right side  of the cylinder block.  Then we crank it with the spark plugs out so as not to put a compression load on the bearings and when oil pressure starts to register on the gauge we put the plugs back in and start it up. We run the engine for three minutes (or until the temperature gauge starts to register) at between about 1800 & 2500 rpms.  Then we shut it down and let everything heat soak for another five minutes and retorque the cylinder head and readjust the valves.  Radiator cap loose, of course.

Searching for front shocks in the MGB graveyard

Next step is a quickie-carburetor balance, a double check on fluids and out on the road to the Putney turnaround & back, followed by another retorque and valve adjustment.  That was it for roadtesting this week, it was not pleasant with the temperature hovering around 12 degrees.

In the midst of all this Steve and I have also been working on inventory which is endless drudgery, although sometimes we end up finding something interesting.  In my case it was a servicable front shock for my blue MGB GT taken from a parts car last weekend before winter boxed us in.

5:00 Thursday: Our shop is not glamorous but the work is interesting

On the Westminster West road Wednesday morning

It snowed most of the day Wednesday which wasn’t really a disruption for us because no roadtesting was on our schedule.  On the left you can see what it looked like around 7:00 in the morning from my faithful rubber bumper MGB GT.  The highway crew had already made a pass spreading salt, which was  just starting to work it’s way down from the center crown of the road.

Back in the shop Steve has been prepping an MGB for the installation of it’s new uprated engine and John is continuing to build up a Morgan +4 while Butch has been tidying up the red MG TD, which is a nice car with just a few loose ends still.

Butch evaluates the clutch & brake mechanisms

One of the larger loose ends was the poor state of the clutch linkage and pedal shaft.  This was referenced in last week’s report, but today was evaluation day.   The net result is a vastly more progressive clutch and a quite good brake pedal, albeit with a pronounced pull to the right which puzzles us because the brake drums & linings, wheel cylinders and brake hoses all appeared to be in entirely satisfactory condition.  More investigation will ensue.  On the plus side, Butch seems to have rectified the somewhat intermittant operation of the turn signals by stripping and cleaning the vacuum turn signal switch.

I’m not a very big fan of the vacuum switches, and in my MGA, which uses the same switch, it has been replaced with a toggle switch from a Sprite.  I’ll be the one to decide when the turn signals will cancel.

A dry stretch of pavement

We are fortunate that the highway immediately adjacent to the shop dries out quickly and affords us about a half a mile of bare pavement.  It’s not our usual roadtest route but it is enough to at least get up thru four gears and back down again.  I have spent much of the week checking inventory so around 3:00 when Butch asked me for a second opinion I cast my inventory sheets aside and grabbed my gloves and away I did go.  There is nothing quite as bracing as a 40 mph blast of January fresh air, although after about 20 minutes and four or five return journeys I had had quite enough.

Changing the clutch pedal shaft & bushings

The new owner knocked down this very attractive MG TD over the summer at the Owls Head Museum Auction.  He drove it a little and then asked us last fall to sort a few things out, which we’re starting to do now in earnest.  This car is nearly as nice underneath as it looks on the outside.  I wish I’d had the opportunity to see it before the repaint, the golden patina of use never sprays back on.

The clutch linkage was showing every bit of its 60 years, and on a TD or a TF when you can wave the brake pedal side to side an inch or two it’s time for some remediation.

New and old clutch shaft & pedals

It seems as if we did this job every other month last year.  The clutch shaft (new one in the foreground) pivots in a couple of bushings in the frame adjacent to the brake master cylinder.  The clutch pedal is (woodruff) keyed to the shaft and the brake pedal rides on the shaft in it’s own bushing.  You can see the difference in the I.D. between the new one on the left and the old one not yet pressed out of the pedal.

There’s a grease fitting on the shaft that can make these components last forever, but most people seem to ignore it.

Replacing MGB differential thrust washers

Another routine fiddly task performed here this week was the replacement of the differential spider gear thrust washers in an MGB tube type axle.  These are the gears that allow the two rear wheels to turn at different speeds and they’re a high wear item in this axle for some inexplicable reason.  You can do ’em right in the car in a couple of hours if you’re reasonably careful, no exotic special tools required.

Just drain the axle and pop off the rear hubs and the brake backplates and tug the axle half shafts just out of engagement with the differential gears.  Then take off the diff. cover, knock the roll pin out of the cross pin for the spider gears and drive the cross pin out about half an inch, so it doesn’t get stuck in the nose of the diff. housing, rotate it 180 degrees and pull the pin out.  Now the spider gears will easily come away with whatever is left of the thrust washers.  Install your new thrust washers and reverse the procedure.

Friday last we went to move yet another MGB in from the barn for a lookover.  My stars, wern’t we confused, we couldn’t budge the car at all.  It was as if it was frozen in gear, which in fact it was.  This car was caught out in Hurricane Irene, apparently.  What follows is some extremely rare video courtesy of John with voice-over commentary by Butch.  Click and Enjoy !   IMG_0342