Practically Classics Forum

Apparently it was taken off the road due to an oil leak. I've since discovered this is a common problem with the breathers on them so it shouldnt be too much, but the GT needs to be finito'd first. Nice thing to look forward too though!

Lovely! Funny how those wheels are in vogue at the moment. Just goes to show how styles come back in.

tineca wrote:Lovely! Funny how those wheels are in vogue at the moment. Just goes to show how styles come back in.

does this mean flares will be back soon

rich said:

does this mean flares will be back soon

They went out of fashion???!!

TBH I think those wheels suit the Porsche best, though I'm not sure about the ones for the "B"!

After much, MUCH cursing, the engine is in, hooray!!!

We got it in fairly easily & qucikly but then spent 3 hours trying to get the engine mounts bolted up. Bearing in mind that I paid for all the proper MGB V8 engine mounts and parts, nearly all the bolts AND the studs on the mounts were far too long and had to be cut down. Anyone who knows the later MGB's knows that the mounts are angled on the chassis, and therefore with studs too long, you cannot get the nut on...so why? Why when you pay for fortune for V8 conversion parts do they still not fit? I was fuming for quite a few hours, but here it is:



I've also wrapped up the tyres et as they get warm in this weather:



I am now stripping the cylinder heads and cleaning them up, along with making a crossmember to suit the new gearbox.

Cylinder head cleaning is coming on well, using copious amounts of Mr Muscle oven cleaner after the cleaning tank failed to clean much off. Here is a chamber before:



And one after



Exhaust ports are mostly cleaned save for the intricate bits



Here is a before and after rocker, again Mr Muscle works great!



I had to take the steering rack off today to fit the nut to the engine mount that side, thank you BL engineers.

I love Rover V8s! Are you going to leave yours in bare ally or paint it?
I didn't think of Mr Muscle when cleaning up mine, I used a huge amount of gunk letting parts sit overnight. A bit of a brush with a washing up brush or bottle brush to get inside and they came up really well.

Its being left bare Terry, mostly for the reason you wont see much of the block in the MGB!

I'm beginning to have a dilemma with the car now and i'm trying not to get too down about it.

Basically my parents divorced recently, and my dad has now moved away from where the MG is. Given that I can only go there one weekend a month or so to work on it i'm not so sure much is going to get done on it now. I'm contemplating putting it in storage until I have somewhere for it and can finish it on my own.

It sucks really...

The danger with putting it into storage is "out of sight, out of mind". This is often the first step on a process that ultimately leads to the eventual "unfinished project for sale" advertisment in the classic press.