John Moore's Journal

On Nov. 9, 2010 we got a "new" 1968 MGB GT that we purchased from our friend Saul Morse in AZ. He needed to "thin the herd" and when we saw them on AZ over the summer we talked about buying the GT as a father and son project with my soon to be 14 year of son. It's a great driver, with OD and new Moss Leather seats. Saul did some rust repair on the right side lower front fender, rocker and dogleg. I'll have to do the same on the other side, but beyond that it's a very solid car! It just needs to be finished off! I've been having a great time driving it the past few weeks.

Tho' I've had the kit for awhile, I've just been too busy traveling with my job to get good garage time, so I made time today! The nice weather we've been having in the Northeast has made me want to get out in drive!

Before I started, I put in a 4 degree offset key to match my Delta 262 cam. That was pretty straight forward. While down there I used Jeff S's timing pointer and relocated my timing marks to the top side of the pulley. I used a MSD Timing sticker (PN 8985) for a 5.25" pulley that I bought from Jegs. I had to cut the sticker WAY down to make it fit, but now I have good hash marks I can follow. I"m sure this will be a nice touch when it comes to tuning the SC.

So far the Moss Supercharger has been pretty easy to install. The instructions are great, have photos and everything including hardware is included. I've got the pulleys and new alternator and water pump installed. I just bolted up the blower so I thought I would share a few photos.

Also while I'm doing this I'm adding to my thermostat a blanking plate to help with hot days. Also, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my old SU set up. I'm temped to sell them to help with Bugeye cost, but I guess I better make sure all is well with the blower first! lol

Update...

Here's the latest. I have the tensioner pulleys installed along with the serp belt. I've also been working on re-routing the accelerator and choke cables. The K&N is installed along with the fan. I've also been cleaning up stuff and repainting were needed. Next up I need to finish installing the radiator and figure out what I'm going to do with the return pipe. I bought a new one, but it's off at the chromers. I should have it back next week. Right now I'm going to use my old brass pipe. I also need to finish installing the t-stat housing for the blanking plate I'm not running in conjection with the t-stat. I also have to hook up the PVC and dist. advance. But I'm getting close! woo hoo!

Update....

I can't wait to get out there and drive today! Unfortunately, I'll have to dodge the rain drops.

Last night I originally had it set up at 15 degrees BTDC but heard some pinging, so I backed it down to 13. I'll have to listen to it closely today and get it dialed in. Having the timing numbers on top is a HUGE help! I was also suprised that I didn't have to do anything to the SU HIF44. It cranked immediately, idled at 800-900 when the car warmed up and drove really nice! I'm sure I'll check the plugs later for color.

Here are a few photos. As I mentioned before, I need re-route a few things like the crankcase hose and I'm also going to go back to the original heater return pipe, when it gets back from the chromer.

The engine rebuild went along pretty much without incident, I even installed it myself without a hitch. But shortly thereafter the "GOTCHA's" showed up big time and REALLY tested my patience!

The first was no oil pressure! UGGG! I spun it over and over to no avail. Finally, I took the advice of Paul Hanley and poured oil down the rear oil cooler line and turned the engine over backwards with a wrench to prime the pump. Success!

The next day, I planned on starting it. Yeah RIGHT! While taking the front end down off the jackstands, I was using a 2x4 shim on top of my jack under the front cross member. It slipped and the weight of my car came down on my jack right on the oil pan. CRUNCH! My oil pan was seriously dented! When I finally got it off, I discovered I had broken the oil pump. GOTCHA! What a major pain!

So I finally get the new oil pump and pan installed. I get oil pressure... yay! But GOTCHA! It won't crank... all it wants to do is backfire out the SU's and tail pipe. During the rebuild I was VERY careful to keep #1 at TDC. Well somewhere along the way I goofed an got the distributor 180 degrees off. That took alot of head scratching to figure out. But FINALLY it cranked! YAY!

The first impressions of the re-curved dist and P&P'd head are remarkable! The car just really wants to accelerate and rev! The butt dyno really likes it! lol! Now I need to dial it all in, but that's the fun part... I hope!

I've pretty much got my engine back together with the new Sean Brown head. I reused the old main bearings as they looked new and plastiguage said they were within spec. I put in new rod bearings. The new Deves rings also measured within spec and the balance of the engine went together with out any hitches. I put in new front and rear main gaskets and used a Payen Head gasket and other Payen gaskets throughout. This time I only lightly coated the rings in WD-40 and used moly lube on the cam. Mostly the cam followers looked ok. One had a bit more pitting than the others (# 7) so I'll watch it closely.

To top it off, I used chrome acorns on the head and new stainless hardware. It really looks great with the chrome valve cover. I also got a chrome oil cap from VB, it breathes soooo much better than my original. Hopefully, that will also help with the oil consumption issues I was having.

I also sent my intake and exhaust manifold to Jet Hot to be coated! I can't wait to see how they turn out.

The next step will be to install the flywheel, clutch and transmission.

While my engine was apart I sent the head to Sean Brown for a port and polish job as well as having the intake port matched and polished. A total of three MGBexperience members sent him heads for work and he did an excellent write up on the process on his website. www.flowspeed.com Definitely check it out. I also got my block back last week, I had it cleaned and the cylinder bores honed. It looks like the original rings never set properly. I'm attributing this to using too much assembly lube during the rebuild. ROOKIE ERROR! I was lucky to be able to find a set of .030 Deves Rings.

Hopefully, next week, I'll get around to putting it back together.

ps- oh yeah! I had Jeff rebush, recurve and install a petronix flame thrower in my Eurospec 45D! woo hoo!

I thought I might go backwards a bit....

I bought my B on April 6, 2003 from a guy in Northern New Jersey. After being into Land Rovers for some time, I got the itch to own another MG. Someone on one of the Land Rover boards turned me on to the MGBexp. After looking at a few, I found this one in the autotrader. It was running, but didn't have an interior. I was carefully looking for rust.... (wow! What I didn't know then) I did find rust on one of the trumpets and was about to walk with the guy quickly lowered his price and pointed out that it came with a hard top and and OD transmisson. $2000 later my adventure began....