John Moore's Journal

Yesterday, I laid down on the job and finished the plumbing the bottom of my B. Since I didn't have Heritage pans with the studs already welded in place, I used 1" 7/16 stainless hardware and held them in place from above with JB Weld. Worked great! I don't remember who suggested that! Also, I guestimated the clamp locations after pouring over photos and Clausager.

As with most things MG or that look simple, this took me much longer than expected! I had to keep fiddling with the wires and battery cable so they laid down properly, I bolted and unbolted the whole deal several times to get it to lay properly. I can't get a photo of it, but the most challenging part was the area where the lines go behind the fuel pump and across the bottom of the trunk floor.

I think I need to add a wire tie or two where the battery cable and harness comes up into the bay as they hang a bit there. Let me know if I missed anything or if you have suggestions.

I also installed the handbrake.

PS - I apologize in advance.... yes, that is a bit of grime on the bottom of my transmission and oil pan! lol!

For those of you who have been following my progress, know I've had a world of problems with my right fender. I bought new front fenders as my original ones had too much bondo in the nose. The fenders I bought were repros off a parts car, I don't know their history, but my guess now is that they are not Heritage Fenders, due to the poor fit of the RH one.

Before paint the bottom did not fit, at first I suspected problems from where I welded up the sill, but that checked out. I ended up replacing the fender bottom and the fit was better.

Anyway, last night I decided to bolt it up. Everything seemed to go fine. I did put a few washers under the first three holes near the cowl to give it a smidgen of height. But as you will see in the attached, photos, it caused the bead to be off by the height of a washer! Go figure! So I might pull them out. I finally got the bottom to bolt up, the gap between the rocker and fender was OK. You won't see it unless you look. I checked the alignment holes I made before paint, they were good, so I snugged it down. So far so good. But later when I was putting on the front cowl, I noticed the wheel arch stressed and cracked the paint! @@#*(&@@&*#)$!!!! So I went to bed pretty disgusted.

I guess, I'll finish fitting the panels and call my paint man on Monday to talk with him about repair.

Moral of the story - If you need a fender, buy original or Heritage. DON'T MESS WITH REPROS. Not worth any money saved!!

Today I installed the powdercoated heater box, blanking plate, pedal box and cover, radiator surrond and radiator! Looks great, I'm really pleased. I also polished my SU dash pots and changed out the throttle plates with the run on valve for earlier solid plates. I later installed the SU's. All I need to do now is plumb the radiator and gas hoses.

I decided I wasn't happy with the rattle can paint on my heater box, pedal box, blanking plate and radiator surround and supports so I had them powder coated in glossy black. It went from great to WOW! The bad part is that it really shows the pits, but fortunately, most are down low and will behind brake line plumbing. I also had the header sand blasted and I painted it with Eastwood Silver High Temp paint. Turned out great. At the same time I POR-15'd my tranny cross member.

I also using an early intake manifold this time without all the extra plumbing and fixtures as all the smog suff was removed by my PO anyway. The intake manifold, I sand blasted, polished on a wheel and finished with high temp clear.

Got the engine in today without too much drama! It's really coming together.

I thought I would give you guys an update. As said, mostly small stuff. I finished up the pedal box, I blasted and painted the pedals, replaced the hardware and clevis pins. One thing that is weird, is that my brake pedal is high. I hope that goes away when I bleed it. I also got the gas tank in. I bought it new from Moss two years ago. It had a small leak somewhere around the gas line fitting, so I really cleaned it up and sealed it with JB Weld. I'm hoping that will be the cure. I blasted and clear coated the original wire clamps, (I like that look) and put in new seals around the tank to body and filler neck. My next step is to put in the fuel pump and finish up routing the harness, wires and plumbing up toward the bay. Tho' I'm really ready to put the engine in. That would really make me feel good!

So it's coming along, nothing sexy, but slowly coming back together. What slows me down is looking for missing parts (tho' I bagged and tagged- there is just SOOO many!) and when I do find a part, I decide I need to blast and paint!