Michael Todd Thorpe's Journal

It started! Woo-hoo!!!

I stopped by Home Depot for a couple of small things, then got to work on the B this morning. Ended up just bypassing the heater core, dead-ended the heater valve (acting sticky and not closing completely) and directly connected the lower radiator hose branch to the water choke on the carb. Got myself a gallon of gas, filled the radiator with water and started her up. Third try did the trick, I think basically because it took that long to get the fuel into the dry carb. Oil pressure jumped right up immediately and at a very good level. A bit of blue smoke from the tail pipe, but considering I'd dumped a bunch of spray oil in the cylinders when I first got her, just to make sure the pistons weren't stuck, it wasn't too bad. Ran her for about ten minutes or so until she warmed up and then shut her down.

Now, on to the hydraulics, need some tires then... maybe she'll roll!

Ok, ok, ok... pulled the master cylinder last week, ordered a new one off Rob Garrison's ebay.

This morning, doing more recon on the rest of the system. Hoses completely shot (I expected that), discs are rusted so I'm thinking of replacing them and the pads. Pulled the passenger side caliper and I tried to remove the hub and rotor but, after getting the castle nut off, the hub is pretty stubborn. Looked around the forum to see if there's a trick but didn't notice one. Sprayed the left side with Pyroil and also the screws on the back brakes before calling it quits... Time for lunch and a retreat from the heat. Maybe I'll pick this back up in the morning... I need to do a bit more research here, I think.

Good Lord, where to start? I've done more exploration in my effort to resurrect this B...

Clutch rubber hose looks fine, though I'm planning to replace that and the slave cylinder anyways... BUT... the clutch master cylinder I would call dry, but for the dark sludge at the bottom of the well. What does that mean? Well, no doubt I need to rebuild or replace that...

Continuing to work on the brakes. Removed the rear drums (relatively easy) and the shoes and drums look fine to me. I think I'll replace those slave cylinders anyway as part of my hydraulic overhaul.

The front brakes are another issue. Last week I'd attempted to get the front right hub off the spindle so I could get to the rotor but that whole assembly seems frozen in place. Today I attempted again to remove it, gave up for a bit and moved to the driver's side which came off in an almost textbook way, nice and smooth. Plenty of grease everywhere in that hub/bearings/etc. BUT... and I knew this looked likely considering the condition of all the dried-out rubber on the B, the A arm bushings are almost completely missing on this side. I had thought, during this past week, I might put off replacing the front suspension rubber for a bit until I got things rolling on the road. In other words, live with the bad rubber until the car was on the road, smogged and registered, then take a weekend or two to refresh all that rubber later. Now I think I need to just do it first.

Back to the passenger side hub... As I did more inspection and tinkering about, I found one of the shims had deteriorated behind the castle nut and, in comparison to the driver's side hub, everything looks dry and crusty. Probably explains the hub's reluctance to being removed. I think I need to just replace the bearings on front end now, too... And the deteriorated shim... does that indicate the PO had tinkered in here and tightened things up too much? Hmmm... not sure. I've gone ahead and sprayed some Pyroil into this hub in hopes it helps loosen things up. I've thought about trying a bearing puller here, so I'll see if I can borrow one from Mike A. next week... Maybe that will help.

Now: Time to make a list of parts and place an order, I suppose...

Decided that since I had the hubs and rotors off to do brake work I would also replace the a-arm bushings... Last weekend I'd noticed the condition on the drivers' side, almost non-existent. Ordered the bushing kits last week by phone from Suspension Restoration Parts in Modesto, CA... Nice set, black polyurethane impregnated with black graphite.

As I worked I found I also needed the seals for the lower trunion, and I should have ordered some cotter pins... (heck, I might try to find those somewhere here in town, but it'll be easier just to order online...)

Today's work: I pulled the stubborn hub/rotor on the passenger's side with a bearing puller, easy-peasy. The bearing was shot on this side and everything was dry, looks like the grease had all hardened. This is the same side I found the shims out of order on the spindle, next to the flat washer... Previous Owner?

Next up the Fulcrum Pins and A-arms. I supported the spring pan with the jack, loosened the pan bolts, pulled the bolts from the widest part of the pan, then lowered that side of the pan and released/removed the spring as well as the rest of the pan. Easier than I expected, I stole the idea from forum member "Simon Austin"...

(See here, with pics: http://www.mgexperience.net/phorum/read.php?1,859670,860597#msg-860597 )

Then, pulled the bolt (fulcrum pin) at the shock and replaced the bushings. This was much harder than I expected and I tried several techniques before I settled on greasing up the bushings, threading everything with a long bolt, stacks of fender washers and a nut, then tightening it all down to seat the bushings into place. I let it set for a little bit to settle and not spring back on me, then released the bolt/washers, shimmied the whole mess into place between the arms of the shock absorber and drove the pin home, tapping with a hammer (not hard)... put the castle nut back on and tightened the whole thing up. Surprisingly, this was what took me the most time this morning, just working this process out. I expect the drivers' side to go more smoothly now that I've figured it out.

I then pulled the nuts on the wider side of the a-arm, then the lower trunion bolt. Looks like I need new seals here (I should have realized that earlier) so I'll probably order the kit from Moss. The a-arms came off easily, the bushes went on easily (I greased everything) and then re-assembled. At this point I stopped for the day. I need to order said seals (or the whole trunion kit?) and some spare cotter pins... with those in hand I think I can finish up the passenger side and then move on to the drivers' side. I'm doing one side at a time so I have a reference point in case I goof something up.

Next up, trunion seals, cotter pins, replace the spring pan, re-insert the spring, jack it all back into alignment and tighten the spring pan bolts up, move on to the other side...


About 1:30 the heat and hunger drove me out of the garage and into the house.

Sunday 6/26/11 Update: Ordered the trunion kits from Moss Motors and found the cotter pins I need at Home Depot, no problems. I hope to finish the passenger's side next weekend and, perhaps, complete the Driver's side... Cross my fingers!

More or less a repeat of last week...

I finished up on the passenger side, installed the lower trunion kit (ordered from Moss last weekend) and tidied up... then moved on to the driver's side and repeated the whole earlier (last weekend, last journal entry) process... Except: when putting everything back together, the last bolt to replace in the spring pan... the threads are galled and I need to now find a replacement...

But, all in all, a good day before the 100º-plus temps drove me back in the house about 3pm.

Next up: work on the hubs (bearings, shims, etc.) and then the brakes.

Spent the morning working on the hubs. Really, I should say I spent the morning cleaning the hubs... I did drive out the bearing raceways with a hammer and drift, easy once I'd read how here on the forum.

If you're stumbling along and find this, the inside approach from both sides to the raceways have two small indentations opposite each other that allow you to set a drift in contact with the back side of the raceway. Tap one side, then the other, until the race drops out. Flip the hub and repeat with the opposite side.

Both hubs were quite grimy, one had been over-packed with grease by a DPO, the other side had some kind of grease, perhaps the wrong kind... looked like the stuff had melted and run inside the hub at sometime, then solidified. Hmmm. I don't know what to make of that. BUT... using some parts cleaner and then some Simple Green, followed by a coating of Pyroil penetrating spray, I was able to get the hubs and attendant bits more-or-less clean and ready for installing the new bearings. But that will have to wait for another day... it's now too hot (100º) outside to do much more than retreat inside the house and the a/c.

Next up: Install the bearings... then hubs, rotors... then move on to brakes.