MGB: Learning curve

Seems like my last posting re head leaks was quite the opinion catalyst! :) If that quote didn't come from John Twist, then somebody used his name when they posted it on the web. I did retorque my head and it didn't help, so maybe I can be forgiven for taking the advice of an acknowledged expert. (I must admit though I didn't feel comfortable using sealant in there, so it's just the "rope"....Let me get a few hundred miles on her and we'll see if I get to do it a third time!)
For another entrant in the Gained Knowledge the Hard Way department, I offer this hard earned but mostly useless information regarding steering columns........ My original banjo style wheel, came from a pre 68 car, and is why the 69 steering column that I first put in the car (that of course fit perfectly), didn't fit the wheel (duh!). The column I used from my junk pile with the tag on it that said "1972", was actually from a rubber bumper car, which, I think, explains why I had to move the mounting bracket 1 1/2 inches further aft on the column. I thought I was being so clever, but you would be surprised (maybe not!) at how much that 1 1/2 inches makes a difference in leg room! Amazing, but next time you sit in your car, imagine the wheel a few inches further forward and you'll see that your right leg room disappears in a hurry. Anyway, it's a good thing I went back to the the Swiss Navy School of Engineering, because on closer examination I found that the steering wheel wasn't actually engaging the splines of the shaft, but biting into (barely) the slightly thicker, unmachined part of the column just beyond the splines. Worked OK with the nut tightened down enough, but someday I might have given that wheel a sharp turn and ended up with a rotating steering wheel on a stationary shaft. Hardly a safety enhancement........! (One more imponderable to add to the "why in the world did they do that" anthology, is why would they go to the trouble to make so many, minutely different, shaft/hub combinations!)
Anyway, since I needed to extend the shaft a few inches, it worked out pretty slick that the correct, early CB shaft is hollow so I could cut off the end of a trashed donor column, cross drill it and, with a little tweaking attach it onto the RB shaft with hardened bolts. Now, I have a correctly fitting and safer steering wheel, some modicum of leg room (by MG standards, anyway) and even a factory slip ring to use in making the horn push work where God intended a horn push to be.
(And now that I know more than I care to about steering columns, I know why ignorance is bliss!)

Actually, to get the added leg room & move the steering wheel a bit closer to you, all you had to do was fit a 14" Moto-Lita steering wheel that had the same splines as your old column....

....&, from your description, it sounds like you may have a 'more dangerous' steering column now than a safer one...one of the nice things about the '72 column is its ability to collapse on impact---&, you may have eliminated that with your welding job (I don't know because I can't viaualize what you've done or where you've done it)

...also, the earlier columns would break away in an accident because of how they were bolted to the dash...the later collapsible columns won't break away as their mounting points are more solid & fitted to the firewall behind the dash instead of just hanging under the dash

...as for your head weep...MG's don't normally do that! You either have a warped head or the deck of your block is not flat...or, some other aberrant condition exists (&, I know as I've owned lots of MG's since the 1960's & have only had 2 to 'leak'..one with a cracked head, one with a block that needed decking!)

Hi Tony, actually, it IS a 14 inch wheel that I made from the bones of an original banjo wheel. Even so, AND with my spindly chicken legs, it was still almost too snug to move from the gas to the brake! I know I could have saved a lot of grief by using a different wheel, but notwithstanding going non-original on a host of other items, for some reason, that spindly original steering wheel just says MG to me (and at the time I picked it up at the junkyard, I didn't know there was a difference between a MarkI and a Mark II banjo wheel. It's a slow painful prcocess, but I'm learning!:). I didn't mess with any of the collapsing feature of the wheel, just added 2 inches of steel to the end of the solid steel shaft. It still attaches to the original factory bracket under the dash as per 68 to74 (?). If I understand it correctly, a RB attachment bracket is identical to a late CB, it's just 1 3/8 inches closer to the front of the car, hence a shorter overall column length. Not that any of this this matters to anybody, since who else but me would go to such ridiculous lengths to make their project this much more work than it should be? Now I'll spend another day fabricating a horn contact arrangement, and trying to make a Mark one column shroud fit. BTW, I see you have a Morris; another non original thing I did is use the Lucas turn signal switch that I was told came from a Minor, with the blinking indicator on the end of the stalk. It is too funky.I love it!
I posted that weeping head solution from John Twist in response to somebody else who had the same problem, so either you're lucky or Murphy has once again chosen me as his poster child...most likely the latter! Like I said, I usually do everything at least twice, and I've only had to put the engine in once, so it wouldn't surprise me a bit if I had to take it out and get it redecked. Maybe if I just put enough STP in there................ :)

Eric....I spoke w/John today reference your "rope" trick....he admitted to publishing it but his explanation to me changes how I perceived it (though I told him I disagreed with his idea totally & would never recommend it)....John said he suggested taking 2 pieces of individual 16 guage wire stripped of its shielding...after twisting them together, he puts a tiny dab of RTV along the side where he wants them to lay...then, he torques down the head.....
....I pointed out that I thought that was a DFPO fix & that decking the block or shaving the head would solve the problem...he expailned both decking/shaving were expensive & required the engine or head to be pulled where his fix is for a weeping head where the engine isn't to be pulled.
...Personally, I think its a 'bodge job' when somebody doesn't want to pay the $$$'s to properly rebuild an engine or finds they have problems with an engine where the machine shop either didn't do the work correctly & doesn't go back & fix it right away ....
...I also explained how I install head bolts (backing up 1 to 2 turns from bottom of hole) - he'd never heard of that but could see the principle behind it...&, he was sorta amazed that I've not had problems with 'weeping' heads! But, then, I don't spare $$$'s when I build an engine! My Granddad used to say, "do it right the first time & then you don't have to waste time & money redoing it!"

Thanks for going to the trouble to clear that up. This project I have came from out of state with an uninstalled but rebuilt engine, so I don't know to what length and expense the PO went.It could very well be a warped head or block, although what I can tell from my limited expertise they didn't cut any obvious corners. Of course pulling the engine and having it redone to the highest standards would certainly be the best option,but I wanted to try what I could before I resorted to that P.I.T.A. Somebody else recommended jamming some sort of epoxy or putty in there to stop the leak...now THAT seems like a Bodge Job!
If it holds compression as it is, and doesn't dribble, I'll be pleasantly surprised, but if not, well, then it won't be the first time your Granddad was proven right!

Tony, why do you blow up before you get an explanation!! I don't get it!! Now, how do you get John Twist's news letter??

go to the University Motors website and sign up Gary

Hey, even though John explained why he does it, I still think its something only a DFPO would do - & told him so! All MG's do not weep at the cylinder head - to expect so is to not trust the little beings..do it right (the Tom Bedenbaugh way) the first time & you won't have to bodge it the second time....my MG Graveyard is full of cars that have had 'repairs' like that! That's why I blow up, Gary! I see all the little dead ones that didn't have to die!