When does it end?

Good morning all,

I am in the process of removing the Stromberg and adding HIF4 SUs to my 76 B, "Beatrice". I bought the whole package (carbs, linkage, heatshield, intake manifold, air filters) from my good friend and MGB Sensei, Clark. At the same time, i decided to replace the clutch master cylinder as there was some give in the clutch pedal (the clevis looked like a skeleton key!).

This Lenten season, I have scrubbed, sanded, coaxed, and bled over those carbs. They are from a 73 and i am pleased to say, I have them all sparkly nice. Last week, i installed the new master cylinder but when I went to put the black lid onto the housing, i thought to myself, "I can't put this rusty old lid next to this nice shiny m/c! I should clean it and paint it!" So I took it home and rustoleumed the snot out of it. When I went to put it back, i looked at the screws and the fuel line run over top of it and though, "I can't put this gross old fuel line over top of my shiny black lid and next to my chromed up new m/c! I should see if I can clean it up!" So i took the fuel line off, gave it a good sanding and sprayed that with a chrome paint. When i went to put it back in place, i looked at the black hose it connects to and thought, "I can't put this shiny new looking fuel line into this dry rotted old bit of hose...."

When does it end?! I don't know if it is my OCD kicking in or if this is some English curse placed on me but I want to replace every hose and paint everything I see so that it looks all nice and shiny and sparkly. I have four kids to get through college! My wife does our finances! How will we survive if I keep saying things like, "I can't have these old wires next to my new hoses! Must be time to rewire with a new electrical harness!" I don't know how to do that!

Is there a 12 step group for people like me? A support group for "MGB Obsession Anynomous"? "Hi. My name is Todd and I own an MGB."

Sorry. Not so much a question as much as I think I needed to vent to people who may know what I am talking about....

Todd,
You have the "might-as-wells", A sometimes serious condition with OSH as the only known medication...

Good luck and hope you recover soon. - Dennis

I'm not sure I see the issue here. Sounds completely normal to me.

Chris

Actually you should consider yourself lucky. The affliction doesn't always "take" hold. Not all owners of MGs are welcomed onto the path of true enlightenment. That's why you see so many Bs for sale...

Your current stage is normal as Chris just noted above. As you progress further along in your journey you will learn how many things you CAN accomplish on an MGB with very little "earthly loss" (means money).

Each step along the path is a plateau...an achievement that encourages you to go on to newer, more challenging, and yes, often more expensive tasks. That's why many of us choose the path called "rolling restoration". It allows us to teter-totter on that very thin, razor edge line of balance that is known as MGB ownership.

As for the kids, invite them to accompany you to whatever level of enlightenment they desire. It can be great father/son/daughter invovlement. And the wife, (especially if she's in charge of the finances) involvement fosters interest...and as many here will tell you, interest has a way of letting us have more money for the car.

My wife is on an assignment in Oregon this week. I just emailed her a picture of our MGB as a good morning hello.

Todd, the road lies out there...in front of you...just around the next turn...

Albert.....that's almost poetic.........true too!

I pulled my nasty dirty motor and trans out of my nasty dirty engine compartment with the sole intention of replacing my transmission. Look how that ended.....

Todd you are among fine company. Keep it up.

I bought my B as a just get me to work (3mi) jalopy while I began a long delayed resto of my 58 MGA. No rust, decent repaint new interior .I sold it at home as a "daily driver", a statement I wish I had not made. After a week of hard starts the ZS came out for rebuild, while out I found a DPO"d exhaust and walmart converter. Out with it. Twin carb conversion (or Weber) time,(I was undecided) While I'm in there I find it had a recalled distributor/ ignition system. (Nice to meet you Jeff). Fixing what looked like some loose wiring harness tape led to a harness restoration. Car had been repainted maroon over yellow (this should be a separately judged class), The engine compartment was covered in that black cr-p. Anywhere it had scraped off I had a yellow stain. I sprayed it over with rattle flat black (since this was a "daily..). One night while I was working off some stress, I began to clean off a spot of the undercoating. Well, that was a month ago .All that remains in the compartment as of this morning is the heater. The engine (which ran ok but was leaking) is now in my engine stand, where following the sage advise on this forum, I pulled my tappets to take a gander. Because I am superstitious I started at number eight and worked back. Perfect..until I pulled the last one. Crikey! Now what do I do? Where do I stop? I found a nice big valve head from a member of this forum, I was going to slap it on. Now I have to pull a rod bearing furthest from the oil pump (I do my research) tonight to take a look. Did I mention my wife is none too pleased? The DAILY DRIVER is now a hammer and I am the nail. I know I am doing the right thing the right way... did I mention the newly rebuilt suspension and hydraulics?

Todd,

The good news is that Spring is right around the corner and the weather is getting better every for driving. The best cure I know for the obsession you describe (we all get it from time to time) is to drive your car. The more you drive it, the more you will feel the visceral experience of the car as a whole and the less you will worry about the superficial stuff. Hang in there, and drive.

Sorry, no cure, but FWIW running seems to help with the OCD...

It might help to find cheap projects to do first. For example, remove every fastener under the hood one-by-one, clean each with a wire brush, coat lightly with motor oil, and re-install. Then start on the suspension, and the rest of the car...

Also, there is blue tape (Moss item 162-030) to put over your old harness under the hood. Clean the old harness, dry, inspect for damage, then re-wrap with fresh tape. Cost is only $7.

Keep an eye on the Trader Forum. Good cheap parts come up from time to time. Also, you local salvage yards have many many standard type parts that will work with an MGB. Did you know you can sew your own leather seats from salvaged pannels from the back seat of a late '90's Caddy and patterns made from old ripped MGB seat covers? Wheels! Tires! Hoses! There is treasure everywhere!

It ends when you're completely happy with the car, or when judges and/or your peers love the car, or you're broke, or your wife doesn't keep her half of the car as nice as your half.

I spend money on making my B as nearly perfect as I can, my wife spends it on clothes and shoes. We have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy with the UPS man.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Just fix what needs to be fixed and go driving. Don't open the bonnet too often and you'll not see any problems. :D

Albert--Well said. Namaste.

Trey--Wow! My OCD isn't nearly that bad! I think i'll send this photo to Julie when she starts questioning my sanity....

Bill--I like your suggestion the best. As soon as i get my carbs and new hoses in place, i'll be tooling around and will forget all about all the stuff i could be doing until December!

Ryan--I will definitely keep an eye out on the trader.

Thanks guys! That was both fun and encouraging!

I agree with all of the above. My cylinder head cracked. Got a used head from a friend. Head went to Sean at Flowspeed. Carbs are now with Jimmy. Dizzy will be going to Jeff. Engine is being hot dipped as I don't know much of the history of the car, and after Sean, Jimmy and Jeff, well "I might just as well and be sure of everything. They don't call it the "Madness" because it is what a reasonable person would do. Did I mention that the pistons and crank will be balanced?

At this point, I feel it necessary to mention, that my WONDERFUL wife, knew I was crazy when she married me 40 years ago. If she didn't accept my less than sane behavior, that number would have been much smaller. THANK YOU, Sue!

But, to answer you question, "No, it never ends."

The trick is knowing where to stop.At least you recocnize what you're doing.
Ther've been a lot of complete restorations that started this way,as well as a lot of
stalled & abandoned projects.

- Doug

Sounds like I need a little serenity--

"God, grant me the serenity to accept my B as it is, the courage to say no to taking things a part just because they aren't as chromy and pretty as the new stuff, and the wisdom to know when I can push my wife for more cash. Thy will, not mine (or hers) be done.

Amen and amen.

i resemble those remarks. all of them.

It is a way to keep your sanity,,if you think about it !

Todd - See my current post "Pricing Question...". If someone suggested 10 years ago that I was going to restore an MGB I would have told them they were crazy - In fact it was me that got the bad case of the 'might as wells'. My advice - just live with the affliction, take your time and most important - Take lots of pictures as you go along. The OSH doesn't hurt either.

We are all a part of the Mightaswell family tree.:beer:

Because i'm a newbie, what is "OSH"?

Thanks all! It is both good and humbling to know I am not alone in my affliction....

PS--I am saving a bottle of Old Speckled Hen for when the carb rebuild is completed next weekend. Can't wait!

I just answered my own question, didn't I?

OSH--Old Speckled Hen. Man--don't know how i missed that one....

See? Another step along the path of enlightenment.

You sought the answer and it just "came" to you. Look within yourself. That's often where the answer lies.

But I know from experience it doesn't work with torque settings.

What is OSH ?

I just answered my own question, didn't I?

OSH--Old Speckled Hen. Man--don't know how i missed that one....[/quote]

The best way I found to cure obsession like that was to get another even older car. With my clunky old Series Land Rover needing all kinds of time and effort, the B has no choice but to stay the way it is...








....Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll just go take the tail-lights out of the dishwasher :spinning:

Todd, great post, you're very cool. Some pursue passion within means, some without. The latter more intensely. How intense is your passion for this B?

Not my original paraphrase, but I think somehow appropriate....

Tell your kids to pay their own way. Through state college. Then fix up the MG. Ten years from now, you'll be the proud owner of a beautiful classic car that makes you happy. The alternative is that ten years from now you won't be hearing much from your Harvard-educated kids that you spent your life savings educating. I'm not even sure I'm kidding, either.

What a hoot! A little bit of Zen and the Art of MGB Restoration by the sounds of everyone's post....

Here is what I do know--Before August of this past year, I didn't know what the "head" was. Now, I'm getting greasy, busting knuckles, and doing things in the engine of a car that is almost as old as I am and I am having a wonderful time! I am trying to stretch every dollar as far as I can (i'm hoping the SUs, while adding to the overall cool factor and earning some brownie points from all you chrome bumper guys, also gives me a few more mpg) and am really enjoying just taking things a part, seeing how they work, scrubbing the snot out of them, and putting them back into place. Fortunately, I have a place at work (for a little while longer--we're growing and running out of space) where I can keep her on stands in the winter (bought new tyres at the very tail end of the season and didn't want to ruin them before I could run on them for a while) and just dig in. I can't wait to finish though (Easter. Gotta be done by Easter weekend)--the kids love going for a ride (the oldest gets his permit this summer too. I'll be keeping the keys with me) and Julie looks incredible in the driver's seat!

We're all having a good time with Beatrice (a very interesting past from abandonment to restoration. cool story). I am glad to final have a little extra cash and space to dig into something I have always wanted to try. Fortunately, i have good friends locally and now on line, who are always quick with good advice!

Now, gotta find a place locally that sells OSH. My one bottle was a gift....

I really don't see a problem here but then I have two semi-restored British cars, a $10,000 balance on my Visa account, a 500/100% feedback on my E-bay account, and a daughter who is paying her own way through art school!:beer:

Cheers,
Rich

BTW: My lovely wife doesn't read the forum............whew!

I am afraid you've caught Shipwright's dissease! Shipwright (IIRC, got that from the Jaguar forum) was a fellow who started with changing a broken light bulb in the main room of his boat, then thought "that fitting is not nice!" then thought "I might as well repaint the ceiling" then thought "the walls need refurbishing" and ended up in dry dock for YEARS.

The cure? Have a beer, put everything back in without looking, shut the bonnet, go for a drive! (that is, assuming that between the beer and the drive is enough time to... never mind)

:)

Bought mine as a beater to drive around. Like Trey, I pulled the lump to put a clutch in. 2 years later I had a brand new 73 MGB.

Yesterday one of my employees asked me, "this MG thing has passed from hobby to obsession, hasn't it?"

Well stated.

Todd,
Just keep going until you're happy with it. We all have the same affliction. BTW, I'm a new guy from Ohio too.
Ron

Todd
All you need to know is in my tag line.
Edward

This is the way I look at it:

An MGB in regular use has an allowance of $100-150 per month (excluding insurance, gas, tolls and other such things).
That should cover repairs and rebuilds and other things I may want to do to the car - with newer cars, depreciation would figure here .

The moment of truth comes when the car is sold again:

Selling price - purchase cost - monthly allowance x number of months on the road = ?

If that comes to close to 0, I'm good.

This calculation lets me consider which jobs I am willing to do do on a car in light of how long I'm going to use it and takes into account how much value is actually added to the car while I'm working on it, or subtracted when I simply let it go down. It also keeps me focused on keeping the rubber on the road because months out of service are simply a loss.

That's my way of budgeting and has so far prevented me from getting bogged down or having to sell a car with regret about the money spent.


Peter