Spent an evening ripping out wiring harness (not really, just removed all components and cleaned and bagged them to get them out of the way). Removed fuel and brake lines...should have done this long ago, but was a little intimidated early on....feel good about it now given it was so damned simple (only cut myself once, isn't work until ya bleed on it)). The little gal is nearly ready for some body shop to rail me on the estimate. I'll put the old wheels on this weekend and roll her out for a good spray down. I'm debating on just painting the cockpit and engine bay myself to save cost on the final paint job. I'll run it by the shops first..may not be that much of a difference and in the long run, it would be nice to have matching paint throughout..even though most of it will be covered in carpet etc. Verdict out on that one.

heres a snap of the stripped cockpit....

Given I just joined, I guess I should give a little background to catch up on this project. It began in June of 2002 in Sandia Park, New Mexico. I spotted a green sportscar down the roadd with a "For Sale" sign in the window. I was immediately drawn to the smooth, sporty look even though I had a pretty good idea I was in for a great deal of work to get it back to its original condition (or at least close to it). My wife took one look and surmised it was a "cute little go-cart"; that said, I still didn't waiver from putting in a suitable bid. Two days later, after some haggling and research I drove it down the road to my home nearby. It ran well, with a little smoke mixed in the exhaust.

Over the next three years, I stripped the interior,dashboard, cut out the floorboards and purchased a new right front fender that had been poorly repaired (evidently spliced together to avoid removing the windscreen). Between building a house in Florida and deploying to Iraq, the car didn't get much attention for the next couple of years. I did order parts form Propermg and Moss from time to time though.

Now, since retiring from the Air Force at the beginning of the year, I've hit the MG project hard. I ratholed some cash to purchase new bumper kits, deluxe interior, cloth ragtop (tan) and complete bushing sets for the front and rear suspension. I began by tearing into the front suspension, removed the crossmember, refurbished it and replaced the A arms on both sides. the bushings were a pain and I left the kingpin verticle bushings as is. They looked fine upon disassembly and I wasn't interested in buying a $300.00 reaming tool. They went back together snug, so I'll wager they'll last another 34 years. In addition to the bushes, I replaced the rotors, bearings, pads and painted the calipers and lever arm shocks after servicing/testing them on the bench. Did the same to the rack & pinion: new boots, rod ends and steering column u-joints (a royal pain!)

On the rear end, I went with the gas shock conversion kit (purchased on E-bay). At around $90.00 with shipping they are a nice, easy to install upgrade vs the lever arm shocks (anyone interested in used rear lever shocks??).

The car is now pretty much stripped bare, engine, tranny, steering column, all windows & linkages, guages etc. I've undercoated the entire bottom withg rubberized spray can goop. Next is to remount the old tire/rims to get it on a trailer in order to shop around for a decent body/paint job. The sanding hasn't gone my way, so I'm leaving that to a prfessional with the proper gear. I experimented on the boot lid with 60 and 80 grit on an orbital using a 30 gal compressor and it just takes forever. Thus far i haven't come across any body rust in any of the critical areas (sills etc.) So, I think I'll be ok in that department. After the body, comes the engine rebuild. I'll post some pics below and make an attempt to update this journal as I make further progress. Yes, it could be considered a wasted effort when you could easily go out and buy a used Z4 or similar, but that would't be very much fun to me...I enjoy the trials and tribulations that come with breaking things in order to fix them.

See next entry...double clutched the first one..