Webmaster's Blog - Halfway Point!!

Skye Skye Nott
Skye Nott Webmaster can  
Vancouver, BC, Canada

Total Posts: 96 Latest Post: 2011-04-28 13:34:09
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Halfway Point!!

Skye Nott Webmaster can — Posted on The MG Experience
Tuesday September 3, 2002 12:00 AM
Spent Labour Day finishing up the teardown, disconnected the steering column, then removed the whole front and rear suspensions from the tub and hit them with a pressure washer to clean off the grime. Joe had to fabricate some mounting plates for the car since I didn't leave on the front bumper bracket, so we didn't get it on the rotisserie, but it's mounted as of today. I also removed a few more bits and pieces from the car after consulting the "restoration bible", aka "Original MGB", and making a careful list of all the pieces that are supposed to be painted black, not body colour. Joe can go full-bore on the bodywork now, and we expect it to be ready for paint in 60-90 days! At this point I don't have anything more to do on the car until its painted and its time to put the suspension back on. Just got an update, the bottom of the car doesn't look too bad, so that's good. The whole unibody gets sandblasted on the rotisserie this week. <br><br> Also got some more news on the engine, turns out the machine shop got mixed up, my block is already 40 thou overbored and so I've decided to go with a new block (not very expensive), instead of flirting with disaster by going 60 thou over. The engine mods I'm having done (see below for the list) are carefully selected to increase mid-range power while preserving reliability and street drivability. From what I've read in the excellent "How to Power Tune the MGB". I'm expecting to get about 75 bhp at the wheels (15% gain from ~65 stock) after finishing tuning on a rolling road.


Here I m about to disconnect the steering column

Here I'm about to disconnect the steering column. All you have to do is loosen the clamp bolt closest to the firewall and separate it a bit, and you can fairly easily drift it apart. Just remember to scribe a mark for lining it back up. Mind the column

Art shot B lurking in the shadows

Art shot!! B lurking in the shadows...

It s amazing how light the tub is when it s comple

It's amazing how light the tub is when it's completely bare. Supported only by the engine hoist here. Disconnected rear suspension in the background, removed as a whole unit after disconnecting brake lines and handbrake cable. Visible under the car are

Bonnet locking platform will be replaced the car

Bonnet locking platform will be replaced, the car was in a pretty bad front-end accident some time before I bought it, and the welds barely visible at either end of the platform are ugly. Original GN.25 green paint showing through in many places now.

Getting ready to attach the front end to the rotis

Getting ready to attach the front end to the rotisserie




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Update V

Skye Nott Webmaster can — Posted on The MG Experience
Sunday July 28, 2002 12:00 AM
Just got off the phone with my engine rebuilder. The engine is apart now and down at the machine shop, how exciting! No cylinder gouges. It has never been overbored, amazing. Big ridge at the top of the cyls, of course. Probably end up with a .020 overbore. I'm planning on going with a reground 262/262 cam and lightening the flywheel by 4 lbs (22 to 18 lbs), with some mild port & polish, for a little more kick. 3 angle valve grind. After its broken in I'll definately be heading for the nearest dyno and post the results. <br><br> I've decided to go with powdercoating for most of the black bits on the car, I'll post the list of all the parts I'm having done soon.



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Update IV

Skye Nott Webmaster can — Posted on The MG Experience
Saturday July 13, 2002 12:00 AM
This is my third trip down to the shop of Joe Aros' "VIP Auto Restorations" to finish the teardown, and now the car really is a rolling shell. I got a new digital camera, so the pictures are much much better than before. Just click on the thumbnails to see how things went, captions are below the full size pictues. (I'll have the thumbnails up shortly) At this point, all that needs to be done to get it on the rotisserie (aka body rotator) is to take off the four nuts holding the crossmember to the body, disconnect the u-joint in the steering column, and disconnect the four bolts holding the leaf springs to the body. The tub can then be lifted right off. <br><br> My engine rebuild is being handled by CB at "British Sports & Spares". The transmission is working fine, so it's just geting a good cleaning and some new seals. The engine gets a total rebuild though, stripped down to the bare block, tanked, bored, everthing blueprinted and balanced. The head is getting the unleaded conversion with Stellite valves and a 3-angle grind. The camshaft will be re-profiled to a slightly hotter "fast road" spec. The flywheel will be lightened by a few pounds, and last but not least the head and manifolds will be ported and polished. These modifications were chosen to provide a good solid street engine that is easy to live with but has a little more poop than the stock specs. Stock 8.8:1 CR is being retained. I already have free-flow K&N air filters, the stock exhaust manifold will be kept (ported and hi-temp powdercoating) as the early manifold is actually pretty good. I will probaby fit the ANSA twin tip exhaust when the car is done, and of course richer needles in the twin SU HS4s. If you're interested in modding your engine, I highly recommend the book "How to Power Tune the MGB" by Peter Burgess. Its very important that you look at the engine with the intake and exhaust as a system, rather than just changing one thing and hoping it will increase performance. I will post dyno numbers when the car is complete, early next year... <br><br> Enough talk, on with the pictures!


Its nice to have some nice weather to work on the

Its nice to have some nice weather to work on the car outside. Fenders and doors are off, to the left is a pile of scrap including the fender that isn't worth saving, to the right is one of the doors sans door skin and the front valence that might be fix

Close up of the door shell without the skin and th

Close-up of the door shell without the skin and the front valence which may be repairable... we have the new door skins now, so they should be on soon. Joe does a perfect factory-style fold & weld with the new skins.

Scrap I pulled the door handles off one screw

Scrap. I pulled the door handles off (one screw, one nut) but the locks are frozen so they go to the junk heap. I'll probably get a whole new key set anyway, as I currently have a key for the ignition, a key for the trunk and a key for the glovebox!

Joe replaced the entire rear quarterpanel from nea

Joe replaced the entire rear quarterpanel from near the hook for the soft top, down to where the dogleg attaches to the sills, and back around to the gas filler hole. The previous repair work was crap, the new metal that was put in was not welded to anyt

Time to dive in and start taking stuff apart Out

Time to dive in and start taking stuff apart. Out came the pedals, then the clutch and brake master cylinders as a unit with the bracket. Drilled out some stripped screws and removed the hi/low beam foot switch and the gas pedal stop, and the washer flui

Brake fluid really does a number on the bodywork

Brake fluid really does a number on the bodywork. Looks like the car was never painted behind the heater, not suprising. Next comes the removal of the fuel line, pump and tank. At this point the front of the car is totally bare.

All sorts of crud in the heater I m sure it hasn

All sorts of crud in the heater, I'm sure it hasn't been cleaned in ages, maybe never. I'll backflush the heater core, strip all the old paint off, and reassemble with all new seals and repaint. There's several layers of paint on the box, you can barely

The pedals and MCs that I pulled earlier Everyth

The pedals and MCs that I pulled earlier. Everything needs to be cleaned and painted. The MC's are being tossed and replaced. The early MC's are cheap and I don't want to take any chance of dumping brake fluid on the new paint when it's done. Actually

Off comes the handbrake lever One of the screws

Off comes the handbrake lever. One of the screws was stripped, almost all the large phillips and pozidrive screws are stripped on this car. Apparently it was too much effort for the DPO to use the right sized screwdriver. You can see the beautiful fibre

Rear end sans gas tank The tank has a little rus

Rear end sans gas tank. The tank has a little rust near the back, but looks solid and clean inside so I think I can restore it rather than replacing. Some of the bolts are undone from the top inside the boot, some from the bottom. I put a second jack un




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Update III

Skye Nott Webmaster can — Posted on The MG Experience
Saturday June 1, 2002 12:00 AM
Got up early today and finished off the last few things, removed the remaining rear wiring harness, the driveshaft (always a greasy job), speedo cable, starter and O/D wiring. Finished just in time to help load up the car, its on its way to the bodyshop as I write! Front & rear suspension, parking brake assy, steering, door and hood latches, brake clutch and fuel lines, brake and clutch master cyls, gas brake and clutch pedals, exhaust assy, stripped engine and trans remain in the car. Not sure yet if I'll have time to help finish the teardown at the shop in Puyallup.


The narrow wheelbase of the MGB compared to Ameri

The narrow wheelbase of the MGB (compared to American Iron) makes it important to get it lined up on the dolly "just right". Note, the driveshaft has been removed, which is a good idea when towing the car for significant distances. This camera is terrib




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Update II

Skye Nott Webmaster can — Posted on The MG Experience
Saturday May 18, 2002 12:00 AM
The good weather held out for one day, significant progress was made. Not far to go now!


The stripped interior Sorry about the lens flare

The stripped interior. Sorry about the lens flare, the sun was setting while I took the snaps. The DPO fiberglass transmission alteration to fit the OD transmission will be replaced with metal. Some surface rust on new floor pans already, not suprising

I removed the entire wiring harness minus rear lo

I removed the entire wiring harness (minus rear loom) connected to the dash. It was pretty tricky getting to the dash bolts with all the gauges in, but the right combination of long socket extensions did the trick. Actually, the radio did have to come o

Misc parts from the teardown I hope I remember w

Misc parts from the teardown. I hope I remember where they all go!

The REALLY bare front shot Drilled out the screw

The REALLY bare front shot. Drilled out the screws for the RH headlight bucket, the engine is visible and has only the exhaust header still attached.

You know you re a bit car crazy when you think to

You know you're a bit car crazy when you think to yourself, "So that's what it looks like behind the dash!"




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Update I

Skye Nott Webmaster can — Posted on The MG Experience
Saturday May 11, 2002 12:00 AM
Spent a few hours tearing the car down this weekend, here's how things stand now.


Here we go passenger side seat out everything o

Here we go - passenger side seat out, everything out of the trunk, some interior panels removed.

The early type door before disassembly Remove to

The early type door before disassembly. Remove top & bottom screws on right-hand runner, then two nuts holding on quarterlight from the bottom and two bolts from the side (under plastic plugs), then screws holding bottom of quarterlight runner at the bot

The door parts I removed so far window glass ri

The door parts I removed so far: window glass, right runner, left runner and quarterlight, regulator

The mostly bare door

The mostly bare door

Doors stripped windshield out rollbar out most

Doors stripped, windshield out, rollbar out, most interior out. Note the notches cut out of the battery cover for the rollbar mounting plates (me) and the crappy fiberglass transmission mods (DPO).

The rear gets the same treatment Generous use of

The rear gets the same treatment. Generous use of penetrant to get those bumper bolts off!

On to the engine bay Ran the car for a while to

On to the engine bay. Ran the car for a while to warm it up (feels like a race car sitting in it with no interor or windscreen) - then drained the oil and coolant. Removed distributor and generator, horns, and the radiator and oil cooler as one unit.

The easiest way is to remove all of this as one un

The easiest way is to remove all of this as one unit (radiator, overflow tank, oil cooler and hoses, shroud). Note the aftermarket expansion tank. I'm not sure if I will keep it, as it blocks some of the fresh air that feeds the carbs. Cooler intake =




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