Last night we took Baby out on the road. She ran pretty good. We know we have to bleed the brakes and clutch some more, but overall I am pleased. One thing we noticed was that the overdrive didn't kick in. Tomorrow we will trace out the wires to make sure the PO has that right. Hopefully it is a wiring issue because I don't want to have to tear into the overdrive.
I am still waiting for the DMV to get my title. It's been two months and it's driving me crazy. I've already missed the Classics on the James. I was hoping to get up to the Fall Festival in Waynesboro this weekend. Only a few days left to get the title issue straightened out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
I forgot my camera again, so no pics. I'll get some tonight.

When I got down to Greg's garage today he had almost completed the reassembly of the engine. Carbs were on, the distributor installed, plugs in, radiator and heater hooked up, exhaust bolted up to the manifold, etc. About all that was left was putting in some oil and antifreeze. Once that was done, we adjusted the valves, set the timing, and fired up the engine. A little adjustment to the carbs and she sounded great.
I can't begin to tell you how happy I was to hear the sweet sound of that engine purring. Greg did a great job rebuilding the engine. The oil pressure came up as it should and she sounded just beautiful. I was ecstatic! Tomorrow we will try to tie together all the little things left and hopefully take her out on the road for a test drive.
I still have a little trepidation as far as the overdrive goes. The same shop that built the engine also rebuilt the transmission and overdrive. Let's hope they got this right. Tomorrow I'll try to remember my camera so I can post some pictures. Until then.........

Today was a rainy, nasty day, which means it was perfect to work on the MG. Yesterday we got the bearings in and built up the engine. Today when I got to the shop Greg was finishing up putting the head on, and installing the clutch so I busied myself with cleaning the engine bay and painting the front cross-member. Next it was the reinstallation of the motor. Actually went pretty smooth, didn't hardly cuss at all. Tomorrow we will hook everything back up and hopefully fire it up again.

Greg called me today to tell me the machine shop had checked out the crank and the mains and the rod bearings should have been .010. I don't know what the story is with that shop that did the rebuild on this engine but so far I am not impressed. I googled and they are still in business, but hopefully whoever built up this engine is no longer with the company. Anyway, I ordered new bearings so when they come in we will start on our own rebuild.

Well, today we tore down the engine. The very first thing we found was that the oil pump was only on finger tight! It was definately not torqued down. We went ahead and tore the engine on down but could not find any other damage or problem. The oil pump looks like the culprit. Makes sense as when we first started the car it sounded good. The oil pressure was a little low, but we had some leaks in the system. Evidently, as the engine ran and warmed up the oil pump started losing more pressure as it sucked in air instead of pulling oil. Eventually the oil pressure dropped to zero and the engine starved for oil. Something else was odd, the build sheet from the engine rebuild says the main bearings were .020 and the rod bearings were std. When we got the engine torn down we discovered the mains were std. Not sure about the rod bearings.As a precaution, I'm going to go ahead and have the crankshaft checked and replace the main and rod bearings. Hopefully we will have the engine back in and running by next week.

Today I got bad news. There's a problem with the engine. Unfortunately, my earlier happiness over getting the engine started was short lived. The oil pressure was a little low (30PSI)When we first turned it over. Later,as Greg was setting the timing and adjusting the valves and carbs the engine starting making a knocking noise. When he checked the oil pressure it was zero. He shut the engine off, but the damage was done. Now we have another thing to do. Pull the engine and see what happened. According to the build sheet the oil pump is new as well as the oil pressure relief valve. It sounded like we may have spun a main bearing. Tear down will tell I hope.