I had my 74 MGB towed to Automotive Collision Experts(ACE) today to get the rear end body damage fixed. I removed the gas tank yesterday which was a little tough because the front two screws were bent out of shape and inaccessible...I had to use a crow bar to bend the metal to get at them. This car is going to be my wife's driver. She has already made me a list of all she wants me to do to it....new mini-lite mags, new momo-lita steering wheel and redo the interior panels.....and etc, etc, etc. I thought I was a MG nut. I have created a monster. She even plans to go against me at all the car shows.

This winter I decided to replace my rear springs and the gas tank. I bought the rear springs kit from Brit-Tek and the gas tank from Victoria British. The gas tanks for the older MGB's are very expensive and I got the one from VB on sale for a total(with shipping) of $424.
I got banged up pretty bad installing the rear springs. I was removing the old springs and was trying to break loose a bolt. When it released, I jammed my thumb into another bolt and had lots of pain and blood. I then was trying to get the front bolt out of the RH spring and was banging on it for about an hour and it would not budge. I got a vise and was trying to vise it out when the vise fell on my face and I had blood all over my face.....The MGB is winning the fight so far. I had to use the Saw-Z-all to remove the bolt. I finally got the springs installed and the rear end is now about an inch higher and the ride is much improved. I also had trouble getting the front two nuts off of the straps that hold up the gas tank. The nuts were turning and I could not get to the top of the bolt with a wrench...very tight. I finally purchased a open end crows foot wrench which fits on a socket wrench extension. This puts the open end wrench at ninety degrees and I was able to get a hold on the top of the bolt and remove the nuts. The fuel pump would not stop clicking when I got the tank finished and I had to re-tighten all of the gas line connections to the tank before it finally was not leaking and is working good now.
After everything was finished, I still had a clunking in the rear end when I was on a bumpy road. I re-tightened all the nuts and found out that the rear tube shock nuts were not on tight. I tightened the nuts on the rear shocks and the noise went away.

I just experienced some very serious problems on my 65B due to a broken return spring on the ignition switch. I was driving home and heard a strange noise. I stopped because I thought a stick was dragging underneath the car. I checked and continued on my trip home and heard the noise again. I was close so I went home. I smelled electrical burning and thought the generator had finally given out. I tried to start the car and all I heard was a wiz, wiz and the engine did not turn over. I removed the starter and found that all the teeth on the starter gear and on the flywheel ring gear were ground down to a nub. Apparently the ignition switch had stayed in the start position and continued to run while I was driving......I was bummed out. The guys in the Williamsburg British Car club helped me pull the engine and get everything back together. I appreciate all of their help and encouragement. I had to replace the ring gear on the flywheel and buy a new starter. I also bought a new clutch kit and ignition switch. All I had to do was look at the key and return it to the run position and I would have avoided all these problems and expenses.....SHOULD HAVE!!!! I got everything back together and was filling the radiator and it started leaking. I have never had a leak but upon checking I had to buy a new radiator. I then installed my new ignition switch and wasted about four hours trying to get it to work. My old switch was a three position switch and the Moss replacement switch is a four position switch(old switch is NA in catalog). I called Moss and found out that +12V is connected to switch position #1 not #3 per all MGB wiring diagrams. I also discovered that the solenoid red and white lead connects to switch position #4 not to #1 per the MGB wiring diagram. I then installed my new hi-torque starter from Brit-tek and I got it in but is fit very tightly against the body of the car. We I got everything finished and started the car it was shaking a whole lot. The starter was transferring the engine vibrations to the car body. Now I have ordered a new Moss Hi-Torque starter and sent the Brit-tek starter back for a refund. Brit-tek said that no one has ever sent one back for this reason...go figure. The Moss starter is about 1/4" smaller from the mounting hole to the edge of the starter. I am awaiting the new starter and hope everything works OK...............WHEW.
I got the new Moss starter and it is also fits very tightly against the body of the car. I had the motor mounts replaced and that reduced the vibrations a lot but still don't know why the starter is tight??
Called Blaine at Moss tech and sent him pics of starter installation. He said it was installed wrong. I found out that there are two allen wrench bolts that you can remove and turn the starter mounting plate to any position. I had to rotate mine two slots counter clockwise which narrowed the verhical width of the starter. This put the mounting hole/slot in front of the face plate of the starter solenoid. I had to remove my flat washer and the lock washer because only the head of the bolt fit between the slot and the face of the starter solenoid. I put in the bottom bolt until there was just enough room to slide the starter onto the bolt(Moss starter has a slot not a hole). I then put in the top bolt until almost tight. I then went under the car and tighten the bottom bolt tight. I had to use a skinny 9/16" open end wrench. It was much easier to tighten than when it was against the body of the starter with the washers on it. I made sure everything was tight and the starter was flush to the mounting hole. I now have lots of room and the rattling problem is fixed. Also, the starter is not making that strange wizzing noise when I start the car. The paperwork that came with the starter did not mention anything about being able to rotate the mounting holes only how to wire solenoid.

I've got the LBC bug bad. I now have another project to complete this winter. My 74B(Stinky) is sitting in the driveway under cover and waiting to be fixed this next winter. Someone rammed it in the rear end. From the back of the doors forward it is perfect. I got it as a parts car but it is so nice I have decided to fix it up as my daily driver. It has 2K miles on a rebuilt engine, new Peco exhaust, weber outlaw carb, new English rollbar and new Bridgestone tires. The body parts are so expensive that I have now bought another 74B for body parts. I will pick that up next week and try to put my 65 and 75 B's in my single car garage and put the new one in the driveway. I need land and a three car garage. My wife is mad at me and says that I'm crazy. She is probably right.

PS...my 74B is called Stinky because when I got it, it was full of stink bugs.

Got my 65B(baby) back from Stan's Collision on 3/22/11 with a new paint job, new grille new fenders, new hood, new door skins and new rear valance. She looks beautiful. Took me two weeks to put her back together. I installed new vinyl dash. Car wouldn't start after I had it all back together. I found out that after sticking my fat fingers under the dash a couple of leads became disconnected. One disconnected lead was going from the ignition to the plus side of the coil. At first I thought the carbs were fouled with grit from the gas tank so I took the carbs apart and cleaned them but that wasn't the problem. The previous owners idea of connecting two wires together was to twist them together and then wrap them with electrical tape. The disconnected lead to the ignition switch had no empty connection were it was supposed to go so I had to buy a U-spade connector with one male and one female connection. The disconnected lead must have previously been connected somewhere in the back to a white wire that was already connected to the ignition switch. I could not find where it had previously been connected. I took my BABY to our clubs annual car show and won 2nd place.....my first win. MGB class is tough.......lots of perfect cars. When I got home I noticed that when I turned on the key gas was spewing from the carb float drain all the time. I found out that the valve was clogged with grit. I took the top of the overflow bowl off and cleaned it in hot soapy water and that removed the grit and solved the problem. Now I'm trying to keep it from getting scratched.

Our club posted an add from one of our former members who had moved, selling parts from a 74 MGB that was wrecked. It had a Peco exhaust which I have been wanting to install so I bid on the exhaust. It ended up with me buying the whole car at a good price. It is so nice that I'm not going to part it out but restore it. My "Baby"(65 MG is getting painted this winter and next winter I will fix the rear end of the 74 and repaint it. I'm calling it "Stinky" because as I removed wrecked parts from the rear end, I realized that the whole car was full of stink bugs. I had to put two bug bombs in the garage to kill them but I think I have infested my hometown with them.