<stands_up> Hi, my name is Tom Noto and I'm new to the MG list. <sits_down>
I've joined the list because I've taken on the responsibility of resuscitating a
'71 MGB Roadster for my Dad. Although I am new to British cars I've done some
fairly extensive restoration work on my '66 Mustang convertible. In case you are
interested, my personal cars include a '95 BMW 325is daily driver, an '89 Honda
Civic winter beater and parts chaser, and the afore-mentioned old Mustang. Like
my taste in music, my taste in cars tend to run rather eclectic. My Dad bought
the MG from a close friend of his who's wife bought the car in the '70s. They
drove it on nice days during the spring and summer, before the hood released on
its own and flew up on the highway and "potato-chipped," although it didn't seem
to do any other damage to the car. The purchased another hood (Taiwanese) which
was never installed. The car then sat gathering dust for 5 years in a covered
garage. My Dad's friend offered to sell it to him for $500, which my Dad
accepted. We trailered the car from NJ down to Northern VA where I live so that
I can work on it.
The goal is to have a car that looks very nice to the casual observer, and won't
break down when my Dad drives it to his Golf Club on warm spring days. Knowing
my Dad, he won't want to take the car on any extended highway trips, or drive it
to work.
Basically, to my fairly critical eye, the car seems to be in decent enough
shape. There is rust in the "side member bottom" floor panels as well where
those panels attach to the lower quarter panels. I've heard that this is a
common location for rust. The rest of the floors, subframes, trunk area, battery
area, doors, inner quarters, and bodywork seem to be rust free. The body panels
are all straight except for some minor door dings. The brakes work, and have
good pads and shoes, and aren't leaking fluid.
The engine runs, but I suspect that I have vacuum leaks somewhere, as it surges
on idle, and takes a long time to rev. When we first got the car, One of the
carbs was not working at all, so I bought a seal kit and rebuilt them over my
Christmas vacation. As soon as I installed them, they started leaking gas out of
the bottom of the float bowls, where the jets attach to the bowls. I was quoted
a price of $375 from Motorhead (which is very close to my house) to do a total
rebuild of the carbs. Instead, I chose to spend the $400 to buy a set of brand
new carbs from Moss. Do you guys think this was wise? My thinking is that at
least now the carbs are out of the equation from a problems standpoint. I
installed them last night, but have not tried to adjust them (read mess them up)
yet. I also plan to do a complete ignition tune up and am going to replace the
cap, rotor, points, condenser, wires, and coil with new Lucas parts. I've
already replaced the plugs with NGK V-Powers, which I have had luck with in the
past. The fuel pump looks to be a recent addition and seems to be working
correctly. Based on Motorhead's advice, I've replaced the dual 6 volt batteries
with one twelve volt and that worked out well.
As soon as the engine is sorted I'm going to try to locate a body shop willing
to do the necessary welding, body, and paint work, and try to come up with a
good plan for doing the interior. The dash is in excellent shape but the carpet,
door panels, seat covers, and other misc. parts will all need to be replaced.
Now for the obligatory questions:
1. Does anybody know of a good and not astronomically priced body shop in
Northern VA?
2. What is the best source for interior parts and convertible tops?
3. How does one go about restoring the four spoke "mag" steel wheels on my '71?
Sorry for the length and thanks in advance for any replies,
Tom
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