Hello,
After a lapse in MG ownership, I'm back in the family. I previously owned a
'76 and a '71. It was as if I had to buy it, about 30" of bookshelf space
with shop manuals, old catalogs, magazine articles, etc. have moved around
for 15 years waiting for me to get another B. Requested new catalogs from
the major suppliers today. It is nice, there is more available today than
there was 15 years ago.
I now have a '77, with which I'm about to offend some purists. The car was
a recent arrival to the northeast after spending at least some time in
Arizona. It was almost totally free of rust, original floorpans, original
tack welds on the sills, just great. Some bubbling started in one quarter,
blisters in the repaint popping on hood and a few other places. Trashed
door skins, trunk lid mangled beyond repair, nose dent in hood, horrid
replacement top, beige cloth GT seats in an otherwise black interior, but
the tub was excellent. More or less my own version of a heritage bodyshell
for less money with a running engine and original painted wires. So to fix
the panels and then strip and repaint is first (other than stabilizing the
mechanicals, which I've checked and they were surprisingly good). Dropping
in new interior, for a third time offender, should be easy and I'm fighting
the illogical temptation to do interior before repaint.
I want to build (like most nuts) a chrome bumper, smooth overrider, chrome
grill exterior. Inside I want to retrofit the chrome line panels, leather
seats (no contrast piping, no basketweave) and good carpet. The kicker, I
don't like the 77-80 dash. Not at all. I'd rather have a '74-76 dash. It
was my first car, and for some reason it is what I like. Okay, to be even
more unpure, I also like the chromed banjo steering wheel instead of the
brushed aluminum of the later ones.
So my questions:
a) To convert to chrome bumpers, aside form the labor, and ride height and
etc. etc. etc. at a vary practical level I need new bracket mounts and
humps to fill the flats under the taillights. I have found places in the UK
selling kits with these conversion bits, but no US suppliers. Are there
any? I'd rather weld the new brackets before repainting rather than
repainting that area later.
b) Anybody converted to an earlier dash and have a spare 74-76 dash, radio
console & etc to sell or trade?
c) can anybody tell me which jets should be in a DGV for a non-emission B,
presumably stock cam (until I find that it isn't)?
Thanks,
Mark Melvin
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