>The rebuild may be delayed for a few weeks. I'm on jury duty for 10+
>days starting this Monday. The timing isn't bad, actually, since I'd
>prefer for the current cold weather to end before starting the rebuild
>anyway.
Plus by then, maybe I'll have mine done and I'll know the
pitfalls you can avoid.
>Concerning manuals: I have Porter's A-Series book and the Hayne's manual.
>They seem to be in general agreement on most steps of the rebuild, though
>Porter recommends pulling the radiator before engine removal.
In the last month, I've pulled three MGB engines and one
Chevy 350. In all four cases we pulled the radiator. In
the MGs, the radiator is held in by six bolts, two stays,
and two hoses. You have to remove the hoses anyway. If you've
got an electric ratchet, a 1/2" deep socket and a 1/2" combination
wrench and can't take the radiator out in less than 10
minutes, give up -- you won't be able to do the engine
rebuild. (If you don't have the electric ratchet, it takes
about fifteen minutes because you have to twirl the wrenches
by hand. Big fat hairy deal.)
In fact, let me take a short side trip on the subject of
short cuts:
It's always worth taking a few minutes to do something that
will make a hard job easier, even if it means you can't start
on the hard job quite so soon. It's SO MUCH HARDER, for
example, to take the engine out with the starter in place
that it's well worth the few minutes of discomfort lying
under the car to remove the starter before you pull the
engine. And if you don't take ten minutes to drain the
oil out of the engine before you pull it, your girlfriend
will give you the Second Scream when she sees the oil stains
all over the carpet of her car when you put the engine in on
its side and the oil leaks out the pushrod holes...
In fact, it's time to resurrect The Rules as I heard them
from an old boss -- they weren't specifically about engine
building, but they apply pretty well:
1. Do the right thing
2. Don't fuck up
>Concerning replacing nuts and bolts: Sounds great, but where do I get the
>replacements? [. . .] (Metric and standard I guess.)
Some you can buy at a hardware store -- I've got a lot of
Orchard Supply Hardware nuts and bolts in my race car.
The MGB is all standard, though by '77 I wouldn't be
surprised if you found one or two metric fittings. They're
mostly fine thread, with coarse where the bolts go into
cast iron.
Do you want to keep this car? Do you like it a lot?
Buy new nuts and bolts. Use self-locking nuts wherever
possible; Andy and I agree that the man who invented
self-locking nuts deserves a Nobel prize. There are
all-metal self-lockers that Andy used to hold down the
head on his race motor; they're suitable for high
temperature use (unlike nylocs). They aren't too cheap
but they're really, really cool.
Order a complete set of cylinder head studs now. You're
bound to break, strip, bend, or chew up at least a couple
of them, especially the ones on the manifold.
I recently went over the tools I have been using on my
black B over the past month and a half. I reorganized my
little tool box (as well as part of the big one) and made
some interesting discoveries while cleaning my sockets.
Here's the basic MGB toolkit list:
- 2 each combination (open/box) wrenches in 7/16, 1/2,
and 9/16 sizes (other sizes are a bonus; I like the
new S & K style quite well, available at Post Tool
if there's one near you)
- Deep sockets: 7/16, 1/2, 9/16, 5/8, and 3/4
- Six-point shallow sockets: 7/16, 1/2, 9/16
- 12-point sockets (you'll need them for the 18V's rod nuts, in
1/2" I believe): same sizes
- At least two ratchet handles, 3/8" drive sufficient except
for the nut on the crankshaft pulley and the bolt on the
camshaft, which are 1 5/16 if I recall -- Andy, still got
the socket and breaker bar close at hand?
- A set of ratcheting wrenches is handy, probably not
necessary -- neither is the electric ratchet, but they
are really useful in many places where a ratchet won't
fit (engine mounts, for instance, and manifold studs) but
you'd like the convenience of a ratchet.
- Two *good* Crescent wrenches (we've taken to calling them
Whitworth wrenches in Team Fizzball), one 10" and one 6";
get the US-made Craftsman or better. Make sure they're
forged steel and not cast bronze with plating on them.
- An assortment of Vise-grips. Get Vise-Grip(TM) brand, not
Craftsman. I bought Craftsman and I'm always -- well, I'd
say I've been relying on Andy's Vise-Grip, but Linda and
Kim would get suspicious :-)
- Wire-cutters, needle-nose pliers, center punches and
chisels for various tasks. Good for knocking back locking
tab washers, loosening frozen bolts, etc.
- A really big hammer, of course.
- Shop rags. Buy a box of them.
That, an engine hoist, and a good jack and you can dismantle
an MGB. (I think that's what's in the toolkit, but it's at home
and I'm here, so I reserve the right to add tools as I pull
them out of the box. :-)
Other things it's good to have nearby might include a good
torch or two; it'd be great to have one acetylene for
cutting and one propane for heating frozen studs, but that's
a lot of money to spend all at once.
>I'm saving up another set of questions and making a list of parts I
>think I'll need. I'll be posting that shortly for comments.
I look forward to it -- we'll be making my shopping list
this weekend. Maybe we ought to go in together and get
a discount price somewhere... :-)
Oh yeah. One more thing: hand cleaners. The uniform favorites
of Team Fizzball, after trying a wide variety of them, are Goop
for the garage and Lava Soap, with a nail brush, for the sink.
Goop is wonderful for dissolving grease and oil, and the Lava
gets into the lines in your hands. Goop also seems to leave
your hands a LOT less dry than anything else we've found. Just
be sure to put the top back on or it will liquefy. I found
mine in the laundry department of a Safeway -- it's also good
at getting grease spots out of clothes.
--Scott Fisher
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