Just to add my two cents worth on the saggy springs discussion...I was talking
with my local MG mechanic/expert about my car sagging on the drivers side and
that I had been watching this discussion list. He seemed to feel that saggy
springs on the drivers side is just one of those things that MGs are known
for. Apparently they sagged almost immediately after leaving the factory when
new! He said rebuilding them does fix the problem but it won't last long.
Sounds like they are just plain under-engineered for the task. To quote
Mike, "MGs are aweful cars, EVERYONE should own one!" ;-)
On another note, I had a major vibration at 50mph+ (couldn't look through the
rearview mirror!). I initially thought it was caused by a bent wheel (back
left). When I put a new/straight wheel on, nothing changed. I concluded the
problem to be in the rear axle/hub. I assumed this was all due to some earlier
mis-hap. While I was rebuilding the car, I ended up replacing a lot of the
metal on both sides of the car where the front of the leaf springs bolts to the
rear of the car floor. To my surprise, this virtually eliminated all
vibration in the back end. From what I hear, its normal for MGs to have some
vibration around 55mph. It seems that the rusted out body was amplifying the
normal vibration due to its complete lack of stiffness.
I have one thing left which I can't seem to remedy. Brakes. When sitting at
an intersection I find that the brake pedal starts slowly moving to the floor.
When it hits bottom, the brake warning light comes on and the car will start
rolling. Taking my foot off and reapplying the brakes fixes it. Under braking
the brakes are good and the system doesn't seem to leak at all. I thought this
was probably an air bubble so I bled the brakes. Same thing. I took the car
to a local garage and had the pros flush the system. Same thing. What I am
thinking now is that maybe the master cylinder needs some work. Any ideas?
Cheers,
Phil Hunt,
'74B
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