Hello all,
Work began yesterday on my MGB, as I set out to right the wrongs in and
out of the car. I pulled the carbs and began to detail the engine bay back
to it's original split-pea-soup green color, and noticed that there is a
coat of what seems to be primrose yellow paint underneath it. I have
checked under the dash, under the gas tank, and other improbable places
only to find the green paint. Can someone tell me what color primer was
used on most MGB's? I'd like to hear that it's a yellowish primer, so I
can keep the green. Everyone I show it to thinks it's a disgusting color
to paint the car, but the more I see it, the more it grows on me...
Let me just say that I will never buy an MGB that has hydraulic clutch
problems. I spent quite a few hours removing all the offending components
from the car - the master cylinder came out easily. But, I found that I
ordered the wrong rebuild kit for it. You see, the ring stamped into the
housing had rusted away, but when I flipped the cylinder over, I was able
to see it. No problem, I found one of my old clutch cylinders that the
parts would fit. It was different than the other two I had, in that it was
an aluminum unit made in Australia by a co called PBR. Anyone heard of it?
The rebuild went well until I decided to put the thing back in the
car...and found it was too big. Yep, it was from a rubber bumper car, and
it's cap would interfere with my brake fluid reservoir. After some
creative swearing and a few swats from Mr. BFH, the pedal box graciously
allowed the new cylinder in.
I rebuilt the slave cylinder with no problems. Removing that flex hose
was fun though - if I'd have known how hard it would be to get a wrench in
that little spot, I would have replaced the hose when my starter was out!
After one bleeding, the clutch pedal seems to have less movement in it
than the old one did, but is very stiff. Does anyone who had an RBB and a
CBB notice a difference in clutch feel? Another question - when I'm
bleeding the slave, I can watch the pushrod on the tranny move about an
inch or so, is that about right?
I pulled my carbs to finally fix the air leak and to give myself more
room
when working on the master cylinder. I was chatting with a big-block Chevy
friend of mine, and he suggested painting my rusty head pipe with some
hi-temp stove paint. It's good to 1000 degrees and it only cost me four
bucks so I gave it a shot. At best, it'll look good for a few years. At
worst, it will burn off and billow smoke for the next 15 hours of
operation.
While pulling the carbs, I took the liberty of hacking the rough texture
off of the inside of my SU intake with my dremel tool. Will this help or
hurt performance, or will it be so negligible that I'll never know?
Tomorrow I'm headed out to try to find some paint that will match my
engine bay - does anyone know of a brand of paint that is a close match to
tundra green?
Oh yeah, one more thing...I remember reading about how to rebuild your
carbon canister - I thought I'd check mine out and I found it to be empty.
What do I do to make it functional again - fill it with aquarium charcoal?
If anyone has 'restored' their carbon canister in this manner, let me
know...I'd like to hear about it.
Thanks for all the help, and I'll let you know how this stuff comes
out...
Mike "Ruining Larry Macy's Posting Theory" Lishego
1974 MGB
1986 Plymouth Turismo 2.2
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/3706
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