That awful colour MGB GT

[fried onions]

I have no problems leaving my cars with the same fuel for months. They start up and run fine. I always brim the tank prior to laying up too.

[SiC]

New new pads fitted. Hopefully will solve the squealing.


You can see the shims glued on the back here.


Piece of piss to change pads on here. Why do cars now have sliders and what not? These fixed calipers seem a much more sensible design.

Basically remove the two split pins, pull pads and springs out (well they usually fall out), push pistons back in, lube the back of the new pads and put all back in.


I also removed a shim from the passenger side wheel to free it up. Here it is before.
[youtube][/youtube]

To be honest it doesn't seem to free spin much more after removing that shim either! Maybe the bearings aren't as resistance free as they used to be? Or the old grease causes more friction. Good enough to not fiddle any more though.

Oh and yesterday I replaced the foam gaskets on the rear lights. Touch wood it seems to have mostly sorted the water in boot problem. Still get a bit but it's a lot more reduced.




Old gasket was heavily compressed in areas. This was the top bit.


Took for a test drive and it all seems to work thankfully!

Mileage has just ticked over another hundreds unit. I think just under 150miles since taking it out of the garage. 200 miles ish in probably 20 years?
I don't want to add up my current £ per mile since getting it out of the garage again just yet...


Off to shitefest tomorrow. Will take the more interesting back roads, so a 2.5hrs rather than 1.5hr journey. All being well, that will be around 180 mile round trip if no other further jaunts. About 4 hours in the saddle.

[SiC]

As has been noted, modern fuel will run like caca if left a few months over summertime.

I've seen cars started up and run just fine on proper old fuel that's been sat in the tank for 30 years (varnishes or otherwise). The older stuff, refined well with few additives- remember when unleaded was much more expensive than four-star- was actually better grade because it had to be. The fuel companies have steadily been working on adding stuff to the fuel so it can be refined less and diluted more, improving productivity and profits. Mostly profits, it would seem. Blame the chemists.

Bristol Flying Centre used to sell 100LL avgas for "off road use". With carbs set and timing set to it.. quite a noticeable difference to the engine's performance, mostly in torque. 100LL burns slowly compared to 95 pump gas and that improves the impulse on the pistons. You can back the ignition up 2-3 degrees easily and richen the mixture up to see the change it makes.

It does smell different though- it's what the fifties would have smelled like following a car.


--Phil

I have no problems leaving my cars with the same fuel for months. They start up and run fine. I always brim the tank prior to laying up too.

Thankfully the 6 month old fuel ran through the system just fine. Possibly helped by the fact the fuel system from tank to pump to carbs is pretty much new and with modern rubbers. So should have been less mixing of very different fuels and chemicals to cause issues.

This is the petrol station I intend to go to. I think the pump I'm zoomed in on is the one with 4 star leaded. Can't be massively used though as it's a bit in the middle of nowhere and not a very well know site of it. In-fact finding an up to date list of 4 star pumps is very hard.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/oANsMBp7JUKb3VZP9

[SiC]

Just got back from shitefest in this and it performed almost* faultlessly.

Started off


Packed plenty of tools. Mostly if I didn't, sods law dictates I'd needed them.


Took the back roads on the way there. Nearly three hours of driving is very tiring in the MGB. Didn't help with constantly getting stuck behind people doing 30-40mph in 60mph limits. Seems to be a thing happening more often. The BGT just has enough power to perform a reasonably easy overtake.

Next to Mr6C DS at Shitefest. The cars are similar ages to each other, but the MGB does feel a bit more modern to me in comparison. Such a different driving experience between the two!


When I got there, I noticed that the oil was on the minimum level. Topped it to around three quarters. Richardthestag suggested that it could have been that my dipstick is jumping around as it was very loose in the holder. He wrapped some insulation tape around the top of it to make a slightly better seal.

Checking twice on the way back on the services showed no drop in the oil.

Back home now. Checking the oil level again it now reads on the max marker?! I can only guess it's the slight drop at the front of the drive that has done it. Wouldn't have thought it would be sufficient to have made a difference but I guess it must have done.


I'll get a new rubber seal for the dipstick from Moss during the week. Hopefully will stop any risk of it leaking out from there and should improve/prevent crankcase air leaking.

I think it worked out around 165-170 miles or so today. By far the longest I've taken it on one journey and one day. Probably the longest and furthest it's ever driven in nearly two decades!






* Apart from the oil level, the only other issue was my gear knob coming loose. Surprisingly annoying problem driving it like that!

[LynehamHerc]

Nice to see that it's getting some proper use now.

[cros]

My springs are completely knackered, hitting the stops each time you go over a pothole which is every few seconds down my road. Annoyingly they don't look too bad (by my standards).

IMG_20190608_123141209.jpg (891.29 KiB) Viewed 4612 times

You can buy a new pair of springs for around £100 including vat & carriage which probably means that a factory somewhere is knocking them out for about £15 apiece; probably just about good enough to support the car when sitting in the garage.
I've gone for the deluxe option at £200, a pair of parabollox ones.

IMG_20190608_123120650.jpg (507.03 KiB) Viewed 4612 times

I thought I'd be enjoying a nice sunny drive today but the MGOC eBay shop where I bought them has failed to include the polybush kit thats included in the price, so the bastard car is now blocking up the shed doorway. That'll teach me not to carry out this job in the proper manner- on the lawn.

[Hooli]

I recall a few* pot holes down your road, in between the collapsed mine shafts.

[SiC]

Rear springs are probably what is going to be needed next - reckoned by a few at Shitefest. I quite like low back end, but apparently mine is very much on the rather low side!

Aren't the Parabolic springs supposed to have a telescopic damper retro-fitted at the same time?

Edit: Just noticed your Gaz shocks as I scrolled up. A worthy upgrade?

[cros]

I put telescopics on a year ago not because I've anything against lever arms, but because the shafts were worn out on them. I've noticed that most recon lever shocks don't last because they're just worn out ones repainted. Beehive did the Gaz conversion for about £100 which seemed a good buy.

[SiC]

Just enquired to the distributor doctor on having the original distributor rebuilt. For a rebuild, recalibration and repair of the mounting collar - £264

Ouch! Same price as a brand new 123 ignition distributor. Or I could send that CSI one off to be changed to a non immobiliser version.

I have a spare distributor casing, so possibly could send that as a replacement maybe?
Collar is pretty buggered and probably get worse if clamped even just a little too tight.