That awful colour MGB GT

[cros]

If you're getting a bit exasperated by your awful coloured car's brakes maybe I can offer a few words to encourage/piss you off even more. I also have an awful coloured MGB thus:

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I bought it in 2007 and have done 27000 miles in it since. Not many by most standards, but I had as many as 12 other vehicles during that time so I did my best.
I bought it cheapish as it needed new lower rear wings, otherwise it was in good nick. It was already on silicone brake fluid and had those expensive braided hoses. Since then all it has needed brake wise is one new rear cylinder and I put a new set of pads in, more out of boredom than necessity. I probably replaced the rear linings too as they're cheap and were doubtless soaked with fluid, but not worn. I've no idea why these things have such enormous rear drums.
It has no servo and doesn't need one, the pedal has always been firm and near the top. I topped the clutch cylinder up today for the first time and might look a bit closer at it as that's a long time on the same fluid. (Non silicone).
I had thought of flogging the car as I'm cutting down, but after a trip out today I know I'd regret it. Its cheap to run on gas and I worked out this has saved me £2200 in fuel since I installed in 2009. (Kit price plus Maniflow single carb manifold and 'Blos' LPG carb was about £950)
The only thing to have gone wrong was a changeover switch/ level gauge which cost about £12. Saving just over a grand in 12 years hardly justifies the bother but what the fuck.

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Lastly the hard top is surplus to requirements so that is up for grabs in the unlikely event that anyone here would want one.

[CLINT]

Nice

[SiC]

Fitted the clutch master cylinder this afternoon. Massively pissed off about it as I will explain later.

Front end up.


This is why it needs changing. Fluid is not that old.


Remove old fluid


Unbolt cylinder. This is such a massive polava to get to the bottom bolt. Pretty much spent an hour trying to get it out. Ended up removing the pushrod entirely.


Underneath looked grim. I hoovered this dirt and rust out. It's from leaking masters and split brake fluid that sits here.


Couldn't leave it unprotected, so literally poured some enamel paint down there and rubbed it around with a brush.


Looks flipping terrible. Standard SiC painting basically.


Master in


Then bleeding. This is where the pain really began. I know these can be a pain to bleed but this wasn't the problem.

Sodding shitty crappy fucking sodding poor quality aftermarket parts. Pissing all out.


Couldn't quite figure out where its leaking from as it was dripping from the middle at the bottom. I think the reservoir given the car is at an angle and the coupling is at the back. Tightening the coupling as tight as I could made no difference either.

The reservoir has this crappy design clamp around it that is supposed to hold it to the body. Looks a poor design to me. Tightening that clamp just stripped the thread on the bolt of the clamp.

I did actually figure out that the master on there is actually for a MGB V8. Apparently slightly smaller bore and so lighter on the pedal. But the bite point is much further down. That and the fact it's breaking up its seals internally, means I had to replace this. It did change gear (certainly better than it does now!) but I had noticed that it was progressively getting more difficult to select gears.

So I'll have to take this one back to Moss and get a new one. I might just buy one of the genuine AP ones that come in the tin case. Flipping expensive (£70) but look a better design. I don't like the tin ones as you can't monitor fluid levels. However that's more of a critical concern on the brake master rather than the clutch.

[CLINT]

Bloody cars...

[SiC]

It has no servo and doesn't need one, the pedal has always been firm and near the top. I topped the clutch cylinder up today for the first time and might look a bit closer at it as that's a long time on the same fluid. (Non silicone).

Mine came with the servo and looks to be factory fitted. I had considered removing it, but that will require pipework to be changed. As the servo is working at the moment, I'm leaving it. If it does play up, I probably won't replace it. Can't say I'm a massive fan of the servo either as it mushes the brake feel a bit and the amount of assistance changes. Not like modern setups where the servo has been designed into the system from the get go.

[LynehamHerc]

My 74 has a factory fitted servo.

[fried onions]

There are two schools of thought over the metal fluid reservoirs. Either you remove the lid periodically to check the fluid level, or what you don't know can't hurt you.
Girling marketed a transparent extender so the fluid level could be seen. I only use asbestos-based brake and clutch components as they are still unsurpassed for old cars.

[SiC]

After some deliberation today I ended up buying the metal can version. It's a not so inconsiderable 73 quid.


Looks pretty though.

Also purchased a seal kit for the V8 master cylinder that came off. This was a much more reasonable £6.

The theory being is that I can attempt a repair of the V8 master first and if that fails I can use the expensive one. However those that know me well will know that once I think about the painful job of fitting a master back in, I will opt for the easiest (but not necessarily the most economical) option...

Incidentally many people say that old cars are a lot easier to work on than modern. With this MGB I disagree! Many jobs are far more awkward with poor access than many moderns.

Simple things like changing this master cylinder is massive pain in the arse. Banjo bolt requires going in from behind the dash which involves spilling brake fluid all under the reservoir, while cutting your hand on the back of the dash. Naturally it's very difficult to mop up that fluid. Fixings holding it in on the front are almost completely inaccessible to tools on the bottom. Putting it back together requires blind feeling to locate the copper washers on the banjo bolt and hoping you don't slice you hand on the metalwork. If you drop that washer, it'll fall into the brake fluid pool which probably has melted the paint. So you need to then wipe the paint off the slippy washer and try again.

Once that is all done, you then need to fight trying to bleed the clutch system out. Often takes a lot of fiddling to completely remove the air. Best way apparently is to remove the slave, zip tie the cylinder in, then leave it hanging and hope gravity can do its job.

Even the distributor is really awkward to get to the clamp bolts. Don't get me started on the carb bolts! These need gradual undoing as you pull the carbs away from the manifold.

In contrast, the 1100 is so much easier to work on. But then that is probably helped by the amount of rust on it, allowing parts to be pulled away rather than unbolted...

[coalnotdole]

£73 doesnt seem too bad really...

Sanjeev Gupta Thanks you for your custom.

Liberty Group: Proudly buying and running defunct British industries Since 2013. Long may they contnue!

[LynehamHerc]

Incidentally many people say that old cars are a lot easier to work on than modern. With this MGB I disagree! Many jobs are far more awkward with poor access than many moderns.

It's weird.

You look under the bonnet and it looks like there's masses of space to work in.

It's almost like a reverse Tardis, as virtually everything is crammed against the sides or is as low as possible, rammed up against the engine. The few things that aren't, like the fuse box (with all of 4 fuses), coil etc. are easily accessible even if your arms are broken, although I haven't tried to prove this.