That awful colour MGB GT

[Hooli]

That's cause you're back before full time workers stop for lunch.

[paulplom]

You should've stuck in at school mate.

[SiC]

Decided I didn't want to risk that oil pressure gauge pipe after disturbing it. Tenner later and I got a new one.


Went in okay but quite a bit of offset on the block side. Probably ok and it doesn't leak.



Went for a test drive.


Just kiddin'.
I only popped the bonnet to check for leaks. There was none.


Not sure if it's placebo but it does seem less smelly in the cabin. I wonder if it's been spraying oil for a while and having it mushed all over the engine - including the manifold. Thus fumes and stinky in the cabin.

The true test will be when Mrs SiC goes in it as she always moans it smells and gives her a headache...

As usual, the little drive in it rekindled my interest again. Not quite as much as before but it's an alright thing to potter about with. When it is working.

Need to put a few miles on it really as it needs to get to MGB60 up in Gaydon next month. It has done Gaydon before so no reason it shouldn't be able to do it again. Hopefully it won't embarrass itself.

[SiC]

So Mrs SiC and myself went for a jaunt today in this, instead of the usual cars.

First off shopping.


Then a stroll along the beach


To look at the oil derrick they're putting into Weston Super Mare. As if they needed to try making the town grimmer...
That said, it's night and day nicer than Rhyl. The one seafront that I've ever turned up and thought "Nah, don't want to even park". And I like a good shitty British tourist seaside hot spot - even Blackpool I'd visit again finding it fascinating.



Anyway it was pretty busy and I don't like people. So we didn't stop too long.

Then we went to a pub and had some jolly nice grub.



All in all I did just under 40 miles. Not a huge amount considering we often do that at the weekend just running around to shops and the like, but all good confidence building.

One thing I noticed is that there definitely is less "old car" smell wafting into the cabin. Even Mrs SiC noticed this. Also she usually gets a headache when in the car and truth be told, it can make me a bit sleepy.

I think the oil cooler might have been leaking for a while, mashed up in the fan and spraying oil to be burnt onto the hot engine/manifolds. This in turn gets into the cabin through the "fresh air" vents.

Basically I strongly suspect the car has been giving me mild carbon monoxide poisoning since I've owned it...!

Side note, as I know you all love me talking about it, oil pressure actually is a fair bit higher now. Regularly gets 58-60psi cold and warm it rarely drops below 50psi at speed. Hot idle is 40psi. Previously you could knock at least 10psi off all those numbers. Again, I suspect it was losing pressure through that oil cooler. Especially as it got hotter and thinned out.

I'm interested to see if oil levels stay more consistent including at speed. Previously if driven hard, I could lose 1 pint (max to min) in just 100 to 200miles. Its big test will be the run to Gaydon next month.

[Hooli]

My experience of oil cooler leaks, admittedly on bikes, is they have tiny leaks for sodding ages & then 'burst'. Sounds like you caught it just in time.

[DodgeRover]

VR1 had high levels of zddp that's why it's only legal for race use in California. I'm sure it's the same here as it was the go to oil for holding e type race engines together according to my mate who prepared them.
Works wonders for holding oil pressure when hot in Rover v8s as well.

[SiC]

Took my B out for a spin earlier. I was supposed to be cleaning it to take fresh photos, but thought I'd give it a run first. Possibly a bit too long as it was getting dark by the time I got back! I enjoyed the drive and was absolutely faultless run. However it has cemented in my mind that its time to move on.
I want to replace it with a BMW Z4 Coupe. A very different car but something that will excite me. Plus I still have the Spitfire as my usable classic and hopefully my Midget and Dolomite will be done one day.

Naturally when I got home, I noticed some how a bird managed to score a direct hit despite me driving the whole time!

 
I took a few photos but before then I dug out the original gearshift to put it back to stock as it currently has a short shifter stick on it. I much prefer the short shifter as it fits perfectly into my palm when my elbow is on the arm rest. However as I'm selling, people always prefer stock.
Short shifter

Easy enough to replace

Difference

Original now back on

 
I'm also going to change the steering wheel back too. This is the one currently on there and I much prefer it to the original. However original is king. I spent an extraordinary amount of time cleaning up the original wheel, so didn't get around to putting it back on yet. But only one nut under the horn press. Hopefully it won't be a nightmare to remove. The original was.

 
While taking photos, I found this carpet that went in the corners of the boot. I removed it way back when it had to live outside for the first year of ownership. As water ends up getting in around these corners, it ends up getting soaked and making it a rust trap. Actually took some figuring to put it back the right way and which was which side. I eventually realised I had it 180 degrees out.

A plastic peg fits into the L-bracket above the light and holds it in place.

Probably will help with noise reduction in the cabin too. I've also got the foam that lives up in the C-pillars that I removed for the same reason. Condensation build up soaks into the foam and rots out the pillars. So makes sense to leave it out, even if it looses a bit of noise reduction. But hardly makes too much difference though as its not exactly the quietest car out there.

 
With all that done, I took a few fresh photos for the ad. Now need to write up an appropriate concise advert text. Not particularly looking forward to putting this up on the open market - will be my first time in a long time I've had to do so! 

[SiC]

The pictures I intend to use for the advert. While not perfect by any means, shes a pretty honest solid old girl. Definitely I managed to buy a very good example in the end given it was my first proper classic I bought. A fair bit better than some of the cars I bought since!













 

[mercrocker]

GLWTS etc. Should fly, that, nice example by the look of things.

[xtriple]

That looks fookin' lovely! I'm not a fan of 'B's but that I'd love to own.