Random notes on the restauration of Morgans, MGBs and Minis
Just a very short update today. While it is taking much longer then I hoped for, the Mini engine is almost completely back assembled. And even though I started with a good plan and kept fasteners and small part in small plastic boxes - I ended up wasting a few hours searching for stuff. Pretty... Continue Reading →
The engine is slowly coming together. Turns out that it was a bad idea to use the universal tool to knock in the camshaft bearings. This caused a very tight camshaft due to minimal edges. Too little for line reaming. I had the machine shop correct this and spend the money I thought I could... Continue Reading →
Yesterday evening I was finally able to start with the engine assembly. Ten days later than planned. The punishment for the delayed start followed yesterday evening in a few ways. After laying out all parts I noticed that the new thrust-washers are missing. They were on the invoice - but I did not noticed the... Continue Reading →
A week of contrast is finally coming to an end. Sunday a week ago started with the plan to assemble the freshly painted Mini engine. But more important things came up. The evening got me working on a HIF7 adapter for a Edelbrock Performer Manifold of the Rover V8. While I was tinkering with FreeCad... Continue Reading →
A seemingly innocent call with my friend Frank last Sunday added fuel to a fire burning in the back of mind. We talked about the awesome work that Franz is doing with his MGA build, 3D printing and changes in engineering due to AI. Somehow this brought us to speak about the Edelbrock Performer inlet manifold... Continue Reading →
A long overdue workbench clean-up took a significant part of the afternoon. That included installing more tool holders and lots of other things. Well, cleanliness is godliness (as it is written on the wall of the Swiftune workshop). And for the upcoming engine rebuild this is really important. There were some preparations that needed to... Continue Reading →
The TLDR version of this post would be: Mildred is/is not finished, Miffi's block has new cam bearings and needs to get painted, Miffi's subframe is back in and new Rover V8 SD1 parts are slowly showing up. It has been a long evening. It was 5pm when I got to the workshop and I... Continue Reading →
There isn't much I can share from today's work only that other things popped up at the workshop and only a few hours dedicated to Mildred. After the removal of the old panels the new wheel arch was fitted. The spot welder made this easy but a few corrections around the top corner had to... Continue Reading →
Fitting the rear wing on a MGB GT and getting panel gaps right takes time. As off today 60 man hours went into Mildred this year (well - actually since Monday last week). And the work on the right rear wing has not even started. But the rear wing topic seems to spark some interest.... Continue Reading →
Another quick update on Mildred before I head into the garage to work on Miffi. The left rear wings came off today. For this side I did not buy a complete replacement wheel arch - just a small repair panel. And only half of this panel was required. As this bodyshell is actually from a... Continue Reading →
