Originally, I visited Stephan this late afternoon to get some washers welded together (post will follow on this) – but I got an unexpected engagement instead. I was asked to have a look at a MGB roadster that had some minor electrical problems needing to be solved to pass the German TÜV. On first sight it looked like a well-maintained car. Two tasks had to carried out. First was the fuel pump. Somebody directly connected it to the battery plus and a blade-fuse was used as switch to turn it on.
Not very practical. As this is a 1972/73 US car – it should normally be connected via a white cable coming from the ignition switch. This cable is running under the car and plugs into a 4-way bullet connector in the engine bay. The owner or previous owner of the car modified the wiring quite a bit though. And this was done with good intention by added relays and fuses. And with care – it actually also looks quite neat – but there is one problem: ALL cables used are BLUE (even ground). And everything was wrapped in blue tape. And of course: there is no documentation.
After removing a few cable ties and tape, I was able to find the 4-way bullet connector. From there a fuel pump shut-off switch was added. After verifying that original while cable is working, I found out that the connectors for the fuel pump cut off most likely caused the issue. I assume this resulted someone to bridge the pump directly to the battery. I added new bullet connectors, validated that the pump is running & removed the bridged cable – one task of the list.
Next up was the horn. After checking that the horns work by just directly hooking it to 12v – I checked the push button at the steering wheel. When pressed no connection was made to the front. The button itself worked. So, this the steering column cover had to be removed. In order to do this / the steering wheel need to come off. The plastic cover popped open – the plastic around the screws that hold the two pieces together was broken.
The purple-black cable to the front of the car was OK. Then I noticed that the small cooper flap that the steering wheel connect to, i bend incorrectly. It was even visible on the PVC cover that this had contact – not the copper. A slight change in the bend – and the horn was working for a milli-second.
A fuse in the relay blew right away. Checking the relay wiring made clear – somebody connected the ground to the car with the relay incorrectly. I looked like there are some components missing anyway. My task just to get the horn working – therefore I removed the relay, connected the cables directly to the horns – task solved.
As this is a former US car with a swapped engine – somebody forgot to put fuel overflow hoses on the nicely overhaul HS4 carbs. I recommended to add those. The short test drive made me thankful for my MGB GT. I suspect that the Armstromg dampers need and overhaul. Brakes look new – but the car does not have a brake servo. Neither has my Morgan – but on this MGB braking does not feel good. Personally – this would be my first change and addition because I think that this is a great safety improvement – especially when people just occasionally use a classic car. The steering is also really hard. Adding needle bearings to the stub axles and a castor correction kit would also be beneficial. Of course – this is my biased and subjective opinion.
Fixing C6622 