Due to Oct 3rd being a bank holiday in Germany, it was a good point in time to visit my son in the UK again. Like on the last couple trips I try to connect this with getting some spare parts from places close by. On Monday it meant driving from London all the way up north to Peter Burgess in Alfreton. Back in June I dropped off a few cylinder heads – one for Mildred, the original cylinder head of the Mini I owned from 1991 to 1996 as well as two for team Flying Squirrel
Mildred – the 1973 MGB GT – was built from Jan 18th to 22nd 1973. The wire wheels, servo assisted brakes and Inertia reel seatbelts were options, the number of the 18V-581-F-H engine matches the Heritage Trust certificate. According to the Clausager MGB bible these engines were used for UK cars without overdrive. This is interesting because Mildred came with an OD gearbox. Like the 18V-582 (UK models with Overdrive) and the 18V-583 (UK model with Automatic) the UK cars used HS4 carbs and a cylinder head with larger inlet valves (casting no 12H2709). According to multiple sources I found – this is a good starting point for modifications.
Along with a piper HR270 cam and +60 bore, Mildred will have Fast Road specs. I hope to get around 85-90HP at the wheels. Even though I don’t expect it, there is always the risk that something goes wrong when doing the engine modification. I could not say no to a well running stock 18V-582 engine with all auxiliaries for a reasonable price. This spare engine serves as backup for now – but there is also a crazy supercharged 1950ccm thought in the back of my mind for the future (that might never materialize though) ….
After a bit more driving, we did the now almost mandatory visit at Frontline. There have a been a few changes for there. For a start: the name changed – it is just a “Frontline” car now. A slick new logo along with a new website and to new Restomod offerings: the LE60 and BEE EV. Tim also showed me the new six-link MGB rear suspension – essentially a combination of the existing MGB 5-link rear suspension with the rear traction control link (on the website currently available only for the Sprite and Midget). An article about the LE60 and BEE EV will follow in a bit. Among other things – the team at Frontline helped me to get a replacement of the Tourist Trophy manifold (after 4.5 years – shout-out to Moss for delivering on the 5-year warranty).
On our way back we also stopped at Hardy Engineering Transmission Limited in Leatherhead. Here I picked up one of my spare MGB rear axles. Quite a while ago I took two MGB axles apart. One of them needed new pinion wheel bearings. Even though I would love to be able to replace those myself – I have never done this before. I am sure it is not rocket-science – but it is one of those jobs that you better learn from someone with experience. Eventually I will try do to this – but this time I left it to the experts. While at it, I also opted for a Blackline (torque biasing) Limited Slip Diff. Certainly not strictly necessary for everyday driving – but there is a high likeliness that Maggie will see a few Trackdays in 2024 and going forward.
There wasn’t much more I could have brought back this time – there was no empty space left. After unloading the car in Wednesday evening my remaining time was spent with cleaning my workbench. Getting the spare parts I already have in storage and pressing the new wheel bearings on the half-shafts was the next task. I noticed that the two sets of rear brake cylinders I bought are quite different. Difficult to tell which one might be better. An old bearing-race of a Mini front wheel bearing is perfect to get the MGB rear-axle oil seals fitted. Assembly of the “Hardy” axle is progressing. I am missing some bolts and nuts – a powder-coated axle deserves stainless steel screws in my opinion 🙂
Fixing C6622 
Wow you are doing some GREAT work well done!!
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