little things

Another two weeks without any major progress on the MGB GT restoration or other projects. I just had time for some little things. With the engine stand almost completed I decided to clean the cooling system before hooking it up. For this I connected a piece of old hose to the water pump and made sure it is long enough so that the can be secured above the engine. Next, I removed th temp valve housing and flushed the engine until clean water was coming out of the hose. I then filled it up with citric acid and left it sitting for a night.

When flushing it the next day, it took a good amount of time until clean water was running through the system again. While doing this exercise, it came to my mind that the oil sump most likely also should be checked. For this I had to hoist the engine of the stand again – but as the engine mounts need to be modified to fit the exhaust – it was a good time to do it. Even though I drained the engine ( and tilted it) as few weeks ago – I was surprise to find oil in the pan. Good news is that there were not metal shavings or anything else in the sump. The oil pump mesh was also in a great condition (unlike the one on the 18V581 engine I pulled from Mildred)

Next to quite a bit of gardening last week – I spent two nights to teach myself some Freecad basics. This allowed me to draft the engine mount brackets, created a STEP file and have the parts laser cut from Cutworks.com. This was a super fast delivery and good experience. The only thing I am puzzled about is that the holes the drilled/cut are only 6mm in diameter. I double checked my drawing and STEP file and they should be 0.325inch (or 8.255mm) as the bolts for the engine mounts have a 5/16inch diameter. They will be welded onto somewhat changed mount to lower the engine on the test stand slightly – this will give the clearance needed to the exhaust.

Last weekend I visited GB Classic in Cologne to check how and when Mildred’s engine rebuild will resume. On the way I noticed that I had air somewhere in the brake lines. I had to pump the brake – but this is certainly not an acceptable condition. Bleeding the brakes is one of the thing I hate the most and always tend to have issues with. The old two person way works – but the EZ Bleed one-man system I use is not great.
Andreas P. recommended that I check out Stahlbus valves. They are designed in a way that no air can get back into the brakesystem when you bleed the brakes. On Sunday I went ahead and ordered two 1/4 inch-28UNF x 16mm vales for the rear brake cylinders and two 3/8 inch-24UNF x16mm from the BRP Online Shop. Their delivery time was amazing – it only took a day – not even Amazon manages this anymore. Replacing the valves yesterday evening was straightforward. And this time bleeding the brakes worked much better.

Another little thing just arrived at my son’s place in the UK. A new electronic MGB Smith dual scale speedo. Like in the Morgan I want to elimate the speedo cable in Mildred – especially with the new Mazda 5 speed gearbox an eletronic version makes more sense to me. There are listed on the Caerbont Automative website but none of the distributors I checked had model SN6144-36CB available or offered it. After a call and friendly chat with Rimmerbros, they said that they can order this for me. Even better – now it is an item in their product catalog: https://rimmerbros.com/Item–i-RP9064