Random notes on the restauration of Morgans, MGBs and Minis
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 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 →
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 →
The first part of the title is quite literal as I spent a significant amount of spare time last week with development. A first peek (actually a prototype) is currently on my website - but this is just a small part of what I am working on and already not up-to-date anymore. 30 years ago... Continue Reading →
When rebuilding an engine or overhauling the suspension of a classic vehicle there is a point when you need to order new parts. And often enough there isn't a single choice - you think about options. Should I can an upgraded camshaft? if so - which vendor? What would it cost if I choose components... Continue Reading →
The next step after the teardown was measuring and a visit at KS Motortechnik. Even though the camshaft has no pitting or bluing the conclusion after measuring was to replace it. The workshop manual says that lift height should be 6.35mm ( 6.45 to 6.60 the default). The lobs had between 34.05-34.14mm. Subtracting 27.60 mm for... Continue Reading →
Amazon delivered the Draper Verto Clutch puller in the late afternoon and I immediately took off for the garage. After unpacking the tool I was a bit unsure about the quality. The supplied bolts were 8.8 grade ones. My previous tool was second hand and came with really solid 12.9 bolts. But the three metric... Continue Reading →
