1958 MGA Coupe

[bobs77vet]

well two steps back....added the grommets


and bent the flanges out to create tension when clamped down





now to the last thing to take apart, degreased the motor with brake clean a puddy knife and tooth brush












and i think that dimple parks the "parked" position

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

interesting, my FJ40 uses the same button-style arrangement to shut off and center the wipers.... the fj40 is a combination of stolen American and stolen UK tech - so it's not even a little surprising to see the similarity.

 

[bobs77vet]

pulled the distributor and mocked up the shrink wrap on the rear wiring


well the distributor would not slip out of the clamp joint and as we all know getting the bolts out is a PITA

this is the spot for a snap on 4 way wrench, it gives full access to the bolt with no interference, and off to Jeff for a rebuild






heres the shrink wrap for the open ended connectors

 

[bobs77vet]

earlier today British on the Green at Gunston hall the home of George Mason a Virginia statemen of the Revolutionary period



this got my motor running







i got to sit in this....i like it



















heres a home made snap connector tool for our wiring harnesses.

http://www.britishwiring.com/Tool-Snap-Connector-Tool-p/ssc1.htm

It is the only answer... One pair of the tips is tapered. This is intended to stick into the sleeve before you try to insert the bullet. This sizes the sleeve perfectly so that the bullet fits with a nice snug snap rather than a palm endangering shove and grrr with some improvised implement. Of destruction...

Then, when you get the bullets started, the forked jaws are just perfect for squeezing the bullets fully home in the sleeve...

Works a treat!

well i spent some time looking at my old broken and abandoned tools......and look what i came up with. a craftsman handi cut

the one side already has the split jaws to accommodate the gold plastic piece that acts as pad for the cutter blade



spring loaded



my requirements for the connectors on my wiring harness





and the open end already the right size for the bullet ends



and tip to tip the full opening is 1 5/8.....and full closed is 9/16. so that means i am really close and all i have to do is figure out how the paddle end for the one side is going to get attached.. those two holes in the one side are threaded so i dont even need to compromise the tool...(although what made this tool be in the old pile was that the blade end was broken and needed a new blade)

i am thinking a 14 gage piece that gets attached using the two holes with a paddle end





14 gauge


















and after contemplation that these pliers were sitting in a bucket on the front porch for the last 3 yrs i decided to weld the tabs in place





nice and parralel at 1 1/8


opening up the groove, kept filing it until 14 ga wire slipped through easily






and it works

 

[bobs77vet]

... how did you get Corvettes out of your head?

well this week i was in NY and i swung by the corvette shop of "paulywannafly" in montgomery NY

it was C3 heaven.........nice stuff there, and nice guy.

the corvettes are not out of my head......

i saw a C1 with and LS3 in it.....a c3 with i dont know what but it was freaking big and fuel injected.....


so my whole 5 hr ride home in my newer mustang convertible I was thinking about a C2 with and LS3 set up in it...vs a C5 or C6

i can assure you the corvettes are not out of my head, i wonder what an LS3 in a cobra kit car or daytona coupe would be like.....decisions decisions....time to finish the MGA when the next build starts creeping in

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

well, at least I have company in the obsession.

 

[bobs77vet]

and low mileage C5s can be had for about 13K.......

 

[bobs77vet]

i am thinking seriously of a C5 convertible, spring time gets my corvette blood flowing......


today went to the apple blossom parade in Winchester VA..... a cold gray breezy and drizzly day......I was on my best behavior because my temper tantrum not to go, got me no where...oh well

but tonight and tomorrow is mine.


so as I contemplate mating the two halves of the car together its clear to me I need to wrap up the engine compartment area 100%, so I got back to cleaning all the buffing compound off and looking for any areas that I need to buff some more in the engine area....then i can put the wiring harness in and put the under dash insulation pad





i found the Griots speed shine worked best to remove the over splatter of the buffing compound, i also used a clay bar and tooth brushes and a detail brush.

 

[bobs77vet]

finished the engine bay , it needed buffing in one or two spots that you will never see, but i can see it now so what the hell


and move on to wiring, adding the longer fender bolts for the wire p clips in the engine bay, adding the front wiring harness and drilling a hole for the head light wires to feed through





missing this on the other side




the sharpie mark is the new destination



done, I love those Christmas tree drill bits



and touch up the paint



if there was a place for a plastic P clip this is it



whats the deal with the short parking lights wires???? i guess i will make them longer and put them in PVC tubing and i guess i need to add the ground wire also, so i need some connectors and bullets.




I have some wiring to figure out here...looks like an extra wire for the fog lamp i am guessing and some wires for the horns.

 

[bobs77vet]

I used the connector tool on the rear wiring harness, it worked great i can say that its worth making one of these. it actually compresses the rubber when its pushing the bullet into place and it fully seats the bullet



this is the dielectric grease to use, also works good on light bulb bases for out side spot lights



I put the shrink wrap around the connectors and used zip ties to hold it in place, the original wiring is in tact and it gives some weather protection with out compromising anything

 

[bobs77vet]

tonight i made the wiring harness for the parking lights, i am doing one thing different here and on the left front I am putting a ringed ground on a fender bolt just like on the right side tied into the same wiring ground harness and the parking light. i also will be bringing individual grounds to each of the tail lights, just because over the years i have realized that its a good thing to have solid ground connections at lights

also the parking light wires are soldered, wrapped in electrical tape (like rolling a cigarette, not like a bicycle handle bar), and shrink wrapped. the splices are off set. you do this becasue if you have an errant wire poking through the shrink wrap when its heated and the splices are in the same place you can create a short or other funny wiring problems. wrapping it in tape and then shrink wrap minimizes the poke throughs

this soldered splice is off set but it sure doesnt look like it in the photo, the off set also lets it slide through the tubing easier

 

[bobs77vet]

glued the under dash pad in place. the funny thing about contact adhesive is that you paint both of the mating surfaces and you have no ability for repositioning once its made full contact

so i did this in 4 steps....the first was the middle vertical panel with the big hole and that big hole for the wiring harness was my spot that i aimed to get perfect and then i painted the side to the right , and then the side to the left. lastly i did the heater shelf portion as one unit moving from the back to the front. this made it small enough portions that i didnt screw it up. then when it was in place i cut out the heater shelf hole and brake pedal hole.



those are basically the section lines i wound up using



sorry i cant rotate these for some reason

i let hang over my lower support square tubing and painted it





looking at it from the engine bay


and done, use a small roller to make sure everything is pressed flat

 

[bobs77vet]

the inner dash pad is a pretty substantial piece, i believe it will work well.


today continue with wiring harness install and put in the headlight dimmer switch. i marked the dimmer switch input with a white dot so for future reference you can see it easily. the dielectric grease also works well to help the grommets slip into place

how much extra wire and i suppose to have down at the dimmer switch end?














move to the wiper motor bracketry




the end of the hanger right before the hook works well for grabing a stud

 

[Sam Cogley]

That's starting to look dangerously like a car.

 

[bobs77vet]

oh yeah i agree, i actually see an end....

take out dipper switch wiring harness so it can go through the MC bracket, sand and prep the MC bracket, grease the wiper motor and test it and paint stuff, test voltage regulators





sand MC bracket and use some metal prep on it.





test wiper motor with power supply





greasse it up with some of my green goop.....i found a thin washer folded in half in the gear area????




painted wiper motor and tubing







havent we become high tech....power supplies and tablets to read up what you should be looking for



look at that 19v in and 15.4 at the post and all the magic happened at about 16.4 volts





cut out at 9.3 and cut in 12.9...still need to work on the second regulator it is off by 10 volts...

 

[bobs77vet]

tonight match up fasteners for the electrical parts taht get mounted on the fire wall, i carefully put all screws,washers and nuts back on the parts.

wash with warm soapy water



spray with clear



clean terminals stuff with paper and use cardboard to blod off internals and spray with clear

 

[bobs77vet]

well my preparation for the grommet install was not as good as i thought.....too many parts left over, and my fingers are exhausted




i guess tomorrow i will spend some more time researching what goes where

i have all the cables for tach speedo, choke, starter, heater valvbe, water control taken care of as well as blanking plugs for the brake assembly and the oil pressure line



wiper motor ready to go in



if any one wants to identify the remaining grommets please do.....i do have holes left over for the wiper motor cable, and the water temp capillary tube

 

[bobs77vet]

worked a little more on the harness....all the grommets are in place except for the water capillary , it s looking pretty good up close and in person....

 

[bobs77vet]

today do more on the wiring harness, install the wiper motor, hook up some wires, add vin tag and tags to heater....about 4 hrs of work.

added a rubber gasket fron a tire tube to the wiper motor post and used a leather punch to make the hole




installing these wiper motors is a PITA...







hook up wires and made this long so its easier to replace, my flasher unit doidnt pass testing so i need to buy a new one

 

[Sam Cogley]

Out of curiosity, why did you stick with the mechanical voltage regulator vs. hiding a modern electronic version in the box?

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

Happy 4th re-birthday little MG

 

[bobs77vet]

it says thanks

more electrical work...
connecting tool in action



full compression



adding a ring and additional ground circuit to the ground to go to a body bolt on drivers side


test all circuits to make sure everything works

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

It's alive!

I always consider it a major milestone accomplished when I power up the circuits

 

[bobs77vet]

yes sirreee its close...


worked on those triangular pieces and putting down cork for the frame to body spots





some black goop for an air tight seal



this spot has to be below the goal post top



i used rivets to make it nice and tight



seems like a gasket is a good idea here





and lastly put in the fuel sender unit

 

[bobs77vet]

made some progress tonight unclogging my vacuum port on my HS4




i was able to open up the port, this was .030 mig wire



got the hole open



turns out to be about .060



it must have been debris sucked into it i didnt really have to remove any metal to open it up. now what do i put in there to mate up to this



any and all ideas appreciated, what have others done who are using HS4s

thanks bob

 

[bobs77vet]

worked on the heater tube today and the firing order tag.

 

[bobs77vet]

back to the carb ported vacuum opening

this is my best choice so far

 

[bobs77vet]

and done, after thinking about it way too much i just drilled the hole. theres no reason not to take the carbs off if you wanted to.

i used an air vacuum ( for AC systems, do not use a shop vac around gas fumes) to clean out the carb infront of the butter fly

chucked up the bubble flair and did some file work on the profile









just waiting for the rebuilt distributor to hook up the vacum line completely

 

[bobs77vet]

and time to take car of an easy one



any body have a good cleaning method for this original bottle?

sand , clean, sand , clean....prime and then paint

 

[Sam Cogley]

Wouldn't a car of that era have had a glass bottle for the washers?