My Favourite Stripper is not named "Lola"

OR: GT Fuel System (Sort of, but not really)

I thought it would be a good idea to assess the rust damage in the spare tire area prior to replacing the bolts for installation of the new tank. NOTE: This kind of "while you are at it" behaviour is never a good idea when the goal is to get the car on the road. I just could not help myself and need to constantly remind myself of the 80 LE that is sitting in bits in my garage. But, I needed a physical task to burn off some stress, so I took into it. First step is removal of the cover.
Then a closer look at what lurks beneath. It appears not too bad in this picture but there is a lot of deep rust on the "shelf" near the front, in the corners, and near the rear of the car (not in photo).
I cleaned it up a little and used low-odour "Aircraft stripper" to remove the paint. The low odour stuff does not work as well as the regular but is hopefully less toxic. Paint stripper generates a lot less dust than using a wire-wheel to take it off. A wire wheel was used for final cleanup. "Stripper" and "take it off" in the same paragraph and I can't think of anything witty to say. I must be tired!

Here's why they say to put this stuff in a metal or glass container. The stripper was in this cup for about 2 minutes and no, I was not holding the cup at the time. Always do what the instructions tell you, kids! All the paint in this photo was removed before the next steps.After stripping I cleaned the surfaces with Marine Clean, flushed with water, dried, primed with Metal Ready, flushed with water, dried, applied two coats of POR-15, all per the directions. Here it is after one coat. That's a little nicer.
I still have to paint the tank mounting hardware but that's an easy job. What's next? Going to bed! One of my Great Danes had me up most of last night because of thunder storms and I took the other one urban hiking today. I'm bushed!

GT Fuel System (Part 2 - New Fuel Tank)

A new fuel tank was obtained from the local Advance Auto Parts just up the road. The tank is manufactured in Canada, is not baffled and does not have an integral fuel pick up line. No worries - a pick up line will be installed with the fuel gauge. The first step was to strip off the oily coating on the exterior then sand lightly to ensure a good starting surface.This next step is not really necessary, but I felt that a good coat of etch primer would give an excellent base for the next layers. Ah! There's nothing like a freshly primed surface!
Truck bed liner was applied using a brush. A roller would give a smoother surface but the tank is barely visible so appearance is not a concern. Bed liner will help prevent chipping and is a very robust coating. Duplicolor from the local Advance Auto Parts was used. Any cheap brush-on liner would do nicely and you could brush this on directly to properly prepared metal.
With the bed liner flowing it was a good time to do my LE's tank as well. This tank was painted with POR-15 rust paint and required a good scuffing with sand paper followed by a cleaning with mineral spirits before applying the bed liner.Why put bed liner on the top of the tank?? I will be pulling the tank when welding, and much of my work will be accomplished as a rolling restoration - not a full stripping of the car all at once. This approach will require the tanks to come off several times. Coating the top of the tank will prevent any scratching during installation, removal, and storage. Any little scratch is a prime entry point for the tin worm.
Here are both tanks complete after two coats of bed liner. I'm very happy with the result. If I were to do this in a more visible area (like wheel wells) I would try the roller method to get a smoother surface. The key to brush application is to lay it on in a single smooth motion, not back-and-forth brushing like you would with paint.
Next up: Rebuilding the carburetor...or removing the front wing. Whatever weather and time allows!

GT Fuel System (Part 1 - the Saga Begins)

After two months working on other projects I finally had some time to spend on the GT. The car started easily but faltered and stalled out whenever I touched the accelerator. "Likely a carburetor problem" I thought. Good thing I checked because the carburetor was actually leaking fuel at the manifold gasket, a short drip away from what would become a very hot exhaust manifold.

With the 32/36 Weber coming off to replace the gasket, its a good time to look inside the float bowl and see what's up with the fuel starvation problem. Uh oh! That's rust in the bowl, even with a filter prior to the Weber. Its time to order a full rebuild kit and clean it out right. Its likely the jets and accelerator pump are full of this crud.
Lets drop the fuel tank to get to the source. How about the fuel itself? MGB fuel tanks are notorious for rusting from the inside out so its not surprising to find almost 1/4 cup of rust when draining the tank. This is not good news, but at least the source of the rust has been identified. Some tanks can still be restored at this point after a thorough cleaning.
The tank looks salvageable at first blush. There is rust on the top but no more than expected on a 34 year old car. Removal of some rust scale reveals the true state of the tank. Pinholes become evident at locations almost identical to the ones I found on my '80 MGB-LE two years ago. Just like that tank, this one is also rusting from the inside out. Its time for a new one! What started with a faltering carburetor is now a full run-through of the fuel system. Lets hope the fuel pump is in good shape.
Next up: Obtaining and prepping the new tank. Rebuilding the carburetor. Continuing my search for a replacement front wing to repair the accident damage, and looking into a new rim for the front driver's wheel (or maybe a set? :)

Getting Keyed Up ( 73 GT)

Rather than go to the expense of a mobile locksmith I decided to remove the lock cylinders and take them in to obtain keys. I need a complete set, so the first step was removal of the glove box that was already hanging open. The ignition was next and the steering column cover came off easily. Removal of the ignition lock cylinder presented a problem because there was not clear way to remove the mechanism. After posting a quick question on the MG Experience forum I was cutting a slit for a screw driver into the bolts that hold the mechanism to the column. The bolts were then easily removed.The passenger door panel was removed with the goal of extracting the entry lock cylinder, but a retaining tab on the cylinder proved insurmountable due to poor access. The rear hatch lock would be much easier. While the door panel was off I coated the inside of the bottom of the door with Penetrol to inhibit further rust. The door internals on the '73 are in better condition than the '80 roadster!

Moving on the rear hatch I first removed the catch at the bottom of the body so the hatch will not lock when closed, then removed the retaining ring on the lock and the cylinder popped right out. This is a view of the inside of the lock showing the retaining ring that was backed off using a hammer and a small punch (the cover was previously removed).

Now I have everything I need to take to the locksmith.
'80 Roadster
I prepped the inside section of the inner sill on the '80 for rust paint by washing it with Marine Clean, then etching with Metal Ready. Two coats of POR-15 and it looks like new. Next up: fitting the inner membrane and plug welding it into place after applying some cavity wax and weld-through primer. More on that next week.

Liberation of a 1973 MGB GT

I took off the first full week in February with the intentions of, among other things, making some progress on the 80's sill work. Then I got distracted....

A couple of months ago, after making a wrong turn when going to meet some friends, I spied a 1973 GT sitting in a local impound lot.Its not every day that you see one of these cars in a situation like this. It looked rather desperate behind the chain link so I dropped by to talk with the owner of the yard. The car was impounded and he asked me to check back "in a month or so" to see if he could sell it.

I waited almost two months and went back this past week. The car was abandoned at this point with no title and no keys. I searched the car and found the original title! With the help of a vehicle transcript from my local DMV and the internet, I contacted the party listed on the title and they gladly signed it over to me. After titling, towing, and impound fees, the car is home.
Now what to do? First off will be stabilizing the car so it does not deteriorate further. A front wing replacement is needed and the paint is in dismal condition. There is some bubbling in one dog leg and the condition of the sills is somewhat unknown. With any luck the motor is in good condition so I can have it up and running by summer while I finish up the body work on the LE.

Cross Member to Castle Rail

Several weeks ago I messed up the edge of the cross member when removing the original castle rail.

This left little to no edge to attach the new castle rail so I cut back the cross member and made a replacement section from sheet metal.

The first step was to cut a template. Cardboard from file folders is ideal. I transferred the measurements to the cardboard, folded and adjusted through a number of test fittings until I had the desired dimensions and shape. The cardboard template was transferred onto scrap sheet metal I picked up from the local scrap yard (Coiner's in Charlottesville).


The edge that will overlap the original cross member was flanged using the pneumatic flanger. The flanger was later used to cut plug weld holes for the cross member and castle rail attachment points (not shown). The flanger/hole cutter will soon come in handy when cutting all the holes needed for plug welds in the inner sill membrane.

The piece was then bent into the appropriate shape and went through numerous fittings and adjustments before being welded in place.

The final pic shows the reconstructed cross member after welding to the castle rail directly below the jack reinforcement piece. Sure, it ain't pretty, but after paint and undercoat the replacement section will be barely noticeable.

The castle rail was previously clamped and welded to the inner (side) sill member with 1 inch welds spaced every 1.5 inches. I had been concerned that my Hobart 125 would not have enough power for the sill work but I easily blew through the inner sill when on the highest setting (4 voltage, 80 wire speed) and had to back it down to 3 voltage/60 wire speed for welds with good penetration and no blow through.

The day ended after I found that sparks easily melt through the fluorescent bulb in my trouble light. Regular bulbs trigger the autodark feature in my welding helmet so its off to Walmart for spare bulbs before doing any more evening welding

Next up: Finishing the welds for the castle rail. The original floor pan will be plug welded onto the new castle rail and the remaining attachment welds for the castle rail will be completed.

Sill Section Fit-up

Since December I have managed a few hours on the B, mostly for cleanup and prep work required for fitting up the sill pieces.

The ability to salvage the inner sill side member provided an ideal reference point for building out the additional pieces. I fit up the castle rail using measurements taken from the original before removal, then ensured it was even with the inside of the side member using a straight edge and a level for the outside lip top lip of the side member to outside edge of castle rail. Clecos from Airparts Inc in Kansas City to held the castle rail loosely in place. You can also purchase clecos from Eastwood but they cost significantly less at Airparts. Clecos are normally used for holding sheet metal panels so I was pushing their limits. Their advantage over clamping at this stage is that they allowed easier fitting of the inner membrane and rocker without clamps getting in the way. Again, I was just going for a rough fit to make sure nothing was too out of line. They do not provide enough holding power for welding.

The inner membrane was then fit to the outside of the castle rail. Some adjustment was needed at the front for proper fit where a tab on the membrane wraps inward around the end of the castle rail.Fitment of the rocker followed. Front wing and door were refit to get an idea of alignment. It is looking good at this stage but aligning the door will take much finessing. Next steps are to remove the wing, door, rocker and membrane to begin final alignment and tacking of the castle rail in place. The connection point to the cross member will also be refurbished.