Thread: 51 MG restoration.

Curious....I spent 6 weeks of spare time installing myriad reinforcements and Motor/trans mounts in my Cuda and when I fired it, I could tell immediately I had done some great good. Drives 85 per cent better.
It's still a bit of a hot mess, but that really satisfied me.

What can you say about the extremely noticeable improvements you see so far?
Seems like you changed everything at once!

Most noticeable, good brakes!
Steering is tight, without wheel shimmy anymore. Acceleration seems much more responsive, almost torquey now off the line.
And the car just feels solid. No rattles or vibrations or shimmy of any kind.
So far, everything feels better, and the way it probably felt 7 decades ago, possibly even more!

Cool! The brake upgrades and the booster has GOT to be better than original.
Those carbs and the MSD ignition are light years from '51 so nothing there surprises me.

Your investment in the shocks has to be an big upgrade from original as those guys who specialize in that have surely learned some tricks.

Indeed, your work on the body has certainly stiffened it up in every aspect. Use of the adhesives and attaching the wood as you have will last indefinitely.

Some premium tires (Radials?) are sure to make a huge difference on top of all that.

It's all about results!

Continental 165 65 15’s on order for all around.,bye bye fat boy rear end. Same tires used on the vintage beetles and the 356 these days so they should be good. I will lose a 1/2 in wheel overall diameter and they are slightly wider than the fronts currently but the speedo will be accurate.
Also booked in for an alignment and new s.s. Exhaust build tomorrow. Bye bye thrush muffler from the 70s, as much fun as you were.
Another good rip this am and after each tear I am inspecting underneath. Everything’s tight, but I do notice the driveshaft is rubbing some where slightly, based on a few radial scratched in the paint.
Stupid smile on my face every drive. And I feel after the alignment, and new tires, the steering should lighten up a bit..
then some stronger pulls and start to tweak with my timing. I still have the vac advance disabled and am only running on the centrifugal advance as originally equipped.
As Tom suggested, have some fun and see what she can do!
Bonnet complete on the drivers side, but I think I’m going to leave the passenger side off, for now anyway. Really like seeing the intake trumpets and clean engine peaking out!

Door handles installed and I’m basically there now I think. Cept the new top and such.

I used to enjoy those Mufflers. Here is a quick pic of the inside top of my toolbox...



I'm pretty sure that was mid 80's.

Way, way back in the day everyone wanted either Thrush or Cherry Bomb glasspacks on their muscle cars with the big V-8 engines. I put a ton of them on my cars. Just a simple afternoon project. Boy, they made them sound good and could be had for 20 - 25 bucks apiece.

Probably not the right way to go with Noddy.
Quiet and smooth wins in this case.

Pete <:-}

My '56 Chevy Sedan had a 327 with way too much to list--it had Thrush Mufflers that bolted directly to the headers. A friend had a '69 Firebird with the 400 and goodies and he ran Sweet Talking Purple Hornies. He got ticketed for too loud of pipes so we swapped. Worked out well.

They are still making the Purple Hornies and I hear that they are pretty loud.

I had a 1970 Dodge Charger that originally had a large block, but then a small block 318. Great engine for reliability and horspower to weight ratio back then. Certainly better than a 426 hemi on the gas mileage front. I did put on an Edelbrock manifold and a Holly 4 barrel. And of course Thrush mufflers. They really DID make that car sound a lot more ready for a drag race than it was.

I sold it about 20 years ago and the man that bought it totally restored it from the ground up. I need to find some pics for a keepsake. He has invited me to stop by and drive it when I'm in his hometown. Covid got in the way of that, but I'd really like to do that, with pics. The last time I drove that car I was a still a teenager.

Originally Posted by MikeB52

A lil road test vid
https://youtu.be/watch?v=41jpTF4VoUE

You're not suppossed to smoke in your new car!

Originally Posted by Johntoad57

You're not suppossed to smoke in your new car!

Lol, it’s all good, I had the window cracked a bit!