Thread: 51 MG restoration.

Spot of mild up here last few days so I took advantage.
The front end upgrade to mgb meant I had to modify the mgb designed sway bar links to fit my TD steering rack.

Original plan was to shorten them as seen and just reweld, honoring the original angles.
Well sadly the right hand was 18’ offset and the left was 21’ which had me questioning the British quality control at the sway bar link factory..
So, plan B was to cut, drill tap and step them so I can install them, get the angles perfect, then weld the link arms in place.
Had to radius the shaft a bit to accommodate the shoulder of the countersink.

Should work just fine.
Now I’m tearing down the calipers and hubs for new bearings seals and pistons respectively.

Will be nice to have all this done before I turn to the cosmetics.

Getting chilly over the next few days. They are blaming texas, so WTF Tom.?
A texas low should not mean snow, it should mean some country song reference I figure...
Hehe.

Glad to see your post.

I got thinking you were slacking there for a bit!

Originally Posted by MikeB52

I'm pretty sure if I had taken on this job, at least a couple of those parts would be left looking at me from the bench after I was "done".

Enjoy the mild weather - gotta run with it when we can, eh?

For reference this is what it would look like if I didn’t go to the trouble of shortening the links..

Way to busy around the steering.
This is what mine will look like.

To me, was a non decision.. had to be done..

Originally Posted by 32t

Glad to see your post.

I got thinking you were slacking there for a bit!

Truth be told, I have been. Son ordered me to rest the wrist a week. And he wasn’t wrong. Still hurts, but I think it’s on the mend. Must have torn something.

Can’t imagine not being able to torque stuff in retirement so had to rest it up..

Broke my left arm right below the wrist when I was 6 years old did it again (same wrist) but worse 36 years later. The second time was about 25 years ago and every once in awhile when I put a lot of pressure on it the damn thing hurts!

As you get older your really appreciate having body parts that work without hurting and working like they should.

The rework of the sway bar link pins is much better. Nice work Mike

Pulled the firewall off the chassis with all wiring still strewn through it.
Look at the cluster of shit!

I’m going to have maybe 6 wires going into the cockpit when completed.
6!! Not this...

Skinny lil car ain’t in..

I helped a friend turn a 1964 Elva Courier into a race car. Lots of fun!

He wanted to save the harness etc. at first...........

Even at that vintage it is surprising what you don't "need".

So much modded over the years. And no fuse box anywhere to be found during tear down.
I guess when they converted to NA wiring they never replaced the voltage regulator, but man, risky not having circuit isolation in a wooden car..
Will be completely fused when I’m done.
Still mild-ish up here so I decided to pop the front hub bearings and replace them.
Another little upgrade on this restoration is that the mgb used tapered bearings, whereas the Mg used roller bearings only. So significant reduction in friction and improved side loading on cornering also to be looked forward to in the summer of 21.
Nice that they gave me little detents to drift out the journals.

Seems one inner bearing was replaced in the past? But only one?

Wear pattern is non existent happy to say. Bet they were better quality then the new ones going in, but 60 years of service is plenty..
Still need to pack the grease, but I do that by hand and I’m way to grimy to take pics at that moment..