F - Weather Warming Up - Progress Being Made

The fuel tank and radiator repairs went very well, also reasonably priced.  About a week after installing fuel tank and putting six gallons of gas in it I found it leaking at the bottom.  Thought it was the fuel line fitting so I tightened it up.  Bad idea.  Ended up stripping fuel line fitting.  Also found real source of leak was gasket around sending unit on back side of tank, was not compatible with ethanol.  That's why it took a week to start leaking.  Duh.  Now have to replace fitting plus fuel line since the nut is captured in the fuel line.  Could have cobbled it together, but not that much more $$$ to do it as original with new parts.  Waiting on new gasket and fuel line.

Meantime, I finished the interior.  Check it out, I think it looks pretty darn good.  I was told prior owner was not happy with his home made wood floor panels, but I was able to make them work.  He did a nice job of putting the leather to the seats.  I even have the doors closing and latching correctly.  These cars are indeed all snowflakes, the exact dimensions are a little different for each one!

Next project was to rebuild the carbs, which had not been done when the engine was rebuilt.  Process went pretty well, but one interesting item.  For those familiar with SU carbs, the spring that exerts pressure on the two gland seals around the jet body was deformed.  It was swollen in the middle, not allowing the upper jet bearing to mate against the lower jet bearing - one of the spring coils pushed out and interfered.  This results in the jet being too low and running rich.  Some prior owner had tried so hard to get the jet to move up that he jammed the nut against the lower jet bearing.  I was told that back in 1970 the car was not running right, could it be that this issue dates back over 40 years?  At any rate, this thing was running VERY rich on the front carb due to this problem.  I replaced both gland springs with some standard springs I had laying around, and the jet can now reach it's correct upward position in both carbs.

Did some prework for starting the engine.  Checked compression - 160 one three cylinders, 170 on one, excellent!  Set timing.  Turned over engine on starter to see 60 psi oil pressure.  Also confirmed spark with my spark detector. During this process the slow speed of the starter and it's "box of rocks" sound got me concerned.  Decided to take starter and generator to local auto electric shop to have them checked out and rebuilt as needed.

Fuel line and new gasket show up tomorrow, starter and generator done early next week.  Should have the engine running next week - first time in decades!

E - Cold Weather Slows Me Down

The cold weather plus 10 days in beautiful Key West have slowed down progress on the MGTD for early 2014.  Been getting back to it the last two weeks. 

I have the dash wiring done, which was a big job.  I added a third dash light for the turn signal indicator.  Apparently the prior owner intended to add turn signals, which were not added to production TD's until about 3000 cars after this one.  The new wiring harness he had purchased has provisions for turn signals.  I had to make sure my front fender lights were setup for two filaments, plus had to purchase a turn signal relay and blinker unit.  Also had to drill a hole and install the third dash light, it's the red one right in the middle of the dash.  Hope it all works!

I did have to use a wire nut in one place.  The original design apparently had four red wires all being trapped under one screw on the back side of the ignition switch.  I did not feel this would be reliable, so instead I put three of them together with a wire nut with one pigtail then connecting to the switch and the fourth wire.

I made a trip to Jonesboro Arkansas on January 10th to visit Don Bridger of MG Bits and Spares and brought back a whole bunch of either new parts or good used parts.  Here's a picture of one of the used hubcaps that I cleaned up and painted the medallion, looks pretty good:

And here's a picture of the license plate light I got from Don (this is a NOS Lucas part, not a reproduction):

The gas tank and radiator are repaired locally, will be picked up tomorrow.  I installed 8 new brake shoes, the prior owners friend Howard expressed concern over this work in riveting the brake lining to the shoes.  I got all new shoes with bonded linings on sale from Little British Car Company.