Soob swap

[john barry]

[billnparts]

That’s hilarious…look at the bright side, at least it wasn’t a can of undercoat.

Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"

[edward ericson]

Trying to get Bridget straightened out for Lime Rock Historic Festival, in less than two weeks.

Progress this weekend:

Heater now fully functional

Shifter adjusted properly

Lights all work correct

Oil leaks minimized.

ditto fuel leaks

Ain’t sorting grand?

I’ve been driving the car with the shifter about a half inch too far forward. It shifted surprisingly well that way, though downshifting into second I hit reverse just about every time.

Doing the heater wiring I discovered that my oil pressure guage was still leaking oil everywhere behind the dash, The wires were all oiled up nice and slick and –HEY! did you know what motor oil does to electrical tape?

So I took that apart and fixed it. And in doing so I shorted something and blasted yet another fuse. I am running out of the red (16 amp) ones so a couple weeks back I used an 8 in place of one of those. Figured it popped but NO! It was the red one next to it! 

In went another white one. I marked them both with a sharpie so I’ll remember to upgrade them later, when the wires are all squared away.

Filled the gas tank, as I had been well into R territory on the way home from work. Figured she’d need about 9 gallons. She took 6.8. So I should not have bent my float arm straight, I suppose. Next time she’s empty I’ll be getting her bent back. 

Got home and smelled gas, which was leaking out of the float arm plate. Tightened the screws and that got it right.

Then on to grounds. I re-did the front one and in doing so pulled the passenger front wheel for access. When i put the wheel back on I decided to do a quick and dirty runout test. Discovered the tire is out of round by just less than an eighth inch. No wonder she shimmies.

The ground fix did not fix my tail light/signal issue. This is a funny one so here you go: Normal daylight driving, I had turn signals as usual. But sometimes the indicator on the dash would slow or stop. Weird.

But when I turned on the headlights, the rear blinkers alternated. No matter which way I signaled to turn, the blinkers would alternate left and right. But only in back. The fronts worked OK.

Brake lights meant no rear blinkers either. Also: dim.

I knew it had to be a ground. Disassembled the rear body work and tore up the wire looms until I found it.

Also noticed the loose wire that goes to the license plate light. Cops HATE it when those are out!

WHile back there: noticed the engine was throwing oil on the muffler. That’d be the front main seal, which i should have replaced when I did the timing belt. Dang. Ordered it–$10 for the kit.

But I also had oil coming from the passenger side valve cover. I did replace those gaskets and I was damn careful–even torqued the bolts with a torque wrench.

Screw it: tightened them slightly. Then: noticed my home-made oil fill thing had oil around it. The filler neck is O-ringed, but I guess the o-ring was not doing it. Got the other neck…that one’s o-ring has a gouge out of it. So the Permatex ultra gray came out. Made a gasket on the flange, snugged the bolts even but loose, waited two hours and tightened.

Took a long ride, and she was nice. SHifting better now, up and down shifts both work pretty well. Temp got to 190 then backed down to like 180. Oil did not drip out from behind the dashboard. 

It’s hard to keep your foot out of this throttle. I got on her a little in second gear. Revved to about 5500 once. She moves very smartly. 

Got her home. One oil drip–under the front seal. None to the side. Gas leak is gone. Lights all work.

Pulled the seat out, put the cover on the trans coupler, started getting the rug pieces and interior panels back in. Very tricky fitting up behind the heater. Also discovered that I routed my heater gauge line through the nest of heater hoses going to the heater core. Instead of around them, as any not-stupid person would have taken the care to do. 

Anyway. Carpet glue in full effect. Hoping to get the interior fixed up and the seats back in by Wednesday night.

After that: more panels need to be made: both the rear well and the front cargo area need to be made right before the trip.

[john barry]

excellent ..

and  you  could  quit your day job  🙂

[edward ericson]

I’d almost have to to get this damn thing done!

Hey, but she’s famous. Check this out.

[Paul Mossberg]

That’s awesome!

 

Did they contact you before publishing that? Or did they pick it up form your blog?

Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica Roadster

If you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)

[edward ericson]

Both. He emailed me a couple weeks back. I gave him permission to repost/etc.

It’s a pretty cool site. Check out some of the crazy big-inch-turbo-diesel-into-muscle-car swaps he’s covered. Or this 10-second Smart Car.

Never a dull moment.

edsnova2014-08-18 18:10:34

[HappyJack]

Hey Ed,

Since that “Nu Big Thing” Smart Car will probably not be at the Air Museum/Car show in October, my Emma may be your biggest competition — now that I got the hidden piece of o-ring out of the #3 carb stack and Emma is firing on all 4 cylinders………time to go synchronize carburetors………..and make my reservation at the hotel in Va Beach

HappyJack

[edward ericson]

Nice! I think I’d have no chance vs. you if you’re hitting on all four cylinders. On three pistons you’re good for 150 horses, against my 135. I think I might take you in the MPG battle tho.

[billnparts]

nice article…very cool.

Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"

[HappyJack]

No contest on MPG — I might win if you were to change me to a different scale, say GPM……..

I’m probably getting 10-12 mpg — but then again, she has never been fully firing on all 4 cyl since I got her…..will have to do a scientific calculation and report back….in the mean time, why don’t you figure out Bridget’s MPG.  Maybe we can start a contest and the one who can guess closest to both BCW’s miles per gallon wins a free badge for their grill or badge bar………….????? 

[edward ericson]

Update: 

So I took Bridget on the highway to the Hunt Valley Horsepower cars & coffee meet this a.m. under cloudy skies. She went just fine, though the throttle was a little sticky with the carpet in–I’ll need to correct that. She still shimmies at 50 mph, almost certainly because both front tires are about 3/32″ out of round. AT 60-75 it is not noticeable. 

Ended up parking next to this sweet TR3. Nice guy owns it, though he’s not so happy that he paid $25k for the car and then spent, he told me, something like $15k more getting the suspension squared away. And it’s still just a driver. 

Man! These originals can drain you, eh?

So Bridget leaks oil from the front seal. I picked up that part but will not get to replace it probably until after Air & Auto. Looks like the few drops a mile should have me pouring oil in her after any decently long trip, at least for now.

I really like the interior with the Jegs heater. It absolutely looks the part, and it would take a real knowledgeable MG-head to, tell the faked-up transmission hump I made from the proper TD version. My new throttle wheel is even more TD-like than the old. 

Coming home she got above 190F on the gauge. This seems odd, because the ambient temp was about 70. Running along a hilly stretch of Rt 7 at about 50 mph is when it happened. 

Now, 190, 195 is not really out of spec but I can’t see why she would heat up at all while loping along on a cloudy, 70-degree morning. Suspect my fan shroud system may create a sort of “stasis” air mass at just the right (or wrong) speed?

The fan was working. The overflow bottle looked a little over-full, but I can’t say for certain that I did not slightly over-fill it on installation. And anyway, I can’t gauge it well because it’s buried by the fan shroud. Kind of silly: I used the original, in part, because it’s opaque and you can see how much is in it. Then I built the thing so you can’t look at it without taking the shroud out.

Then this: The volt meter dropped to under 12 at some point. I was running lights the whole way, but upon start-up the needle goes to about 14 and it was holding steady until the end of the trip. Then–12.5. Then at the light, idling, 12, 11.8. . . .

Shut her off at the parts store, came out and she went right back to 14 on start-up, then settled back low after that. When I got in the garage at home the needle was just about at 12 and, after a spell, the green charge light was glowing faintly. Thinking something is loose. Will start with the battery terminals and grounds.

And with that I’m thinking it’s getting close to time to retire this thread. I’m going to blog up some of the stuff I just described, put a few pics and links, and (fingers crossed) call it done.

Probably start a new thread called “Soob Sorting.”

[HappyJack]

So Ed, 

Now that you are about to end this thread, you will have time to set up your “SOOB SWAP” business.  I have a kind-of-nice BCW that would be a good candidate for your 2nd SOOB SWAP.  You can even start a new thread….and think of how quickly this one will go with all of the experience you got from Bridget’s swap out…..!!!!!

Just say the word…….

[billnparts]

Jack, just follow the instructions mentioned above.

Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"

[edward ericson]

Jack, I think you could do the job without moving the engine, since your car has an extended tail piece. Should be a direct drop in.

But why would you with an already-built Type-1?

Working on my fake side curtain box today. Made progress.

Compare that to:

[HappyJack]

Boy Ed, your interior is really shaping up nicely — nice touch on the fake side curtain box.  I was looking at the interiors for TDs listed in the MOSS catalog and yours looks “real” — can’t wait to see it at VA Beach in October.

As to engine swap — I just installed an EMPI hide-away muffler that bolted right up to the header in place of the knock-off Pfat Boy that was on the car…still have to get the muffler shop to bend the pipe a little and weld on a mounting ear — but what a difference the new muffler makes in both calming the roar and improving drivability — now I can motor through the neighborhood without someone threatening to call the “noise police” yet when I kick it a little on the highway it really wants to fly!!!  Seems to have more power with this muffler?????? 

So, I guess I’ll keep this bad boy engine for a while yet…..but as Bill said in his post above….all I have to do is “just follow the instructions above” if I ever want to make Emma into a SOOB…   yea, right!!

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