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74 chrome bumper

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jnutz

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Hey, I am new here. I have been looking on and off for a decent forum for MG's for a year or so. I picked up this car (a 74 B with the chrome bumper) about 4 -5 years ago from a cop in Madison. I drove it for about 2 years while tinkering with this and that. Then the carbs got too worn out. I had it just sitting in the garage due to school and full time job. Now this winter, I have to make her look pretty and run good again. I hace a carpet kit for it, an ignition switch. I will need to replace the seats (totally shot) and door panels (possible recover), etc. I am going to black from Autumn leaf. The top is new. I do want to find a rubber seal kit for it. Something that has all the seals that are on the car. Whenever I washed it the black streaked down on the white and looked bad. A friend and I are going to redo the door caps in a nice wood and possibly make a dash overlay. That should take care of the interior. The body is clean, but weak at the jack points. I do not use those any more. Floors are solid. Wiring????????? Well you know how they are. Engine compression was good. Shocks rebuilt 3 yrs. ago. New rack last summer. I plan on going through the brakes. Any thoughts on what all I should check on motor or a line on needed interior parts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. John
 
Go to theautoist.com and scout around for the page on awakening a sleeping B. That'll help alot. All the vendors (Moss, Victoria British, Brit-Tek, etc) carry the parts you need. Interior stuff like door panels and such is, in my opinion, horribly overpriced. I made my own.
 
Good luck with your 74, sounds like a good platform on which to build a good car. I bought a complete interior kit from:

www.prestigeautotrim.com

I got the full deal interior with leather seats w/red piping for $800. I have been very happy with the quality. It doesn't come with seat foams like some of the other kits and the transmission carpet is not moulded (but with HEAVY backing), but even if you add those it's still a good price.

I also bought a full rubber seal kit from:

www.propermg.com

I think it cost around $125-$145, but you can double check their site.

In regards to the engine, a compressio check is a good place to start. I'm currently in the process of a complete rebuild. I plan on going to:

www.brittek.com

for my engine internals.

[ 10-26-2003: Message edited by: John Moore ]</p>
 
Here is another thought. A friend gave me 4 full leather hides. I can have an upholstery shop stich seat covers patterned after the original and have them recover the door panels and kick panels. Has anyone done this to get an idea of how much this will kill me?
 
Well, cow hides cost me around $300 apiece - full, ready to cut & sew - & my upholstery guy charged me $1700 to sew/install...
 
Welcome to the Forum...it is nice to see another 74B Person here. I did the carpet routine last year, so look at a couple of the old threads to see some of the useful tips I got here. One of the additional ideas I had from a newphew was to use a product called POR15 to paint the tub...it is great stuff!

I recently bought leather seat coverings on EBay from a guy in Canada who buys them in lots of 10 and sells them regulary on ebay for $375. The look great, but I haven't installed them yet...that is part of this winter's projects along with recovering the door panels or getting the paint overspray off of mine) and a few other trim pieces. I am also going to tackle a rebuild of the front suspension to clean it up and hopefully improve some handling problems.

Good luck with your project. You will find alot of help here on this forum...as well as a considerable amount of entertainment!
thumbsup.gif


Bruce
 
"The body is clean, but weak at the jack points."

Sounds like you need new sills and rockers. Now is a good time to find out, be3fore you spend all that time on installing a new interior.
 
&, if it needs new sils & rockers - find a better platform...all the improvements in the world won't cancel out a rusty car....weak jack points points to rusty sills!
 
Welcome to The Forum. Lots of good information here and good people. You'll have to join the Virtual Rally next time around..Great fun!

Just received a flyer from The Proper MG and their complete seal kit for your car is on sale for $124.95 (See John's note above.)
 
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by tony barnhill:
Well, cow hides cost me around $300 apiece - full, ready to cut & sew - & my upholstery guy charged me $1700 to sew/install...<hr></blockquote>

Hmm! I bought a real nice hide for Alida to make a jacket out of in Phoenix for 100 bucks USD and we bought the hide for my seats for $150 cdn!! The seats came out of one hide with a little to spare!! The door panels are done in good quality vinyl!! Alida did the seat covers in a day, but it was a real hard day for her!!
 
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Steve:
Welcome to the forum....from a fellow inhabitant of the frozen north! Actually, there is a good guy for parts in Milwaukee, Dick Luening of MG Limited......Do you know of him?<hr></blockquote>

Yeah, I have drooled at his shop a few times. Have you been over there I take it? His race car is someting to see. What a quick liitle B. He races it up at Road America. Are you down in Milwaukee or closer to me? I am thinking I might bget my beast brought down to him and have him check out the sill plates. I will gut the interior and tow it there. Have him adjust the carbs and fix an electrical issue or 2 and check out the underbody. I just have to find a 2 wheel car carrier.
 
I was thinking about the weak jack point deal. The guy that I bought it from had had floor pans and such replaced. I am unsure of the quality of work done, but what are the chances that somthing wasn't tacked up really well underneath. Looking at it, it appears to be rust free, but who knows what is all under the rust-coating or whatever they sprayed there. I will be bringing it back into the garage and removing interior this week to see what I find on the inside. Also the design of the jack seems like it would put huge stress on that jack point, because the weight of the car would make the jack want to fold back down or am I missing something on the jack to lock it open? It basically does this:
l
l\
I know that is a horrid sketch, but I do not know how else to describe it. Oh and another thing. Where is the cheapest place to get Porter's MGB: Guide to Buying and D.I.Y. Restoration and how to powertune an MGB 4-cylinder. THose are not exact titles, but they are close. They used to have them in my V.B. catalog, but I didn't see them in the new one.

[ 11-09-2003: Message edited by: jnutz ]</p>
 
Original jack point is strong enough to hold the entire side of the car with driver sitting inside...if yours is weak its either because of rust or a DPO couldn't weld!
 
The other possability is that the wingnut who replaced the sills (if they were replaced) didn't weld in a new jacking point reinforcing panel.

Unfortunately there is no way of telling from the outside wether this is present or not unless you have a scope that you can poke up a drain hole to take a look (the sort of thing the aircraft industry uses)

The Reinforcer takes the form of a pressed trianguar double gusset which is welded to the internal "diaphragm" panel and the bottom "castle rail" panel in line with the jacking point.

Without this reinforcer even brand new sills will buckle when jacked up and the only way to fix it is to take off the outer sill weld it the gusset (assuming all other sill panels are ok) and fit a new outer sill.

regards

Tom
 
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