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MGB Bringing the B back to life

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drooartz

drooartz

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I've spend the last couple weeks getting my Morris Minor back on the road (swapped a cracked transmission case, new carpet and seats, miscellaneous sorting). Now that she is roadworthy I'm turning my attention to my MGB. For those that haven't been following along at home, this is a car I bought back in 2011 thanks to help from JPSmit and 14dna. Sold it at the end of 2013 to a local friend, and then bought it back in 2016. It's the car I've had the longest, if you count the 2ish years my friend had it as long term storage. It's the only vehicle I ever regretted selling out of the 29 I've had, and I'm happy to have it back. :smile:

The B has its original engine, and it's been a bit tired with only marginal oil pressure since I bought it. Last summer I pulled out the old engine so that it can eventually be rebuilt. Until that's done I have another B engine to swap in. This one came from a friend's rusty but running BGT. It was running fine when it came out, so I'm just planning to freshen a few seals and maybe a new clutch, and toss it back in so I can get driving. I've had 2 old British cars for years (since 2011 in fact) but have never had more than one road-worthy at any one time. This will be a first.

So follow along as I dive in and get bring this car back to life. I'll have many questions, and will get some pictures up shortly.

If you're interested, my whole automotive history is written up here.
 
Here's the B when I first bought it in 2011.

wolfcreek2011.jpg


And here she is now

mgbswap190706-1.jpg
 
Looking forward to it!
 
Me too, JP.

I did fix a thing yesterday as well. One of the 4 bolts holding on the oil cooler had snapped off at some time in the car's past. I drilled it out and cleaned up the threads. Fixed!

Today I'm going to try and work up my parts list, and see what I can find with Moss in temporary closure.
 
Decent sized order is in with BPNorthwest for some necessary seals/mounts/etc. Threw in a water pump, thermostat, and clutch as well. That should get me what I need to get the engine back in the car. There are a few remaining bits and pieces that I need from Moss once they reopen, but nothing that will keep me from getting the the engine/trans back in the car. At least I hope not. :smile:
 
If all goes well a box of parts will show up tonight. Very exciting stuff!
 
So I've got a box of parts and a weekend! So what am I going to do?

Yardwork.

Ah well, could be worse. Still, should be able to make some progress.
 
Weekend? Is that something special? Oh, yeah - I remember those from when I had to work! :devilgrin:

So... clutch, water pump, hoses, etc. What vintage is the engine you're installing? And what are your plans for the original one?
 
A word about water pumps, Drew:

Our B was fitted with a 'new' pump early in the last decade, seal shot on the one it replaced. Not certain which outfit it came from. During the summer months in traffic the car would get into temps over 200°F with the replacement. The car didn't get driven much so I didn't give it much attention until a couple years ago. Started driving it with more regularity, got a bit peeved with the overheat issue, ordered another pump. This time I went with the "Classic Gold" one from Moss. When I did that replacement I saw immediately why the one being replaced was a problem. The impeller in it was a stamped steel "thing", couldn't help but cavitate! May work in Michigan in winter but didn't here in the summer. The Classic Gold one has a cast impeller, much like the original pumps fitted at Abingdon. Tapered and with curved vanes. Much more efficient than the 'paddle-wheel' one in the generic pump. I did later install the aluminum radiator when Moss started to offer 'em, and a pusher electric fan I'd put on the old rad after the generic pump install and frustration with overheating. If the new pump you got has the steel impeller, SEND IT BACK and opt for the Classic one. I can sit at a controlled intersection in July at idle now and the fan on a thermo-switch, temp stays at/below 180° steadily.
 
If you need any parts there is a guy named Basil Adams that can get parts and at good prices. [FONT=&quot]Basil 707.762.0974[/FONT]

He is very active on another forum. good guy and can get pretty much any parts you need evenw ith moss closed.

Picked up some new wheel cylinders and caliper rebuild kit from him for my 1972. very reasonable.
 
Mickey Richaud said:
Weekend? Is that something special? Oh, yeah - I remember those from when I had to work! :devilgrin:

I'm doing my best to keep the weekends as weekends. Working for a school district these days is a bit extra-stressful, but I'm happy to still have work and to be able to help our students have some tiny bit of normal in their lives

So... clutch, water pump, hoses, etc. What vintage is the engine you're installing? And what are your plans for the original one?
Click to expand...

Yup, just the basics to freshen things up a bit. The engine is from a '70 GT (18GH-WE), so similar vintage to the 18GG that is in my '70 (UK spec). Donor even came with a working OD trans, so I've got a spare now.

Ultimate plan is to rebuild the original engine, as it is the original one to the car. If the budget allows it will get a supercharger, but we'll see how that goes. No matter the direction it will be a few years, as once the B is back on the road I need to five my Bugeye some serious attention. This donor engine just needs to get me a few years of use so the car can be on the road while work on the Bugeye commences.
 
DrEntropy said:
If the new pump you got has the steel impeller, SEND IT BACK and opt for the Classic one. I can sit at a controlled intersection in July at idle now and the fan on a thermo-switch, temp stays at/below 180° steadily.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up, Doc. I'll take a close look at this one before I put it on the car. Water pumps are not expensive, so simple enough to order a different one if needed and it won't slow down the work of getting this engine back in the car.

I've already got an aluminum radiator, seemed to work pretty well with the old engine and mechanical fan. But it does get hot here (and with plenty of steep grades) so I'm keeping an electric fan on the option list for the future.
 
B72Blue said:
If you need any parts there is a guy named Basil Adams that can get parts and at good prices. [FONT="]Basil 707.762.0974[/FONT].
Click to expand...

Thanks for that tip. BP Northwest is open as well (that's where I got this order from).
 
drooartz said:
Thanks for the heads up, Doc. I'll take a close look at this one before I put it on the car. Water pumps are not expensive, so simple enough to order a different one if needed and it won't slow down the work of getting this engine back in the car.

I've already got an aluminum radiator, seemed to work pretty well with the old engine and mechanical fan. But it does get hot here (and with plenty of steep grades) so I'm keeping an electric fan on the option list for the future.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
 
Made some good progress last night. Unboxed my parts order (missing one radiator hose, have to call supplier on Monday) but otherwise in good shape. Got down to business and worked on cleaning up the engine a little bit, pulling off external parts like distributor, oil filter housing (I'm converting to the inverted type so the filter won't hit the steering column), etc. Did a bit of degreasing but didn't go overboard with it. Scraped off the worse of the grease.

bengine_greasy.jpg


With things sorta clean I wanted to at least get one new item started so I decided to tackle the thermostat and housing. Happily it came off easily and I was pleased to see that the head inside the thermostat opening looks really clean. I've got a new thermostat and housing to install today.

bengine_headwater.jpg


Here's the water pump I ordered. Given Doc's description I think this will be okay (impeller looks cast to me) but I'd love another set of eyes on it .

bengine_waterpump.jpg
 
You're good to go, Drew! That's a proper pump from what I can see.
 
Thanks, Doc. Onward!
 
Made some more progress today, got the water pump, thermostat and housing, clutch, and side cover gaskets installed today. Also turned the engine over and took off the oil pan to clean it out and replace the gasket. There is hole in the backplate that had some sort of rubber plug that disintegrated in my hands while I was cleaning things. I looked at the engine that I pulled out of the B and it didn't have anything covering that hole. Moss lists part 297-495 (maybe?). Two questions - is this important and can I install it without pulling the flywheel?

Moving forward. Next step is to clean and prep the trans mount and install a fresh throwout bearing. With that done I'm pretty much ready to put this into the B and start sorting out the details.

hole.jpg


newbits.jpg
 
DrEntropy said:
A word about water pumps, Drew:

Our B was fitted with a 'new' pump early in the last decade, seal shot on the one it replaced. Not certain which outfit it came from. During the summer months in traffic the car would get into temps over 200°F with the replacement. The car didn't get driven much so I didn't give it much attention until a couple years ago. Started driving it with more regularity, got a bit peeved with the overheat issue, ordered another pump. This time I went with the "Classic Gold" one from Moss. When I did that replacement I saw immediately why the one being replaced was a problem. The impeller in it was a stamped steel "thing", couldn't help but cavitate! May work in Michigan in winter but didn't here in the summer. The Classic Gold one has a cast impeller, much like the original pumps fitted at Abingdon. Tapered and with curved vanes. Much more efficient than the 'paddle-wheel' one in the generic pump. I did later install the aluminum radiator when Moss started to offer 'em, and a pusher electric fan I'd put on the old rad after the generic pump install and frustration with overheating. If the new pump you got has the steel impeller, SEND IT BACK and opt for the Classic one. I can sit at a controlled intersection in July at idle now and the fan on a thermo-switch, temp stays at/below 180° steadily.
Click to expand...
Been there and done that one.
 
On checking a five-main short block here (actually, it's holding up my garage CAB 'fridge), it doesn't have that hole in the backing plate. Not sure I've ever run across one that does.

Per'aps an access for timing marks in another automobile? Rolls used a similar method for timing marks earlier.
 
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