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Greetings from the southern shore of Gitche Gumee

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Erica

Erica

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I am a college student and purchased my first car -- a Flamenco Red '77 B -- back in June (2023). It was a runner although it had a lot of deferred maintenance items. My plan is to repaint it with a fresh coat of Flamenco Red and freshen up the interior next summer. Meanwhile... (That's always a good sign.) I seem to have acquired a second B... A '79 someone painted Pewter Metallic along the way. It was offered as a parts car and supposedly had a blown engine... But as of today (9/9/2023) I got 'er to run for the first time in over a dozen years. Life can get interesting at times.

MG 1130.jpg
 
Erica - welcome to BCF.

A B was my first Little British Car. What got you interested in getting a B as your first car?

"deferred maintenance" - that applies to most of our cars.

Tom M.
(When I lived in Wisconsin, Hayward was the farthest north I ever went. Ashland is farther north - *way up there*! uff-dah)
 
My parents' soulless little FWD boxes simply can't deal with snow. My brothers' Jeeps are great in the snow, but not so great on the highway. The MG's not a featherweight, it has a low wind profile, and it's RWD. After driving it I really enjoyed the handling -- and it's a RB, supposedly the car with the worst handling in the MGB family.

In Wisco, only Bayfield County (the Peninsula and the last three Apostle Islands) are further north than Ashland County (and the rest of the islands).
 
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welcome! congrats and they do have a habit of breeding in the driveway :ROFLMAO:
 
Welcome ! From the looks of the paint it seems that a good buffing and polish will suffice. I have a 77 B that I just spent about $4000 on. Weber carb, bushings, fuel tank and engine mounts. Runs great. Find a reliable honest British car mechanic and hang on to him. The priority is safety, the body issues come later. Good Luck!
 
Welcome aboard, Erica. Always good to have a donor car. And from experience the MGB is a virtual goat in most conditions. My first was a '66, purchased as a college freshman (in 1968!) and have had at least one ever since. They're stout, reliable transport.
 
Celtic 77 said:
Welcome ! From the looks of the paint it seems that a good buffing and polish will suffice. I have a 77 B that I just spent about $4000 on. Weber carb, bushings, fuel tank and engine mounts. Runs great. Find a reliable honest British car mechanic and hang on to him. The priority is safety, the body issues come later. Good Luck!
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Part of my logic is buying the MGB was that being a simple piece of machinery I would be able to learn how to do everything required to keep it running. I bought a running car that had a few deferred maintenance issues. Then over the next couple months I replaced the battery, all the hoses, the alternator belt, Opus with a 25D4 rebuilt by Advanced Distributors in Bloomington MN, the heater core... I cleaned up all the bullet connectors and replaced those that looked dubious, fixed a broken parking brake, scraped a lot of body rust and treated the underlying metal, and applied undercoating for winter driving.

Erica
 
DrEntropy said:
Welcome aboard, Erica. Always good to have a donor car. And from experience the MGB is a virtual goat in most conditions. My first was a '66, purchased as a college freshman (in 1968!) and have had at least one ever since. They're stout, reliable transport.
Click to expand...
Turns out the '79 "donor" car was arguably in slightly better shape than the '77 -- except it did not run, mice had eaten it's wiring, it had no bumpers, and four flat tires... But I got the engine to turn over using a bunch of Mystery Oil, time, and a long breaker bar, found bent push rods, replaced them, cleaned out the HIF 44 and replaced all the seals, made a new electrical harness -- copied from my '77's -- set the timing, and the lash and the engine now runs. Now, I have to steam clean the fuel tank and replace the tires... then see if it has brakes.
 
My '79... Finally got her up and running today (9/20/23). As stated, WAY too nice to be cannibalized.
79 at 500.jpeg

Erica
 
awesome! that rear bumper is a great solution!
 
JPSmit said:
awesome! that rear bumper is a great solution!
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The valances / bumpers are from a PO, made of fiberglass, and of unknown manufacture. The back one is mounted using stock bolts and wood spacers epoxied to the valance. The front one is mounted to the body just like the shorter stock valance using bolts through fender washers and rectangular steel backing plates. The frame ends were cut and light mounts were constructed.
79 at 1200.jpeg

Erica
 
Erica said:
The valances / bumpers are from a PO, made of fiberglass, and of unknown manufacture. The back one is mounted using stock bolts and wood spacers epoxied to the valance. The front one is mounted to the body just like the shorter stock valance using bolts through fender washers and rectangular steel backing plates. The frame ends were cut and light mounts were constructed.
View attachment 92818
Erica
Click to expand...
I certainly hope you are going to use your skills in restoration. This looks great. Need engine room pictures too. Great work!
 
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