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General MG Pressure washing under the hood?

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TomGroff

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OK, I know I've neglected cleaning under the hood of my '73 B and it's really dirty. Is it OK to use a pressure washer to get the road dirt, grease, grim, etc. from everything? I can make a cleaning mixture of Spray 9 or Simple Green to help cut the grease/grim. I realize I should cover my K&Ns so I don't get any water inside the carbs but is there anything else I should watch for. After cleaning, I'm going to re-wrap all of my wiring and get rid of the horrible blue tape that's on it now.

OR, should I just bit the bullet and take the car to a professional and have the engine compartment detailed and then re-wrap the wiring?

Thanks for reading.
 
Welcome to the party, Tom!

You should be OK if you cover the carbs/air cleaners, as well as the distributor.

And that blue tape came from the factory, so if you're wanting to keep it original, you need to order some from Moss or Victoria British. If not, then these guys: https://www.britishwiring.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=blue+tape&Submit=Search

Oh, and we like pictures! :wink:

:cheers:
Mickey
 
I bought the car in 1996, had a full restore done in 1999 starting with a Heritage body which is a whole other story. Spent way, way too much money on the car but it goes wherever I want it to go. It's starting to have little nit-picking things like needing a new heater valve and heater hoses because there was always hot air coming out from the heater vents which tended to burn my wife's feet. I think the heater vavle was stuck open all the time and I really didn't need to pull the heater out (what a job). Just broke down and ordered the head light relay unit from Moss. I got tired of holding the high beam switch while driving at night. Can't wait to get it in. I built my own wind screen out of aluminum and Plexiglass before they were available from Moss. I have some refinements to do but it works OK for now. When I do get around to making a new one, I'm going to try to either etch or sandblast the MG logo into the Plexiglass. Wish me luck.

This car is a driving car, not a show car. We take it out whenever we can and like everyone else, it gets a lot of great feedback; lots of "Nice car", "Had one of those XX years ago", "Boy, do I wish I still had my (fill in man of sports car here)". Actually had someone wait for us one time for 2 hours just so he could talk about the car. His wife was not happy but was tolerable. It makes a great conversation piece.

I don't have many pics of the car but can sure take some and post them on the forum.

BTW, why blue tape? I think it looks rather tacky. My 'B' is not all original so it really wouldn't matter to me if I change the color of the tape. But my wires are definately greasy and grungy so they need cleaned. Looked good in 1999 but that was 15 years and quite a few thousand miles ago.

Tom
 
Welcome Tom! Some of us have real real nice looking cars... Then others (like me) have hard driven salt sponges that aren't to pretty. Pictures are nice to drool over. :smile: Im glad you use yours when ever you can. The blue tape was just what was used by the factory.
 
If you re wrap your wiring, don't use adhesive type tape! Use the tape with no adhesive on it! The adhesive dissolves under heat and the tape moves leaving a sticky mess to grab all kinds of dirt. Use the Blue tape from Moss, it's the right color and will look good for years. JMHO. PJ
 
I did a pressure wash under the hood on my 1977 MGB once. I could not restart the engin afterward. I had to have it toed home.
When I was able to check it out I found no spark. Now this car is equiped with an aftermarket Allison electronic egnition.
It has a electronic block with a large transistor located on the outside of the unit. Upon checking it I found the transistor inoperative. since this is the only compomemt that is seperate from the main body, and the only thing that is accessable I replaced the transistor which fixed the unit. If you are similarly equipped caution advised (cover the ignition module also)
 
Tom

The heater valve on an MGB is setup so the valve can be turned off even if the diaphram is ruptured, it sounds to me like you have a control failure or flex cable failure of some kind, but you can turn off the coolent to the heater manually from under the hood.
That would be the day if my heater ran too HOT for a change
 
MGs are not exactly a "winter car" for sure. I had a 71 B in 1971 that was my car, 365 days a year. Cold as he!! in the winter but the summers were great with my wife, then girlfriend. I try not to drive it when it's cold for that reason.
 
Odd, I've had a '67 GT, a '66 and a '67 roadster, the heater output temp in all those would need to be turned down on N.E. U.S. winter drives. Sub-zero included. Two other GT's and a roadster owned by family/friends were the same. This was all between 1969 1nd 1979.

I'd look for restrictions in either the valve body or the heater core.
 
Here's the blue tape on our B from Moss. It has no mastic on it! PJ

Click on photo.
View attachment 33932
 
DrEntropy said:
Odd, I've had a '67 GT, a '66 and a '67 roadster, the heater output temp in all those would need to be turned down on N.E. U.S. winter drives. Sub-zero included. Two other GT's and a roadster owned by family/friends were the same. This was all between 1969 1nd 1979.

I'd look for restrictions in either the valve body or the heater core.
Click to expand...

As Doc mentioned the valve. The heater valve on the block has a fairly small hole where the water enters it from the block. When I replaced mine during restoration, the hole was 3/4 plugged with junk. After cleaning the block and a new valve, it'll run you out of the car. That could be the problem not getting the heat you need. PJ
 
I thought the heater was terrible and dreaded cold drives. Then I learned (the next spring) I only half closed the fresh air vent by my foot. That helped. When i revered flushed my heater core while cleaning the whole system i replaced my gunked up heater valve. I couldn't believe the heat. T-shirt heat in sub zero driving.
 
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