The MG is back together… I spent most of the weekend working backwards, being careful to use all the parts that I had extracted. With the final bolt in place it was time to give her a whirl… It wants to start, it just wont kick over...
Back to the drawing board next weekend.
The good news is that she isn’t overheating I guess…
Well, there has been a lot of work but not much progress. I continued trying to unblock the drain port so I could be sure that all the engine coolant was properly drained and solve my overheating issues. The deeper I dove into that problem the more apparent it became that I needed to start disassembly of the engine… This isn’t something that I took lightly since
A. I have never done anything remotely similar to that before
B. I could just as easily make a bigger mess.
Will the first run in the MG be the last? In the back of my mind I was formulating the sales ad. “Partially assembled MGA looking for a good home”
But I did have the thought that at least I would know what shape the engine was in if I took it apart.
So here is a look at the engine with the carburetors, valve cover, valves, water pump, and radiator removed. Your basically looking down into the cylinder heads.
This is what the top of engine looks like when spread out on a folding table… At one point I was looking at a pile of bolts and wondering “where did those come from?”
The good news is that the engine looks great and I was able to clean up the block replace the head gasket while had it all apart. I was also able to get the water column unplugged and the rest of the coolant drained from the engine. With those two items accomplished it was time to start to put her all back together.
At the end of the day I was able to get most of the major components back on . I just need to re-connect the radiator and see if it will start again. Next weekend I will either be dancing in the street of crying over a smoking pile of MG where the shed use to be…
Well the battle continues… This little guy is fun if your a kid, sucks if your fixing up an MGA.
The plan for the weekend was simple enough, do all that I could think of to solve the temperature problem. The check list was as follows:
1. Drain the radiator *and* the engine block
2. Make sure I get two gallons of coolant in to her
3. Install a shroud around the fan to increase air flow
4. Replace the thermostat and install a blanking plate to force all the water through the radiator at all times
5. Install some of the missing heater hose lines to be sure the the hot air is getting out of the engine space
6. Install the missing felt piece under the hood to help force air through the radiator
I know, I know… Pretty long list.
I also want to get a peak under the valve cover so I could see what was going on there. Last week when I added some oil I noticed that under the cap was looking a little funky and that there was some rust there. I had visions of all the valve assemblies caked in crude and that wouldn't be good!
I also had plans to update the oil filter with a new modern screw on type after having such trouble with the original last weekend. Since I was going to be into the oil system anyway I figured an oil change would also be a good idea at this point.
The first two projects went without a hitch. I was able to locate and replace the thermostat and I was also able to completely remove the radiator and install the fan shroud.
Getting the radiator out also required that I drain the coolant first. With this done I also drained the oil. Still batting a thousand.
I then decided to really up my game and take off the valve cover. This could have been the moment that brought down the hole house of cards. Online I was reading about blow-by and all sort of nasty thing that could have caused the gunk under the valve cover. With a little coaxing all was revealed…
Not bad!… There was some rust under the valve cover itself but from what I could tell the valves themselves looked in pretty good shape. I also have a new tool now that allows me to adjust these valves but that’s for another day…
So, with items merrily dropping of the list I was on to simply drain the rest of the coolant out of the engine block. The MG has a convenient cylinder block drain tap that you simply turn the lever and the coolant comes straight out. Or so the original 1960 owners manual says…
I had been forewarned online that it doesn't really happen that way. I appears that this a also a convenient place for sediment to settle in the water column. Most people recommend that you remove this part, toss it in the bin, and replace it with a proper plug. As you can see from the illustration above its *really* not in a convenient spot to get a wrench into. I decided that the best plan of attack was from the bottom up. I would have to remove the starter motor *again* but I had done that last weekend and was an old pro… With the oil filter already removed the job was half done. Just for kicks I was able to get the drain tap moving but no coolant came rushing out.. Wouldn't that have been nice!
So I went about getting that drain tap out. Its a fairly sizable little piece and has a 5/8 inch nut on the back side to grab onto. Even from below this wasn't easy. I was having trouble getting the wrench between the engine block and the drain tap. After a bit of futzing I realized that my open wend wrench was too thick to fit between the block and the rest of the plug to get a good hold. Figuring that I probably had *good* wrenches I just needed a thinner (cheaper) one. Off to the hardware store, and nothing… OK maybe the auto store? Nada. Lowes? nope… Finally at Home Depot I was able to find a cheap set of wrenches on the bottom shelf that were a bit thinner than mine and should fit up in there.
I rushed back home, back under the car and low and behold it fit. It was just a bit to long and would have been better if the whole wrench was on a bit bent to the right. No problem, off to the basement, put the wrench in the vice and whacked the crap out of it until it bent over 30 degrees. Now I have a custom made, 1960 MGA, cylinder block drain tap remover.
Back under the car and it fit perfectly. I put the wrench to her and pushed with all my might (on my back, left handed)…
And…It moved! After about 5 hours I was never so happy for a 1/4 inch of movement…
Wait… what’s that saying? Righty tight, lefty loose…
Crap. I had just *tightened* the damn thing!
With a bit more force and luck I was able to get it moving the correct direction and with my bucket at the ready I finally got it removed…
Unfortunately, no coolant came rushing out of the cylinder block… So I got some other problem I need to investigate. There must be some more crud up in there that I need to loosened before this project is finished. As dusk set in that’s where I finished this weekends work.
Some progress… But Mr. Heat Miser is still alive and kicking…
Well, with all the “test drives” I guess I better get to the registry and make her street legal…
Last thing I need is to run into these guys!
Well it was a full day with the MGA. With boxes of parts arriving like the week before Christmas is was time to see what I was made of. As parts were coming via UPS last week I was running out the the MGA each night and seeing if I had all that I needed. The fuel pump what the first necessity and I decided, for now, to just run a replacement wire for the power to the pump so I could see if I had the brains to even get it started…
The fuel line from the tank was bent around the wrong way to put the new pump back into its original position. So I decided to replace that while I was at it. I ordered the fuel line and expected to get a replacement with all its bends and curves in it. Instead what I got was a length or tubing coiled up in a circle for shipping… Hu… Ok, no drama, I need a tube bender thingy… Off to HD to find what I needed. Luckily they make just such a thing for bending metal tubing. Most of the online posts say that it difficult to do without kinking a few tubes getting the hang of it. Great, since I only had one piece of tubing with the ends already connected to it I had one shot. This could have been a quick morning.
But somehow I was able to get the new fuel line installed and the new pump into its original location.
New Fuel Line
So with the new fuel pump in and wired up I installed my new battery and was thinking, woh…. I will have here up an running before 10am! Silly boy, tricks are for kids.
I jump in and turned the key to fire up the pump. It made the much anticipated ticking noise and all that was left was the pull on the starter switch to hear the sweet, sweet hum of the engine. Here we go 3, 2, 1… and nothing, nada, zip. I felt like the poor guy on the Viagra commercial before he gets his little blue pills in the mail.
So, I just decided to play of forward. After the fuel pump is the starter switch. The MGA isn’t like your normal car where it starts when you turn the key. In the MGA you turn the key and then pull this starter knob to turn it over. The starter knob connects to a switch and that fires up the starter motor and that gives the engine a good kick to get her started. This is all new to me post 10 am Saturday. With my volt meter in hand I figured out that the switch was working and that, when pulled, 12V was indeed getting to the starter motor. The motor just didn't seem to want to do anything… Stupid motor.
A few Google searches later I determined that I could hook up another battery directly to the starter motor and see if it would 
I was able to unbolt the old motor but I couldn't for the life of me get it out of the engine. There was just too much stuff in the way.
A few more Google searches lead me to find out that I needed to remove the oil filter to get the starter motor out.
So where is the oil filter? Oh.. that thing? Let me tell you, it didn't look like an oil filter to me, nor did it look like it was coming out easily.
However a few twists of the wrench and I was covered with oil. Nice!
New / old motor was in and I just need to put back the oil filter. Now you would think that since this was a serviceable part that it would be easy to get back on. No way. I must have futzed with that for about and hour. Finally the gods of stripped nuts and smashed knuckles smiled on me and somehow magically the bolt grabbed and the oil filter was back in place. Just one wire to connect and I was in business. Connected back up that battery pulled the starter and then! absolutely nothing…. Now, I had just seen this motor jumping around on the driveway so why wasn't it making my MG go!
I was pulling on the starter like a man possessed and I noticed that it made an ever so slight movement. Hope!
Now when I was reading my search findings on the starter motor I had come across some stuff about engines being seized up after sitting for a while. There were some tips about pushing the car backwards in fourth gear to get everything moving just a bit. I tried that without luck. In a last ditch effort my plan was to push her to the top of the driveway and try a rolling, pop the clutch start. If that didn't work then it would just keep on rolling into Gail’s garden and become a nice planter for the azaleas.
The only trick to this is that you first need to go UP the driveway fist. So pushing with all my worth I was able to get her about two feet forward off the grass. There was a slight bump at the edge of the driveway so I was having a tough time going forward. I would get just to the top of the hump and then roll back two feet. It was during this back and forth I realize that I had some good momentum to try the fourth gear thing again. So I have her one last push, reached in and jammed her into gear. I literally felt the cam shaft make one hard felt revolution. Maybe that got “stuff” unstuck. I reach in and pulled on the starter switch and….
You couldn't kick the smile off my face… Then I got greedy and wondered if it will actually move? Not sure what the neighbors were thinking at this point…
With the low earth orbit test completed I decided to pick up Gail and her iPhone and shoot for the moon!
With all excitement there was one last upgrade for the day…
So in total I probably went 15 miles today. Felt like a million. I was very excited to see all the gages like oil pressure and temperature working. Until I saw the temperature go off the dial and into the oil pressure area… Quickly back to the house and shut her down for the day. Next job, cooling system check….
Well, the MG and I spent some quality time together this weekend. With all the drama of arriving home behind us it was a chance to poke around under the hood and see what was going on. My first challenge was to see if I could figure out what was up with the fuel pump issue. I did my home work, studied the diagrams online, and went to work on finding, and removing, the dastardly pump that was keeping me from turning her over. A quick check behind the passenger seat and next to the battery compartment told me this may require a bit more study. There sat the fuel pump mounting bracket but no fuel pump. I did however find the fuel lines and traced them back into the trunk. Low and behold, there it was. One of the previous owners had switched out the location and mounted it in the trunk.
Beyond being in the wrong spot my immediate concern was the wire that was supposed to be sending it power. As you can see in the photo above, its completely fried.. Melted to put it mildly. No drama, a new wire plus a fuel pump. I’m on it.
Instead of getting the fancy MGA replacement pump I decided to just replace this simple pump that someone else had installed. A quick trip to the local part store told me what I was up against. I took this old pump with me and just figured some cross-referencing of the AC Delco part number would score me a cheap replacement. I walked to the counter and was greeted warmly by young Jim. Instead of entering in the AC part number my fine freckled friend decided that the quickest way to make his sale, and send me on my way, was to cut to the chase and just enter in my car’s make and model into what looked like a database search screen from 1980. Always a patient man I gave him the MGA vitals and he happily typed away. Now based on his reaction I don't think that his little search program often comes back with nothing for an entire vehicle, I mean 0… Undeterred by this dead end young Jim went to my plan B and he started searching for the AC part number. My heart started to sink when he flipped from his magic 1980 database screen and went to Google. You know that feeling of “I could have done that…”
Anyway, after watching him muddle around with furrowed brow he grabbed something off the shelf and declared victory. I decided that ordering the correct pump online and waiting a week was now a better plan…
So now back home with nothing to fix I start some more poking around. Before I left to find the pump I closed the hood. Mistake #2. The hood had eagerly popped open for me that morning but now wouldn't budge when I pulled for the life of me on what felt like a very rusty hood release. After some scrapped knuckles and the partial removal of the front grill, I had her back open again…
Since I now had some spare time, and the hood open, I decided to find out where the other end of the melted wire went. I tracked it back to under the hood and made my next discovery.
The wire to the fuel pump was melted inside the wring harness all the way up into the fuse block. Why the fuse is still intact is a mystery she had not yet revealed… This left me with my first real decision to be made. Do I just replace the melted white wire all the way back to the fuel pump and hope for the best or tackle what appears to be a bigger electrical issue. Now I don't know much about engines but I do know some about electrical stuff and I know that if I don't fix it now it wont be the end of it. I had a vision or drumming my fingers on the steering wheel somewhere waiting for AAA to show up thinking, yup, should have replace that wiring harness…
My final conclusion is to order and replace the electrical harness for the entire car. This is akin to replacing you nervous system from the inside out. Its ordered and should be here next weekend. Light a candle for me….
However, One small victory is that my cool new fitted cover arrived and she is safely tucked into bed for the week. Don't tell you know who but I might need to build a garage now…
