She told me her secrets, I told her mine...

 

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…