Project Journals

Link to part 1 [forum.britishv8.org]
Link to part 2 [forum.britishv8.org]
Link to Part 3 [forum.britishv8.org]
Link to Part 4 [forum.britishv8.org]
Link to Part 5 [forum.britishv8.org]

video of the Wide MGB on Nicole Johnson's Detour [www.youtube.com]


When we left off in part 5, I had the hood, deck lid and doors painted and was going to start on the body. Everything has now been painted, cleared, color sanded and buffed with the most aggressive compound. I spent the last few days assembling the car and a friend came over today to help with the windshield (I'm still a little gun shy with that piece). After we finished, he took a few pictures. It is not completely done, I still have to put the dash and steering column back in so that's why it is still on the jack stands.









When the rain stops, I'll take it outside and get some shots in the sun. I'm all registered to run in the Good Guys autocross on April 6-7. I'm somewhat apprehensive since I haven't had a chance to push the car hard around corners yet but you get a lot of runs over the two days and I should be able to start sorting out the suspension.

I'm going to wait a month or two before I finish buffing the car with the finer compounds to give the paint a chance to fully cure and then I'll give it a good waxing. It still looks pretty good the way it is now.


Mar 30, 2018

It's done !! The carpet install was completed today and it has been 17 years, 3 months and 4 days since I cut the car in half the day after Christmas 2000.







Have to get the car ready for the Good Guys show/autocross next weekend. Hopefully will have some videos.


April 8, 2018

I made it to the autocross at the Good Guys show and made about 6 runs. I discovered that the 15 year old Kumho Victoracer rear tires were hardened up worse than I expected. I couldn't give it more than 1/2 throttle without the tires spinning and the car sliding all over the place. I was a good 6 seconds slower than the fast guys. Sorry, no video.



New rear tires are getting ordered this week. It was fun showing the car and it got a lot of attention.


4/17/2018

Got the new rear tires and what a difference new rubber makes. Wish I had got them before the Good guys event, might not have embarrassed myself as much.

At the Good Guys show, I discovered that the trunk latch would no longer latch. It was an inexpensive aftermarket piece that I liked because it was cable operated and mounted to the body and not the lid making the cable routing easier.



You get what you pay for and the mechanism bent and the spring failed causing it not to work. Back when I was collecting parts for the car I got a Honda Civic latch from the wrecking yard. It was a combination electric and cable operated piece with a really long cable and a nice cockpit lever. I decided to use it because I have found that almost always, OEM parts are much better quality than what is available in the aftermarket. The electric solenoid was eliminated due to space limitations making it mechanical only. I had to fabricate a bracket to mount the latch in the deck lid.




\
It also meant that I had to route the cable to the deck lid. I ran it behind the inner structure so it didn't show.



The striker was mounted to the body and shimmed to the proper height to latch the lid tightly. The black plug is there so that I can access the latch in case the cable malfunctions.





I had to remove the tank to access the trunk while doing the installation so I painted the tank before reinstalling it. I was going to carpet the trunk but It looks pretty good the way it is - now I'm undecided.



Anyway, the latch works perfectly and opens with only a single finger pull on the lever. It's terrible when you run out of things to do and actually have to admit the project is finished. I'm sure there will be more little tweaks that need to be made but surely not enough to generate a Part 7.


4/22/2018

Took it to the opening night of the Wednesday cruise night in El Cajon this week. They close down Main Street in the historic part of El Cajon and let the cars take over for the show. For the rest of the season the street stays open to cruise and the regular parking spots are for display of the cars. I went out with my friend Blane who has a really nice Capri with a 347 stroker small block, 5 speed and 8.8 rear end. Both cars got a lot of attention.






4/23/2018

I never posted a picture of the door panel with the early Mustang arm rest installed. It finishes off the door.




5/8/2018

Been to a couple local car shows and I'm beginning to realize that the people who know very little about cars far outnumber the people who actually know what they are looking at. I get a lot of comments like "I (or a friend of mine) had one just like that in college", "That engine fits in there really nice", "Did you have to cut the firewall?". The judging is often just as bad. The people's choice and best in show goes to some Camaro or Chevelle that has a $30,000 paint job, a $20,000 interior, $4,000 of wheels and tires and a lot of chrome pieces on the engine. I guess the car doesn't fit into any category very well - it isn't a concours restoration, it isn't a traditional hot rod or rat rod, it isn't a muscle car, it isn't a Fast and Furious rice burner, it doesn't have graphics all over it, it isn't a race car and it isn't recognizable by anyone under about 40.

I'm going to give it another try and take it to an all British show that is held here in San Diego and park it right in the middle of a couple narrow MGB's and see what happens. That show isn't for a few months so in the meantime I am going to build some stands that will support the car at ride height on one side and remove the wheels so people can see the suspension - maybe someone will know what they are looking at. At least they can see how wide the tires are, it is difficult to see when they are on the car.

Enough of my ranting, I need to clean up the garage after 17 years of building a car.


5/9/2018

I got a PM from Wayne asking if I had a full frontal photo of the car after it was painted. He had seen one of the car while it was still in primer and liked it.





Hope that's the one Wayne.


6/11/2018

Been a while since I posted but there hasn't been much to report on since the car is done. I've taken it to a couple of car shows and envied this one guy who had a small pop up canopy that was only 5'x8' and was less than 3' long when packed up. The 10'x10' ones are too large to fit behind the car in a parking space. I have looked for one like it but haven't been able to locate the same one he had. There are some small canopies out there but they only have about 4 1/2' below the outer edge making it difficult to get in and out of a conventional chair underneath the canopy and they cost over $100 (I'm cheap). So I started looking around the garage and came across a 6' diameter Harbor Freight beach umbrella that has been up in the rafters for years and never used because it is too small. I also found some short lengths of 3/4" square tubing and a piece of 1 1/4" steel water pipe. I cut the pipe into three 1 1/4" long pieces and filed out the seam weld bump on the inside. The ID of the pipe was something under 1 3/8" so I turned down the OD of a piece of 1 1/2" aluminum bar so the pipe segments were a slip fit and left a shoulder at the bottom as a stop. I bored the aluminum bar to 1" which provides a slip fit for the umbrella pole. Each arm has a set screw to lock it in place and hold it flat for storage. The legs are slightly different lengths so they nest together. Voilà, car show shade that fits in the trunk and no out of pocket.









I was also given a 2 post hoist by a friend that wanted a 4 post because it was easier to use for car storage. All I had to do was uninstall it and take it away. My garage floor was poured by a moron and there is a 1 1/4" height difference between the spots where the posts are to be mounted. On the low side I grouted a piece of 1/4" plate to bring that side up to level and also raise it 3/8". On the other side I cut out a rectangle from the floor and then dug out 6" under the slab on all sides. The thickness of the new mounting point is 8" and it sits level 7/8"elow the slab. The bottom mounting plate will sit just below the level of the existing slab. I used 7500 psi concrete and I'm waiting 28 days for full cure before I sink in the 3/4" studs that secure the post to the floor.







I also took the car out for a drive today. My son had never ridden in it so I thought I should give him a taste of the acceleration. I got into full throttle a little too quickly in 1st causing some wheel spin but it still pulled pretty hard. In 2nd and 3rd it hooked up pretty well and really pulled. Felt good to wring it out again.


8/18/2018

Went to a Cars and Coffee event in San Clemente yesterday. It was about a 140 mile round trip and trip up was a pure pleasure. We ran between 75 and 80 mph the whole way but the return was almost all in 1st and 2nd gear because of the traffic on the freeway. I had hoped to get some good gas mileage measurements but that went out the window due to the traffic. Good news is that it still got 17 mpg and temperature never went over 180*. I think it would have been well into the 20 mpg range if we didn't have the traffic. It sure does get hot with all those idling cars around you and not moving. The show was good and there were a lot of people interested in the car. Here is a link to photographs taken at the show [www.southoccarsandcoffee.com] . The pictures are not organized very well and photos of the same car are not together. Pics of my car are in the last half so you have to through all of them to get there. My friend with his orange V8 Capri went up with me and we met up with another friend with his Factory 5 Cobra Coupe (both really nice cars). Good way to spend a Saturday morning.

10/6/2018

Been a while since I posted . I have wanted to put assisted brakes on the car for a while. Back when I had the turbo 215 and Jag rear in the car I had a remote vacuum booster from an MGC in the car and the brakes were phenomenal. With the dual masters and balance bar pedal setup in the car now it stops well but to get really spectacular stops I have to really stand on the pedal. I want the maximum braking effort to be in line with the rest of the controls so I started looking for a booster setup. On the car as it sits now, the solution is not as straightforward as it was before. Having two separate circuits with separate masters requires separate boosters. I found a dual circuit booster setup from a company in the UK that looked like it might be the answer.



I wanted to mount it out of the engine compartment but the only place in the car it would fit is on the shelf in the front of the trunk.



There were a couple issues putting it there. I didn't want to lose that space in the trunk and the plumbing routing would have been a lot longer. The front brake hydraulic lines would have to go from the master to the trunk and then back again to the front brakes. The vacuum line would have also been longer than I wanted. Besides the plumbing issues the cost of the unit was $400 plus the shipping from the UK. If I ever had a problem with the unit the car would be down for an extended period and I would have to pay shipping both ways.

I finally discovered a single circuit vacuum booster that was only 7" in diameter and was available from a distributor in California. I could buy two of them for $230 (for both) and free shipping.



These units were designed for the Australian market and were OEM fitted to several cars. I found a good place to mount the units right under the headlights in front of the front wheel. I will have to move bracing members on both sides but it will give me a few advantages.



I will mount the front booster on the passenger side and be able to tie into the front brake circuit at the junction of the hard line and flex line to the right front wheel. This means that I only have to penetrate the front of the passenger footwell with one line from the front master cylinder. The rear booster will mount on the drivers side and will require 2 penetrations of the front of the drivers footwell, one for the master to booster line and one for the booster output that will connect the existing line to the rear brakes. I won't have to do anything to the existing plumbing aft of the instrument panel. Vacuum runs will be much shorter since both boosters will be right next to the engine. I will probably fabricate a vacuum reservoir out of PVC tubing that spans the distance between the two boosters to ensure braking since I have a boosted engine. I will install a one way valve between the engine intake and the reservoir to prevent boost from getting to the reservoir even though the boosters have one way valves built in - belt and suspenders.

I have two car shows in October so I probably won't do the install until after the SEMA show in November. I should have my lift working by then as well.


10/20/2018

Ta Da - the lift works. I'm 6'4" tall and I have a couple inches of headroom under the car.




10/25/2018

I got the first online magazine article published. I showed my cat at the Mustangs by the Bay car show a couple weeks ago here in San Diego. It was held at a beautiful spot on the bay called the Embarcadero and after the show this photographer wanted to take some pictures of the car and write a story about it. I provided him with some photos of the car during construction and some commentary on the project and this is the result.

[drivetribe.com]


11/13/2018

I took a picture today with the car on the lift. It shows how flat the bottom of the car is.




11/24/2018


I got the brace(s) removed to allow the boosters to fit under the headlight. I thought I would have to replace the brace with one that attaches to a different point but that part of the car is super rigid and there is no need. I made the brackets from 14 ga steel and they mount the boosters very securely. The tire clears by 1 1/2" at its closest point when turning. The lower pan is not in place for this picture and it will provide debris protection from the bottom.





Now I have to fabricate a few brake lines to hook everything up


12/4/2018

Here's a picture of the passenger side booster mounted.




1/4/2019

I haven't posted for a month because the lift I got for free had some wiring issues and the car was stuck up in air and I couldn't get it down. The guy who gave it to me had an issue with the rotary control switch in 2006 and the factory gave him a new one. It worked fine until about 5 years ago when, he believed, the processor that maintained both sides even with each other using input from limit switches on each side had gone out. This lift has a separate 5 hp motor for each side that drive ball screws that travel up and down a large acme thread in each tower. He had a friend of his wire around the processor to get it running again but he then added additional switches to allow the two sides to be leveled periodically. The wiring was a real kluge job! After I got it installed in my garage it worked for around 20 cycles and then stranded the car at the top. The manual and wiring diagram for the unit was in German (a German manufacturer) and was for a 600 volt 50 Hz 3 phase motor. The schematic for the rotary switch was in Spanish (made in Spain) and the manufacturer of the lift had no technical data or spare parts for this model lift. I eventually concluded that the switch was what failed (again) so I set out to make an entirely new control system. Here are a couple pictures of the switches with the backs off. There are 3 layers of contacts further in that I'm sure are equally fried.









I decided to use heavy duty 40 amp motor contactors in place of the failure prone rotary switch.



I then had to decipher what connections needed to be made in the "up" mode and the same for the "down" mode and then figure out how to wire them to make that happen. I'm not an electrician especially with 240 volt wiring, but after days of research and designing I finally turned on the breakers and gave it a try. Ta Da, it worked. I tried to scan in my crude wiring diagram but the scanner suddenly decided not to work. Maybe later.



Here is the schematic - keep in mind I'm not an electrician so please excuse the symbols I used



Now its back to work on the brake boosters.


2/24/2019

I have been going crazy trying to find a bubble flare combination that will screw into the boosters. The thread for the fittings is 3/8 24 but all the bubble flare premade tubes at the auto parts stores all have metric threaded nuts. The boosters came with tube nuts that are 3/8 24 thread but when I made up a piece of brake tubing with a bubble flare, the nuts would bottom out in the booster before applying pressure to the flared end to seal it. I noticed that all the bubble flare tubes at the auto parts stores had a 1/4" long section at the end of the thread with no threads apparently to allow it to go in further and apply pressure to the bubble flare. Unfortunately, no nuts with that configuration in a 3/8 24 thread.

So what I finally decided to do is use a -3 AN to 3/8 24 adapter



and use a 3/8" copper washer to seal against the machined surface of the booster. I did something similar when exiting the master cylinders so it should work here as well. I have the fittings and washers ordered from Summit so I'll post pictures of the finished lines after they arrive.


3/1/2019

Wow! I just looked back to my first post in Part 1 and it was 10 years ago yesterday. How time flies. What is really amazing is that the project started 8 years before that. I have started to bend up the new brake lines but I still have 4 more to go. This is the passenger side wheel well. There is a new line running from the foot well bulkhead to the input of the booster and another from the output of the booster to a bulkhead tee where it joins the line to the drivers side caliper and the flex line to the passenger caliper. I'm going to build a strut that will allow me to support the section of the output line from the booster up to the frame.





This is the drivers side wheel well (for rear brakes)






3/3/2019

I added the strut to support the brake line on the passenger side - I feel better about it now.




3/4/2019

I just realized I didn't show the vacuum reservoir. It is a piece of 1 1/4" tubing with freeze plug end caps. The tube fittings are 3/8" tubing brazed in and they are connected to the intake manifold with vacuum hose supplied with the boosters. There is a one way check valve (the silver piece in the 3rd photo) in the line to prevent supercharger boost from reaching the brake boosters.
.







3/7/2019

I started on the brake lines inside the cockpit today. These things are up under the dash so I removed the instrument cluster, the dash and the steering column to get (slightly) better access to build the lines. I had 3 to build: the connection from the booster to the rear brakes, the connection from the rear master cylinder to the rear booster and the connection from the front master to the front` booster. I got the first 2 done and installed. My wife wasn't home or I would have had her take a picture of me laying in the drivers footwell with my back on the seat and my legs draped over the roll bar. I had to get in and out of that position probably 7 or 8 times and I'm not going to do it again just so you guys can see a picture. That sort of contortion made me sore when I was young and I'm 74 now so you can just imagine... I have a martini beside me now and I used it to take some Ibuprofen. The last line can wait until tomorrow. It should go a bit easier since I don't have to lay on my back under the dash to make it. If those F%#&ing lines leak I may blow up the car
.



3/14/2019

I got everything finished and bled yesterday. I took it for a drive this afternoon and the feel is exactly how I wanted to be - slightly easier braking at low pedal pressure around town and it will throw you through the windshield if you really stomp the pedal in a panic stop. I have 275 section tires on the front and 315's on the rear and they are 200 treadwear rated so they are very sticky and wheel lockup takes place at pretty high G force. I want to dial in the front/rear balance and then do some measured stops. I think I can come close to a 100' stop from 60 mph which is what the supercars do with their huge carbon brakes. With the fresh tires and better brakes I should have a better showing than I did last year at the Goodguys autocross next month.


3/24/2019

Took it to a car show today and got a top 10 award out of a couple hundred cars that were there. Felt good to get out and drive it again.




4/12/2019

Took it to the Good Guys event last weekend and ran in the autocross. Nothing to brag about on how I did but there was a photographer there taking pictures and he sent me some of my car. I like the one at the starting line. The car looks pretty decent considering I had to drive through a rainstorm to get there. It cleared up later in the morning.










10/20/2019

The Wide MGB is for sale. I'm asking $60,000 and that's a firm price. [forum.britishv8.org] . If anyone is interested either PM me or send me an email at jim_stabe@yahoo.com . I would love to be able to keep the car since the process has taken so long and it turned out as well as it did. However, I need both the space and the money to build my next project which will be a 33 Ford roadster with a removable hard top.










12/8/2019

Well, I'm not selling the car after all. I had a chance to spend some time with a local guy who built a Factory Five 33 hot rod very much like I was going to do mine when I sold the wide MGB. He did a really nice job building his car but it was disappointing to me on a number of fronts. First there was no leg room for me in the car. That said, the latest version is supposed to have 2" more room but that would still not be enough. Second, there was no foot room (width) with an automatic transmission in the car. Third, he said the car gets extremely light at 80 mph (probably due to air getting under the clamshell front fenders). My car feels planted at 50 mph faster than that so why have a car that has tremendous speed capability but starts making you nervous at half its potential? Fourth, there is absolutely no room to carry anything in the trunk or the cockpit. The capacity of the trunk is about three 6-packs (maybe 4) and maybe a rolled up jacket and that is no exaggeration. It's hard for me to understand how in a car with a 21" longer wheelbase and that is 8" taller can have less room for passengers and gear than my 91" wheelbase MGB. The one good thing is that I had enough headroom under the hard top but the visibility through the windshield was poor at best and nonexistent out the back. The car felt very claustrophobic sitting in it and I can guarantee my wife would not be pleased.

There were other things as well. The fenders and running boards were quite flimsy even after he did a lot of reinforcement and adding additional braces. He had to replace quite a few of the components that came in the kit because they just didn't function like they should. Coilover shocks, hood and deck lid hinges, door latches, air conditioning vents, window seals in the door just to name a few. He had to remake the rear suspension arms because the ones in the kit positioned the rear axle 1 1/2" too far forward so the tires hit the front edge of the wheel opening. He had power windows and air conditioning in the car but he said that there is still too much noise in the car to hold a conversation at freeway speeds. He has to have the coilovers adjusted all the way up to get 4" ground clearance at the running boards and he had to make ramps to be able to get the car out of his driveway without scraping. The car has so little suspension travel that he says you feel every tiny bump and expansion strip in the road. His description of the driving experience was it was like driving and old hot rod with a really powerful engine. He did say that the handled like a go kart on twisty country roads. But the question is - do you really want to take a go kart on a trip anywhere?

On the drive back from his house I was thinking about how much more successful the MG is in meeting the goals I set for the project than the Factory Five would for the goals I had in mind for that car. I actually smiled and gave myself some kudos for how well the car turned out. I think for now I'll just drive it and take it to some shows and autocrosses and see if there is any tweaking left to do to make it better. So the wide MGB lives on and there may be future posts in this story - stay tuned.


1/30/2020

1st post of the new decade. I'm going to be making a few changes to the car but you'll have to wait for that. I did have a friend take some really nice shots of the car at a spot close to home.






3/22/2020

Been a couple months and here's what I have to show for it.



I have the drivetrain out and so far have replaced the main cap bolts with ARP studs. The bearings look beautiful by the way. I have replaced all the seals in the timing cover as well as the rear main so it will , hopefully, have no more oil drips. I still have the input shaft seal to replace in the transmission before I can put in my new ACT clutch and resurfaced flywheel. The stock clutch had done a good job handling the 550 ft lbs of torque but had apparently gotten hot in doing so and created a .030" cupped face on the pressure plate. The new clutch is rated for 640 ft lbs so it should be interesting when I get to drive it again. Once the engine goes back in I will start on a new exhaust system. The current system has the 2 1/2" pipes from the headers into a Y and a single 3" pipe back to a 3" Dynomax muffler in the rear. It works well but it has almost 10 square inches of pipe feeding into 7 square inches of pipe at the Y junction. The new system will be a true dual 2 1/2" system with a center exit in the rear valence below the bumper. I saw a significant increase in performance when I replaced the restrictive Flowmaster muffler with the Dynomax so I'm hoping for a similar improvement with the reduced restriction of the dual system. It will however, require the fabrication of a new fuel tank to provide clearance for the mufflers. I'll post pictures when I get to the tank fabrication. In the mean time, everyone maintain their social distance and be kind to one another.


3/27/2020

I pulled the front cover off the transmission and replaced the input shaft seal. It was a pain trying to get the cover back on because you have to line up 2 dowel pins, two shift rods and 2 tapered roller bearings. I wasn't able to do it with the trans horizontal so I made a fixture to hold the trans vertical and it went much easier. I leak checked the seal after I finished and the fluid ran out through the input shaft - not good. I took it back apart and made a few measurements. I attached a fairly crude sketch of both the front of the transmission and the front cover detail where the seal goes. The common line is the mating faces that go together.



The photo showing the input shaft sticking out of the front of the transmission shows the taper on the shaft leading to the sealing surface. On the drawing (right side) you can see the sealing surface is .470" long and it starts .750" from the mating surface.



On the cover, the recess that accepts the seal is .700" deep and begins .800" from the mating surface. The seal itself is .250" thick with the sealing lip slightly closer to the bottom than to the top.



If you do a little math you can see that the seal if driven all the way to the bottom of the recess in the cover will place the sealing lip about 1.375" from the mating face of the cover. The end of the sealing surface of the input shaft ends 1.220" from the mating surface meaning that the lip of the seal never contacts the input shaft and fluid can escape freely. Good thing I leak checked before putting the car back together.

What I have decided to do is install two seals in the cover and tap them in until the top seal is even with the ledge that is .800" down from the mating surface. That way the lips of both seals will contact the sealing surface of the input shaft and give double protection against leaks. I will fill the space between the lips of the two seals with grease to provide lubrication for the outer seal.



Not sure why they built the transmission this way but I'm sure glad I didn't ruin a new $550 clutch and have to take the whole car back apart. More excitement to come.


3/302020

I hope this is the last time I ever see this clutch or have to take the engine out of the car. The clutch seems to be a really nice piece and I hope it works as good as it looks.




4/26/2020

The engine is back in the car but I can't drive it yet. The feel of the clutch pedal is slightly heavier with the new clutch but still very much in the range of a stock clutch. There will be no problem driving in traffic as far as pedal pressure goes, how harsh the engagement is remains to be seen.

I started on the new exhaust system. I'm using the same down pipes from the shorty headers and the 2 1/2" pipes that went back to the Y in the single 3" exhaust I had before. The Y has been replaced with an X pipe and I have 2 1/2" pipes going back inder the differential.





The flattened section on the drivers side is done to clear the bell housing where the clutch release arm is and maintain ground clearance. I fabricated the flat section to have 1.25 times the cross section area of a 2 1/2" round pipe so as not to cause a restriction in that spot. The 2 1/2" pipes tuck up into the tunnel slightly better than the previous 3" single pipe so it has a touch more ground clearance than before. The pipes barely protrude below the flat bottom of the car. The next step is to get the mufflers in place and then fabricate a new center outlet for the exhaust in the valence below the license plate. More to come soon.


4/27/2020

Finished the mount for the rear of the center pipes, painted with high heat paint and they are now in the car for good. I got the mufflers in place, the outer ends will have a 135* bend then the resonators will point back towards the center of the car.





Next I probably need to make the cut in the body for the exhaust tips and make the tips themselves so I know where to point the resonators then I can finalize the rest of the exhaust system. Looking at the space I have available, the new gas tank will have a very unique shape.


4/29/2020

Spent some time today mocking up a cardboard fuel tank to see how everything was going to fit together and what would be visible from the rear of the car. I was generally pleased with what I saw in that there was room for everything and you couldn't see anything from the rear of the car. The first picture is taken with the camera at bumper height (about 14" above ground level) and you can't see the bottom of the cardboard tank and none of the mufflers.



You can barely see the pipes where they go under the diff and you won't be able to see the suspension arms when the car is on the ground and the springs compressed. The one thing I'm not happy about is the tank capacity is reduced to about 12.5 gallons where I had 16 gallons before.



I could regain the lost capacity by not using the resonators, extending the tank 3" rearward and having the exhaust exit through the existing opening and a mirror of it on the passenger side. I would be giving up the center exit exhaust and I'm not sure how loud the car would be with two 14" body 2 1/2" core mufflers vs one 19" body 3" core muffler. I really want the center exit exhaust and I would still have a cruising range of 200 miles with a small safety margin.


5/1/2020

I spent the day making the new opening for the exhaust in the center of the car and filling the previous opening on the driver's side. I was able to use the cutout from the new hole to fill the old hole with only slight reshaping necessary. I still have metal work, Bondo, prime and paint to go but I got a good start today. The edge of the opening is a piece of 1/4" rod to give it a finished look and some extra strength.




5/8/2020

Here's the whole system tacked together.






5/16/2020

The exhaust is done, painted and back on the car for good. I just put the clear on the valence this morning so I'll have to color sand it and buff it out in a week or so after it cures completely. I'm very happy with the look so now I have to build the new fuel tank so I can finally hear what it sounds like.






7/24/2020

The tank is done, painted and back in the car. I had thought originally that I would build an entirely new tank but I realized the top portion of the tank fit into the trunk with all the mounts there already so I decided to cut off the bottom of the existing tank and fabricate a new bottom half. I built a new bottom and a baffle structure to keep fuel from sloshing around





A couple more pieces to fill in the space around the mufflers and patch a couple spots where the fuel level sensor used to be and it was ready for paint. I checked the actual capacity when I was leak checking the tank and it turned out to be 14.5 gallons so I didn't lose much capacity. That gives me a range of 250 miles of freeway driving but my butt can't sit for that long so it is plenty.





I put some gas in it this morning and fired it up for the first time in quite a while. I love the sound of the new exhaust, it has a deeper, throatier sound than it did before. Running the rpm up slowly there weren't any resonances or droning of any kind, have to wait and see if that holds true when actually driving. I have a project going in the driveway behind the car so I won't be able to get it out for a few days but I'm looking forward to it. Also interested in how civilized the new clutch is in traffic since it is rated for 630 ft lbs torque. I'll let you know.

7/29/2020

I took it out for a short drive this morning to get some gas. The clutch seems to be slightly more grabby than the worn out stock one but certainly something I can live with. The instructions say to break it in by driving normally for 500 miles so that may smooth it out some. The friction point is right on the floor so I may have to replace the 5/8" master with a 3/4". I originally had the 3/4" in the car but the friction point with the stock clutch was right at the top of the stroke so that's why I put in the 3/4". I also got a loud rattling noise coming from the area at the back of the transmission. It would come and go so I have some detective work to do. It came back in one piece so it's not all bad.

8/1/2020

Switched out the master for a 3/4" and the friction point is right where it should be. The pedal pressure now feels like there is a serious clutch behind the engine but still not unreasonable. The noise I heard was caused by something rotating when the car was moving so it had to be in the wheels, half shafts or driveshaft. I took everything apart this morning and there was no sign of anything rubbing or hitting in any of these areas. There was evidence of balance weights that may have come off. If they started coming loose and slapped against the brakes or upper A arm it could have caused the noise I heard and it would answer why it suddenly stopped (they came completely off). It's too hot to take for a drive today but I'll try it out and see if the noise returns or if the wheels feel out of balance.

8/6/2020

I went out this morning and made a couple videos of the car so you can hear the exhaust

[www.youtube.com]

[www.youtube.com]

[www.youtube.com]

The store has a huge parking lot that isn't used very much so we thought we wouldn't bother anyone. We made the first video showing the start up and an easy run through 1st and 2nd. When I came back a couple guys from the store were walking out and I thought they were going to yell at us and kick us out but as it turned out they just wanted to check out the car. We talked for about 20 minutes and the guy asked if he could have a ride so I gave him one. I eased into the gas in 1st and just had enough for a short run in 2nd, I'm supposed to be breaking in the new clutch. I never got to 5000 rpm and just barely touched full throttle in 2nd but the guy seemed suitably impressed.

I do like the way the new exhaust sounds.

8/17/2020

I just noticed that the 2nd and 3rd links above were to the same video. I have changed it so the proper one is in the 2nd position now. Sorry about that. We are having over 100* heat here in San Diego this week so it just isn't much fun driving the car. I'll put some more miles on it when the weather gets back to normal. I wish out tyrannical governor would let the car shows open back up.

9/27/2020

I found the mystery noise and it wasn't a wheel weight that came loose. They finally re-opened up the big Cars and Coffee event in San Clemente, about 80 miles north of San Diego, and I was on my way up with my daughter in the car. The car started making the loud rubbing/banging noise and it sounded like it was coming from the rear part of the transmission like it did before. You could feel the vibration pulses holding your hand on the tunnel and it would come and go and seemed to be triggered by the car going over bumps in the freeway. It eventually got more and more severe so I turned around and went home. I had this happen once before but it came and went away fairly quickly. At that time I had looked for circumferential rub marks on the driveshaft and half shafts but didn't find any. This time I took the driveshaft hoop out and found a rub mark - aha, a smoking gun. When I rotated the driveshaft I finally saw the very top of one of the welds had a shiny spot so that is what was rubbing. The clearance must have been only a couple thousandths of an inch so that the bumps in the freeway caused just enough shift in the components to make it rub. It could be that when I put the engine and trans back in the car this time the trans mount bolts could have been all the way to one side in their holes shifting things ever so slightly. The first time I took it apart the mark must have been so small I didn't notice it. I'll modify the driveshaft loop and use a much larger diameter pipe so it has plenty of clearance - lesson learned.





10/3/2020

Made a new bottom end for the front driveshaft hoop out of 1" larger tubing so rubbing won't be an issue anymore. The picture shows the new tube over the old one so you can see the difference. I'm doing the same thing with the rear hoop even though rubbing wasn't an issue on that one.



12/1/2020

With the driveshaft rubbing solved I made the 80 mile trip up to the Cars and Coffee again. This time another problem occurred. There is a big hesitation when applying throttle at cruise speeds. It takes more throttle than normal to maintain freeway speed but when I try to accelerate or start going up a slight grade it is unresponsive until I give it more and more throttle and then it accelerates harder than I want. The car starts and idles just like before at 16" vacuum and takes off from a stop just fine. It seems to have plenty of power once it gets past the hesitation. It is also giving me a check engine light but I have an OBD1 computer and my OBD2 reader won't read it. Nobody I know has an OBD1 reader so I'm at a loss where to look. I'm thinking about taking it back to the guy who tuned the computer when I first got it running and see what he can find. Not a big loss since there isn't much going on car wise during Christmas. I'll let you know what the problem is when I find out.

Merry Christmas everyone.

12/23/2020

Found a neighbor who had a combination OBD1/OBD2 code reader but it wouldn't connect to the computer. I took it to the dyno shop that tuned it originally and they could not connect to the computer either so I believe I have some wiring issues. All this started after I pulled the engine out earlier so something may have gotten disconnected/damaged in the process. I also noticed that the water injection indicator light didn't come on when the engine started making boost. I have to find out if that is just a problem with the light or if the water injection system isn't working at all. After we get all the Christmas decorations down and stowed in the garage, I'll start the tedious process of tracing all the wires from the computer and maybe something will turn up that explains the hesitation problem as well.

Merry Christmas.


2/5/2021

I must be suffering from Covid induced cabin fever. I never liked how the center exhaust looked because the pipes looked too small and the wide car made them look even smaller. I decided to make something more substantial looking. These measure 3" x 6" on the outside. Haven't decided on the spacing between them yet. The 1st picture shows a narrower spacing and the next one shows them a little wider apart, but I'm leaning toward the wider spacing. The opening in the car will be slightly wider than the license plate recess unless I spread them out more. Good thing I have extra red paint.












2/12/2021

Here are the new tips installed. I still have to make a new surround in the valence.




5/14/2021

Only took me 3 months but I finally finished off the opening in the valence and painted it




8/24/2021

I've had this hesitation problem with the car since I got it running again at the end of last year. I have not been able to get a code reader to work on the car since it is the oddball 1995 Camaro that has an OBD1 computer system with an OBD2 16 pin plug. I have tried everything I could think of: new plugs, clean the injectors, clean the MAF sensor, tested the TPS. I finally had the tune shop connect it to their computer on the dyno (what they used originally to tune the car) and he said it was showing wiring issues with the driver's side O2 sensor that was causing it to go out of closed loop and go lean causing the hesitation. He also said that there was a wiring issue with one or more of the injectors.

I checked the continuity of all the wires from the O2's to the computer and they were all good. I also checked for switched 12v and ground for the heater circuit - both good. I checked for switched 12v at each injector as well as connections to the computer and everything was fine. I found a test for O2 sensors on YouTube and checked both O2's by heating the tip with a propane torch and checking the output voltage. Both went up to almost one volt and back to zero when I took the heat away indicating that they were working properly. The O2's didn't test bad and they had less than 2000 miles on them but I replaced them anyway with new Delco (genuine GM) units. Took it out this morning and it ran like the good old days. So much for the YouTube test.

I'm still going to get the car run on the Dyno and see if the new exhaust makes more than the 469 rwhp and 479 rwtq that the old single 3" did. Stay tuned (no pun intended)


2/16/2022

This a funny yet pathetic story. The HAMB is a traditional hot rod forum that I used to visit several years ago to get ideas when I was building my car. They have a thread on there titled Hot Rod Sports Cars and there are 52 pages of posts showing all types of sports cars with transplanted engines so a few years ago I posted about my car thinking it fit in with the rest of the cars posted there. Healy Rick is one of the posters who has shown his car there. My original post (years ago) was taken down and I was told my car wasn't appropriate on the site. I quit going to the site until yesterday afternoon when I remembered what they had done and I decided to pull up the thread and see what activity there had been recently. I saw lots more of the same old sports cars with transplanted V8's so I decided to post my car again. Within 2 hours I had been taken down again. Starting to feel like an ex president.


3/13/2022

The Automotive Museum here in Balboa Park puts on a cars & coffee the 3rd Sunday each month and I was going to attend in February. I hadn't gone a mile when there was this really loud slapping noise from under the hood. I pulled over and it turned out to be the serpentine belt that was shedding long strips and beating against the inner fenders and the bottom of the hood. I yanked off what I could and that quieted it down enough to get it home. The flailing belt must have knocked out a wire connected to the computer because I immediately got a check engine light. I put it into the garage and took the Silverado to the show.

I finally got the serpentine belt problem solved after 3 days of solid work. I just spent 3 days trying to correct a problem with the serpentine belt jumping up onto the edge of the p/s pulley and shredding the belt. a problem it has never had in several thousand miles before I took the engine out. All the measurements indicated the pulleys were perfectly aligned but the belt still jumped over. Something must have changed when I took the engine out to replace the leaking seals and put in a new clutch but I have no idea what that might be. I thought about crowning the back side pulleys but none of the OEMs do it and they seem to track just fine. I finally gave up and I saw where the belt wanted to run on the grooved p/s pulley so I just moved the pump back 1/8” and also the alternator right below it back 1/8" everything runs good now. Every belt sander I have ever used has crowned pulleys and I wonder why the serpentine systems on cars don't. One of life’s great mysteries.

7/10/2022

I didn't like the large rectangle exhaust tips so I split them into square openings. I didn't like that either . It looked, as someone put it, like four trailer hitch receivers. Edit: Sorry about that, Jim :) -Carl



So I put the dual oval tips back on and I like it a lot better now. Since I have had to reshape the opening in the valance every time I changed the tips, I am officially declaring the exhaust done.





3/2/2023

Just a heads up guys. If you haven't watched Nicole Johnson's Detour on YouTube [www.youtube.com] , she drives some very unique cars. Be sure to watch the episode on the Daedalus and also the Hemi powered Sprite. She filmed my car in November and the video should be ready to release by the end of March. I'll be sure to post a link when it comes out.

Here is the video of the Wide MGB on Nicole Johnson's Detour [www.youtube.com]


11/24/2023

The Wide MGB is no longer mine. It sold on BAT and is off to its new home in Los Gatos, California. The new owner is very excited to have the car and he will take good care of her. Thanks to everyone who followed the progress of the build here, from the number of views there were a lot of you.







Edited 90 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/2023 01:38AM by Jim Stabe.

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