MG Sports Cars

I haven't posted an update in quite a while -- after the brake lines were leaking & I ended up having surgery this summer was hard to get back at it. But, I've been doing little things off & on & pretty much finished the wiring -- went to put the dash back on with the wiring & AC hoses, there wasn't enough room to get the dash back on... I'd never put it on with the gauges & AC vent hoses during mock-up and it never occurred to me that it'd be that tight. Basically had two problems -- one was by the time the wiring harness & gauges were in, there wasn't room for the AC vent hoses to fit between the back of the gauges & the AC evap box. Other problem was the hoses were completely blocking the center stud that holds the dash to the cowl...

No problem, I'd cut the hole in the firewall like Ted does so figured I'd just move the evap box back... wrong. Just moving it back puts the defrost vents on the evap box about 1/4" below the middle wiper mechanism. Hard to tell from the pic, but there's no way to get a hose on it & make the bend.


So, I had to do a little modification to lower it down. Have to weld the bottom plate in & will have to take that slow to make sure I don't over heat & burn the paint but luckily The pieces I'm welding to are all box sections inside the car -- close to the firewall tunnel area, but not on the back side of paint :)...

And, just to show a glimpse of the other odds & ends coming together, here are some more pics... these were taken with my phone's camera so the quality isn't great but you get the idea...

Rob, that photo of your dash looks awesome! I'm having the same issues with the Vintage air and the ducts too. I need to pull out my gauges which barely have enough room, and work with the vent hoses again, maybe plug off one of the vents in the middle that I will not use.

Everything is so tight in these builds!

Hope you feel better to work more on your build!

Rob

Set backs are never fun But You are getting close:)

If you can post a better picture of the Dash that would be great.

Cant wait to see the finished product or at least pictures

Hope everything is getting back to Normal from the Surgery

Luckily I have a mechanic friend that just bought a new hydrolic pump flaring tool that he said he will use for me when Im ready to run my brake lines. I feel ur frustration! lol.

Nice job on the seats, Rob!

Rob,

Let's see some updated photos of that car of yours! I'm dying to see what it looks like since your last photo update.

Cheers,
Chris

I'll see about getting some better pics of the dash -- but right now I'm focused on getting the AC mod burned in. Going slow to not get it too hot & mess up the paint and noticed this morning I'm running low on mig gas but should have plenty to finish that job this weekend.

Have to take the kids to a paintball party & then my older son is marching in his HS band (football team is in the playoffs). So it'll be later tonight before I can finish it up.

Rick -- thanks for the comment on the seats; means a lot coming from the master! The foam seems too soft on the bolsters to me; they deform pretty easily. I'll likely rework them but after the car is on the road.

Calvin - thanks for the dash comment. I spent a lot of time deciding how to lay it out & what vents & indicator lights to use. I didn't have the vents when I sent the car for paint so I cut the center section gauge & vent holes after paint... of course the pilot bit fell out on my hole saw on the last hole & the hole saw buggered the paint. For now I've just put some touch up on it, but I'll have to re-do that too -- again, after the car is running. Dash goes on with 2 plugs for all the wiring, 3 nuts at the top & 2 screws at the bottom so it's pretty easy to remove/replace. The piece holding the radio is just temporary; it'll get replaced with something that is shaped to fit nicer.

re: The foam seems too soft on the bolsters to me; they deform pretty easily. I'll likely rework them but after the car is on the road.

You'll need to disassemble them....but it will be worth the time and effort.

Build up the bolsters with foam, cotton wadding, and duct tape. You can get them as stiff as you want...additionally, this should save some wear and tear on the bolsters (you've seen how Fiero seats can wear.)

Again...NICE JOB!

For the seats you could always try the 2" memory foam mattress topper material glued on top of the stock foam..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/13/2010 07:55PM by mgb260.

I love that dash Rob. Nice work.

Spent some time on the car this weekend. Started testing the wiring harness, keyless ignition, etc. Car now starts using the start button on the dash. It needs adjusting but runs pretty smooth & w/o the sputtering & popping through the carb like it was doing before I noticed the big vacuum port on the back of the carb that wasn't plugged - doh! I have to admit it's cool to be able to start the car using the finished harness (prior to today I'd only fired it using some temporary wires & aligator clips to power the ignition & fuel pump).


So far most of the rest of the harness is working. Problems to sort through right now are
* front left park/blinker isn't lighting
* tail lights aren't coming on at all
* wiper moter isn't working on high or low speed.

I haven't tested optional stuff like radio, windows, etc. & didn't run it long enough for the fan to kick in so don't know about them yet.

Oh, & I realized I forgot to wire the inertia switch back into the fuel pump circuit.

But, most of it's working & the only items I really want to sort out before getting back to the brakes are the tail lights, front left blinker, and inertia switch {& I'm going to wire in a manaul cut-off switch too while I'm doing that). Hope to sort those out durnig the evenings this week so I can get the brakes at least partially reworked next weekend.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/2010 10:59PM by rficalora.

Nice work Rob! You are sooooo close.

Got back on the brakes while waiting on some wiring parts. Borrowed a little better flaring tool -- same style but a bit heavier bar & yoke and a reamer that looks like a counter sink drill bit that's on the end of a screwdriver handle. I also watched a few YouTube "how to" videos too. I made a few adjustments to my technique based on the advise from some of you guys & things I noticed in the videos. Changes I made were:
1. Used the reamer in the borrowed kit -- made a noticeable difference; not only cleaned the hole, it also lightly camphered the inside.
2. Cranked down a lot harder on the yoke and backed off & retightened 2-3 times on each flare to burnish it.
3. Used a finer file to lightly campher the outside edge.
4. Lightly filed the ridge that formed on the outside of the flare where there was a slight gap between the two bars (even fully tightened down, there was still a slight gap between the bars & I noticed the flare nut would wobble a little on it. It might flatten when tightening the nut but I gave it two or three light passes with a fine file.)

I did the front & tested it by putting an inverted flare plug on the rear line output of my proportioning valve. Seems to be holding with no leaks (6 flares). I ran out of time before finishing the back brakes but this is way better than my last attempt!! Probably won't get to finish untill after Christmas but it was a good way to finish a day.

Great news Rob. Sometimes it just takes some perseverance.

JB

Finished the back brakes today so now brakes are done. Also pulled & reinstalled the intake manifold to fix the oil leak at the back. If I get a few hours tomorrow I'm going to reassemble & reinstall the windshield.

Sorry this is too late to help, Rob. I just found out about this brake line last weekend.

Our local club had a January tech session (in lieu of a drive) at the home of our newly elected President (we now have our first real Brit as club Prez). His "trick" for great flares that do not leak was using Cunifer™ brake line from Fedhill. Great stuff!

[fedhillusa.com]

He using it on his Austin Healey 100M that he is re-restoring after near destruction from a fire.

[www.britcars.net]

Rob, I also hope not to be too late but maybe It can help some else. We've used this NAPA bulk brake line (see photo) at my work for awhile now; it seems to be holding up pretty good to the salt equipment some vehicle carry and it also shapes like a dream. NAPA's part number and description can be read on the photo.

Jacques

Thanks guys -- brake lines are finished & holding with no leaks. When I re-did them I used a better flaring tool and also took Kelly's advice & really cranked down hard when forming the inverted flares -- even backed off & cranked down again about 3 times on each flare. Seems to have done the trick.

Didn't have enough time to put the windshield back together, but did clean out all the loose hardware, hoses, parts, tools, etc. -- and started the car up. I have stuff going on Mon & Tues but if I get home early enough on Weds or Thurs I'll be able take it on a quick test run.

From running it in the garage I can tell the timing is still off (remember I had to estimate TDC using a screwdriver to feel the piston). It sounds ok at idle but has light popping through the tail pipe when running at about 2k or so RPM. And, it's running rich (eyes started burning after a couple of minutes). But, it starts easy & that's good.

Carl and Jacques,

The cunifer brake line info you posted is near perfect timing for me. The next step on my conversion is brake lines and re doing my clutch line.
I've been looking at the fedhill web site on and off for a few weeks wondering if anyone here had ever tried their brake line. And I had read somewhere that NAPA had similar brake line but I couldn't find it on their web site. So, thanks for the info.

Steve