The 1965 Pull-Handle MGB Tourer Project!
FOLLOW THE PROGRESS IN MY BLOG!
Here is how I hope this ends up! Pic
Here is the story behind the BMIHT certificate
Misc pics with new digicam - December 2002!
December, 2005
Yeah, yeah, yeah, been a while. I have done a lot of work and have a separate journal I'll have to link to.
But I've started a new project - the steering wheel restoration! Go here.
May 2003
I have actually done a lot of work on the car over the past 2 months. Starting in early March, I finished stripping the
interior - all that is left are the door innards (windows) - and the exterior - all of the lights, the stainless trim, the
bumpers, the grille and the windshield. Basically, all that is left are the window mechanisms, the wiring harness
and the engine transmission, and I will have a rolling shell.... Unfortunately, additional work will be a little
delayed, as the '76 B just broke a piston ring, so I need to tear apart the engine to fix that... Oh well, another
learning experience, compliments of the MGB's!!
October 2002
Back to work stripping the interior.... I removed the interior panels, both back and front. Looks like these are the
original panels that left Abingdon in October 1964! Behind the front panels, the vinyl water seals were still
there, along with the appropriate foam washers around the window winder mechanisms.... Pretty cool! Nothing
too grungy inside the doors, just some dust - no spiders! Now I need to attack the wiring behind the dash, I
guess.... No putting it off.
September 2002
The '76 B is back on the road! The shock link project took longer than expected due to a serious lack of time and some really rusted bolts, but all is well. Topped up the rear shocks and boy, what a difference a well-damped rear axle makes! Need to check out the shimmy in the front, wonder if it could be as simple as low fluid in the shocks?
Rearranged the garage to put the '65 B in the middle. It's up on jackstands and I am stripping it slowly, starting with the exterior trim. Once I get it stripped I can maybe start to get some estimates for bodywork. Would like to get it into a shop for next summer, then will work on the engine when the body is being done.
August 2002
Got fairly serious about the car again this summer. Over Memorial Day week-end, I pulled the dashboard out - that took a while, especially the bolts behind the instrument cluster! Not much space to work on back there.... Marked off all the wiring, although I plan to install a new wiring harness.... I've also been attempting to paint the dash using the wrinkle or crinkle-black paint... Not much success so far, as it seems to be pretty uneven, even in the heat we have had here this week. Putting on additional coats causes less crinkling, so I am going to strip it again and try once more. If that doesn't work, I've located a place that can do powder-coating, so I'll have them paint the dash with a crinkle black powder coating. In the meantime, the rear pasenger's shock link broke on the '76 B. I have the parts and want to get that car back on the road!
Some pics of the dash so far..... click here
December 2001
I've
been working on restoring some of the miscellaneous parts of the
car
while
awaiting the arrival of my engine stand. Here are some pictures -
I
also picked up another GB engine from Gerry Brinkman, who
kindly
offered it to
me free... The one I got earlier will still be the basis for
the rebuild
but now I have some extra parts in case I muck something up
on the other
one!
The
engine stand arrived early this month. Right now I am struggling
to
remove 4 of
the 6 bolts on the flywheel, which needs to come off to mount
the engine on
the stand. I have some PB Blaster which worked well (along with
copiuous
amounts of heat!) on the crankshaft pulley bolt on the second
engine I have.
October
2001
Well, in the
year I've had the car I actual HAVE done some work on it! I
recently
completed
restoration of the seats (new foams, webbing and upholstery). I
also
purchased a
used short-block (18GB series, which is
what the car had
when new) to
replace the seized 3-main G-series engine it has now. While
awaiting
the arrival
of the engine stand, I've removed some of the parts and restored
them
(fan blade,
upper pulley). Next step is to get this engine checked out to see
if it
needs to be
rebuilt. If not, then I'll clean it up and paint it.
Here are pix of the seats - that was quite a project!
December
2000
I've been
collecting parts for the car and have been pretty successful
with eBay and
some classified sites. Still missing a coupe of items. In
January, I am going to pull
the cylinder
head and un-seize the engine. Once I do that I can assess the
condition of the engine
and determine
whether I need to do a full rebuild, or just some cleaning up.
The engine is not
the original
engine - it should have a 5-main bearing, GB-series engine - but
I am going to
use this one
until I can afford to purchase the 'correct' motor for it!
September
2000
I purchased
this car in August 2000, from a gentleman in Plano, Texas. The
car was actually
located in
Frostburg, MD, at the home of author Brad Barkley. The car was
brought to New Jersey
on Sunday,
September 10, and has been residing in my garage, sharing the
space with the 76
MGB Tourer.
They look very happy together!
I've
been taking inventory on the car. Overall, the body is in very
decent shape with minimal rust. The
floorboards
have been replaced and it doesn't appear that the car has been
driven since this was done.
The castle
rails have some rust - I'll get them replaced - and the driver's
rocker has 2 holes rusted through.
The inner
front wings look okay, as far as I can tell without removing the
fenders. The aluminum hood is
in good
condition as well, with no dents. The car was originally Tartan
Red with a black interior with red
piping -
which is what it will be returned to eventually.
This
car was built in late October 1964, but was registered as a 1966
- meaning that it is a rare 1966
"pull-handle"
car. It has the 3-main bearing engine and 3-synchro transmission,
which is pretty cool.
Here
are some pictures as it appears today - consider these
"before" pictures!
