The Roadster Chronicles

March 13, 2018 There was not a lot of time to do much today, but I try do at least one job each day when I'm not on the road, even if it is only something small. I did managed to get a few minor jobs put away. I finished painting the steering box bolts; however, I discovered during the process one is labeled different from the other two even thought they are the same size, length, thread, etc. It's not a big deal in the scheme of things, just something to go into the notebook to investigate later. Those bolts will have to dry a wee bit more before I'm comfortable reinstalling without chipping or marring the paint. I finally finished the starter installation. With one bolt remaining I was only waiting for the paint on clutch return spring to dry and sufficiently harden before finishing up that job. I did encounter a bit more resistance when installing that bottom bolt than I would have liked, but it's there now and it's gotta be kept. The spring is in place and...

March 9, 2018 I pulled the slats (grill) from the radiator cowl (surround) today so I could solder in a new post. What a bodge job the previous installation was. The current grill is in such bad shape I’m contemplating just ordering a new one, but then I have to deal with the paint matching issue.  My attempt to solder the new post onto the cowl was amateurish at best. My Foolish Mechanic soldering skills leave something to be desired. Maybe I was using wrong solder. In any case, it’s on there, it just doesn’t look very pretty.  I pulled the water outlet off today’s as well in preparation for the new pieces to be installed. It looked every bit as bad as the rest of the bits. Peering inside the head was no confidence builder either.  The starter is going in tomorrow come hell or high water. I was able to look at my friend Steve’s TC to see where and how the clutch return chain/spring and bracket are supposed to be installed so I’m finally good to go.  I almo...

March 6, 2018 I was going to put the starter in today; however, being the ever Foolish Mechanic, I forgot I'm still awaiting the clutch return spring bracket and clip from Moss. Instead, I pulled the radiator so I can take it to the shop (tomorrow). I could take it today, but it's about an hour there and another back, plus I'd like to swing buy Moss in Petersburg to pick a few additional bits and bobs I now find I need since removing the radiator. Frankly, with a doctor's appointment this afternoon and dinner and a concert tonight (Foreigner), I'm thinking it may just be too much. So instead I'm having a cuppa and writing to you, the Faithful.  Again, it never ceases to amaze me the bodge job a "professional" mechanic is capable of. I think I already discussed the clutch and throttle return springs, but now I find some of the cowl slats are held in place with safety wire. I won't even mention how bad the wiring and mounting job for the flasher/...

March 5, 2018 I finally got the starter painted today after pulling it out again yesterday. It was too cold to paint in the garage so I set up a mini-paint booth in the sunroom. I purchased some high temp black enamel from Advanced Auto yesterday. When I went into the store I explained to the gentleman exactly what I needed. He took me over to the paint and pointed out the choices; flat, satin, semi-gloss and high gloss. I initial though was satin and as I was looking at the can I could not discern any difference in the cans from one finish to another. When I queried the salesman he pointed to the labels on the shelf. It was a light bulb moment. I grabbed a can from the semi-gloss row and headed towards the counter. I set everything up this afternoon and went with my very best  Rembrandt  imitation. After a couple of coats I noticed the sheen was not what I expected. In my typical Foolish Mechanic style, only then did I take a closer look at the paint can. Flat Black! it sai...

March 4, 2018 Pulled the starter back out today. It seemed to come out a lot easier this time. I would almost say I now know what I'm doing, but that would be a statement only a Foolish Mechanic would make. That said, now that it is out, which finish should I use, satin, semi-gloss or full-on in your face gloss?  I was hoping to get it painted today, but not getting up until ten aye-em and a two hour shopping outing with HRH kind of put a crimp in my plans. Tomorrow. There is always tomorrow. (I ended up going with a semi gloss.)

March 3, 2018 Thursday was a wash as I spent all morning at the dentist. I spent the rest of the afternoon running errands before rendezvousing with other like-minded car nuts for Happy Hour and dinner; therefore, #0777 was ignored all day the day after its glamour shoot. Yesterday was tax prep day. Somebody will have to explain to me why it takes six hours for me to prepare my tax information for the accountant in order for him to prepare my taxes. It’s just as well because it was too damn windy here to have the garage door open. Wind gusts up to 60 mph reported in our area, but mostly they were between 25 and 40 miles per hour. I did manage to order all the parts for the cooling system last night, along with a few other bits and bobs. This morning I had just enough time to get #0777 back up on jacks before leaving for my “real job.” Maybe tomorrow I’ll have chance to pull the starter (again) and do a proper paint job on the starter case. I need to concentrate on getting the start...

February 28, 2018 Today was the the big day for the photo shoot for a local area magazine. #0777 and I are just one of several cars and owners to be included in the article. Before letting the car down from the jacks I made sure the steering box was reconnected to the frame and then the box itself properly lubed. The grease fitting was still painted over so it’s hard telling when the last time it was ever done. I then reinstalled the spare tire and license plates, painting some of the attaching hardware along the way. Afterwards I pushed #0777 out of the garage and began washing it until my friend Mr. Bean showed up to help reinstall the bonnet. You would have thought M.G. Would have welded the retaining nuts for the bonnet hood strip supports in place. What a bugger to get a finger in and properly align them with the the holes from three other pieces. (Note to self - Reinstall spare wheel AFTER you wash and wax the car.) It was then time for a cuppa. After tea I set to work cleaning...

February 28, 2018 Several days ago I drained the cooling system as a matter of course and the coolant didn’t look too bad; however, being the Foolish Mechanic, I then refilled the system forgetting altogether I had new hoses to install. I figured I would just drain the system and save the new coolant, but when I drained it it was brown and really, really dirty. More so then the original coolant! So then I flushed the system three times with distilled water. A gallon at a time, and it was still dirty. Now out of distilled water I resorted to the garden hose and ended up filling six 2-gallon containers with water until I was satisfied. Only after that did I remove the hoses and discover the poor state of the rest of the cooling system. I shiver to think what the water pump looks like.  BTW, these pictures are after I cleaned the branch tube, but before cleaning the thermostat housing.

February 28, 2018 I finally got the new starter in the TC yesterday, but when I put the new starter switch on one of the screws striped out almost immediately. I’m thinking Loctite since I don’t want to pull it out again. Then I went to connect the starter cable, and being the Foolish Mechanic I am, completely forgot where the bracket in the starter cable was mounted. And yes, I did take pictures, just not of the damn bracket. I looked online and could not find I picture or reference for said bracket, so I’m thinking it was added by some forward thinking mechanic long ago. But that’s not all folks. When I connected the starter cable to the new switch and tightened the locking screw the cable snapped like a twig. As much as I’ve fiddled with it I can’t seem to get it to pull the starter switch now so a new cable is on order.  I won’t even go into the state of the cooling system, but to say a new thermostat housing and branch pipe are on order and I probably wouldn’t be remiss to ...

Introduction: I purchased  MG TC #0777 in June of 2017 from a gentleman in Pennsylvania. When the car was delivered it was in eminently drivable condition, so that is what I did all summer until it developed an oil leak somewhere in the engine compartment in late August. In conjunction, the power seemed a bit down as well. As a first step, I decide to perform a compression check on the motor, during which, I assumed, the  battery failed. Jumping and charging the battery had no effect. This led to my conclusion the starter was bad and needed replacing. It was on my "to do" list all fall and winter, but the task was kicked down the road and eventually put on the back burner during the super cold winter we had (super cold at least for here in Virginia). Not having a heated garage made it easy to rationalize putting the job off until warmer weather. Recently; however, a publisher of a local magazine asked if our TC and I could be included in an article they were going to do...