So I got the new fuel pump installed, I completely removed the old one along with the old fuel lines.
The great thing about this SU replacement pump is that is fits perfectly where the original was.
I have seen previous replacements where you had to drill holes and somewhere on the frame mount a rubber mount and even make a metal mount sometimes.
Hey! MGB driver enthusiasts! Join the fun! Post your comments and tell us about your MGB and fun and bad experiences. Got some tips or website recommendations? Post them! With the economy in the toilet and gas prices rising it's good to own a classic MGB. They become part of the family and are always pleasing to the eyes.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Fuel Pump Replacement
I am finally going to replace my fuel pump. A SU fuel pump replacement costs on average $199.00. Right now Victoria British has on sale and a like SU fuel pump replacement.
Victoria British website The fuel pump is only $99.99 .
The only modification I see so far are the fuel line hose and clamps. The original are braided with metal ends on each end of the hose.
Victoria British website The fuel pump is only $99.99 .
The only modification I see so far are the fuel line hose and clamps. The original are braided with metal ends on each end of the hose.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Hope Everyone Has A Very Nice Thanksgiving!
Despite several mechanical problems I must say it really is a joy to drive my MGB! I get so many compliments on the car and it is a real dream just driving in the country roads! So remember you have a great car! You are an MGB DRIVER!
Monday, November 22, 2010
Turn Signal problems
Something to take note of: Should you have problems where your turn signals don't work at all, (assuming you know you have good turn signal bulbs and turn signal flasher) look to your hazard light switch!
Apparently, before any current goes to the turn signal flasher, it first runs through the hazard light switch. If you where to disconnect the hazard light switch, look at the connector going to the hazard switch, the bottom two connections can be "jumped" by inserting a small wire between the two. If your turn signals start working then you know it's the hazard switch. You can disassemble it and clean the contacts or just replace it. Hope that helps!
Apparently, before any current goes to the turn signal flasher, it first runs through the hazard light switch. If you where to disconnect the hazard light switch, look at the connector going to the hazard switch, the bottom two connections can be "jumped" by inserting a small wire between the two. If your turn signals start working then you know it's the hazard switch. You can disassemble it and clean the contacts or just replace it. Hope that helps!
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Broken Bracket motor mount
I had been hearing a knocking thinking was an engine knock when in fact it was the left side motor mount bracket that had cracked. This caused the air cleaner element to knock against the wheel well and the the exhaust manifold against the steering column.
I am going to tackle this task today, the bracket costs less than 10 dollars!
After viewing what is involved, this seems to be a task I will not be able to do.
I got the motor mount replaced at the
British Car Parts & Service-The Car Clinic
(916) 638-8290
2216 Cemo Cir Ste F
Gold River, CA 95670 near Rancho Cordova
Glenn the owner from New Zealand did a great job for under $200 dollars
I am going to tackle this task today, the bracket costs less than 10 dollars!
After viewing what is involved, this seems to be a task I will not be able to do.
I got the motor mount replaced at the
British Car Parts & Service-The Car Clinic
(916) 638-8290
2216 Cemo Cir Ste F
Gold River, CA 95670 near Rancho Cordova
Glenn the owner from New Zealand did a great job for under $200 dollars
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Fuel Pump problems
This morning I had an issue with my car: it would not start, it would turn over run a second then turn off. I realized after a few tries I wasn't hearing the old "click, click" sound of the fuel pump. I was thinking it was shot. It had been replaced 10 years ago so it was a good assumption. I went ahead anyways and removed the mounting protective plate located inside the right side of the trunk. I checked the contacts and I used a test light with the ignition on to make sure it was getting current, that was ok. I then decided to research what is entailed to replace the fuel pump and found this site with pictures: here Which was great info. I read something somewhere else that talked about removing the gas cap then trying to start the car (something to do with vapor ventilation and the charcoal canister (which I need to replace the charcoal someday)
So just doing that removing the cover plate, reconnecting the wires onto the fuel pump, opening the gas cap. The car started up! So should I replace the fuel pump? I think I will just to be on the safe side and do it next payday!(I would recommend sanding the contact areas )
So just doing that removing the cover plate, reconnecting the wires onto the fuel pump, opening the gas cap. The car started up! So should I replace the fuel pump? I think I will just to be on the safe side and do it next payday!(I would recommend sanding the contact areas )
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Driving at a snail's pace for 2 months!
The last two months have been horrible, my car was running at a snail's pace and lost all of it's power. A gradual loss of power over a period of about a month, until finally it would just crawl. I figured I would work on replacing the basics, spark plugs, cap and rotor, fuel filter. The plugs were fowled and seem like they were oily too. I also went ahead and adjusted the valves since it had been a while. That all didn't seem to work, running high octane gas didn't work either. The car did smoke a lot on the freeway at one time that I had to turn around and headed back home. I had lost about a quart or so oil and I figured that the engine was shot at that point.
I called several British car repair shops in the area. One in San Francisco: British European (415) 861-3030 asked for Bob (excellent mechanic!)and The Car Clinic in Rancho Cordova California Glynn (916) 638-8290(also a great mechanic) near Sacramento California.
The symptoms I was describing sounded just like worn valve guides, worn piston rings, or even a cracked piston. That being said it would have cost me a least $1500 to $3500 dollars to fix. Of course, describing car trouble over the phone without an inspection doesn't give you a an great picture on what the trouble really might be.
I didn't have the money to tow the car to either location, so I intended on selling it on craigslist sometime soon. SHOCKING I KNOW!
The car was used around town to get groceries and run errands.
I started to notice a stain on pavement below the engine after parking the car overnight. I checked to see if this was an oil leak or coolant and it was neither.
I finally figured out that the carb was the culprit and decided to give it a closer look.
The carb turned out to be wet and oily and needed attention. I did a little research on the internet and found an article on www.mossmotors.com where a Moss Motors LADY technician said that a poor running carb would fowl up sparkplugs and give an appearance of oil fowled sparkplugs. It sounded like a long shot so I did more research on rebuilding the Zenith Stromberg carb. One article suggested only to get the manufacture carb kit due to it's precision of parts due to trial an error with after market kits.
I found the kit at http://www.mossmotors.com and ordered it.
I also found some great videos on YouTube with John Twist of University Motors. He owns his own shop in Michigan. This guy is great he has got about maybe 90 videos or so on MG repair. He had a two part video on how to rebuild the Zenith Stromberg carb. He had a two part video on how to rebuild the Zenith Stromberg carb. and part twoAfter receiving my rebuild kit and watching John Twist's videos I went ahead and rebuilt the carb.
I was a little intimidated with some of it's complexity and was wondering if this would be all in vain.
After reinstalling the Zenith carb, I took the car for a spin and VOILA the car ran beautifully it was incredible, the acceleration was there! The power was back! The oil consumption stopped too! I guess a poor running carb doesn't aspirate the oil vapors enough and send it directly down the exhaust if that's possible?
I want to thank John Twist of University Motors for his YouTube videos and the LADY technician from the Moss Motors forums.
I called several British car repair shops in the area. One in San Francisco: British European (415) 861-3030 asked for Bob (excellent mechanic!)and The Car Clinic in Rancho Cordova California Glynn (916) 638-8290(also a great mechanic) near Sacramento California.
The symptoms I was describing sounded just like worn valve guides, worn piston rings, or even a cracked piston. That being said it would have cost me a least $1500 to $3500 dollars to fix. Of course, describing car trouble over the phone without an inspection doesn't give you a an great picture on what the trouble really might be.
I didn't have the money to tow the car to either location, so I intended on selling it on craigslist sometime soon. SHOCKING I KNOW!
The car was used around town to get groceries and run errands.
I started to notice a stain on pavement below the engine after parking the car overnight. I checked to see if this was an oil leak or coolant and it was neither.
I finally figured out that the carb was the culprit and decided to give it a closer look.
The carb turned out to be wet and oily and needed attention. I did a little research on the internet and found an article on www.mossmotors.com where a Moss Motors LADY technician said that a poor running carb would fowl up sparkplugs and give an appearance of oil fowled sparkplugs. It sounded like a long shot so I did more research on rebuilding the Zenith Stromberg carb. One article suggested only to get the manufacture carb kit due to it's precision of parts due to trial an error with after market kits.
I found the kit at http://www.mossmotors.com and ordered it.
I also found some great videos on YouTube with John Twist of University Motors. He owns his own shop in Michigan. This guy is great he has got about maybe 90 videos or so on MG repair. He had a two part video on how to rebuild the Zenith Stromberg carb. He had a two part video on how to rebuild the Zenith Stromberg carb. and part twoAfter receiving my rebuild kit and watching John Twist's videos I went ahead and rebuilt the carb.
I was a little intimidated with some of it's complexity and was wondering if this would be all in vain.
After reinstalling the Zenith carb, I took the car for a spin and VOILA the car ran beautifully it was incredible, the acceleration was there! The power was back! The oil consumption stopped too! I guess a poor running carb doesn't aspirate the oil vapors enough and send it directly down the exhaust if that's possible?
I want to thank John Twist of University Motors for his YouTube videos and the LADY technician from the Moss Motors forums.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Helped by a nice old lady!
Well, I have a little story here: It was a hot 100 degree day I decided to take a spin in my MGB and didn't realize that my the positive cable post on MGB wasn't tightened. I was about a few miles from house in Roseville California then suddenly my car died. Sounded like I was out of gas or running out of gas.
Anyways, there I was up at a small hill where I started to push my car towards the downhill part by the steering wheel with one hand jumping in then jump starting going downhill which worked! While doing that I dragged my left big toe on the pavement banged my other toe on the pedals (black and blue ouch!) Made it downhill turned around and came back stalled again almost at the top.
An older lady with an old faded blue Nissan pickup came along side me and asked if I need a push? I said sure! She then backed up behind my car pushed up against my rubber bumper MGB and started to reeve up her engine and began pushing my car up the hill and into a business area where a bar was. I was able to park the car and she parked her truck. She asked if I needed a jump. I told her I could call my fiancee to do that. I thanked her and then she went into the bar.
Well after about a half an hour of call attempts to reach my fiancee, I decided to take that offer to jump start my car. I went in the bar which was dark inside and very few people were there. The lady was at the bar enjoying a drink maybe a brandy and before I could say something she offered to help me again. She was a rare breed not to many people would do what she did.
She got in her truck backed up near the back of my car and I was able to hook my jumper cables and got the MGB started.
From there I was able to leave and we parted ways, she told me laughingly "to be sure you tell your fiancee that a beautiful lady helped you to get home!"
Well all this trouble turned out to be the alternator not charging at all and I was running on battery power all along!
Anyways, there I was up at a small hill where I started to push my car towards the downhill part by the steering wheel with one hand jumping in then jump starting going downhill which worked! While doing that I dragged my left big toe on the pavement banged my other toe on the pedals (black and blue ouch!) Made it downhill turned around and came back stalled again almost at the top.
An older lady with an old faded blue Nissan pickup came along side me and asked if I need a push? I said sure! She then backed up behind my car pushed up against my rubber bumper MGB and started to reeve up her engine and began pushing my car up the hill and into a business area where a bar was. I was able to park the car and she parked her truck. She asked if I needed a jump. I told her I could call my fiancee to do that. I thanked her and then she went into the bar.
Well after about a half an hour of call attempts to reach my fiancee, I decided to take that offer to jump start my car. I went in the bar which was dark inside and very few people were there. The lady was at the bar enjoying a drink maybe a brandy and before I could say something she offered to help me again. She was a rare breed not to many people would do what she did.
She got in her truck backed up near the back of my car and I was able to hook my jumper cables and got the MGB started.
From there I was able to leave and we parted ways, she told me laughingly "to be sure you tell your fiancee that a beautiful lady helped you to get home!"
Well all this trouble turned out to be the alternator not charging at all and I was running on battery power all along!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Common cracks near mirrors
This I find this to be typical in MGB's: in front of both mirrors bases, a crack develops and (due to the weight of the mirrors?) That happened to me, so I decided to to drill a small hole at the the end of the crack. (which will stop it from cracking)
Then I went to Home Depot and bought a small sheet of steel or aluminum maybe 12" X 12". I used tin snips to cut a about of steel or aluminum inch wide and 3 inches long. With a hammer, I gave the piece of metal a slight bend by finding a solid rounded curvy shape object (like a vise)and tapping the edges and center to give it form. The form being the surface of the door, starting from the window opening and down along the crack. With the crack being in the center. Once I have the shape, I then place it firmly on the door crack. It's a good idea to smooth out the edges with a file or bench grinder. Then, I will use pop rivets: I then drill 3 to 4 holes on each side of my repair piece. I pop rivet my repair piece and voila! Steel or aluminum rivets should work.
After that I will bondo this area. Bonding is an art itself. But basically you put your first layer down, wait 24hrs to dry, sand with may 60 grit sandpaper, then 100 grit sandpaper. You will see that you have to repeat the process several times; bondo, dry, sand. On the last application of bondo and sanding, you'll want to use a wet-sand paper that is about 300 grit or so. You can find great tutorials on bondoing on www.YouTube.com.
Here's a pic after the metal repair piece has been placed, riveted and bondo
Here is where the repair piece is:
Of course you could have it done professionally: welding or put on a new door skin but most of us can't afford that.
Then I went to Home Depot and bought a small sheet of steel or aluminum maybe 12" X 12". I used tin snips to cut a about of steel or aluminum inch wide and 3 inches long. With a hammer, I gave the piece of metal a slight bend by finding a solid rounded curvy shape object (like a vise)and tapping the edges and center to give it form. The form being the surface of the door, starting from the window opening and down along the crack. With the crack being in the center. Once I have the shape, I then place it firmly on the door crack. It's a good idea to smooth out the edges with a file or bench grinder. Then, I will use pop rivets: I then drill 3 to 4 holes on each side of my repair piece. I pop rivet my repair piece and voila! Steel or aluminum rivets should work.
After that I will bondo this area. Bonding is an art itself. But basically you put your first layer down, wait 24hrs to dry, sand with may 60 grit sandpaper, then 100 grit sandpaper. You will see that you have to repeat the process several times; bondo, dry, sand. On the last application of bondo and sanding, you'll want to use a wet-sand paper that is about 300 grit or so. You can find great tutorials on bondoing on www.YouTube.com.
Here's a pic after the metal repair piece has been placed, riveted and bondo
Here is where the repair piece is:
Of course you could have it done professionally: welding or put on a new door skin but most of us can't afford that.
Monday, June 14, 2010
MGB back from the paint shop!
Well I finally did it! I got my MGB painted here are some pics. Maaco had a sale for 249.00 dollars so I went with that plus their prep special for another $150.00 bucks. Because the guy at the shop was saying that would look much better. Anyways after $409 dollars I got my car back and it doesn't look too bad. I have had this thing (MGB) for over 15 years and drove it all over San Francisco and even commuted with it from Sacramento to San Francisco for about eight months. It looks great to me!
I need to install the side markers...
I am ordering the plastic attaching nuts for the air vent through www.victoriabritish.com
New tail light set would look great from www.victoriabritish.com for about $45 bucks plus shipping.
The front bumper needs a good shine with ArmorAll
The over spray of paint needs to be removed, either scrapped off or sanded off...More details to come!
I need to install the side markers...
I am ordering the plastic attaching nuts for the air vent through www.victoriabritish.com
New tail light set would look great from www.victoriabritish.com for about $45 bucks plus shipping.
The front bumper needs a good shine with ArmorAll
The over spray of paint needs to be removed, either scrapped off or sanded off...More details to come!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Next! The Engine and Engine compartment
I started with the valve cover and air filter element. Hand sanding with rough sand paper 60 grit then 100 grit medium grit. I then used Rustoleum Flat Light Gray Auto Primer and then let both items dry for about 4 hours. Then for the finishing touch this paint by Rustoleum called 500 hundred Degree Engine Enamel really looks super! Now I just need some more elbow grease to finish up the engine compartment. It is kind of overwhelming but if you think to do one item or an area at the time you will eventually finish up!
What a difference!
What a difference!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Rusty trunk! Urggh!
My old 1976 MGB is finally being taken care for! The bottom surface of the trunk is oily, rusty with paint peeling. I am using course sand paper about 60 grade, on the non-oily surfaces. Then I use a 100 grade sandpaper. It's not a pretty sight and I am posting some pictures of the trunk's condition.
This is near the gas nozzle:
This image is from the whole trunk view, with the exception of the bottom of the trunk, the trunk overall isn't too bad for a 30 year old car.
I find that Simple Green has a great product to remove surface grease from the trunk of my car. I mix Simple Green Max (which is non toxic) I apply it with a sponge to get the oil of the surface of the trunk and rinse it. On a hot day it dries fairly quickly.
This is near the gas nozzle:
This image is from the whole trunk view, with the exception of the bottom of the trunk, the trunk overall isn't too bad for a 30 year old car.
I find that Simple Green has a great product to remove surface grease from the trunk of my car. I mix Simple Green Max (which is non toxic) I apply it with a sponge to get the oil of the surface of the trunk and rinse it. On a hot day it dries fairly quickly.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Links to websites for parts for your MGB Roadster
http://www.victoriabritish.com and http://www.mossmotors.com
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
MGB Cars Today
Owning an MGB no matter what year is a great feeling! You own one of the funnest cars ever made! That's one of the reasons for this blog. To talk about your cars and show pictures, link to useful information and tips. Talk about auto parts and service links. There is still a great number of enthusiasts out there! So here we go hopefully this will be a fun blog for all! 
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