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!

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.

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!

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!

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.

Links to websites for parts for your MGB Roadster

http://www.victoriabritish.com and http://www.mossmotors.com

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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