But first, a bit of administrivia: I wasn't able to get
"british-cars-request@encore.com" to accept mail. If you'd check into
that and get back to me, I need an address change.
Down to business. Due to increasing amounts of burning oil (I got a
letter from the "smoking vehicles" section of the DMV concerning a
particularly bad incident at a stoplight :-( ) and an increasingly
noisy camshaft (?), I've decided to rebuild the engine in my '79 MGB.
I'd initially though to have the rebuild done professionally, but
price quotes in the $3K range changed my mind about that. For $1K I
can renew practically everything on the engine if I do the work
myself.
First, the good news. I'll be doing this at the Los Angeles Air Force
Base Auto Shop, which is essentially a professional auto shop
available to service personnel and Air Force consultants (i.e., me) at
nominal prices. It has 30+ bays, lifts, a machine shop, and full-time
instructors. They have a complete set of tools which can be rented on
an as-needed basis, and a full paint shop. In short, this almost as
good as working in Roger's barn-turned-auto-shop.
Now, the bad news. I've never rebuilt an engine before. I think I
did disassemble a lawnmower engine in Junior High (so I do have some
experience with the A-series engine :-) but that's the Mesozoic at
this point. I will have the Air Force instructors available when I
need an extra set of hands and/or advice, and that's very encouraging,
but I'll probably need some expert MGB advice.
That's where you come in. :-)
I'm planning on posting my various questions and requests for advice
to this list. Hopefully not on a daily basis (unless I run into
particular problems) but more like once a week. However, if people
think that this will be a problem, or uninteresting, I'll be happy to
use e-mail to only the interested parties. So let me know if you have
any objections.
I'll be putting together and sending out my first list of questions
sometime this week, but just to give an example: Does anyone have any
opinions on retrofitting the older double timing chain to the later
engine? Does this require the earlier timing cover (which doesn't
seem to be easily available) and oil thrower? How about retrofitting
the mid-model (i.e., 64-71) camshaft to the later engine? Is that a
straightforward swap? Are either of these retrofits worth the effort?
In the meantime, if you've rebuilt an MGB and have any general advice,
or specific things you think I should be sure to address, please let
me know. I'll surely appreciate any feedback.
[As an aside, did anyone see the MG in "Sherman's March" on PBS
recently?]
-- Scott Turner
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