About that clickity click noise from the rear right of the MGB. That is the
SU {not Lucas} fuel pump. When I first turn the key, I let it pump-up before
engaging the starter motor. There are a lot of advavtages to the electric
fuel pump. When you start the car in the morning, you have the float bowels
full of fuel & ready to go when you start the starter motor. With a mechanical
pump, you turn the starter motor that turns the crank that pulls the timing
chain that turns the cam that pushes the lever that pumps the fuel pump &
puts a diaphram worth of petrol in your carbs fuel bowels. You use the
starter motor to get the carbs ready to do their thing to start your car.
This is more drain on your battery & more wear on your starter motor.
The electric fuel pump is also helpful in diagnosing problems. If you turn the
key on brfore engaging the starter & the pump just keeps pumping {dosn't
pump up to pressure & stop} you have one of two problems. Either fuel is not
getting to the fuel pump {ie. out of petrol} or your fuel line is open &
your pump is buisy pumping petrol to the outside world.
If you do not hear a peep out of your pump, it is either dead or you do not
have electricity to the pump. I find the sound of the SU pump pumping up to
pressure and stopping to be very reassuring.
About turn signal problems. If one side is not working, the first thing I do
is swap out the signal lamps on that side. The second is check the electrical
connections to the lamps & clean if they are at all dirty. The third is swap
out out the flasher unit. Yes Virgina, it is possible for a flasher unit
to fail in such a way as to leave one side working and the other not.
This is an argument for keeping spare bulbs & flasher unit. If the above
swaping does not solve the problem, I get serious & get out the volt meter.
Oh I have had the turn signal assembly fail in a way that can cause that kind
of problem. The contacts are held onto a thin copper strip.
I had the copper strip burn so that it was no longer making electrical
contact with the switch contact it was holding in place. No amount of
cleaning helped. The copper strip was at 12V & the contact was at 0V.
Due to the construction of the assembly, I had to replace the whole assy
to get everything to work.
If you decide to get anti sway bars for your MGB, you might want to stay away
from Adco rear sway bars. The anchor to the body is to sheet metal & I have
seen several pictures of the recommended anchor causing sheet metal fatigue &
failure of the sheet metal around the mountings. The other end of the
rear sway bar mounting is to a convient tab on ether end of the rear
end assy. These tabs frequently break off after you install Adco rear bars.
I checked to see why those tabs are there in the first place. It seems that
they exist to facilitate assembly at the factory. The rear end assy was hung
by those tabs while being assembled, painted and transported to the rest of
the car for assembly. They were never designed to do more than carry the
weight of the rear end assy.!!!
There is a company up in the North West that makes a number of MGB handling
goodies including front & rear sway bars that are properly anchored. They
also make comp. bushings & other toys for people who are serious about taking
their B's through corners. Noe that I have your interest I must admit I do not
remember the name of the company. I see them each year at the Portland All
British meet.
WANTED - I would like to get the centre arm rest assy from a mid 70s or later
MGB. If you have one on a parts car, I may be interested in purchasing it
from you. (408)974-2344
TeriAnn
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