A friend wants me to help him check out a rubber bumper MGB (think a 79)
that he's interested in. I have been told that some later B's had smog
control devices and tuning that were frantic efforts to meet regulations,
and cars made in some years cannot be made to run well in stock configuration.
Is this true, and if so, what years should be avoided?
The car has not run in some time, supposedly because the fuel pump went
out. The inner and outer sills appeared bad to my friend. How hard is
sill replacement? I have done some plain and fancy cutting and welding on
my bugeye and can assist him, but he has never done such things before.
The owner is asking $1000. Assuming we cannot hear car run, sills are
indeed bad, and the usual rust is elsewhere, what might the car be worth?
In regard to postings on pozi-drive screws. They can be distinguished from
phillips because pozi-drive generally have 4 dimples or 4 radial lines
on the heads. Every machine screw on my bugeye was pozi-drive. If anyone
knows of a source for stainless steel pozi-drive screws for the aluminum
cockpit surround of a bugeye, I'd appreciate hearing of it.
I tried rain-x. It was amusing at higher speeds, useless at lower speeds,
and did not last long. I would recommend only as a spare to carry on a long
trip in a car with questionable wipers.
Ray Gibbons 60 treefrog green bugeye; environs of Burlington, VT
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