>
Upon receiving mail that I now owned an MGBGT, a friend sent me
mail asking: "What is a MGBGT?"
y'all may appreciate my reply:
> M.G. (which stands for Morris Garages) is a brand of british sports
> car. The MGB, was made from about 1962 through 1980, and is a
> two seater sportscar with an 1800cc pushrod in-line four cylinder
> OHV motor. The MGBGT was a hardtop version of it which had
> what we now refer to as a hatchback.
> By todays standards, the car is small, light, relatively nimble
> and mind bogglingly primitive.
Incidentally, this is the car that I bought two months ago today
for $1. I spent one month and about 25 RCU to get it on the
road. I ended up replacing the wire wheels and hubs with disc,
(bought the hubs and axle and traded the wire stuff for some
panasports which had a good set of Yoko Rtu's), replaced/rebuilt everything
in the brake system except the hard lines, replaced the fuel tank,
installed 5-point belts, rebuilt the carbs, replaced the alternator,
replaced the exhuast system, replaced everything in the suspension
except the kingpins and front springs (delrin bushings), replaced every
belt and hose, replaced the heater valve and replaced the batteries
(with a single 121 volt).
Two weeks later, on my way home from Sears Point, the clutch started
slipping. So in the next round of repairs I replaced the clutch,
pressureplate, throw out bearing, soft clutch line, rebuilt the
clutch slave, replaced the rod bearings (at 80K miles they were
starting to show copper). Since third gear synchro was gone in the
tranny I also rplaced the tranny with a used O/D unit. Unfortunately
the O/D doesn't work. I also had a dandy time cleaning things
up. I don't think that the engine had ever been cleaned, so it
wasn't just a case of pull the parts, wipe them clean and put them
back. So much for my schedule.
Since then I have gotten the dome & map lights working properly
(You know you've owned british Iron too long when this gives you
a major thrill: Look! I open the door and a light comes on!),
gotten the hazard blinkers to work. I've also replaced the large
diameter skinny rimmed wood steering wheel with one a lot more
responsive and comfortable. On my way up to the race track
last saturday, she even told me her name: Jasmine.
My major remaining projects are to build a motor for her, get her
painted (when the motor si out) and if I can afford it have a
custom roll bar (probably not a cage) made up for her, and maybe
a fuel cell to fit in the stock fuel tank location. It looks
like she will end up costing me about 50 RCU when I'm "done", but
she'll basically be a new car. Try to find a new car that fun to
drive for $5000.
Oh, is anybody from the satan cruz area planning on heading over
to the mini mania swap meet sunday morning? Maybe we could
make a "run" of it over hwy 9.
--
-UUU-v^v^-||- Henry O. Farad / Larry Colen lrc@netcom.COM
H:408-335-7505 W:408-774-2215 lrc@red4est.felton.ca.us
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