My car and I went for a drive yesterday. I got everything bolted together
with few more issues. I used my MityVac to bleed the front brake after
replacing the hose and it worked great. When replacing a brake part make
sure you keep topping up the master cylinder reservoir since your brake
fluid will run out as long as you have a line open. If you master cylinder
goes dry you will have to bleed the whole system.
To start the car, I attached my battery charger to the engine block and the
battery side of the starter switch to help keep the battery up for
prolonged starting. I then used about a 50% duty cycle- 20 seconds
cranking, 20 seconds not cranking- first with the ignition switch off then
with the switch on and the choke out. It took about 15 tries before it
fired up but it ran great.
Issues of the day:
The front brake hose supplied by Moss (Lokheed, I believe) was a little
shorter than the original. I don't think that it is too short but I have
some concern. Any experience?
The heater hose clamps supplied by Moss were worm type clamps. I can't
remember if these were original or not but they worked fine.
The rubber rack boots were thinner than the originals and of similar (low
but OK) quality to the rubber parts purchased from VB. They don't leak but
I can't imagine them lasting 30 years. They look OK.
The original type wire radiator hose clamps supplied by VB are not the
greatest. This was compounded by erosion of the iron where the hoses
attach (thermostat housing, water pump, heater adapter elbow). The
thermostat housing was the worst and I used some Permatex there but I
assembled the others dry. the car leaked antifreeze at the water pump. I
tightened the wire clamp as far as it would go but it still leaked. Last
night I backed up the wire clamps with worm clamps in hopes of fixing the
issue but I haven't tried it yet. If I remember correctly, the wire type
clamps on my MGB didn't work either and I replaced them with worm clamps
but that was a long time ago.
Anyways, the A runs great and drives well. I still have to align the front
end more than the "looks straight from 40 feet" job that I did yesterday.
the steering is still a bit stiff but I believe that it will loosen as the
new felt bearing wears in. I hate to admit it but I left the top up but
the sidecurtains were off (this is the way I stored the car over the
winter).
Boy, its great to be back on the road!
Regards,
Bill Eastman
61 MGA Free at Last!
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