Congratulations on your new MGA, you lucky devil!!
I agree with the others who have commented.
Only thing I want to add is, when you have the caps off to replace those
bearing inserts, have a really close look at your crankshaft journals.
Any scoring or surface distortion is not a good thing. Journal surfaces
are supposed to be perfectly smooth, mirrored surfaces. These are
bearing surfaces, after all. All the shop manuals address this, if
memory serves.
If you detect crankshaft wear that is too severe you may want to remove
the shaft and have the journals ground smooth. This latter operation
would necessitate fitting of oversize bearing inserts. It would also
mean removing the engine from the car.
My suggestion would be to do the bottom end teardown and evaluation,
with motor in the car, before ordering parts. Look at those inserts and
journals, measure those oil pump clearances, check that relief valve
spring length, all the usual stuff. Then you will have some hard data
upon which to base you next move.
Perhaps my opinion would diverge from others here in one regard. I do
not think it a good idea in the long term to drive at motorway speeds in
an MGA with 20 pounds oil pressure. This is not something I consider
wise. I would not do this personally. But then on this issue, as on so
many others, opinions vary widely. <G>
Good luck, and I hope the problem is something easily fixable.
Bruce Burrows
'59 MGA basket case
'60 Daimler SP 250
'61 Daimler SP 250
'73 MGB driver
My Dart website (not my cars!):
http://community-2.webtv.net/guardian45/THEDAIMLERSP250DART/
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