At 08:50 PM 6/23/03 -0500, MonteMorris wrote:
>My wife and I had a good time at MG2003 this weekend and was happy to meet
>several listers there.
Sorry to have missed you (I think). On a last minute whim I sort of
bumbled in about 11:30 Friday night and stayed through Sunday. Hard to
miss an MGA with a black trailer in a crowd of MGBs. I too had a chance to
meet some new folks and put some faces with a lot of prior e-mail
messages. Good show. Good biplane fly in by the WACO group too. Couldn't
resist a ride in a 1941 biplane. Cool, but not terribly exciting after
driving an MG. (What? !!!)
>....
>.... on the 67B. .... Even though it runs well, the car uses/loses about
>a quart of oil every 350 miles. It leaks some right above the oil
>dipstick-best I can figure it's from the head gasket area.
More likely the valve cover gasket. The only pressurized oil passage
through the head gasket is near the left rear corner. Oil returns through
the pushrod holes near the left side. Water holes are closer to the right
side. For a good primer on getting the valve cover gasket to seal, check
here: http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/engine/vc101.htm
>I also have a few leaks onto the floor as it sits overnight, but the
>biggest one seems to be right below the tranny drain plug. ....
That one is hard to call. Oil coming from anywhere on the engine seems to
blow back onto the gearbox when driving. A valve cover leak can certainly
soak the gearbox. Check the easy stuff first. Do the valve cover gasket
before worrying about any others.
A second common oil leak on the MG B-series engine is from the tappet
covers on the left side of the block. These are excessively difficult for
access and generaly require removal of the manifolds. The sump gasket may
also leak. On rare occasion simply tightening the bolts may slow or stop a
leak there (but don't count on it). A leaky timing cover seal can soak
both the oil pan and the gearbox. That requires removal of the crankshaft
pulley. On the '67 that generally means removing the radiator first. A
leak at the crankshaft rear seal should vest itself as a dribble from the
bottom of the bellhousing, and if you have that problem you would be in for
pulling the engine to replace the seal.
Oh, you might just check the seal on the gearbox drain plug while you're at
it. It can be real embarrasing to R&R the engine to replave a perfectly
good rear seal, and later figure out the leak was just the drain plug.
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude
http://MGAguru.com
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