Saturday morning on the MG. Jacked up the front to make working around the engine bay easier. Fitted the wiring loom tags from Clement and Boggis so now have neatly labelled wiring. I released the loom from more of its clips so was able to expose more of the engine bay this side. There is one more clip right near the bottom of the engine bay which looks tricky to get off – leave that for another time.  I gave the engine bay that side a squirt of degreaser and washed it down with soapy water. Looking better, but it did expose a patch of rust up near the top of the wings which will have to be welded. Took three nuts off the top of the thermostat but this did not appear to have anything to do it with it coming off. Put the nuts back on. Had another go at the oil pressure gauge nut – used a longer ring spanner and another one for leverage – just rounded the head off some more, so it definitely needs heat. Had another go at the screw which holds down the base of the heater and it just won’t budge. So, there are two screws preventing that part of the strip down. Frustrating. I think I will tackle this again when I can push the car outside to get at it from that side. I may have to drill it out or use the angle grinder, but I am not sure whether I can get the grinder in there. I don’t think heat will be effective here. I experimented with using Nitromos paint stripper. I dabbed it on thickly to the master cylinder cover, waited ten minutes, repeated the application and waited…. Nothing happened. I can only think that the low temperatures (we have had a big freeze, below zero all week, but milder today) meant that the expected reaction didn’t occur. I’ll try again in milder weather, but I did prove one thing which is that it really stinks and doesn’t come off with soapy water, so I am not sure how you get it off (scrape it I suppose). Anyway, good job I tried it on a non-critical part as I just wiped it over and left it.

I am reaching a stage where the remaining strip out jobs are difficult ones, so I am going to have to plan quite carefully and be prepared to get in some help from friends.

Evening update

First attempt at polishing the dashpots on the MG. I used Wet & Dry grades 120, 200, 400, 600, 800, 1200, 2000. The first one came out okay, but needs further work. The second one is partially complete. I posted an image on FB and one person advised using an electric tool, another recommenced ‘barman’s friend’.