25 May 23 A sense of achievement

I’m pleased to say that I went for my first actual drive in the MG that wasn’t a test run. I had intended to clean the MG since it had to spend a night outdoors recently due to work being done on the house. As I had to start it up to move it out I thought it best to give it a full run up to temperature so I set off down the road. I made one small adjustment to the idle speed at a lay-by and tweaked the thermostat for the electric fan and then…went for a drive.

The car was running like a dream and I actually started to enjoy myself working up the gears and placing it accurately on the road. You certainly need to concentrate and each gear change is an effort of coordination although the clutch is very smooth and I didn’t crunch any gears.

It is of course faintly terrifying to be rolling along at 55mph in a car I have largely screwed together (with lots of help and encouragement) myself and invested considerable amounts of my hard earned cash in but I hope my confidence will improve as I gradually increase the distances travelled as I prove it all works consistently.

There is still lots to do including the missing internal trimming but it was satisfying to go for a run on such a lovely evening. On return to home with no problems to report I gave the MG a very careful wash using a clean mitt and very little pressure , having sprinkled it liberally with water first. An equally careful drying off and it was looking gleaming.

On the drive I took some pics at a nearby and well known beauty spot, see below. A lovely feeling of accomplishment. Oh..and on the downhill bits the exhaust popped and crackled (without software…!)…sometimes it’s the little things…

30 April 2023 The car that chose us

We weren’t really looking for a car, but having changed jobs and had to hand back my EV recently we were short of a car. However a friend of ours had sadly just died from a long term illness and we had offered to help his partner sell his old car. His partner, with whom we had become friends over the years asked us whether we wanted to buy the car and we somewhat spontaneous agreed a deal. So we are now the proud owners of a 2012 Honda Accord 2.2 diesel automatic ES-GT, and a fine automobile it is too.

It’s noticeable how much cars have changed in the last handful of years such that this example from just over ten years ago has a number of characteristics that place it firmly in the past. I’ll give a few examples.

1. It’s a classic three box saloon without any hint of SUV or semi-coupe about the styling.

2. It has many buttons on the dash. This must have been around ‘peak-buttons’ and is from the period before touch screens and menu driven settings. Everything has a button and although there is a large screen in the dash it’s not interactive.

A smart interior with half leather and buttons galore

3. The Sat Nav is driven from a DVD and the audio is a six CD auto-changer. Before we all had smart phones and cars got connected this was how we navigated with occasional expensive upgrades the only way to update the maps. A far cry from constantly refreshing google maps and live traffic data of today. The six CD auto-changer is from a bygone era before music streaming was ubiquitous and we just plugged in our phones and accessed Apple Car Play. The audio system is actually very good with crisp CD quality and a subwoofer built in.

4. Five speed automatics. My previous Honda, a more modern CRV, had a dinky 1.6 turbo diesel and a nine speed gearbox. But here we have to make do with just five well spaced ratios although it has ultra-modern paddle shift buttons on the back of the wheel so you can go all ‘F1’.

A conventional auto box, albeit with sport mode and paddle shift if you want to play

5 Big diesel engines. Before we all started downsizing to twin turbocharged mini- diesel engines, then hybrids or even full electric, it was perfectly normal to have a 2.2 single turbocharged direct injection diesel like this. Loads of torque, not much rev and a growly engine note are the key characteristics of this Honda unit which has the legendary reliability, but was getting to be a bit long in the tooth in the mk8 Accord. It has that lovely diesel character of making lots of noise under load before going all quiet once it has attained its speed creating a relaxing cruising environment. This long legged ability really marked out this era of big diesels as they could hold high speed for many miles with minimal noise and excellent economy. Pleasing some, but losing efficiency, this model has no stop:start facility so it happily idles in traffic without interruption, but with the resulting extra fuel consumption and pollution.

That what you call an honest engine bay at 98,000 miles

This car has come with a comprehensive history which I have only just started to explore. It’s been well looked after by the Honda main dealer and had an extended warranty which paid out on a replacement EGR pipe for example. We will probably use a local trusted garage rather than the main dealer for this phase of the car’s life.

So that’s the introduction to our latest car, our fifth Honda but our first Accord. We are very pleased with her and are looking forward to many miles of trouble free motoring.

19 Mar 23 Mother’s Day

No work to report, just the fun of offering to take Mum for a spin in the MGB. She politely overlooked the various unfinished bits and simply said ‘you must be very proud’. The last sports car she was in was apparently an Austin Healey but I’m unable to corroborate this as it was a long time before I was born!

16 Mar 23 Cooling off

It was a dry day so I decided to take the MG on a 20 minute drive to shakedown any issues. The MG pulled strongly and seemed to run down the road nicely. It definitely prefers to be pulling than pootling and isn’t particularly good at picking up from really low revs. I’ve got free flowing air filters, tubular manifold and a big bore exhaust so I think that’s probably those mods and it just being an older car compared to my (ahem) 400bhp Polestar EV with its instant torque!

On return home the engine was idling nicely so it’s feeling a lot better tuned than before. I did however see a bit of coolant around the top hose and on closer examination it was coming from a joint that didn’t look too good with the rubber host not aligned with the steel pipe. So this evening I loosened the clips and wriggled it into better alignment – not perfect, but better. I’ll give it another run tomorrow and check again.

The joint against the thermostat was seeping coolant

15 March 23 – Under bonnet tidy

A brief bit of work tonight, simply giving the under bonnet a light wipe over to get rid of some of the marks which have accumulated over time. I find that the marks came off with a little T-cut on a cloth. Afterwards I gave the area a spray with some detailer and wiped it off.

I discovered that I’d neglected to put the fuse cover on the fuse box so I located it in a likely looking pile of bits and popped it on after a wipe over.

Looking across the other side of the engine bay the bonnet release cable was looking a bit floppy and there was a blank bracket which must have held a clip at one point. So it was now just a matter of finding a clip to fit and popping it on. I found one that looked right but it needed a clean up so I spent 30 not very interesting minutes with some sand paper making it more presentable. Fitted that and called it a night.

12 March 2023 a matter of timing

A promising conversation with my Dad this morning inspired me to have a go at getting the distributor back in the MG. My previous blog explained that I had removed it pending adjusting the timing when I discovered that the securing bolt on the clamp was the wrong way around. With that all sorted it was time to pop it back in and make the timing adjustment.

The distributor on the MGB is a fiddly fit made worse because of how I’ve orientated the oil cooler pipe work. One day I’ll loosen that connection and rotate the L-shaped connector to reroute the oil pipe out of the way of the distributor but today was about timing.

With a bit of help from Helen (the long suffering Mrs Relentless Duck), we got the distributor back in place and it was then just the tedious job of tightening up the clamp bolts which are not easily reached. In lieu of an open ended 7/16th spanner I used an 11mm ring spanner which fitted more easily and allowed me a larger turn each go. I was getting about 1/3 of a turn per placement of the spanner so it took a while…

Once I had the bolts tightened, I connected up the cables and put the distributor cap on, managing to get the clips on first time which was a miracle and then popped the coil lead and one HT lead which I had removed for access. We were ready to go for a start up!

The MG started a little reluctantly, not unusual when it’s been left to sit for a while before then smoothing out, albeit idling too fast, and I was able to back it out of the garage. However as soon as I pulled away I could hear pinking so I stopped and trickled back to the drive for an adjustment, retarding the ignition by rotating the distributor anti-clockwise.

It took two more attempts to get it right but then the pinking had gone and it was idling nicely too (not too fast as before). I drove it up to the roundabout, my standard shakedown, before returning to check everything looked alright and to tighten the clamp bolt.

I had intended to do a longer run around our local bypass but unfortunately it had begun to rain so it was time to put the MG away. Good progress and I’ll find time over the next couple of days to do a longer run and find a friend with a strobe light!

25 Feb 2023 Distributor

After I sorted a leaky servo pipe recently I needed to retard the ignition as the advance was now way to aggressive under load and pinking was occurring. Basically the advance on the distributor was now getting a good suck if you’ll pardon the expression. This at least is the working theory.

My friend John was on hand as we set about loosening the distributor clamp to make an adjustment. This turned out to be a long awkward job as the bolt head was rounded off. We decided that this was a situation worth resolving otherwise it would always be a problem and so committed to removing the distributor, and the clamp.

On removal, we discovered that the bolt had been fitted incorrectly (by whom I wonder?). The clamp is cleverly designed to hold the bolt head so that all you need to do is tighten or loosen the nut. No need for two spanners. This is probably obvious to many people but it was a learning point for me.

Anyway, we concluded that we’d set the timing from scratch with a strobe light on another day so I finished up by cleaning the bracket because why not make it a bit more presentable?

Here is the dizzy in place but the bolt is the wrong way around

I’ll update when I’ve got it back on

12 February 2023 Little steps

Oh how time flies – no blog entry since September! anyone would have thought I was busy [sigh]. Some progress since the last blog – I have the bills to prove it! A couple of significant garage spells have seen some overdue tasks now completed. These include such delights as wiping wipers, a heater which blows and heats, washing washers, a rear hatch with all the right seals, working indicators and correct mixture in both carburettors.

Today, as well as recording the above progress, I can report a couple of minor jobs squeezed in between studying for an upcoming exam and visiting a local National Trust property (not in the MG, too much salt on the road).

Job 1 – SU Dashpots: I am chasing down a fast running issue, and following a suggestion from Dad, decided to check and clean up the SU dashpots to ensure they can slide up and down nicely. I wasn’t at all sure this would make any difference, but it was worth a try so Matt (future son-in-law) used some metal polish to clean these up while I did another job.

Job 2 – Repair servo hose: In chasing down the fast running issue, I decided to improve the seal where the servo pipe fits to the servo manifold. The pipe end (pictured below) was very ropey and I wondered if air was leaking through there and messing up how the carbs operated. So I used a junior hacksaw to saw a length off the pipe and then refixed it to the inlet manifold.

Road Test – Matt assisted to put on the air filters and we took the MG for a spin up the road to see if we had seen to the fast running issue. Straight away we found a problem, but we are now reflecting that we may have solved one issue, but caused another. In short, we now had a pinking issue under load. We cut the road test short and slowly returned to base. I am now wondering whether with a good seal on the servo manifold, we now to adjust everything to suit that new condition. Certainly the MG was not pinking when I picked it up from Clive and we haven’t made any other changes. What do you think?

Job 3 – Wipers: Clive had ordered me some replacement wipers which were on a delayed delivery, so I had picked these up from his garage the other week. As the car was out of the garage it seemed sensible to pop these on. The wiper blades were a little reluctant to come off- they have a dainty little clip which is supposed to release them, but having been fitted approximately ten years ago (conservative estimate) they were very attached to one another. With Matt pulling and me operating the long nosed pliers (surely everyone’s favourite tool) we got them apart and new blades slid nicely into place, immediately making the chrome arms look decidedly second hand. It was getting late, so no time to clean up the arms, that will go onto the list of jobs for another day.

Before putting the MG away, Matt and I dug out the sound proofing material I recently purchased. It was a bit difficult to work out what goes well, but it was clear that this would be an all-day job with the major issue being having to remove the seats to fit the acoustic matting and carpets (not yet fitted under the seats), so that will need a good dry day and a helper on hand. An interesting afternoon all round and it was good to see signs of Spring. I need to crack on with the MG (goodness knows when) as it is required for wedding duty in November!

3 Sep 22 Rework

First job on this hot Saturday was to refit the door pull which Helen pulled off recently when I picked her up from Tesco. To be fair, it wasn’t fixed properly in the first place so this time I used a decent nut and bolt combination on the dodgy fixing so this should now hold.

Second job was to replace the bonnet release cable because the reproduction one I fitted probably two years ago recently gave up the ghost and was beyond repair. I did toy with the idea of using the original but as it had a big old kink I decided to replace it with another brand of reproduction. This unit was of better quality and more closely resembled the original factory item. It’s a fiddly thing to fit and with my limited know-how I had to think hard about how it went together. Eventually I figured it out but it did involve threading the cable down the fitting and trying to find the hole in the cable sheath which I reckon is like trying to crack a safe. Managed it though! 😀

New bonnet pull fitted after some fiddling

Just to also mention a recent Garage tidy up and selling off of a couple of surplus parts which went easily enough on Facebook marketplace. More to sell off where that came from

14 August 2022 Brooklands

A visit to Brooklands Museum and a chance to catch up with a friend, John, on a sweltering Saturday, Summer 22. This museum has been on my list for a while. John and I had visited the adjacent Mercedes Benz World before and meant to go to Brooklands but ran out of time. As unfinished business, a visit was overdue.

A bonus of our visit was that the Aston Martin Heritage Club were meeting the following day and we witnessed the cars being offloaded through the day. The guys were a friendly lot and they were willing to chat to us about what was coming in.

I think the memorable thing about this visit was the volunteers who were mostly knowledgeable and always friendly which really added to the day. The whole museum has a lovely feel with a super blend of aircraft and cars within some (not all) historical buildings and the evocative banked circuit as a backdrop. It was a bit like Goodwood would be if it wasn’t so blooming busy!

A few shots of the circuit

View of the banking from the Members bridge

Probably the best part of the day was the Concorde experience. I’m on a mission to tick off all the remaining Concordes in the UK and this is number 2! This was Delta Golf. They played a video at the end showing off the aircraft in its glory days and I have to confess it moved me to tears!

Under the bird. The RAT was deployed for interest

The aircraft hangers were really good with some special exhibits

The car exhibits were equally special, arranged in historic workshops

And finally a collection of Astons

Zagato bodied DB4 ready for Pan-America Rally

19 August 22 Steering eased

Stiff steering resolved, although not by me. I am striking up a good relationship with our local MG specialist and after a couple of disruptions I was able to get the MG down to him today and he resolved the stiff steering. The problem was with the column itself which had become misshapen and was catching on the mounting bracket. I don’t have full details on the fix as I wasn’t there but it involved reshaping it with some tubing. Anyway, the steering is now bang on and the car drove back from the garage a lot more nicely than it drove down! A major hurdle overcome. He also spotted a few other issues around the car such as the bonnet alignment and non cancelling indicators which are on my list but it was good to discuss possible solutions. The bonnet catch cable has unfortunately also failed, stripping its fitting at the dashboard end which is annoying so that will need a replacement. This evening I reviewed my Completion Schedule, updating jobs done and adding on the new jobs. Its nearly at one page now and with the car basically driveable I can get out and about to get things done. Finally, spotted a rear light out so another job for the list!

A final reflection, it was good to watch Clive drive the MG up the road as I could listen to the exhaust note from the outside – sounded good!

16 August 22 I can handle this

I rarely work on the MGB during the week, being in that phase of life where the day job takes the majority of my time and energy. However, I found myself with a free hour this evening and I was itching to fix some bits I had bought with some birthday money. The parts in question are window winders and door handles. As is often the case, the reason for selecting parts is partly aesthetic and partly needs-based. When we fitted the doors cards earlier in the summer we fitted the existing ‘telephone’ style door pulls. These are soft touch items and very much of their time from the 1970s. Both handles were original and not in the best of shape although I did give them a bit of a scrub up. The one handle was in really poor shape and it barely lasted a couple of pulls before coming free of its fixing. As new units are quite expensive, I instead researched the after market and found an array of aluminium handles (with sporty drilled out holes) which would do the job nicely for a lower cost. My research led me to a reasonably priced set of door pulls and window winders actually intended to fit a Mini but with interchangeability with the MGB. Weirdly this meant ordering the set which comes with Mini escutcheons and door catches which I have no use for but at a lower cost than buying separate parts. To be clear, I haven’t splashed out on these, they are fairly cheap parts but fully up to the job.

Fitting them proved really simple, once I had found suitable screws for the window winders which have a fine thread. I fitted the handles with ‘botch-it’ self tappers into the worn original door fitting – hope that doesn’t offend any purists, it was a pragmatic solution. So there we have it, a nice smart and economical installation and another job off the tick list. Mrs Relentless Duck can now enjoy the luxury of not having to ask to borrow the window winder if she wants to lower the window.

MGB-GT Restoration

Restoration of my MGB GT with occasional other stuff