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Post by 1hotvw on Jan 3, 2019 15:42:17 GMT -8
looks good, driving in no time. next time hes around send him on over. i got some gerson and wolf panels to massage.
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Post by Volktales on Jan 3, 2019 20:53:37 GMT -8
looks good, driving in no time. next time hes around send him on over. i got some gerson and wolf panels to massage. Gerson and Wolf. The good stuff! Whatcha building???
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Post by 1hotvw on Jan 3, 2019 21:57:50 GMT -8
well, i finally am close to finishing the rail buggy which was only to take 10 months but 2.5 years later. bought garage in a box , pushed it outside and the rideem lawn mower. now room to get back to a 4 year or more stalled project you can see on the vic site under old bug.
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Post by owdlvr on Jan 19, 2019 11:18:05 GMT -8
After a few weeks away, I get a few days in the shop before checking in with United once more. Standard Midget dash... And hiding under the standard Midget Dash... Being a guy who runs classic car rallies, I often need to power GPS, cell phone, rally computer, etc. etc. So, three power points needed to be installed. As I'm going to be adding heated seat elements (because, why not?), I needed switches. And then, there is the 'stereo', which is a simple small amp that drives two speakers. All hidden, so that the car could still pass as a collector. Took forever to make, as I had to wire up relays and fuses and other gear so as to not stress the MG wiring harness which is, uh, in rough shape. Ignition controls a relay, which then powers the whole addition on it's own fuse set and wiring. Door panels, as the car arrived: And door panels as I've currently got them. A tartan plaid will go onto the inside portion which is currently blank. While not quite as nice as I had hoped, these are such a significant improvement, I can be happy with it. The same tartan plaid is going to be used on the inside ribbed portions of the seats, since they are torn and need to be recovered anyhow. The only question I currently have is whether I'll run the wooden steering wheel the period deserves, or an alcantara racing wheel which I prefer to have on my 'driver' cars. Doing the rest of the carpet in the car from scratch is taking FOREVER, and at this stage I wish I had just shelled out for a kit. I'd much rather be moving onto mechanicals and other fun bits to get the car driving.
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Post by owdlvr on Jan 20, 2019 23:10:18 GMT -8
Whelp, ran out of carpet...but had some left over VW carpet, so I have a slight non-match until I get another roll of the stuff I was using. Not a big deal, the VW carpet is a much nicer carpet! Installed new seat belts, and the interior is now waiting my red tartan to show up so I can finish the doors and get the seats done. I then swapped out the headlights for Hella H4 conversion lights. I do this on all my classic cars, as the E-code beam is a much, much better beam for driving. I've started switching over to Brightsource LED H4 bulbs as well, but as I don't plan on doing a tonne of night driving with the Midget, I've left the regular H4 bulbs in. The nice part about this swap is that even though they are much brighter with a sharper cut off, the wattage is no higher so the stock harness doesn't need to be upgraded. Some people don't like the switch from a curved glass to flat, but I'll take safety while driving over strictly exact. I've swapped out all the rubber flex lines in the brakes, and when aiming to do the leaking rear wheel cylinders discovered it was actually the axle seals. They had never dripped, just weeped, until I left it overnight with the wheels off...and it was an obvious puddle of oil, not brake fluid, on the ground. Both cylinders are dry as well. Not wanting to wait for parts, and also not finding any gaskets in there anyways, I simply swapped out the o-rings and used permatex to seal up the axles. We'll see how that works. The car came with a bad master cylinder (installed) and a brand new one in a box labelled "NFG", because it had been installed and had no clutch action. The one in the car has no brake action. The parts car came with a master cylinder that looked relatively brand new, but as there was no brakes or anything on the shell I have no idea if it's any good. Before ordering a new one, I figured why not give it a shot? Swapped that over, including the pedals and box that were in better shape than the ones on my car. Turns out I don't have the correct cap for my power bleeder, so while I waited for the JB-Weld to cure on the one I made...I started playing with the front end. First up was repairing the front bumper mount. It was solid on the driver's side, but broken on the passenger side and basically just floating there. A couple of tabs welded in under the car has it locked in an solid...though I don't think I'll be using the towing eye on the passenger side! I've been thinking bumper-delete from the very get go, and decided to try it out. I can't help myself but put a little bit of rally look into the car, so with some very cheap fog lights I ended up with this: With tomorrow being a work day, I've opted not to bleed the brakes until tomorrow evening, so I have time to look for and solve any leaks. Should keep me from losing a litre of fluid onto the garage floor. A front end inspection finds the kingpins with a slight amount of play to them, enough to consider whether I can reshim them...but not enough to consider a full rebuild. By mid-end of the summer, however, I might be looking at dropping a rebuilt set in. Without knowing if the shocks, steering rack, or other components are good, I'm not going to swap parts out unless it's a safety issue. I'm sure I'll have a good healthy chassis-list after the first week of driving. The tires, however, need to be replaced!
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Post by Volktales on Jan 21, 2019 17:55:43 GMT -8
I wish I had H4's in all my VWs. Installed them in my '70 Beetle back in the '80's, and could not believe how much better they were. And they look great, unlike those AWFUL LED aftermarket headlights some folks just have to have...
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Post by PICTUP on Jan 21, 2019 23:17:56 GMT -8
Not only do you fly to get to work, you really fly at these projects! Nice.
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Post by owdlvr on Jan 22, 2019 10:26:45 GMT -8
We have brakes! First time I've ever had a bleed screw strip out of a wheel cylinder on the 'last bleed'. Broken 'em trying to open, yup. Pull the threads out after 4 or 5 times already using it with success? Nope. Good thing I had backups ready, it was a quick swap. We have clutch! At least, I think we do. Pedal doesn't feel 100%, but then I haven't driven an MG hydraulic clutch in a year +, and my Rally Bug has a full Tilton setup in it, so the feel is vastly different. I should probably just jump in my MGB to get a feel, but it's cold and wet out Now that I know there are no leaks (with the car sitting overnight), I'll fire it up and see if I can get gears on the stand without any issues. Thought I would explore the transmission leak a little last night, and discovered stripped threads on one of the 'plugs'. Number 76 in the diagram. It should have a couple of interlock balls above it, and I would have anticipated at least one would fall out (but having never pulled an MG transmission apart, they may be held captive as part of the assembly). The plug is shaped to obviously hold the interlock ball in, but even rotating through the gears won't allow me to seat the bolt flush with the transmission case. Hmmm...previous owner, who's a friend, didn't mention any issues with the gearbox. A slight mystery, one which may find some enlightenment if I actually read the transmission chapter of the repair manual. In the meantime, my shop helicoils are metric only, so I'll have to see if I can get a 3/8-24 set today to repair the trans. Worst case scenario there is enough meat to go up to 10mmx1.0 and I can fashion the correct shaped bolt on the lathe.
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Post by owdlvr on Jan 23, 2019 11:31:34 GMT -8
I love my lathe. Trans issue repaired. Car has to sleep for a week+ while I go do some real work.
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Post by PICTUP on Jan 23, 2019 12:33:48 GMT -8
A few questions...
Is there any chance the "bumper delete" will get you into trouble with RCMP or CVSE?
So I take it you went with the "worst case scenario" and metricized the trans bolt. If you had gone with the helicoil would you have had to do the whole depth of the hole in the casting? It looks as though there are twice the number of threads in the hole as on the bolt. Was that the stock bolt or had someone switched it out before for an "incorrect"one, that worked but didn't bite with enough threads(to resist the pressure from the interlock balls)?
Lathe work has always been a fascination for me, but I have never done any due to the intimidation factor...not to mention having never lived anywhere with the space for one, lol!
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Post by owdlvr on Jan 24, 2019 11:24:50 GMT -8
Yes, and I may need to reverse it. Technically if removed or replaced, the bumpers need to be replaced with something that provides equal protection to the bumpers fitted from factory. That's an interesting way to word it, because the factory bumpers (by todays standards) are essentially worthless. T-Bars on VWs, for instance, are also illegal in BC...but everyone seems to be fine with them. May need to modify my light mounts a little so they are offering some "protection". Actually, since the threads were only stripped out the length of the factory bolt threads, but went much deeper into the case, I bought a 3/8-24 bolt and modified it to fit. Not 100% sure why the factory bolt has such a long narrow section, and I can't see any ports or reason for it in the transmission case...so we'll see if this works It's also possible the bolt was switched out at some point in it's life, though the one I pulled does seem to match the parts diagram. Who knows! So far on the MG forum no transmission expert has piped up, so that either means I'm okay or no one really knows anything about this particular "plug".
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Post by owdlvr on Feb 1, 2019 23:22:16 GMT -8
Well, I got back from my US trip with a bunch of parts in my luggage...and I also picked up the wheels from a local powder-coater. Once again, I'm not sure I made the correct colour choice for the 'look' I want...but it will be easy enough to change. For the wheels, I will probably end up using plasti-dip to make them black. I think a black wheel is going to look better for the period 'racing' look I'm after, but didn't want to powdercoat them permanently black, as I fear they'll look like cheap winter steelies. I also managed to pick up the seats that I had recovered, and got the guys to quilt some panels for me that I used on the inside of the doors. To say I'm stoked on the interior would be an understatement. While it's certainly not original...it's is 100% 'me'. The steering wheel is planned as a 'temporary' item, until I can find a thick-rimmed, 13", wooden wheel at a price I'm willing to pay. But I do love the feel of a good alcantra wheel when I'm driving, so I suspect it will stay in the car longer. Pretty much the only reason I'll swap it out is the quick-release moves the wheel 1.5" closer to the driver over a stock wheel. I could run without the quick release, but I know from my Beetle that if you let the alcantra sit in inclement weather, they start to feel damp and clammy. With no top, I need to be able to take the wheel inside!
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Post by Volktales on Feb 2, 2019 10:19:46 GMT -8
Looking very nice! The "Old English White" wheels do look era-appropriate. I like Minilites on these cars too.
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Post by magikbus on Feb 2, 2019 15:35:35 GMT -8
Are center rear view mirrors required on vehicles like this? STan
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Post by PICTUP on Feb 2, 2019 17:16:10 GMT -8
As they say on the "other" rock.... Top work!
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