Great Stopping Point

Today we finished the windshield installation and drove the car.  Ray put over a half tank of gas in the tank, fuel gauge appears to be working.  Speedometer and odometer work, but the speedo does appear to be reading really high.  So we put the car away in the next door storage unit for the winter - both of us have plans to head south for warmer weather, we'll both be back by mid February.  Next spring we will drive the car more and complete the shakedown process.

Here's the windshield in place:

Here's a view of the interior of the car.  Ray did a nice job on the seats and side panels:

Yes that is gravel you see behind the seats, we need to install the cover over the battery area.

Then here's two overall views of the car:

Meantime we completed the financial transaction, the car now is fully Rays and we've removed some of the funds from our joint account.  But we've left enough for purchase and initial expenses on another project car.  So the hunt begins for our next project!

Dreaded Windshield

We attempted to install the good used windshield glass we were given by the prior owner.  Had the glass sitting on the work surface and scraped crud off of it to get it ready for installation.  Came back after a weekend and the glass had a two inch crack across the corner.  Bummer!

So ordered new glass, today we got the new glass installed in the frame.  Lots of little, special length screws used, glad they have clear instructions on what goes where!  Here's a picture of the completed frame:

They give you a much wider strip of rubber than needed and you trim it back to the edge of the metal frame.  We used soapy water to aid in getting the glass into the frame, we opted to wait until this soapy water dries out before we trim off the excess.  Plus the inside of the frame is much easier to trim while it's off the car.  We also installed the rubber on the bottom of the frame that seals against the cowl of the car.  So in three more days we will trim the rubber and install the frame onto the stanchions on the car.

Couple of other items.  The rear differential was almost empty of fluid, and the transmission fluid was really gunky.  We decided at the recommendation of a friend to fill both with automatic transmission fluid for about 20 miles or so.  This should flush out any remaining nastiness, then we will fill both with the appropriate Redline synthetic lubricant.

Turn signal switch was staying on for about 2 seconds, dismantled switch and cleaned up leather seal, adjusted bleed valve, and now this pneumatic switch stays on for about 20 seconds, as designed.  OK, it's not a good design since it's not related to steering wheel position, but still it does work as it was originally intended!

We have everything working from an electrical point of view except the tachometer.  The charging system was not working, removed generator and had it checked out at a local auto electric shop.  They said it was working fine, so problem must be in the voltage regulator.  Reinstalled generator and now the charging light was not only staying on but was VERY bright.  Measured voltage and it was 24 volts!  Apparently the shop that checked out the generator didn't know the car was positive ground, and they switched the polarity of the field winding.  We reset the field winding polarity and amazingly the charging system now works just like it should!

Fuel gauge moves toward full tank when you disconnect sending unit, need to actually put in more gas and make sure it is accurate.  Blower motor and wiper motors all work.

Connected speedometer cable, need to confirm after next run that speedo actually works. 

Hand brake was rusted up, after some PB Blaster it's now now working well.  Bled brakes again and we've got a very hard brake pedal.

So after windshield installation is complete and one more drive around town, then we put it away for a couple of months before getting it out in early spring to finish it's shakedown process.

And It's On the Road!

Ray and I both drove the car today.  Runs pretty darn well, considering how little we've done to tune up the engine.  More importantly, the clutch and transmission worked fine.  Here's the obligatory first drive video:

After the drive we changed the oil in the engine plus drained the transmission.  Tranny had some gunky looking 90 weight oil in it, glad we're putting nice clean 20W50 in there.

Even made some progress today on electrical issues. Cleaned contacts and wire connections for turn signal relay box.  Then ended up bending the armature to make it easier to close the contacts and both side turn signals started working.  Still only have one brake light, suspect it's root cause is also poor contact inside the box. 

Smoke Still In The New Wires.....At Least For Now

British car folks talk about wiring problems as "letting the smoke out of the wires" when you have excessive current flow due to wiring defects.  Well, this MGA has entirely new wiring now and we are pleased to report that none of the smoke has come out of the wires......yet!

Here's a picture of the new dash with mostly older gauges and switches installed in it:

This is a "new" used dash because the original one had an extra hole for an ammeter which is not stock.  Ray prepped and painted this dash, looks very nice.  He also re-covered the black dash pad above it.

Here's some views of the lights on:

Turn signals don't work yet, complex system with large relay involved.  We found the steering column is actually adjustable although it's rusted up pretty bad, this needs some attention.  Then we have all the pieces to install a good used windshield into the original frame.  From there our list should get pretty short, unless driving the car surfaces some new issues.  Hopefully next blog post will include views of the car on the road!