Andy's awful autos: There's metal somewhere under that paint

[jim89]

  On 27/04/2025 at 12:48, Andyrew said:

Manual override

Over riders, some cars look wrong without them and some look so much better plain. 

I'm sure some will disagree but I think the ones fitted to Bs are way too big for the area they share. It's all too cluttered.

Right then, off you fuck. I'll keep hold of you

Bit of cleaning and polishing, and a few holes drilled in the centre of the bumper later.

Much better (IMO)

 

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Looks better w'out the riders  to my eye👍🏻

Fronts too?

[Andyrew]

  On 27/04/2025 at 13:06, jim89 said:

Looks better w'out the riders  to my eye👍🏻

Fronts too?

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*Please note: I do not read the Daily mail. id rather stuff a frozen pineapple up my arse than read any of that shite.

[Andyrew]

Rider removal and a tone down of the frontal chromage 

[Matty]

I've been meaning to take the over riders off mine for a while now. The fear of what lurks underneath stopped me so far. That and as a deluxe model, it should have them. I know it would look better without though. Maybe these photos can provide the impetus needed 👍

[Andyrew]

Valance balance

The front had sustained some damage from its recovery to Copart. The seller had pulled the panel a smidge before I viewed the car ad the damage was alot worse in the listing photos. 

Some hammer and dolly action gets it good enough for me

[Six-cylinder]

It is going to be famous.

 

[Fabergé Greggs]

Loving your work on the MGB, I've never wanted one before but this is giving me major wants. DIBS! 

[Supernaut]

I echo others when I say DO NOT PAINT.

It looks hard as nails with all the little scrapes and dents.

[Andyrew]

It drove there! Whoooop

[Andyrew]

Getting in a dizzy

Today then, I popped to Accuspark in Flamstead not far from me. Leaving with a full kit (new E.I complete dizzy,new leads, coil and plugs,) for around the £100 mark I'm not expecting the best of quality but cheap car, cheap fixes. I hear mixed reviews on these and don't think cheap electronics are any worse than cheap points/condenser etc etc.

Plugs look a bit questionable but sure they will be fine. In you go.

Fitted and timed up in about 30 mins ish while chatting to my friend. So dizzy tweaking and it fired up.  Timing light got it roughly where it sounded good. Will check properly once I know what it should be at. 

Overall, easy simple and got the car running. Did what I needed it to do.

[captain_70s]

I had an Accuspark dizzy in the Dolly and managed a few years before it died. Quite nice in that it never needed touching until it started failing when hot.

[Andyrew]

 

[camryv6]

  On 26/04/2025 at 06:16, Talbot said:

I love the fact that one of the front over-riders on the front bumper is clearly a rear one, as it has the hole and mounting for a number plate lamp in it.

Absolute quality!  You could fit the missing illumination and light up a grille badge at night.

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I am the other way round i find that over rider really annoying, i would put some silver tape over the hole

[Peter C]

  On 26/04/2025 at 18:30, Andyrew said:

many hours later when have a nice tailgate fitted. It was way more difficult than I expected it to be but it's done now. Maybe one day I'll paint it.

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Why was it so hard to replace the tailgate? 

I need to replace the outer seal on mine, which involves removal and reinstatement of the tailgate. From what I can see, I need to mask up the position of the two hinges, undo three bolts per side and the tailgate will be free. Once I've got the new seal on, reinstatement is the reversal of removal. 

Loving your work, reminds me of what I went through last year. 

My MGB as I got it:

And this is how it looks now:

It's been a journey but I've had fun along the way.

 

[Andyrew]

  On 30/04/2025 at 06:31, Peter C said:

Why was it so hard to replace the tailgate? 

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I was replacing the tailgate, however the new one rubbed on the roof when lifting the hatch up after fitting. 

There's no adjustment in the countersunk screws that fix the hinge to the gate but 3 studs with adjustment behind the headliner panel where the hinge bolts to the car.

I ended up having to slot the hinges to get it to clear, could be the new gate was tweaked/pattern part/later tooling. 

Add to that the rubber seal for the glass is old/ shrunk and damaged from improper fitting previously. It generally just all put up more of a fight than I was expecting.

If you are just taking it off and refitting, it should be a breeze.  I wouldn't undo the 3 bolts, I'd just undo the 4 countersunk screws so you don't have to re adjust the hinges. 

[SiC]

Boot lid removal, adjusting and replacement is a known ball ache on the BGT. 

[Peter C]

  On 30/04/2025 at 07:21, Andyrew said:

I wouldn't undo the 3 bolts, I'd just undo the 4 countersunk screws so you don't have to re adjust the hinges. 

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Ok, noted, thank you.

Were the countersunk screws difficult to loosen?

[Andyrew]

  On 30/04/2025 at 09:29, Peter C said:

Ok, noted, thank you.

Were the countersunk screws difficult to loosen?

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Mine were very tight and needed a mega wide pozi head drive bit. 

They were however partially cross threaded so an untouched item may undo nicely

[Peter C]

  On 30/04/2025 at 11:49, Andyrew said:

Mine were very tight and needed a mega wide pozi head drive bit. 

They were however partially cross threaded so an untouched item may undo nicely

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I suspect mine will be the same, which is why I propose to remove  the six bolts that fix the tailgate to the roof.

[Andyrew]

If I had a hammer

With the VP heading off soon I wanted to address the wheel bearings before it left. One was very grumble after the scotland trip and another was a little crunchy.

I had 4 already for the allegro, with that now gone and them being the same on the VP They go. May aswell give the swivel pins a clean and grease too. This wasn't particularly a job I was looking forward too as it involves years of shite build up and the worse tool ever, the grease gun. I fucking hate grease guns. 

I started with the N.s as this was the crunchy one. This side has had a hard time at some point in its life. Hammer marks and all kinds of savagery. I can only assume the person assembled the pins wrong some how to cause some of the damage, the wheelbearing seals and spacer were the wrong way around too

The inner part of the bearing was stuck on the CV joint.

i used a burr bit and file to knock down any highs from damage, 

handily I found 1 new lock washer in my box of random tat. Will make another if the other side needs one.

 

[SiC]

These were a game changer in greasing for me:

https://amzn.eu/d/7LzPpsa

GURTECH G.COUPLER is the name of the genuine original one iirc. South African made and really do clamp on properly without puking grease out of the coupling. 

Just screwed onto my regular grease gun after removing the original (crap) attachment. 

Looks to be cheaper on eBay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114285805970

 

[Andyrew]

Giving it the boot

With the nearside complete

Today I stripped the other side down

Cleaned, new bearings , and light splash of paint.

While i had the hubs off ive repacked the CV joints,  on this side however I Found this, a visit to the local factors later, they had a universal stepped boot and its not the best fit but its on. 

And back together

I learnt some more about this car today

I recall when I rebuilt the Calipers that they we marginally different, well I think whoever owned this car in the past has swapped alot of components over from another car as this side has a different style driveshaft to the other ( greaseable and not) 

It was a similar story on the rear where one radius arm appears to be from another car. 

Also the bloody oil filters leaking again! Bastard!

 

 

 

[Andyrew]

A little tyred

The Bs uniroyal tyres while they have loads of tread are from 2005 and as certainly showing it.

I'm trying to keep this a budget build and as i fit my own tyres ive gone for some 1or 2 year old part worns from the usual place on ebay. One pair are almost new and a bargain at £45 delivered, the other not so great (hey are at the end of the day tyres removed from cars being scrapped)they were cheaper at £40 and get me on the road. If I like the car maybe I'll treat it to a new matching set of boots down the line. 

 

[Peter C]

Will you be fitting new inner tubes?

[Andyrew]

  On 02/05/2025 at 17:11, Peter C said:

Will you be fitting new inner tubes?

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There were No tubes in the old ones I took off so no plan on putting them in. 

Are you running tubes in yours?

[SiC]

  On 02/05/2025 at 17:11, Peter C said:

Will you be fitting new inner tubes?

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There shouldn't be any in rostyles with radials. 

[AnthonyG]

Why was this at Copart? Or are they are a general ‘end of life vehicle’ destination now?

Just wondered as this has the feel of something abandoned in a garage/parking place feel to it and the landlord/garage owner seized it after 5/10 years of non payment….

Nice to see it getting some love. Obviously, as this is AS, you should be sourcing some rubber bumpers to make it proper period Leyland misery correct! 

[AnthonyG]

Also, with the two VPs, the Spitfire and the B you really are living the small ads ‘Under £500’ dream circa 1992! 

All you need is an Y reg Ambassador with squeaky driveshafts and a very battered Series II Land Rover with a seized engine to complete the collection. 

[Yoss]

  On 02/05/2025 at 07:42, Andyrew said:

A little tyred

The Bs uniroyal tyres while they have loads of tread are from 2005 and as certainly showing it.

I'm trying to keep this a budget build and as i fit my own tyres ive gone for some 1or 2 year old part worns from the usual place on ebay. One pair are almost new and a bargain at £45 delivered, the other not so great (hey are at the end of the day tyres removed from cars being scrapped)they were cheaper at £40 and get me on the road. If I like the car maybe I'll treat it to a new matching set of boots down the line. 

 

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They look really good for part worns, I thought they were new when I first glanced at the picture. 

  On 02/05/2025 at 17:54, AnthonyG said:

Why was this at Copart? Or are they are a general ‘end of life vehicle’ destination now?

Just wondered as this has the feel of something abandoned in a garage/parking place feel to it and the landlord/garage owner seized it after 5/10 years of non payment….

Nice to see it getting some love. Obviously, as this is AS, you should be sourcing some rubber bumpers to make it proper period Leyland misery correct! 

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I think a rubber bumpered MGB that has been quite shonkily converted to chrome is the perfect Autoshite MG 

[SiC]

  On 02/05/2025 at 17:54, AnthonyG said:

Why was this at Copart? Or are they are a general ‘end of life vehicle’ destination now?

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I've seen a few cars that have gone through copart with no accident damage. I have a feeling some of the companies who "scrap" cars chuck the better examples through copart. A bit like my Golf GTI Mk5 that had the rusty sills who someone bought and welded them up to flog on. No category marker and no accident damage.