A40 - saggy bottom firmed

[Matty]

No photos of oil changes on engine, gearbox and diff cos I reckon we all know what they look like. Had a new gasket to fit under oil filter housing as well as it was weeping. Anyone want to take a rough set of 13x4.5 rostyles off my hands? 😁

[Matty]

And finally, the money shots. How bloody good do they look?!? Exactly the picture I had in my head before I even bought the car. Slightly wider at 13x5.5 but I've stuck with the same sized tyre (165/70) so I've just got a bit more graduation from contact patch to sidewall I guess.

[Matty]

Next big job as funds allow is a new exhaust made for it as the home made effort on it is abysmal. Then new period correct buckets to replace the Rover metro seats. Better work some overtime then 😆

[puddlethumper]

That looks excellent @Matty. Like it.

[Matty]

21 minutes ago, puddlethumper said:

That looks excellent @Matty. Like it.

Thanks very much. It's as rough as toast with its paint job and the interior is a bitsa but for me it's part of its charm. It's to use not polish and it goes really well !

[HMC]

Those wheels look ace 11/10

[Asimo]

Brill.   All that a car needs to be.

[Mally]

On 5/7/2022 at 10:33 PM, Matty said:

Out of interest, albeit you've not been far yet, but bgt or midget so far, which do you like more?

Midget reminded me of sitting in a 3 wheeled Reliant. Legs down a too small tunnel sort of thing. I didn't enjoy it enough to buy one 

MGB Gt proper car.   Roadster I never took to somehow.

Gt had wider tyres, dunno if that made the difference.

[schonker]

I loved the rostyles and didn't think you could do any better, but those new wheels look great

[High Jetter]

Now that's how an A40 should look! BLoody good work, hope you enjoy driving it.

[Matty]

35 minutes ago, schonker said:

I loved the rostyles and didn't think you could do any better, but those new wheels look great

D'ya wanna buy a set? Painted with humbrol and shod with 20 year old stomils? 😄

[Matty]

6 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Now that's how an A40 should look! BLoody good work, hope you enjoy driving it.

Cheers bud. Yes I really do enjoy driving it. I'm hoping that  the driving it/mending it balance is beginning to tilt in my favour 😂 (famous last words)

[Matty]

47 minutes ago, Mally said:

MGB Gt proper car

A very good looking car too. Even impact bumpers couldn't stop it being a pretty shape!

[Mally]

13 minutes ago, Matty said:

A very good looking car too. Even impact bumpers couldn't stop it being a pretty shape!

Chrome bumper FTW.

[Matty]

1 hour ago, Mally said:

Chrome bumper FTW.

Obvs 😄

[SiC]

I prefer the rubber bumpers especially with the front splitter, but no one believes me!

[Matty]

6 minutes ago, SiC said:

I prefer the rubber bumpers especially with the front splitter, but no one believes me!

Not quite as pretty as a chrome bumper, but with the benefit of hindsight they do a bloody good job of integrating them into the design

[High Jetter]

It was very important, to get US homologation. Interesting to wonder how the design might have developed otherwise.

+1 for chrome

[vulgalour]

2 hours ago, SiC said:

I prefer the rubber bumpers especially with the front splitter, but no one believes me!

They don't photograph well, that's the trouble.  Get the right colour - black, chocolate brown, bright yellow, white - and lowered back to pre-rubber height they actually look pretty good in person.

 

The new wheels on the A40 look really good, matches the rest of the car very nicely.  The seat upgrade is a great choice too, for when that happens.

[Matty]

I had a bit of a good update planned for tonight but it turned out an anticlimax in the end. We had planned a good run out to acid test mine and a 280 TVR Tamsin that our Tony bought not long after I got mine. The Motorist up in North Yorkshire was running a "cars you don't see anymore" meet today. Well, from where we are (east lancs) what a nice run. Burnley to Skipton, over Blubberhouses to Harrogate and onward. Run went well, the little Austin seems to be getting quicker all the time. The meet itself, what a waste of time. There were plenty of people there, but no cars save a row of mark 2 and 3 cavaliers.

We parked up and got a brew and there were folk all over ours taking pictures and stuff. Poor buggers, they'd obviously been there all day waiting to look at something decent and ours was the best it got. Then another poor bastard in a lovely A60 Cambridge turned up having driven all the way from Sale. No sooner had we said "what a lovely thing, didn't they look mint as an estate" than one drove in! And look at the paucity in front of him and drove straight out 😂

Anyway, some shit photos cos I was a bit deflated.

[Matty]

Above a lovely 912 we followed for a bit near Whalley. Photo courtesy of my glamorous Co pilot Ryan.

[Matty]

The entire car content of the "car meet".

[Matty]

Good news is the A40 flew there and back. Pulls really well, far better than a standard 1098. Didn't use a drop of oil or water. Developed a slight miss after getting stinking hot crawling through a very congested Harrogate on the way home, but soon cleared with some fresh air. Much better updates available when I've sold some shit and freed up some funds for adjustable telescopics on the back end and uprated valves for me armstrongs on the front. Seats will have to wait 😄

Fin.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Matty said:

The entire car content of the "car meet".

Where are these big car parking spaces?

[Matty]

10 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Where are these big car parking spaces?

I reckon they were expecting so much turnout that they'd need to double up 😄

[Mrs Spart]

On 5/6/2022 at 9:45 PM, Mally said:

I'm sure* it will be fine...............but the rotor arm on @Mrs Spart 's MGB was Distributer Doctor like your's.  That's why I didn't twig it straight away.

It had been stood a while though.

  And it's still running like a dream...

Took it out to a Jubilee Event recently 👌🏽♥️👌🏽

[mat_the_cat]

On 5/10/2022 at 9:23 PM, SiC said:

I prefer the rubber bumpers especially with the front splitter, but no one believes me!

You aren't the only one!

[Scrubworks]

Check out this guy sending it:

New wheels look sweet by the way 👌.

[Matty]

Thanks for that @Scrubworks. Nothing much going on at present. The state of the suspension front and back us increasingly making itself known. I reckon the PO just nailed the car back together using all the old components. Every rubber Bush is old and perished, the lever arms at the front are comically soft and the telescopics at the rear rattle and bang. I've identified a complete front end poly Bush kit at Motobuild, a firm down Kent which makes and supplies uprated and adjustable valves for the armstrong dampers and Spax are still making uprated gas filled telescopics.

However, I'm not keen on spending family money on  this project, so I'm in the process of trying to sell some stuff to free up funds. So hopefully some better updates in the next few months!

[Scrubworks]

7 hours ago, Matty said:

Thanks for that @Scrubworks. Nothing much going on at present. The state of the suspension front and back us increasingly making itself known. I reckon the PO just nailed the car back together using all the old components. Every rubber Bush is old and perished, the lever arms at the front are comically soft and the telescopics at the rear rattle and bang. I've identified a complete front end poly Bush kit at Motobuild, a firm down Kent which makes and supplies uprated and adjustable valves for the armstrong dampers and Spax are still making uprated gas filled telescopics.

However, I'm not keen on spending family money on  this project, so I'm in the process of trying to sell some stuff to free up funds. So hopefully some better updates in the next few months!

Much like my Minor then. Pulled the front suspension apart last year, and found some bushes that were basically non-existent, and some that still said MOWOG on them and had clearly never been changed. Polybushing will make it much better. I prefer SuperPro brand bushes myself but on a design this old it hardly matters. The armstrong dampers can be refilled with a thicker oil if you want to uprate them. I filled the ones on my Moggy with SAE 40 oil (standard is SAE 20), which would be perfect for a track, but on the road is way too harsh. I'm now draining and refilling them again to SAE 30 which should be ok. For the rear, check the U bolts that hold the axle onto the springs. They can loosen over time and cause issues, and often get overlooked.