1971 MGB GT - Even more ICE - that's it, I'm done - see page 38

[Noel Tidybeard]

and this

the video always makes me smile too

[Peter C]

So, I had my operation last Friday and this is me for at least the next six weeks.

I can forget about driving until January.

The weather was glorious this morning and I took the opportunity to open up the garage. Before the op, I moved the MGB across within the garage to create easier access.

The B series fired up with a little choke and soon settled and idled nicely enough.

Vital stats look good.

I took the opportunity to play around with the ICE. Love it.

Ok, enough for now, gotta get back to watching Stranger Things.

 

[Mally]

On 31/10/2025 at 19:27, Peter C said:

I’m having a torn tendon reattached to the shoulder ball. Sounds properly fucked up. Two weeks is optimistic, I know. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to function after spending two weeks watching tv but full on car tinkering will be off the menu until well into next year.

I've only just caught this bit.

I completely tore my tendon in my shoulder a good while ago. Pain like you wouldn't believe. Fell off a scooter being stupid in Sunny Beach.

They told me I'd never raise my arm above my head without an op. They also said the op often fails the first time, takes a while to heal, involves pain.

By this point was a few days after the event and pain was subsiding.

If OP does fail, the second attempt usually works (on account that they figure out what broke the first time and why).

Or I could leave it as is, (there's a fair bone protrusion). Do a bit of physio (bloke said all my life) and see how things went, as an op is possible anytime down the line.

3 months on I could reach for the sky with both arms and was up a ladder wallpapering my house. have thrown my physio elastics away, but I'm and always was very active.

Doctor said he'd never seen a recovery to my extent without an op.

I hope it all works out well for you.

[Westbay]

Good luck with recovery 🤞

[vtec-e]

Just PM'd you

[Peter C]

1 hour ago, vtec-e said:

Just PM'd you

Thanks mate, I will respond in the morning.

[Peter C]

It's the 29th December and as the weather has generally been dry for the past few days, I decided to take the MGB, the Merc and the Sierra out this morning for one last drive in 2025.

It was cold, about 5C degrees, so I wrapped up nice and warm.

I made sure that my phone was fully charged.

I told my wife that I'll be back for lunch.

Unfortunately, as my shoulder is still in mid recovery period and I am not allowed to drive, this is as far as I got.

Nethertheless, I enjoyed the experience. The Merc and the MGB fired up first time and ran sweet as a nut. The Sierra's carburettor's float chamber empties itself somehow if left for about 5-7 days and the engine needed a few cranks for the fuel pump to push fuel up to the carburettor. Once it started, it also ran nicely. 

I left all three cars idling for about 15 minutes. The Merc has mechanical fuel injection and it deals with cold and hot idling all by itself. The Sierra's carburettor has an automatic choke, which works fine, however to get the revs down from a cold start, the accelerator needs to be dabbed every couple of minutes as the engine begins to warm up. The MGB's twin carburettors feature a manual choke, which is operated by a pull-lever situated in the centre of the dashboard. To get it going, the B-series needs the choke pulled right out on a cold morning like today, then the choke lever needs to be slowly pushed back in as the engine warms up. By the time I put all three cars back in the garages, each was idling happily with engines that were fully warmed up. 

All being well, I will be signed off and allowed to drive by mid January. However, whilst I will happily jump in the ID7 and drive to work, I doubt I will be able to safely manage the MGB's and Sierra's unassisted steering systems.

The Merc becomes MoT and ULEZ exempt on the 1st January. Unless I am mistaken, I need to pay my local (proper) Post Office a visit and fill out a V112 form to have the Merc reregistered as a historic vehicle. Nice.

A lot more in 2026.

Happy New Year my friends.

[Peter C]

Great news, my doctor and physiotherapist have confirmed that I am making great progress with my shoulder and have given me approval to start driving again. 

I drove the ID7 to work on Thursday and Friday and coped just fine. 

The weather was glorious today and I promised my wife that I will go to Maidenhead with her, to visit a few shops. A perfect opportunity to see how I would cope driving the MGB.

I took it very easy and for the first few miles my left arm did most of the steering. Once my confidence grew, the right arm joined in and I was doing just fine. 

We stopped at a Shell station to fill the tank with V-Power fuel. A perfect photo opportunity!

The MGB performed perfectly. The engine ran great, the heater kept us warm, I really enjoyed the experience.

It's good to be back.

 

[danthecapriman]

Great looking car that! Lovely style those driving gloves too😄

[Wibble]

That’s great news Peter, good to see you back in the road.

[smellypoo]

Glad the recovery is going well, being able to drive again after an involuntary absence due to illness/injury is a great feeling!

 

[vtec-e]

Good news! The MGB looking as photogenic as ever 😄

[Andyrew]

Ahh the MGB fuel stop hunch.

Where the fuel caps at such an odd position that every fill up you look like you've never put fuel in a car before.

 

[Noel Tidybeard]

2 hours ago, Peter C said:

 

"OI are you photographing my arse?"

"no dear, i'm getting pics of the MG!"

🤣

[N Dentressangle]

7 minutes ago, Andyrew said:

Ahh the MGB fuel stop hunch.

Where the fuel caps at such an odd position that every fill up you look like you've never put fuel in a car before.

 

Indeed. Pretty sure Mrs D would have vetoed photography of her arse.

[Peter C]

28 minutes ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

"OI are you photographing my arse?"

"no dear, i'm getting pics of the MG!"

🤣

Busted!

[High Jetter]

Brilliant news! Taking the other two out soon?

[Noel Tidybeard]

"sweetie i've got a hurty shoulder can you fill the sherpa coop for me?"

🤣

[Peter C]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

Brilliant news! Taking the other two out soon?

ASAP, weather permitting.

[Peter C]

Last weekend I took the MGB for a spin around the block. Once the engine warmed up, I pushed the choke knob back in and the engine started to run rough. With the choke reengaged, the engine ran ok. Yep, muck in the carburettors again.

I bought this lot from Amazon and the plan was to give both carburettors a good clean.

The weather was ok today so I decided to work outside. The environment was electric - see what I've done there?

I removed the tops of the float chambers. The fuel levels were fine on both sides.

However, in both float chambers, there was a fair bit of sediment at the bottom.

Bearing in mind that I cleaned the float chambers out not that long ago, this is fresh muck, not stuff that's been there for years. 

I know, I need to fit a fuel filter.

I cleaned out the float chambers. I removed the dashpots and cleaned the orifices where the jets pass through with my new special tools.

I then sprayed more cleaner into the base of the carburettors. 

This piece of something popped out from the front carburettor's float chamber feed pipe. That would be big enough to cause a blockage in the fuel supply.

Note partially healed cut from Monday's VW ID7 door opening incident. 

I re-assembled the carburettors and went for a quick test drive. The engine ran nice and smooth. Win.

To celebrate, I went to fit the labels kindly supplied by @Split_Pin. The four labels for the new switches fitted fine, the adhesive happily stuck to the vinyl. Unfortunately, the labels would not stick to the dashboard, beneath the wipers, screen wash and heater switches, most probably because sometime ago, I sprayed the dashboard with WD40. 

After lunch I took the MGB to London via the M40. 

It performed admirably. At one point I got it up to 75MPH whilst overtaking a convoy of trucks - crazy! On route back I had to emergency brake when a car swerved across three lanes and onto a slip road. That's the first time I've had to use all the MGB's brakes and I am pleased to report that they work just fine. The pedal is nice and hard, there is no free travel and the brakes pull up fast and straight. I've said it before, the MGB drives really well.

All being well, I will be upgrading the ICE next weekend. I already know where I am going to put the amplifier. 

More soon.

 

[Peter C]

I had a bit of spare time today so I decided to carry out some routine maintenance tasks.

The offside rear brake light wasn't working.

I removed the lens, touched the bulb and the light came on. So, the bulb was fine.

One of the terminals on the back of the bulb looked a bit melted (?).

I smoothed the terminal with a file and re-fitted the bulb.

Job done!

Then I put the lens back on and tried the brakes again. The light was off.

I ended up replacing the bulb with a spare and no matter how I wiggled it, it worked.

Job done, again.

Tail lights and number plate lights all work ok.

Round the front, sidelights were all good.

As were the main beams.

But the nearside high beam was dud.

Using my tester on the offside light, I ascertained that the blue and white cable served the high beam.

I tested the output side of the same connection on the nearside and there was no power.

I separated the plugs and tested the supply side. 

Power was getting to the connection.

Surely the problem couldn't have been as simple as a dirty connection?

I cleaned up the plugs, reinstated the wires and the nearside high beam light came back to life.

Win again.

How nice that cleaning the plugs was sufficient to fix the problem!

I've already mentioned my plans to fit a fuel filter.

Inside the engine bay, the fuel pipes that extend to the carburettors are braded.

Then the fuel line is solid from the bulkhead down to alongside the gearbox.

I really don't want to cut any of the braded fuel lines but I want to locate the filter as close to the carburettors as possible.

Under the car, there is a length of rubber fuel pipe that I can easily cut to install the fuel filter, however I am not sure it's a good idea to have the fuel filter in a such an exposed location under the car. It would also be a bugger to replace in the future. 

What would you do?

 

[Low ontime]

Swap out a braided hose for something suitable for fuel with the same fittings and put the filter where you want it? 
 

or stick it under the car tucked out the way?

plenty of modern stuff has it underneath, stick it in box and bolt to floor out of the way? 

[danthecapriman]

Given the age those braided hoses look I’d be tempted to just replace them. They will still have rubber in them which is probably not in its finest condition after this long anyway. Then just splice an inline filter into the new hose wherever you want it.

Id agree, putting a filter into the hose underneath wouldn’t be my first choice. On my Capri there’s a rubber section down low like that but I just don’t fancy having a plastic filter down there as if anything hits it you could end up with a leak or hole through the thin plastic. A metal bodied filter would be fine though. 
I’ve fitted mine between the mechanical engine mounted pump and carb. Just left the hose slightly too long, cut it in half and stuck the filter into there so it’s not being pulled tight.

[Peter C]

@Low ontime

@danthecapriman

I was quite fond of my 56 year old braided hoses but now I like the idea of ditching them and fitting modern, ethanol friendly hoses + fuel filter. 

Thank you for your good advice. 

[chadders]

I'd put the fuel filter in the engine bay where it can be easily seen, there's plenty of space.

If you're having starting problems a quick glance will tell you if fuel is getting through without having to disconnect a pipe or hose.

[GeorgeB]

Main beam or high beam? 

[Peter C]

4 minutes ago, GeorgeB said:

Main beam or high beam? 

????

[GeorgeB]

Main beam and high beam are the same thing.

Was it the dipped beam or the main beam that wasn't working?

[High Jetter]

59 minutes ago, GeorgeB said:

Main beam and high beam are the same thing.

True. I remember something my Dad had that had a blue warning light to remind you that you were on dipped, not main, beams. It's been the other way for years, of course.

[Peter C]

1 hour ago, GeorgeB said:

Main beam and high beam are the same thing.

Was it the dipped beam or the main beam that wasn't working?

I think you might be right.

My bad.