Jason Plank's Journal

Well tonight was a productive night. I bought a lake model overdrive transmission from a guy here localy. Well, it would be more accurate to say I bought a lot of parts, yeah it's in a box. But it is all bagged up and labled. The gears and synchros actually look really good and it came will all new bearings, seals and gaskets. The OD unit looks good but is apart as well.
For Fathers day I got the MG is Born series. I keep replaying the transmission/OD episode in my head. I just wish they had shown a more detailed rebuild.
While I was out there I also picked up a complete engine and 4-speed from a 77 B. The 4-speed is pratically worthless from what I can tell, but I may be able to make a little off the engine. I'll tear into it and see whats good.
Soooo, it looks like I need a Bently manual and some time to get this thing back to gether.

I was given a 77 MGB in Feb of 2002. It has sat in a Houston area garage since 1981. The origional owner parked it there after having her second child. It has 44,XXX miles and I was able to get it to fire up pretty easily. A carb clean and a starter rebuild got it up and running. Of course as you fellow MGB owners know other issues creep up once you get going.

The fuel tank was found to be very rusty and there was some very "creative" wiring that had been done.
All in all the car is in pretty good shape with very little rust. Floorboards, fenders, rear quarter panels, trumpets, frame rails, all rust free. There 2 small bubbles in the doglegs on each side. I have since replaced both doglegs.

Since getting the car I we've had 2 kids and moved. I've towed the car every where I went. I'm forced to work slowly as time and money have allowed but I'm gettting it done. I replaced the ZS carb with a pair of HS-4's i rebuilt. Then sold those and replaced with a Weber DGV. At the time I didn't know about the conical shaped K&N's, otherwise I would have kept the SU's...oh well it runs well with the weber. Iv'e replaced the clutch and cleaned up the engine and bay while I have it all appart. Not really show worthy but much, much better than it was. It looks like I'll be pulling the eingine again as I am determined to get a OD transor 5-speed conversion. Here in Houston there aren't a lot of "MG friendly" roads - there are a lot of freeways. In the little bit I have driven the car I can tell that it would be very annoying buzzing along at freeway speeds all the time.

The interior was mostly complete but in pretty rough shape. The lady had removed the passenger seat to make room for her then 2 kids to play while she was driving. Yeah...I know...before seat belt laws I guess. (The lady's crazy anway) The seat got lost in her attic during a remodel, so ebay to the rescue.
I'll need a carpet kit and really some seat covers to make it good. I was able to remove the vinyl panels and re glue them and they turned out pretty good. I also took the guages apart, cleaned the faces and glass and replaced the plastic spedo lens. (another ebay find)

For tunes I have a factory toyota radio that fits nicely and sounds good. I have purschased a small factory toyota 6-disk changer that is controlled by the radio and can be mounted inconspicously under the dash. I have a set of 4" Kenwood components in the door that I was able to adapt the orignal speaker grills to and I bought a set of Pioneer surface mount speakers that will mount behind the seats. Due to their shape it looks like they can be mounted in such a way that they will point towards the opposite front side of the passenger compartment. The whole point of the stero was to make it look farily plain and dull as not to attract theives while providing pretty good sound and volume.

Right now the car is stripped down awaiting the OD trans swap and then paint. Once painted, I'll need to get a new top, new windshield/gaskets and possibly redo the seats. Then it's time to ride.