Jeff Wilkins's Journal

Green B - On The Road

Sun, 03 Nov 2013 14:35:06 -0600

Jeff Wilkins's Journal --

All my previous journal entries lead to this one. I am proud to say Green B, my 1977 MGB, is finally complete to the level that I can drive and enjoy it. My original target was to build this project car in 3 to 4 years. Well that was a doable goal but because of all the learning, and life events that interfered with the schedule it ended up being all off 7 years. It is safe to say the first 6 years were spent on all the mechanical side of the motor, drive train and running gear. I rebuilt the motor completely but have disassembled and reassembled the valve train since to ensure things were done correct after reading things here on MG experience. Yes, it has been a methodical and trying experience. The assembly of the body parts and interior went quite quickly but I still have work to do on the interior. This has truly been a life experience that has transformed me from an auto enthusiast to something much more. I know a lot of enthusiasts but I have come to believe there is a real difference for those who have rebuilt the motor to completion where they have a working piece. I have a whole new level of appreciation for caring for my automobiles. Changing the oil in an engine has new meaning. I do all my automotive maintenance myself now. It isn't so much that I don't trust the Jiffy Lube guys but more that I want to take a look at things to be sure everything is in good condition and to my standard. The savings have been mounting from the repairs I do myself now. I attribute all the savings to my MG experience. Also, I have owned three other MGBs since the Green B project began. I look at them as rescue projects. I flipped two of them and kept a fine 1971 MGB because it is a very nice chrome bumper car. I also helped a friend get his MGB in good condition so it could be sold. I have to say that the learning could not have been achieved without the help that has come from MG Experience forums. What a great set of forums. There are some people on here with real knowledge from years and years of experience working on MG cars and often many other interesting makes and models. I hope there are some new members that like me embrace this hobby and become a regular on MG Experience. Great forum!

Posted 2013-11-03 14:35:06 by JEFFREY WILKINS

June 2010 - Motor Rebuild

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:47:46 -0500

Jeff Wilkins's Journal --

Well I didn't expect to have to go through the complete motor but when I realized the pistons were in 180 degrees backwards I started having some concerns. I did the tear down in August 2009 and with a full time paying job i am finally almost done with the reassembly.

Posted 2010-06-24 21:47:46 by JEFFREY WILKINS

June 2009 - Two Years Aniversery

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:32:43 -0500

Jeff Wilkins's Journal --

Well it has been two years now and I must say that this is not a project anymore. This is a hobby. If it was a project I would have kept to the half dozen schedules I set and never met. The good news is that progress continues to be made. I missed a couple of the targets I set for the fall so I did not get the engine fired. This spring a lot has been done but I continue to find rework from the POs poor work. Here is the list of what I have done this fall.

Installed fuel tank
Installed fuel pump
Installed rear springs
Installed rear axle
Installed rear anti sway bar
Installed front anti swat bar
Installed hand brake linkage.
Installed steering column.
Installed coil
Installed radiator, overflow bottle and hoses
Installed temporary thrush muffler
Connected wiring to fire engine.
Fired engine on second try. First try hot wire was not on coil
Installed electric cooling fans
Fired engine again to test cooling fans

Discovered a severe oil leak out of the bottom of the timing chain cover. Determined oil leak was due to bolts on bottom of cover not correct. Pulled cover off cleaned all surfaces and reassembled with all correct longer bolts through block front plate.

I then hooked up the drive shaft to test clutch and transmission to see if the car will go forward and backward. Every tested out.

As of June 22 I am waiting for parts to do the following tasks.

Install full exhaust.
Install rear wheel seal (driver side)where PO pushed in too deep.

Next test is a road test up Old Big Creek Road. Still no doors or front wings :')

Posted 2009-06-22 19:32:43 by JEFFREY WILKINS

Finally - Progress - In - Progress

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 18:49:58 -0500

Jeff Wilkins's Journal --

The month of October 2008 has been very good for progress on "Green B". I painted the engine bay area and the trunk area over the summer and now I can go to town on the assembly. The biggest hold up has been parts but now I am on a roll. Here is what I have accomplished: Bent all brake Pipe. Bent clutch pipe. Bent fuel pipe. Assembled and installed peddle box. Installed main wire harness Made fuse box were terminations Installed rear wire harness Mounted all pipe and and wire under car. Completed installation of front brakes. Here are the jobs to be done before the snow flies Install rear brakes Install fuel tank. Correct rear springs - remove one leaf to lower ride height. Install manifold and carburetor (Zeneth Stromberg Restart engine.

<When your hobby becomes your lifestyle the real fun begins.>

Posted 2008-10-11 18:49:58 by JEFFREY WILKINS

These MGBs Are Like Rabbits!

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 05:52:11 -0500

Jeff Wilkins's Journal --

Reply to MGB Forum question "How many MGB's do you have"? - Funny you ask. I have 4 MGBs and it all happened in less than year. This is my story. I purchased a project car 1 year ago last June. It is a british racing green 1977 MGB. I had to talk myself into the purchase because I didn't know if I wanted to do such a big project. Well I purchased the car and gave myself 3 years to do the project. Next, in Sept. I purchased a parts car for the project car for $450. That was a good investment because on hardware alone I will save $100. Well I spent last summer and fall putting the motor back together and getting "Green B" running. So the project is moving along. So Spring of 08 rolls around and I start watching e-bay. In May I purchased a 1980 black MGB LE. My friend named it "Pepper". It didn't run so I got it for a decent price. My reasoning was that I needed a reference for how to put "Green B" back together. Well it took some time to get Pepper running and road worthy but I did it with help from my friend. It was worth it because now I have a working example of what Green B will become. I hope. So Pepper has been a distraction from the project but for good reason. Well I continue to watch e-bay and have to say the chrome bumper cars have a personality that I am attracted to and they seem to be on the rise in value. Yup you guessed it June 14th 2008 I purchased a 1970 red MGB with overdrive. The car runs but needs a lot of work. So it will sit until "Green B" is done. I have dedicated the month of August to Green B and continue to make progress. Well that's my story. I think I'll put this as a entry in my journal. Thanks for asking

Posted 2008-08-02 05:52:11 by JEFFREY WILKINS

New B In The Barn

Thu, 29 May 2008 06:02:48 -0500

Jeff Wilkins's Journal --

Well the work on Green B continues. Slow but for sure but I couldn't wait any longer so on Sunday 5-18-08 I purchased another B to drive, a 1980 LE with just a little over 74K miles. The experience of buying the car was interesting due to the car would not start but I bought it any way. Took all day to go get the car in Dubois,PA, 4 hrs. down. 1 1/2 hrs. to do the deal and 5 hrs. back with a stop for lunch. We had the car running by 9:30pm that night. Switched out a leaky carburetor and the learned the plug wires were on wrong. Don't have the heart to tell the PO what the problem was. The new B has been named "Pepper" by my buddy John because my wife won't let me call it "Blacky" named after Eric Clampton's famous guitar. I understand.

<40e6 12>

Posted 2008-05-29 06:02:48 by JEFFREY WILKINS

New B In The Barn

Thu, 29 May 2008 06:02:17 -0500

<40e6 12>

Posted 2008-05-29 06:02:17 by JEFFREY WILKINS

Spring Is Here. Finally!

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:12:32 -0500

Jeff Wilkins's Journal --

Wow! The worst part about doing a project like this in the north east is winter with no heat in the garage. I have never wished for spring like this winter. I don't even think it compares to Christmas when I was 7 and knew I was getting a new bike. So I'm back at it. for the past two nights I have been doing paint work on all the black parts that go under the hood. They really turned out nice, Next I will need to replace the timing chain cover gasket as I have a leak. Once that is done I will prepare the engine compartment and trunk for paint. I still have not decided what to do with the underside. I may use undercoat because it is easy and probably last the best.

Posted 2008-04-23 20:12:32 by JEFFREY WILKINS

Winter Is Here

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 15:19:45 -0600

Jeff Wilkins's Journal --

With winter here I will be doing a lot of preparation for the major assembly type stuff to be done in the spring so I can do the first road test by early summer. I almost have the doors reassembled. Ran into a slight problem with the hardware causing a dimple in the outer skin but will have to live with it. I need to slow down a bit. I order the missing trim pieces to finish the doors. My next project will be to install the dashboard, windshield and doors. But before I get into the assembly I will try to sell some of the extra parts on e-bay.

<Two doors to assemble.>

Posted 2007-12-23 15:19:45 by JEFFREY WILKINS

Parts Car Purchase

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 19:26:15 -0500

Jeff Wilkins's Journal --

I have taken a 6 weeks hiatus from working on the Green B project so that I can finish building my new garage and take care of some other things. Then I had the break I have needed. John Mack called and said there is a B for sale here in town. I went to take a look and it turned out to be the perfect parts car. It happens to be a 1977 so there are a lot of parts on there that will really save me some time from hunting parts. Some of the parts that stand out right away are as follows: Tail light, marker light, door sill plates, seats in good condition, visors, Interior door panels, under dash panels, Seat belts, over flow tank strap, jack, Taunu cover and braces, rear brake shoes, fan guard, spare top, spare alternator, spare starter. yipee!!

Posted 2007-10-15 19:26:15 by JEFFREY WILKINS

Low Compression Hmmm

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 20:01:28 -0500

Jeff Wilkins's Journal --

After getting the Green B started the problems started to surface. I only could get 92 to 108 psi compression in the cylinders. To get the car to run the timing had to be set way advanced other wise it would pop through the carburetor and it really didn't start well. I was starting to realize something was not right with the motor. After spending too much time messing with the timing I finally discussed the situation on the MGBE forum and with my Uncle Larry. This is when I decided to do some detective work so I pulled the radiator back off and pulled the timing chain cover to take a look. Finally the truth of the matter was known. The timing chain and gears were not installed properly and from what I could see the thing had been thrown together probably to get it sold. The timing was retarded by 4 to 6 degrees and there was some hardware missing. Like the nut to hold the cam gear in place. So today I went to the auto parts store and got some loaner tools to pull the timing chain gears, reset the cam timing and put everything together correctly. When I did the compression test it was a big improvement. Now there is 152 to 154 psi across the cylinders. When I fired it up what a difference. It really sounds better and the timing can be adjusted much better now. It starts right up now. I am so relieved to know I can put the rest of the car together without having to worry about the compression and timing problem. I still can't get it to idle but that can be worked out when I put all the vacuum tubes in place and the air cleaner for some road testing.

Posted 2007-09-15 20:01:28 by JEFFREY WILKINS

Milestone 1 - Start Engine - 8/26/07

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:43:36 -0500

Jeff Wilkins's Journal --

After much preparation the motor was fired on 8-26-07. Some of the big hurdles were as follows:
1)finding a mount for the distributor drive unit
2)getting the engine mounts bolted in place (which lead to replacing the boots on the rack-n-pinion steering
3)learning the electric wiring and setting up a good ground for turning the starter and getting juice to the ignition system
4)getting all the correct information for how to do the first firing of the engine
5)rigging up a temporary exhaust and coolant overflow.

Posted 2007-08-27 15:43:36 by JEFFREY WILKINS

Vacation June 29th To July 7th

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 17:21:56 -0500

Jeff Wilkins's Journal --

Prior to going on vacation I met with John McAnany who finished a similar project in 2003 on a 1976 MGB. John helped me get my bearings on how big the project is. John provided a lot of knowledge and shared tools manuals and a lot of encouragement. I spent many late nights on the internet learning about MGbs and searching for parts. While on vacation I combed through Moss and Victoria British catalogs searching and pricing parts. I learn that e-bay is a great place for bargains but also learn to be patient and not buy everything in sight. Some key part purchased early in the search are as follows:

Starter, Alternator(needs rebuild), Rear Rubber Bumper, Brake master cylinder(needs rebuild), Clutch Master Cylinder(needs rebuild), Clutch Slave(needs rebuild), dip stick(needs paint job), and stick shifter

Posted 2007-08-23 17:21:56 by JEFFREY WILKINS

June 16, 2007

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 17:08:37 -0500

Jeff Wilkins's Journal --

Purchased 1977 MGB. The prior owner was in the process of rebuilding the car from the ground up but the project stopped due to the builder becoming ill. The work completed so far are as follows:

Body shell and all body components painted Brooklins Green. Front suspension and and brake hardware all replaced. Engine rebuilt but none of the external parts have been installed. Transmission rebuilt. Rear axle rebuilt. None of the brake lines or rear brake hardware have been installed. Time to do an inventory of parts to be purchased.

<What did I get myself into?>

Posted 2007-08-23 17:08:37 by JEFFREY WILKINS