72' MGB-GT

Yesterday after aquiring 2 more bikes I changed my insurance to Hagerty. After I got cancer in 17' I had to choose between the MGB-GT and the Sabre and Concours. Now I was able to insure all 5 of my bikes and the MG with full coverage and no deductibles.So today I pumped out the 7 year old gas and put in 10 gallons of fresh gas. Topped up the battery, pulled the choke, waited for the fuel pump to stop and turned the key. It fired up like it had run yesterday. Fully warmed up it still idles at 50psi.  I have to bleed the clutch and get a new set of tires before I start driving it again. Over the last 20 years it has been my most reliable car, it always runs. It's a basic car with points ignition, manual everything and only 4 fuses. Not much to go wrong.

Are those Minilite wheels on the MGB/GT??  Great looking wheels!!!!



 

Thanks, They are Minilite style wheels made by Superlite in Australia. I bought them new a dozen years ago from Acme Speed Shop in South Carolina.

The GTs are great MGs. I have the Triumph competitor to it. Down currently with a bad diff. 
   

Love both cars!!!  My son in law and his brother race these two

These old British sports cars are great fun on twisty roads and generally pretty bulletproof if you can keep on top of the body corrosion

British Heritage sells all of the repair panels stamped from the original tooling. After bracing drill out the spot welds to remove the original panel then fit the replacement and spot weld it in. Even I can do it.

Today I figured out that the clutch slave cylinder is shot and the clutch pushrod is worn down. I'll have the new parts including a new set of windshield wipers here on Wednesday. After that I'll get a new set of tires and start having fun on the back roads again.

If that '72 was imported through regular channels to North America in 1972, there's about a 1 in 10 chance that I drove it. All through high school, I worked part time (full time in the summer) at Autoport in Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia. All BLMs destined for NA came through our plant, where they were brought off of the ship by stevedores and picked up by us drivers, mostly high school kids. We'd bring them from lot to lot, then load them on trucks or trains, depending on their final destination. I had a blast at that job! 

That's awesome BCScott. It was purchased new from the BMC dealership in Seattle. 10 years later she sold it to a guy in Mt Vernon Washington. He sold it in 2002 to a guy in Anacortes Washington and I bought it in 2006 when I got my Automotive degree. I drove it home 50 miles and it made it, barely.
I've been through all of the systems,  replaced the cracked head with a big valve aluminum head and replaced the interior. I haven't really touched the bodywork since I live a quarter mile from the pavement there's usually mud slung all over behind each wheel. Today I ordered the new clutch slave cylinder and pushrod plus a new set of windshield wipers.  It hopefully will be on the road by the end of the week.

Today we tried to fill the hydraulic clutch system from the slave bleeder but couldn't get the all the air out. The design of the slave cylinder puts the bleeder valve on the lower right side of the cylinder. So I removed the slave cylinder and ziptied the pushrod in just in case and let it hang vertical so the bubbles can rise up out of the cylinder and up the hard line. Tomorrow I'll push another 60cc's up from the slave bleeder valve and hopefully push the air that was possibly trapped in the slave cylinder.
Before I installed the new slave cylinder I took it apart because the last one didn't have many miles on it. Inside I found a little bit of grey pastey stuff, you can see it on the rag. So I cleaned it up and realized that I needed to smooth out the front corner of the piston. After I deburred it I cleaned it up again, lubed the seal with red brake grease and the outer side of the piston with SylGlide and reassembled it. The previous slave cylinder had a spring, floating inner piston, floating seal and an outer floating piston. The result was premature wear to the pushrod tip, clevis pin and hole. In my opinion not a good design since the clutch arm moves in a small arc.

It is not uncommon with cars to have this stupid set up where the bleed nipple is lower than the inlet which makes bleeding a nightmare, however good news is there is an easy method that we used on these "back in the day"

1. open the bleed nipple on the clutch
2. connect a length of hose from the clutch nipple to the left front brake bleed nipple
3. apply light pressure to the brake pedal and open the brake nipple (a friend or a pressure bleeder helps at this stage)
4. gently operate the brake (the air is pushed out through the clutch reservoir) 
5. close the brake nipple first

This should have it done with a couple of pumps of the brake pedal. Keep an eye on the fluid levels in both reservoirs.