Engine, Engine, and More Engine

Gather round, y'all, and listen to my tale of woe.

Back in March, I came across someone selling a set of NOS high compression standard size pistons for the 18V engine (which Alice has).  I thought, "Wow, this would be a nice and simple and cheap upgrade."  (Note: there is no such thing.  We'll get to that.)  So I bought them.

I had not tinkered with the engine in any way, having records sowing it had been rebuilt back in 2001 and hardly any miles since then.  Alice ran fine and I had no reason to suspect any problems, so I left things alone aside from changing the timing chain to a duplex set (back in my transmission saga).  I didn't see any reason this couldn't go smoothly.  I also had been wanting to give Alice a bump up the performance ladder for a while.

Of course, I fell victim to the "while I'm here" trap and decided to splurge on a Piper 270 cam, lifters and springs.  We'll get to that too.

Since I wasn't doing anything serious (because replacing a cam and pistons isn't serious, right?), I decided to do the work in situ.

I won't bore with the details of removing stuff like the carbs, manifolds, radiator, and other sundry items.  Like hearts and kidneys, they're tinker toys.  Here's the removal of the head.

When I pulled the head, things didn't look too bad.  There was a ridge at the top of the bores, but I thought I could ream that out without much trouble.  The head itself looked okay, just dirty.  Two of the head studs did not want to come out - there had apparently been a little bit of a coolant seep that got into those studs.  I got them out cleanly, though, with some persuasion.

After a little cleaning, the head looked pretty decent.  I stripped the valves and wire brushed off a little carbon, and cleaned the surface.

Then it was cam time!  I pulled the front cover, tensioner and gears, and then the cam.  The original cam looked good with a little pitting on one lobe, but clearly not wiped.  The tappets looked good too.  I was optimistic.

From there it was time to get serious and pull the pan, and pistons with their connecting rods.  The pistons came out with a little difficulty because of that ridge, which should have been an omen but one I ignored.  The bearings looked okay with one major exception, where something had gotten caught and did a number on journal #2.  The crank itself looked okay and I found and cleared that one spot of whatever that had gotten caught.

So far so good, right?

I quickly learned that you can't just press the piston pins out - you either need bravery, equipment or access to someone that can do it for you.  I opted for #3 and had my friend Nate at Wild Child Classic Cars help me out by swapping to the new pistons.  We'll get back to him later, too.

I ordered new rod bearings (.010 undersize, as it had already been ground), and got to work installing the new pistons.  I honed the bores to get rid of the ridge (well, most of it) and got a nice cross hatch on the cylinder bores.  Things measured out just above standard which matched my paperwork.  The pistons went in easily, and then the cam did too.  I got everything put back together and after a couple of false starts by forgetting the distributor turns counter clockwise, got her started.

She started and ran well with good oil pressure.  I immediately noticed a ticking noise but it wasn't loud and I figured valves needed adjustment.  After break-in of the new cam, I went for a short drive.  Alice had some extra oomph, that's for sure!  But that ticking persisted, did not sound like valve lash, and I did not like it.

I had a problem with ticking in Gidget the Midget's motor, which ended up being me wiping the cam because of a bad valve guide / stuck lifter.  So I immediately became paranoid.  After consultation with Nate, I decided that things were not right enough to leave them alone.

Here's where the 'woe' begins.

I decided this time that I'd pull the motor and have Nate look everything over.  So out came the engine!  I left the transmission in the car, and that was not as unpleasant as I thought it would be.

Again, I'll leave the boring details of teardown to the imagination.  I pulled the clutch and flywheel (the clutch and pressure plate are good, like new).  Off came the head, again, and then the timing sprockets and chain, front plate, distributor drive and cam, then the oil pan and the pistons, the rear plate, the oil pump, and the crank.  There's a few steps in there I glossed over.  But I ended with a stripped block and a bunch of parts.

I bundled up the block (which when stripped, is only almost too heavy to lift into the back of a Kia Soul), crank, pistons/rods and head and shipped it off to Nate for analysis.  He came back with:

1. The cylinder bores were a bit more worn than I thought.  And they were 'wavy', which means worn in some really odd way.  The ridge at the top of the bores was rather more pronounced.  He was surprised that the car ran as well as it did.  It was going to take an overbore to clean it up, likely .020 oversize.
2. I had done a bit of damage to the crank when I installed the pistons, but he thought he could polish it out.
3. The tappet bores were okay.  I bought a new set of tappets just to be sure I wasn't going to do any further damage.
4. The head and block surfaces needed to be skimmed to make them properly flat.
5. The head itself was fine otherwise, with no need for a valve job.

So I went searching for pistons, and amazingly found a net of NOS AE .020 pistons with rings.  I snapped them up and trundled them down to Nate's shop.

What I got back looked... beautiful.

Time to have fun!

First, the crank with new bearings (.010 mains), thrust washers, and an ARP bolt and stud kit.  She turned like butter.  Clearances were perfect.

Then in went the cam, and then the rear plate so I could put the engine on the stand.  From there, I installed the oil pump, and then the pistons and rods.  Well, not quite yet...

When I checked the gap on the piston rings, it was larger than I wanted (like .020 - .021 instead of .014).  That may not seem like a big deal, but it is the difference between an engine that will eventually blow oil and one that won't.  So I ordered a set of rings from Total Seal (conveniently located in the Valley of the Sun) and gapped them properly.  THEN I installed the pistons and rods, this time being very careful and using protection over the rod bolts.  Again, things turned like they were supposed to.  Not too tight, but not too loose either.

I changed the head over to double valve springs, which means I have a set of valve springs.  Changing them means changing the top and bottom caps as well.

The engine went back together uneventfully.  Generous amounts of assembly lube were used, of course, along with a Payen gasket set and a Lucas head gasket.  I got it back in the car with less trouble than I expected.

So I fired it up and everything was great.  Right?  Wrong.  I had no oil pressure!  Fortunately, I noticed this after only a short time running and shut things down.  I tried priming the oil pump repeatedly, but nothing worked.

I thought I was going to have to pull the engine again, but I decided to do a little investigative work first.  I pulled the pan and the oil pump to check it out and make sure it was okay.  The pump was fine.  The gasket was not.

One of these gaskets is the right one.  One is not.  Guess which one I used.  Fortunately I didn't appear to cook anything - bearings and cam looked fine.

I put the correct gasket on and reinstalled the pump.  This time, I got oil pressure after about 30 seconds of cranking.  And once I got her started for a new break-in run, I had 75psi of pressure.

Now life is good.  Alice has even more zip, runs quietly and well, and is back to being a happy car once again.

What did all this simple and quick upgrade cost me?  Too much.  I'd rather not say.  I like being married.  Let's just say over four figures were spent.  That doesn't include the oil cooler I installed along the way.

Wild Child saved my bacon, though.  Thanks, Nate and crew!  I expect to get many years of life out of this upgrade that turned into a complete rebuild.

Like Aesop, there is always a lesson at the end.  This one is, "Never try to take the quick way out.  In the end, it will take longer than if you hadn't."

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By the Seat of My Pants

My daughter is a bit... vertically challenged.  She likes to drive her B, but the seat is a bit low for her and does not move up far enough for her to be really comfortable driving.  So I decided to fix that.

I removed the seat, and found there was another reason she sat a little low.  The seat webbing, only two years old, had broken in two places.  Off to Moss for a new set!  The new webbing looks to be made better and hopefully lasts longer.  I won't go into the details of replacement, aside from it is a few steps:

1. Remove the seat base cover and foam.
2. Remove the old webbing parts.
3. Install the new webbing.
4. Curse the engineer that thought this was a good way to install the seat webbing.
5. Finish installing the seat webbing.
6. Reinstall the foam and seat cover.
7. Take a nap, because that was not very fun.

The real problem was that the seat would not move far forward enough.  There is plenty of adjustment, but the seat is offset just enough that it runs into the transmission tunnel and will not move all the way forward as it probably could.

So I made these out of 1/8" bar stock.

These allow me to shift the seat (and seat track) forward by about 1", and offset it by about 3/4".  One side is a through hole for the bolt to the original attachment point in the floor, and the other is tapped for a 1/4-28 threaded bolt.

Installed, they look like they'll do the trick.

The seat height was easily addressed.  When I took the seat out, I found that the furring strips were broken and really not thick enough.  I made some new ones out of poplar that are about 3/4" thick.

I also drilled a new adjustment slot in front and back of the existing slots on the seat track, and moved the stopper back on the track to allow the additional rearward adjustment.

Once the seat was bolted back into place, the difference was immediately apparent.  The seat sits a bit higher, but not too much (about 3/4", go figure) and the new webbing keeps her from sinking into the cushion.  The seat moves forward quite a bit more now.  It also moves back to about the same point I like to keep it at for when I drive Alice, so we both win!

This was a satisfying job.  My daughter is much more comfortable working the clutch and brake.  I can still drive the car too.  In fact, I plan to do so next week!

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Transmission Installation

I tried to come up with a clever name for this post... but I'm too tired.

Over the past few days, I and my friends have been busier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.  We swapped Alice's transmission... twice.  I'll explain later.

First, let me give a big THANK YOU to my friends Dave Boyer, Brett Engel, George Bean and Peter Holbrook for helping me get this done.  I would still be wrestling with the transmission crossmember in a horribly hot and cramped garage if it weren't for you all.  Thank you! 

Notice that there's more than a few days here... but we worked mostly in the later afternoons into the evenings, aside from the weekends.

Let's jump right in, shall we?

TUESDAY

I dropped the transmission and various bits off at Dave's beautiful air conditioned luxury apartment... I mean garage.  This was no big thing.

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday afternoon I drove Alice to Dave's and got to work.  Folks, this is how you work on a car.

We drained fluids, removed the radiator and hoses, removed the driveshaft, exhaust header and disconnected smaller things that were relatively easy to reach.  We got a good amount of that done.

Here's what I was working on.  Not bad, but very grimy in the middle part.

Dave was kind enough to feed me and take me home. 😁

THURSDAY

On Thursday, we were able to remove the remaining connections and bits, dropped the transmission crossmember, and removed the engine and transmission.  This went relatively smoothly.  We took the engine and transmission out as one unit.  I had access to a hoist and I brought a load leveler, which made this much simpler.

The engine bay didn't look too bad...

We then separated the engine and transmission.  There it sits, forlornly, knowing it would not turn another mile.

I had planned to change the clutch (because that's what you do), but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the clutch is practically new.  I had documentation stating it had been changed before the car was parked/neglected, and I'm glad.  It saved me a lot of hassle.  Another good sign was that the release bearing was practically new and showed minimal wear.  It was so good that I will keep it as a spare.  This also matches my documentation.

I also found that the rear main seal was not leaking and the rear engine plate was dry.  That was another relief - I didn't want to have to dismantle it unless it was really necessary.  Whoever worked on the engine of this car did a good job.

That was enough for the evening. 

FRIDAY

The battle I was planning to enjoin was to change the timing gears, chain and tensioner.  The 18V engine went to a single-row chain and retarded the timing by 4 degrees.  This was probably a parts-bin decision, but it also had the effect of moving the powerband down a bit and may have helped with emissions along with the single-carb Zenith.  I wanted to revert to the original setup because I wanted the powerband a little higher for highway driving with the overdrive.

I had a duplex (two-row) setup that I coincidentally got from Dave.  (That man is a giver.)  As another fortuitous sign, the engine stopped exactly on TDC.  Removing the crank pulley and timing cover was straightforward.  I Then removed the tensioner (finding it was a Rolon aka kiss-of-death unit) and the assembly came free.  I was careful not to disturb the camshaft.

The new timing gear went in relatively easily, and we were careful to ensure the dots lined up.  However, this gear had the dot in a different orientation and a small mark where it looked like it "should be".  So we went with it.  This might not have been the right call.

Once complete, the new transmission went where the old one was.  Since we didn't disturb the clutch, it fit right away and bolted up fine.

The next big job was to clean the transmission mount.  What came off was basically Jell-O.  The mounts were horribly degraded and the crossmember was filthy.  The rear of the transmission had been leaking, apparently for a long time, and had not been changed when the engine was rebuilt.  I can't imagine why, unless they pulled the engine without removing the transmission...

I won't show you any pictures because I was too filthy to touch anything I cared about.  But the result cleaned up well.  It goes without saying that I bought all new mounts.

I also took the opportunity to change the heater matrix (core).  The one I had was weeping enough to smell coolant, so I knew it was only a matter of time.  Fortunately, I had tons of room since I could stand in the engine bay and work on it at chest level, which made it lots easier.

The thing about the heater box is that it is very difficult to fit and remove, and you have to remove it to change the heater matrix.  Since I had just fitted it a year ago, I knew it would come out - and I had made a couple of modifications to the rubber seal to make the job easier.  I was able to unbolt the brake and fuel lines from the firewall, remove the screws and lever the heater box out enough to have it sit atop the shelf.  From there, I just unclipped the clips holding the box together and took the front panel off, followed by the matrix.  I could see where it was weeping.

Fitting the new matrix was simple and clipping the front cover in place was easy.  Wrestling the heater box back in place was still a chore, but shaving down the rubber seal and using expandable foam tape to fill the small gap made the job possible.  I refit the screws and lines back onto the firewall, and the job was done.  All in all, it took me a half hour.  Not bad.  And the vent control still worked.  

That was all the time and energy we had, so we stopped for the evening.

SATURDAY

Saturday was The Big Day.  The engine and transmission went back into the car.  I changed the passenger's side motor mount - I could not remove the driver's side mount because of brilliant British engineering that passes the steering shaft right through the support for that mount, and makes it impossible to remove the nut without removing the entire steering rack and column.  I wasn't up for that and it didn't look horrible, so it stayed.  It was really loose, though, and I managed to tighten it by jamming a screwdriver against the nut and turning the mount.  (This gave me an idea, but we'll get back to that.)

We discovered the magic trick to installing the transmission crossmember with new mounts:

1. Install the mount and "cage" loosely to the transmission, getting the rear (impossible to reach otherwise) bolts started, and let the assembly hang loosely.
2. Offer up the crossmember and maneuver the mounts through the holes.  There are two holes - front and rear - and we needed the front holes for the overdrive's slightly different mounting location.  (By the way, there are 16 different ways you can fit this assembly.  We got it right the first time.)
3. Start the nuts on the mounts, then loosely fit the front mount bolts.  It will be a bit difficult, but much easier than trying to fit them both before fitting the crossmember.
4. Finish tightening the rear mount bolts, then the front mount bolts and the mount nuts.  I found that I could use a swivel socket and a loooong extension to get to the nuts, but needed to wrench the bolts.  At least they were accessible (enough) with things being loose.
5. With a jack and long 2x4 (or a transmission jack, if you have it), lift up the crossmember enough to be able to start the two bolts that join the "cage" to the bottom of the crossmember.
6. Raise the crossmember up a bit more to the point where you can see if the bolts for the crossmember will fit into the holes you want to use.  If you have led a clean life, they will.  If not, you'll have to drop the crossmember and mounts and flip the "cage" around.  It gets weird.  If they fit, bolt them up and remove the support.

After getting the crossmember in place, I had to fit the wiring for the reverse lights and overdrive.  There was just barely not enough room to do this without scraping the back of my hand very badly.  (I'll survive.)

We then fit the exhaust and driveshaft, radiator support and radiator, hoses and lines, linkage, clutch secondary cylinder, speedo cable, etc.  Everything was nice and clean.

Finally, we filled Alice with fluids, hooked up the battery, started her up, and drove home.

Except that's not what happened.

Well, we did all the things except the 'drove her home' part.  There were some problems.

1. The thermostat housing was leaking.  I changed the thermostat (embarrassingly enough, I didn't do that before) and I should have left well enough alone.  But that's an easy fix.
2. She started right up fine, but then after about 30 seconds ran much more poorly.  We adjusted the distributor timing and it got better, but not great.  But it was good enough for a test drive.
3. When I went on that test drive, I shifted into 1st (great!) and then 2nd (not so great).  Shifting into 2nd yielded a Very Bad Noise that sounded like rotating things striking each other.  But if I shifted gently, it didn't happen.  I did find that the overdrive worked (wahoo!).

So I got back to Dave's, and we decided that it was going to have to come out.  But then we went to lunch and called it a day, because we were definitely done.

SUNDAY

Sunday morning I went back to Dave's early and got busy.  I was now an expert at removing things from an MGB, so it actually went relatively quickly.  We got the engine and transmission out and separated, and took a look inside.  We did find that one of the plungers for the detents was a bit shorter, but that wasn't the root cause.

This was.

See that ground up part?

Dejected, I took the transmission home.  Later on that evening, I dismantled it on the bench and found the problem.

The retaining collar for the mainshaft was loose.  But why?  Well, I found out why.  When I assembled the mainshaft, I did not engage the ears on the 3rd gear thrust washer.  That left play in the assembly once the gear rotated (and did engage).  The resulting free play was enough to allow the 1/2 synchronizer assembly to move forward and contact the laygear just enough to grind the ever living snot out of it.

Fortunately, I had some things going for me.

• I had the thing apart.
• The laygear and rest of the innards looked okay.
• I had a transmission for spare parts - the one I took out of the car.

So I took that other transmission apart.  It was... not pretty in there.

Someone really didn't love this thing.

However, it's just gunk.  The mainshaft was okay and the 1/2 synchronizer assembly I needed was just fine.  So I snitched it.

I also found out why the original transmission would grind when going into 4th gear...

See that crack?  The synchro ring couldn't grab the baulk cone properly, and so it would not slow the gear enough to engage properly.

Okay, back to what I was doing... when I put the mainshaft together, I made very sure that everything was engaged properly.  When I tightened the retaining collar, it went back to the position I should have expected by the marks on the locking tabs.

That was enough.  My ego couldn't take any more. 

WEDNESDAY

I recovered (in mind and body) enough by Wednesday to tackle reassembling the transmission.  I had new gaskets in hand and a clean workbench.

I reinstalled the mainshaft, input shaft and laygear as I have previously described in Transmission One and Done.  (Boy, that did not age well.)  The rest of the innards went in easily as did the adapter housing.  This time when I fit the front cover, I found I needed to remove the 2nd gasket I made and also add .006" of shims.  (In retrospect, the need for that second gasket should have been a clue.)  The overdrive dropped into place (I shared the trick in that post, too) and I buttoned everything up easy as pie.

This time, I felt it was going to be good.  The transmission shifted well on the bench without feeling any 'give' and was easy to get into gear.

THURSDAY

Thursday after work I went back to Dave's (I swear, I could find my way there blindfolded by now).  I had a short list of things I wanted to take care of before attempting to refit the transmission.

1. I changed the timing gears and chain for an old fashioned non-adjustable set.  I just didn't trust the adjustable gear after how it initially ran well, then poorly.  It was a good thing I did - the gear looked like it had slipped.  I had tightened the gear down well, or so I thought.  It wasn't much, but it wasn't trustworthy.  With the new gear set, things looked right to me. The dots lined up at TDC.  (I marked TDC before I removed everything - it was easy enough.)
   
   
   
   
   I cleaned up the cover, fit the tensioner and oil thrower, put a wee bit of gasket sealant on the gasket and bolted it back together.
2. I cleaned up the thermostat housing so it would seal properly.
   
   
   
3. I cleaned Dave's garage.  We had made a mess, and I didn't like that.

I then decided I would try and refit the transmission back to the engine myself.  I got it together on the 4th try.  That sucker is heavy!

SATURDAY

Saturday was The Big Day Take Two.

The whole crew (minus Dave - he was not available, but we were still using his place, so it's all good) showed up midmorning and got to work.

First, I did the impossible - I changed that driver's side motor mount.  My secret?

I bought a cheapo 9.16" wrench and ground the open end down to about 1/8" thickness.  When we got to Dave's, I literally superglued the wrench to the nut on the back of the mount.  Once it set, I spun the old mount out and the new one in.  Once snug, I broke the wrench free from the nut.  It took 5 minutes.

Never tell me something is impossible.

For the rest, I'll spare you most of the gory details, except for a couple.  Remember how we got that crossmember to fit exactly the first time?  We were not so lucky this time.  It took a couple of tries to get it right.  but we did.  The new motor mount raised the driver's side of the engine up, which meant the passenger's side had to come up too - the whole assembly was cocked about 5º.  But we got it sorted.

And we installed this.

That aluminum radiator has more coolant capacity AND A DRAIN PLUG.  I cannot fathom why British Leyland didn't fit a bung for a drain plug.

Anyhow, this time the story has a happy ending.  We buttoned everything up, filled fluids, started her up, and she ran just fine.  I went for a test drive and she shifted beautifully and ran well.  So we fitted the bonnet, and I drove Alice home.

She's so pretty!

Once on the road, I engaged the overdrive and it was magic.  On the highway, I was turning 3200 RPM at just over 70MPH.  That is a great cruising speed and was very relaxed compared to the almost 4000 RPM it was turning before.  And the temperature never climbed much past 'N', where before it would be closer to 'H' at this speed and ambient temperature (90-ish).

Alice is home safe and sound and happy.  I have a couple of things to tweak to get her purring perfectly, but this job is done.  I need a rest - but I still have Gidget's engine to put back together, so I guess I'll be working tomorrow...

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It's a Nice Day To... START AGAAAAAAAIN!

 One of the joys of vintage car ownership is the attention you get when you're driving around, especially if you have a unique looking vehicle like Alice.  Of course, you have to be able to start the car in order to drive it.  That's the topic of this article.

It's been hot in Arizona this summer.  (I know.  Go figure.)  Temps over 100 degrees are not kind to cars, especially those with 48-year old starters.  How do I know this? Because I foolishly decided to go for a drive with Alice when it was 105 degrees.  I figured it was just to the store, and maybe a stop or two... but it seems I cooked the starter just by being out in the heat.  I went to start her up and heard some odd, slow whiny noises, and no start was evident.  A good Samaritan helped me push-start her and I got home.  But from then on, all I'd get were slow, whining, whirry noises and maybe get her to start.

You know what that means - it's time for a new starter!

Replacing the starter in an MGB is not the ordeal you'd think it to be.  The starter is readily accessible from above and below the engine.  The simplest way to remove the starter is to remove the distributor.  

Before you start, DISCONNECT THE BATTERY.  You are playing with dangerous amounts of current when you unhook the starter leads.

Mark the orientation of the distributor, loosen the clamp with a 7/16" wrench, and pull it out (after unhooking all the wires).

Once removed, remove the leads from the starter solenoid from underneath the car, remove the two 9/16" bolts, and pull the starter free.  It is literally a 5 minute job!

The old starter is a pretty heavy lump.  Newer replacement starters are available at a pretty good price.  I bought a Premier Gear starter on Amazon for $82.  It came recommended by other MG owners.

Look how much smaller the new starter is!

I did find one little hiccup.  There is a flange on the new starter that makes it impossible to get a 9/16" socket on the lower bolt.  I ground this flange down a bit after a test fit.

From there, it was as simple as bolting the starter into place, hooking up the leads, and reinstalling the distributor with the alignment mark I made lined up.  I did have to remove the distributor cap to get the shaft to seat into the drive gear, but that's not a big deal.

The new starter is quite a bit lighter and it was easy to hold it in place from above while starting the top bolt.  It fits perfectly.  All in all, this took me maybe a half hour.

I reconnected the battery and turned the key.  I got a smooth, fast crank and then Alice fired to life.  The old starter cranked much more slowly, so it was either already weak or the new starter is more powerful.  (Probably a bit of both.)  I didn't even have to check the timing since I knew it was right, thanks to that alignment mark I made.

That's it!  Replacing the starter is a pretty straightforward job and extremely satisfying.  With luck, it will go another 48 years.

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