11th June 2017. The MGB V8 rebuild is getting near to being finished. The exhaust manifold this side was a lot easier to fit than the left hand side. I could get my 3/8 drive Allen key socket onto the screws easily and managed to tighten them all up with the ratchet apart from one. Once the exhaust manifold was fitted I could fit the down pipe which also has one of the oxygen sensors fitted to it. Problem, whichever side the clutch pipe went it touched the oxygen sensor. With this front lower exhaust manifold stud, a little ingenuity was required. The socket would fit into the stainless steel Allen headed bolt but there no room between the inner wing and the 3/8 square end to fit a ratchet or breaker bar. A 8mm combination spanner over the Allen key socket did the trick to get the bolt in, then the final tightening was done using another spanner for extra leverage to make sure the bolt was tight. I drilled a small hole in the front crossmember and fitted a spring. You will see my reason why later. V8 Register MG Car Club 170614-V8-restoration-Mike-Macartney-Report-145 1
I was ready to fit the front subframe to the MGB bodyshell. Son-in-law Pete had borrowed my trolley jack and axle stands to replace the rear silencer on his BMW 3-series touring. Meanwhile, I looked for jobs to do while I waited for the jack. The threads in the pedal box had not been cleaned out previously so I had a go at that. The set of UNF taps and dies I have were purchased when i retired nearly 15- years ago. These carbon steel taps are fine for small or occasional jobs but I would recommend HSS (High Speed Steel) taps if you are using taps and dies a lot. After lunch Jane came and helped me jack the front suspension crossmember into position. It was fairly difficult to get the crossmember in position and even more difficult the get the steering rack lined up with the steering column universal joint. Another job was to start masking up the rocker cover to give it another coat of satin matt black to cover up the scratches I made with fitting the exhaust manifold. I soon got bored and thought I would have an early lunch! The front two of the four subframe mounting bolts are difficult to get to, being inside the suspension crossmember box section. I found my 3/8 drive socket set worked well through one of the holes using a universal joint on a19mm socket. V8 Register MG Car Club 170614-V8-restoration-Mike-Macartney-Report-145 2
OK, who can spot the deliberate mistake in this photo? Answer at the end of this page. A couple of drifts were used as podgers to line the holes up so that the fixing bolt would fit without resorting to using a hammer which can damage the thread on the bolt. The coil over damper unit was a tight squeeze to fit into the top mounting; perhaps it was the extra thickness of paint that I had sprayed on! To lubricate the poly bushes I used silicone grease. I bought a large tube this time and found that if I put the tube on the ground with the cap off of the tube it leaked out onto the floor, it s that runny. Answer: I fitted it upside down, oops! V8 Register MG Car Club 170614-V8-restoration-Mike-Macartney-Report-145 3
The top swinging arms fitted with the nuts left loose. The final tightening will be carried out when the weight of the MG is on the wheels. At the bottom of the Hoyle front suspension the two swinging arms bolt together with two bolts, the special camber adjusting bolt and washers through the bottom trunion of the stub axle assembly, and another bolt with aluminium spacers which are the fixing for the base of the coil over damper unit. The bottom swinging arms were fitted and ready to be swung into position, to be bolted up with the lower trunion, and the coil over damper unit. The Rose joint for the antiroll bar mounts fitted with a bolt and spring washer. Rose joint, that shows my age, Rose used to be the company that made them. V8 Register MG Car Club 170614-V8-restoration-Mike-Macartney-Report-145 4
At the bottom of the front trunion where the front and rear lower swinging arms bolt together to form the lower wishbone there is an opportunity to fine tune the caster angle. I clamped the bottom trunion to one side of the swinging arm with a pair of vice grips and measured the gap with the digital calipers. I checked with a set of feeler gauges that I still had a small gap. An 8 thou feeler gauge would not fit but a 5 though feeler gauge would fit. I was happy at that. Two of these dust caps with rubber seals go either side of the trunion and the washers can be used as shims to slightly alter the caster by putting the washers either to the rear of the trunion or in front of the trunion. By putting washers in front of the trunion would reduce the caster angle and fitting them behind would increase the caster angle. For now I placed a washer each side of the trunion and will move the washers if need be when I finally check the caster angle when the MG is off the axle stands and back on its wheels. The camber was then adjusted to a mid position for the time being. You loosen the nut then rotate the special Allen headed bolt to the desired caster position and then tighten the nut, holding the Allen headed bolt in the same position. V8 Register MG Car Club 170614-V8-restoration-Mike-Macartney-Report-145 5
I remember once in the early 70 s when I first started the Jaymic Accident Repair Centre. I was out for the day and left an apprentice to mask up a car for a respray. When I returned in the late afternoon the car had been masked up OK, but he used only page-3 of the Sun newspaper, photos of topless girls! The left hand front suspension was then assembled in the same manner as the right hand side. Giving the rocker cover a wipe with cleaning thinners. Jane volunteered herself for masking up the side of the rocker cover for me to repaint. She said she had a sheet with a split in it that she could use. Who was I to refuse the kind offer? Masking is not one of my most favourite occupations. Then a wipe with a tack rag. V8 Register MG Car Club 170614-V8-restoration-Mike-Macartney-Report-145 6
And then a few coats of satin matt black with an aerosol can. Out came my drifts again to use as a podgers to try and line the holes up. Fitting the bolts into the antiroll bar ends was a bit tricky as the forked yokes at the end of the link to the lower swinging arm were a bit tight, again, it might have been my extra paint. Eventually, I managed to get the bolts to slide in, without having to use brute force, but I was tempted. I could then lift up the antiroll bar, lubricate the pivot bushes with silicone grease before fitting them in place with their retaining straps. V8 Register MG Car Club 170614-V8-restoration-Mike-Macartney-Report-145 7
When clean grease started coming out I stopped pumping the grease gun and wiped off the excess grease. The bottom bolt that goes through the centre of the spheroidal joint into the lower suspension are was loosely fitted. The link rod will need to be adjusted for length and the lock nut and fixing bolts tightened when the MG is resting on its wheels. When I came to grease the four grease nipples on the front suspension the first nipple did not seem to let any grease go through it. I unscrewed the nipple from the front stub axle assembly and fitted into the end of the grease gun. It then worked perfectly so I fitted the grease nipple back in and then tried again. Success this time the grease went into the nipple with ease and came out where it should. The first part to fit to the stub axle is the spacer which fits behind the inner bearing in the wheel hub. The tapered side fits towards the upright. I wiped the stub axle and spacer with cleaning thinners before fitting the spacer onto the stub axle. V8 Register MG Car Club 170614-V8-restoration-Mike-Macartney-Report-145 8
tapered roller bearing. In the past all you did when you replaced front wheel bearings was to tighten the hub nut up and then loosen it off until the wheel would spin freely, but have no movement if you tried to rock the wheel holding the top and bottom of the road wheel with your hands. The idea of the shims, if you fit the correct shims, is that you then tighten the hub nut up tight and don t and don t back it off. I fitted one 30-thou shim first and tried that. The bearing was too tight. I then fitted the other 30-thou shim and the bearing was then too loose when the hub nut was tightened. I won t bore you anymore with the details of fitting and removing shims. I ended up using 1 x 30-thou, 2 x 4-thou and 2 x 2-thou shims. I sorted the shim kit I had purchased into the different sizes. I assumed there would be a selection of the original shim sizes available. Namely: 0.030, 0.010, 0.005 and 0.003. When I measured them with a micrometer I had 3 x 2-thou, 2 x 4-thou and 2 x 30-thou, in the shim kit. What, no 10-thou? Fitting a shim behind the outer bearing. These shims are fitted between the bearing spacer that goes inside the hub between the inner, outer bearings. You fit these shims behind the smaller outer Checking for play in the bearing. My right hand should be on the bottom of the disc, the problem was that my right hand was holding the camera! V8 Register MG Car Club 170614-V8-restoration-Mike-Macartney-Report-145 9
I bolted the calliper on loosely for the time being while I connecter the stainless steel braided flexible brake pipes to the bracket I had welded to the top mounting. All done, the hub and disc spin freely with no play in the bearings. Cleaning the disc with cleaning thinners before fitting the brake calliper. Once I was happy that everything rotated easily and the disc pads were not fouling on the disc I removed each calliper bolt in turn and coated the thread of the bolt with thread lock. This is available in three strengths. I tend to use the high strength for critical items like calliper bolts. I can t believe I have got to the end of my 145 th Report and the MG is still not finished. Perhaps I m spending too much time on the reports and should get on with the rebuild! Anyway, I hope the above may help others in the future. You can email me at: mikemacartney@btconnect.com with any hints or tips which may help me, or other V8 Register members. 14th June 2017. V8 Register MG Car Club 170614-V8-restoration-Mike-Macartney-Report-145 10