1961 MGA for Eric

 Parts arrived for oil leak, got them installed, that leak is resolved.  After driving it more, we discovered the oil filter and valve covers were leaking due to not being tight enough, easy fix.  The only remaining oil leak appears to be the rear main seal, very typical MG issue, and pretty small, so we'll consider the oil leak done! Took speedometer apart, found the input rotating member had gunk in it, treated with WD40 and it turns much better.  Re installed plus used new speedometer cable.  The speed now reads very nicely, no needle bounce and appears to be accurate.  But the odometer will not budge, neither trip or regular.  So it's up to Eric if he wants to have it rebuilt to get his mileage. Eric was able to stop by today and finally drive the car!  Here's a video of Eric with Dave as his copilot on his first voyage: We also got a good picture of the new steering wheel, we all like it a lot: Got to give Eric lessons on raising and lowering...

 Had to wait on shipment of the back ordered copper sockets for the header rail attachment.  Well plus there was a fun trip to Key West involved for a few weeks!  But finally got back in the saddle with parts in hand. The top turned out pretty well, I think.  Side curtains also fit well.  Need to get some more pictures, but here's a pretty good shot (except for Dave in the background): Got a coolant leak fixed (had to replace the hose clamp and reposition the lower hose).  Got the pertronix electronic ignition installed.  We were just about finishing the "to do" list when we ran into a problem with fixing the oil leak.  We had previously installed a new stainless braided line from the block to the chassis, old line had broken.  Turns out the stainless line does not thread well onto the fitting on the block.  Even tried another fitting from another block (spare engine we have), same issue.  We suspect the stainless line is defective ...

 Been installing more parts, we think we've got everything in place now except for the new top.  We have to wait on the header rail sockets, which are on back order. We've also started driving the car to find the inevitable problems when you assemble a complex device like a car.  Three problem areas found so far. First is the thermostat was installed upside down: This results in no flow at all.  Fortunately we were close to the shop when the temperature went way high.  This was easy to correct. Second was the wrong ignition coil was installed.  Due to being installed upside down, you couldn't see that the high tension wire from the center of the coil was the push in style, but the coil itself was made for the screw in type connector.  The rubber boot was holding the wire in place.  It fell off about 3 blocks from the shop, resulting in a dead car.  Fortunately there were some downhill portions as we pushed the car back to the shop, easy diagn...

 Picked up the repaired starter, needed new bushing, engine turns over fine now, even started it for a short while. Received the last parts order, we were about to run out of things to do but not a problem now!   Darrell the body man stopped by today.  With his help, we realigned the hood from what he had done to increase the gaps at the front of the hood.  Required "C washers" that we made to space up the back of the hood on it's hinges.  Front alignment looks much better now: Darrell also spent about an hour with me fettling the door strikers.  I had never gotten the doors to close far enough to catch the second hole in the striker.  This also left the door "proud" of the body by about 1/4 inch at the back of the door on both sides.  We ended up slightly reforming the strikers themselves (new parts), moving tap plates, and yes I may have used the sledge hammer briefly.  But eventually we got the striker alignment to where the doors cat...

 Had lots of help earlier this week, until the holidays and extreme cold weather hit the last 2 days! Dave from our club was helping.  Even had the owner Eric stop by and put him to work for a while! The windshield and cockpit trim are installed.  Fender "welting" is installed and fenders in final position.  Carpet set is over half way done.  Interior door panels are done, some smaller panels yet to go.   Hope to place a parts order early next week, don't want to he held up waiting on parts!

Body man had major medical issues, causing months of delays.  Ray and I did another partial restoration plus several projects on our own cars while waiting.  But today we finally picked up Eric's painted car! Darrell did nice work, as always.  Now the challenge for Ray and Vince is to find all the parts and get them installed correctly!