Hunting and gathering the remaining needed parts

Man, what a cold winter we have been having! This weather really limits what I can do on the car. Therefore, I have been collecting the last bits and pieces needed to finish the project.

First, I finally found some NOS carpet retainer strips that attach to the rubber door seal, carpet and floor!! The top one is the original, the bottom two are the NOS parts still in their original wrappers.

 

All of the original rubber seals were rotted beyond recognition. I managed to find a couple replacements from RockAuto. The door seal (part number 1500125) is pretty close to the original. I decided not to go with fuzzy strips as many folks have recommended since the original car did not come with them.

 

And, their rear seat window seal (part number 1545225) is almost exact to the original.

 

I had to order a new rear windshield mounting gasket (from Earlpart) because I foolishly butchered the one I previously installed!

 

In order to get the interior courtesy light working (when the weather warms up), I needed to get another door switch. I had only one original switch because the other one was ruined during disassembly.

 

This switch that fits an MGB  (from Moss Motors) is a pretty close match.

 

And, Moss Motors also had a rubber boot (trunk) seal from a later MGB that should work fine.

 

Now I just have to find an interior rear view mirror, a pair of Lucas style front fender side mirrors, and some fuzzy (or felt) door window glazing strips. I read somewhere that window strips from a Triumph TR6 should be suitable. February should be a little warmer so I may be able to get out to work on Old Biddy again.

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy

Sidetracked and other random stuff

Due to the recent cold snap, I have not been able to get out to work on Old Biddy. Instead I have been working on my 1976 MG Midget, “Joe”. But, I did manage to do two little things for Old Biddy, which I will show momentarily.

Joe had a couple things to fix which I have been ignoring the last couple years. I decided to try and figure out what was wrong with the first and biggest item, the windshield wiping system. The wipers were moving very slowly then stopping during half sweep. I would have to manually help the motor to move them back. To troubleshoot, I disassembled the cable from the motor, hooked the wiring back up to the motor, and turn the motor on from the wiper switch on the steering column. It worked great at both high and low speeds. Therefore, something is wrong inside the cable tube. Here is Joe's Lucas 75705H motor that I need to clean up a bit before re-installing.

 

Once I have some uninterrupted time before spring, I will revisit this project to figure out the problem. I also ordered new wiper blades (to replace the 20 year old ones that were there) and then installed them while I was at it.

 

I also received my other Christmas present, the new horn push for the 1100. I had to switch out the MG Midget black plastic housing with my 1100 one, but that only took ten minutes. I do not care that the Taiwanese emblem is not “original” (the new one is pictured on the bottom left, John's old original one is on the right) as no one will notice unless they know ADO16s really well.

 

And my horns came back from E. Lawrie Rhoads at British Car Parts Restorations. He was great to deal with, albeit a touch pricey. He only repaired them as I decided not to do a total restoration on them. I have not installed them due to the weather so I still do not know what Old Biddy’s voice sounds like.

 

I also bought a couple more items which have not yet arrived. I will get to them in the next post.

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy