Front turn signals are good indicators.

While still waiting for the wiring harness to come back, there are a few little things that can get put on the car. Since both headlamp buckets were installed, I thought I may as well install the front turn signal indicator marker lamps, also.

I had a pair of NOS Lucas L632 lights with the clear lens that I purchased a couple years ago. They are the same lights for an MGA 1600, Morris Minor, and Mini Moke. But I only had one gasket.

I located a fellow down in Florida who had a pair really cheap and they arrived in three days!

I went to my local True Value and bought some 10/32 x 3/4" bolts, nuts and lock washers, then came home an installed them. They went on quickly and easily...for a change!

And then the NOS lens, which is quite different from the repros out there, was twisted on.

Another ten minutes later and her face is taking shape and looking good! Notice that the passenger side headlamp bucket now has the correct wire harness.

I just got word from Josh that my wiring harness is STILL in the UK getting rebuilt! I guess I will have to putter around some more on other things before I can really fly! I have not heard from Chris about the motor yet. I guess I will have to call him. Once the motor and harness come back things will progress very quickly.

Thanks for visiting!

Toddy

One headlamp bucket and another headlamp bucket.

Yeay! On Wednesday, my headlamp rubber gaskets arrived from the UK!! They were all nice and clean and smelly like they should be. They are reproductions not NOS.

Three years ago I restored two headlamp buckets which have been sitting on the shelf patiently awaiting their day to get put on the car. Here they are posing with the old crusty rubber ring and rusty original screws. They almost seem to be smiling.

The new rubber gaskets fit them very nicely, although one seemed a bit "off" and I could not figure out why.

I thought I would do the passenger side one first because the driver's side one would need a bit more work. This one would give me practice and a good reference for the other one after it was installed.

The new #10 x 3/4" screws had to be poked through the round divits of the gasket then fit into the body hole for fitting.

I had to drill two new holes because they were filled with paint. Three of the five screw holes were perfectly aligned with the screws in the headlamp bucket making it very easy to reference and mark the other two.

Once the holes were drilled, I just screwed all five screws in. The procedure went very smoothly and quickly. Finally one headlamp bucket is installed! I do have to change the wire harness in it because it is for an Austin America not and MG 1100. I know, I know...yes, I am picky but little details like this matter to me.

On to the second one on the driver's side. Well, maybe not so fast. Come to find out, the second headlamp bucket I restored was also for the passenger's side!! It was then that I learned why the rubber gasket was a bit "off". So now I have to restore this one which is the correct one for the driver's side off the original parts car. I am lucky that I saved it after five years! Notice how the headlamp bulb socket is different from the other one. Lucky that I saved both of the original correct harnesses, too, and I am happy that they are in excellent condition.

Here we go again. Just when I thought I was done sanding, priming and painting!

I will work on it this weekend and post pictures once it is restored and installed. All five holes on the driver's side body have to get drilled because Al filled in all of them on that side! But at least now I know I have one nicely restored headlamp bucket from the passenger's side of an Austin America to put up on eBay.

Thank you for visiting!
Toddy

The great drive shaft project finale.

I promise this will be the last post about these (insert your favorite expletive here) drive shafts until they are finally installed on the car. But...they are now finally done!!
I needed help putting them together properly. So I popped all the parts into a box, put them in the Subaru and took them to John's along with the steering rack, which we already discussed.

After we filled the steering rack with 85W/140 oil, it was all buttoned up with its new rubber boots and clamps then we set it aside. Next up on his bench were the drive shafts. As you can see they have been painted and the CV joint has been swapped.

Before we greased them up, John inspected them to make sure they were put together correctly and cleaned. It is good to have another fresh set of eyes check things out.

Then it was time for greasing up both ends, installing the flanges, and putting the rubber boots on. That was my job as I like to don the latex gloves and slather the grease in. Bad thing is that since my hands were all greasy, there is not a picture of the newly greased joints.

For now, we installed the boots with zip ties until I locate some of the proper strip clamps for the originals. But for now they are DONE!! I have to admit that they are a far cry from when I started working on them. They are now all clean and they work nice and smoothly, unlike when I took them apart with 46 year old ripped boots with crusty grease in them.

They are done and off my bench and it is on to the next thing...whatever that may be. I promise it will be something different like the brake master cylinder or brake calipers or even putting the headlight buckets on.

I received a number of messages this week. Thank you all so much. I needed them this week when I have been bogged down with these long, drawn out drive shaft and steering rack projects.

Thank you for visiting,

Toddy

Same old stuff gets a new look.

I have been busy working on many of my summer "to do list" projects to get them out of the way so I can work on fun stuff, like the car. I got tired of looking at this box of dirty, rusty, oily parts which has been sitting around for a couple weeks. So I finally decided to do something about it. I continued to disassemble the drive shafts and clean up a couple other parts while I am still waiting for my wiring harness to come back. I know...same old, same old.

First step was to borrow a Dremel tool to grind off a couple rubber boot band clips which only took a couple seconds...but it was kind of fun!

Once that was done, I whipped out the utility knife to slice the rubber which was literally encrusted in place! Notice I saved the bands to reuse them. I will now only need to find new clips for them.

Once the bands were finally off, I taped and protected the parts so the delicate parts would not be damaged from hand sanding and painting. I was told not to sand blast these and I could understand why.

It does not seem like much was accomplished this week. But getting these parts to this primered state took nearly the whole week! Here are the drive shafts, a flange, the rear sway bar, and the copper pipe for the heater that gets installed on the engine with the manifold bolts. One flange is in the "primordial ooze" vinegar bucket.

Every time I see parts all primed up after all the hard work it took to get them to that state, I am always so underwhelmed. It always seems like there were at least twice as many parts in the "dirty, rusty, oily parts box" than there actually were. Everything will get painted black tomorrow and we will hopefully get the drive shafts all finished on the weekend. I will be working on other car stuff this week and will re-post in a few days.

Thank you for visiting!

Toddy

Getting the (drive) shaft!

If I have learned one thing so far being on “school vacation” this year it is this. No matter how much time I am given to do things, it is never enough! I have managed to actually touch some car parts during this past week and a half, though.

I am still working on cleaning and re-organizing my workshop and finishing my shed/garden project. But now I can finally tell the great drive shaft story that I promised before.

Here are the two passenger side drive shafts.

I needed two because the original one had worn and crooked gear teeth, but a good shaft and flange.

The second had a missing flange for the universal joint coupling, worn rubber boots, but good gear teeth.

So I disassembled them and matched the parts to make a good one. Once I stripped the old boot off the original one, the flange slid right off.

I put it in my vat of primordial ooze (straight white vinegar) to strip the paint and grease off of it. I usually let it sit and soak in there for about a week before I take it out, clean it and paint it.

It comes out looking like this. EEWWW! And it smells like greasy Easter eggs!

But moments later after I hit it with a wire brush and rinse it off, it looks like this.

And then it is primered.

And I let it sit for a day before I paint it…which I will do tomorrow along with a couple other parts that need it, too. Here are the flange and shaft (and my four year old New Balances).

I like using vinegar because it is environmentally friendly, although it works slower than most people would like. It does not look like there is much restoration going on but in reality there is. Most of the action is happening behind the scenes; ordering parts, following up on things like my wiring harness, and always cleaning and re-organizing…most of it is “unblogable”. As always feel free to send me a message or post a comment. I have enjoyed the ones I have gotten this past week!

Thank you for visiting.

Toddy

The great sway bar rescue adventure!

Now that the engine is out at Chris's and school is out for the summer, I can start working on my "to do" list for this year. Bear with me here...my ultimate goal is to "finish off" some landscaping around our shed, but in order to do that I need to hang a ladder on the wall inside my shed first, but in order to do that I need to put 1/2" 4 ply plywood on the walls first, but in order to do that I need to move all the stuff around to get it out of the shed first, but in order to do that I need to get the parts off this rusty hulk of a sub-frame (because it is in the way) so that everything can be moved.

I want to put this sway bar on to Old Biddy but the bolts are frozen in place.

I tried to get them off with hand tools but all I got were bruised hands and frustrated.

So I borrowed John's impact wrench and compressor and went to town.
I had to really tear away at the rusty metal first to be able to get at the bolts. But once I did, the air wrench had little problem getting them out.

And after about forty five minutes, here is the sway bar...FINALLY!

And, I removed the auxillary springs, too, just because I felt so powerful with that thing.

Now if I can only get the control arms out, I can get rid of the sub-frame and start my shed project! The beginning of my summer breaks always start with such hope and promise. But I usually get only half way through my intended "to do" list before it is time to go back to school.

Thanks for visiting!
Toddy

The engine motors to the shop for a rebuild!

After two months of planning and waiting, Old Biddy’s motor was finally delivered to Chris for its rebuild. The process started as we hooked it up to the engine lift and hoisted it into the back of the pickup.

We secured it and took it for its twenty minute ride down to Chris’s.

We unloaded it and put it on the hand truck to move it into the operating room (Chris’s barn).

A momentous day for everyone!! Including my friend John (on the left) whose truck we used for transporting the motor (and it was his birthday, too) and Chris (on the right), although he rebuilds many British motors each year, he has not worked on an MG 1100 motor for quite a few years.

I probably will not see it again for a couple of months but that is fine because I know it is in the hands of a true craftsman. Unfortunately, there will probably not be any pictures of the engine rebuild. Chris tucks himself away in his barn workshop and I only have occasional telephone conversations with him. I will keep everyone updated on what he is doing. Next time you see the motor it will be all pretty and restored!

Next week school gets out for the summer. Then my real fun can begin!

Thank you for visiting.

Toddy