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Inside:• LA to Dillard, Georgia• Letters of Intent • MG 2012 Report• MG 2012 Photo Essay• Zinc Plating
September / October 2012
Vol. 22, No. 5
S imon Dix • 1977 MGBMG 2012 Concours Top Point Winner
Shelve MG 2012 as a Perfect Show !
Inside:• AGM Report • MG 2013 Update• Basic B• Gearbox Seminar* Removing FloorsJanuary / February 2013
Vol. 23, No. 1Inside:• The Pilgrimage • Final• MG 2011 - RENO • Basic B • Rally Photos• BMTA• The Future is in Your Hands
May / June 2011Vol. 21, No. 3
Drive DriveDrive!
The MG DriverThis bi-monthly magazine is packed with over 60 pages of useful information with the right mix of Technical and Member information.
4
ARIZONAMembersCottonwood Steve Loeding 1440 E Crestview Drive 928-649-2260
Flagstaff Martin Levendusky 3860 North Patterson Blvd 520-526-6515
Gilbert Christopher Harder 3e Ln887 E Santa Fe Lane 480-313-0686
Richard Timian 15317 East Via Del Palo 480-899-3272
Gold Canyon Andy Kurtz 5143 S. Diamond Cholla Court 480-983-4499
Green Valley Robert Agar 149 E. Santa Belia
520-625-9285
Robert Collins 2133 South Via Tulum 520-625-9841
Page Dan Brown
POB 1030 928-645-5514
Phoenix Ken Adkison
2141 W Carson Road 623-330-0066
Dennis Hosier 3024 East John Cabot Road 602-867-8065
Brian Kopf
234 West Kristal Way 623-582-8534
Ken & Ginny Martin 4846 East Indianola
602-840-3554
Kingsley Meldrum 2418 E Cathedral Rock Drive 970-818-6670
Brian Smith
25040 N 44th Avenue 623-208-9657
Prescott Dale James
639 Star Rock Drive 928-541-1272
Bill & Penny Meyer 1180 Gambel Oak Trail 928-445-8718
Tray Schreiber 1792 Exeter Drive
928-445-5167
Red Rock Robert Swetzer PO Box 1145 520-682-2629
Scottsdale Marc Feig 6052 East Ludlow Drive 480-205-9283
Tempe Mason Corbin 9136 S Kachina Drive 913-219-1279
Tucson Dr Alan Barreuther 1161 E. Calle De La Cabra 520-742-6342
Stephen Coughran 4729 E. Sunrise Dr. PMB386 520-577-8640
David Germain 7865 E Camino Bavispe 703-855-5764
Tumacacori Valerie Misinki PO Box 8095 908-581-9832
Vail Bengt Lydell
16917 S. Orchid Flower Tr. 520-883-0972Service Recommendation ListClarkdaleClarkdale Classic Service924 Main Street928-639-0432
Phoenix British Motor Classics2115 W. Shangri LA Road #5602-995-2028
British Sports Car Service2316 E Polk Street602-231-0706
PrescottEuropean Auto Technicians1125 Haining Street928-445-5559
The Shop925 A Hinman Street928-778-0540
TempeThe MG Shop936 E. Gilbert Drive480-967-5631
TucsonErnie’s British Cars1121 West Wetmore Rd.520-888-3055
Highway Drive Repair Services4401 North Highway Dr.520-888-6089
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$$ Good Deal
57
MGB Driver • January / February 2013
MGB Driver • January / February 2013
56
Tech Talk John Twist
Technical
Coordinator
MGB Driver
John, I now have some minor questions: I
have only one key – what is the best source
for blanks? The valve cover leaks a little,
tightening the rear nut helped a bit. Other
advice? The left rear shock leaks very
slightly. Easy fix? Ignore? Regular gas OK?
Type of oil you recommend?
Thanks! —Ted Miller
Ted,Phil Cooke at triple-c.com makes
keys from the original key num-
bers. The valve cover gasket is best
purchased from Moss Motors. Their
gaskets are thick cork and work won-
derfully. Adhere the gasket to the
cylinder head with silicone gasket
goo and let the valve cover seek its
own position.
The rear shocks, the Armstrong
lever type shocks, are durable. If they
need rebuilding, use Peter Caldwell
at Worldwide Imports in Madison,
Wisconnsin. He does a fabulous job.
On the other hand, if it’s just an oc-
casional drip, I’d ignore it. You’ll find
the car leaks in many more places
than just that shock!
Use mid-grade gasoline – 89
octane. If you do a compression
check and find that the compression
is really high (over 160 psi) then use
the highest octane. The cars were
prepared for very low octane (“pool
gasoline” with an octane of 80), but
after years of rebuilds or enhance-
ments, who know the actual com-
pression?
I would use 20W/50 in the engine;
80/90 hypoid gear oil in the gearbox,
differential, rack and pinion, and the
carb dashpots (do NOT use GL5 – GL4
is just fine, but the higher rating stuff
will hurt the brass components). Use
NGLI #2 lithium grease for all zerks
and wheel bearings.
John,I replaced the cap and rotor on my
77 MGB (Allison Ignition) and it would
not start. I put the old parts back on and
it started and ran fine. I checked the new
ones over and they looked fine. I put them
back on and nothing. I put the old parts
back on and nothing. The spark from the
coil appeared to be weak so I replaced it.
Still no sparks at the plugs. Everything
looks fine but when I metered the coil
input I had only 6-volts. The old coil was
a twelve volt as is the new one. What did
I do? I swapped caps and rotors twice and
what was a running car is now garage art.
—Michael P.S. – I enjoy your videos. I need to
tell you that I am an old school British car
guy – I prefer side curtain cars with points
and condensers but I can no longer afford
those.
Michael,The 1975-1979 MGBs have a six
volt running circuit for the ignition.
Only during “start” does the coil
receive full battery voltage. That
means that the coil must be a six volt
coil with about a 1.5 -2.0 primary re-
sistance. These coils are often labeled
“12-volt use with 2.0 ohm external
resistor.” So, if you’re using a 12-volt
coil in a six volt system, you’ll get
half the spark. That may be part of
the problem!
Hi John,
My odometer quit and I want to
pull it out for repair. My hands do not fit
behind the dash. Is there any easy way to
pull the dash forward for access? Help this
has all the earmarks of a major project.
Have a 72 B that is a driver and I like to
keep everything working if possible.
Thanks, —Jon
Jon,My hands are large, too, but it IS
possible to work with the speedo suc-
cessfully! First of all, drop the heater
control out of the dash. You’ll need a
pick or awl or dentist tool to depress
the pin in the rotary wheel and pull
it off the heater control. Then use a
deep 5/8” socket to spin off the nut
from the control – then wrench it
out of the back of the dash and let it
dangle. Now you can get access to
the speedo.
Remove the nut from the trip
odometer cable and let it dangle.
You’ll want to spin off the two
thumbnuts then pull the speedo out
of the dash. Then disconnect the
speedo cable. Now you have it in
your hands.
Offhand, you’ll want to send it
to Nisonger Instruments in Mama-
roneck, New York, for repair. If you
want to attempt the repair yourself,
you may find that the pawl which
ratchets the odo has fallen off and
lies loose in the case of the speedo.
John,My carbs keep overflowing from the
needle and seat. Any ideas? —Ralph
Ralph,Your fuel pump should produce
two to three psi. Any more than three
will overwhelm the needle and seat
in the carb and cause it to overflow.
John,Can you tell me if the timing specs
for these cars change as a result of the
unleaded gas we use? My mechanic times
my car by “feel/experience” and tells me
that if set the timing to manufacturer
specs it would not run well at all. If this is
true how do we go about timing our cars
properly? Thanks, —David
David!
Timing is CRITICAL! Timing CAN-
NOT be set by feel or experience! It
must be set with a timing light! Let
me explain.
Every other year or so we offer
a technical seminar – “Tuning for
Speed.” Several years ago, we had
a participant drive his 1967 MGB
from Hershey, Pennsylvania to Grand
Rapids for the seminar. The first day
of the class we tune the car to extract
as much power as we can from the
existing components. Before we
changed the timing, we checked
it and found it to be at 27-degrees
before top dead center at maximum
mechanical advance – around 4000
rpm – vacuum disconnected. We set
the timing at 32-BTDC and the next
day placed the MGB on a dynamom-
eter to find 62 HP at the rear wheels.
Just for fun we set the timing back to
27. We lost FIVE horsepower! Timing
is CRITICAL!
Set the timing in your MGB to
32 BTDC at maximum mechanical
advance with the vacuum discon-
nected. You’ll need a dial back timing
light for most MGBs.
John,
Your YouTube videos are excellent!
I have a 1979 MGB. All was functioning
fine before I parked it in the garage and
didn’t drive it for six months due to work
travel. I started the car today – started and
run great. I pushed the clutch pedal in to
put the care in gear and the clutch went
to the floor without any resistance. No
clutch. I looked under the car and there
is no fluid. I tried letting the car run for a
while to see if something (slave cylinder,
etc.) would either build pressure or other-
wise begin to function. No luck.
Where do I start my diagnosis? I have
not done any work on the clutch or slave
cylinder on a MGB but am pretty handy
with a wrench. Have needed to be with the
MGB being with me now for many years!
Appreciate your help and I’ll try to
push the car out of my very tight fit single
car garage, so I can get it to the front ga-
rage and jack it up. Best, — Dave
Dave,
Since the pedal is floppy, I expect
you have had a hydraulic failure.
There are three components in the
hydraulic system – the master cyl-
inder, the slave hose, and the slave
cylinder. When approaching this
hydraulic failure it’s best to replace
all three components. However, you
can probably restore the action of
the clutch simply by adding fluid to
the master cylinder and bleeding the
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