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MG MGA - It's been a good day.

Today was the day for working on my MG. If anyone recalls, I got three of them from a fellow west of Chicago over the last two months. Well, none are capable of roadworthiness yet, but I felt that I had to get one started up. They had all been stored in a barn since 1974. I got two coupes and a roadster. Attempted to turn over the engines, Coupe #1 locked up. Removed starter and barred it over.(no handcrank nut on crankshaft) Turned over the engine by hand about 6 times, ok (What a job!) Checked coupe #2, radiator in, motor mounts sagging, cannot get on crank nut. I was told that this engine has a broken crankshaft. Went to roadster, put handcrank on it and spun it without a problem. Called my buddy and he came over, spun the roadster engine, sounds like rod broken, maybe this is the one with the bad crankshaft.
Went back to coupe #1.
Pulled valve cover and verified all valves free. Changed oil and filter (5W-30 installed). Ignition switch frozen up. Put fuse between fuse connectors.(Thanks guys, you told me about this)
checked for spark - none. Removed points and cleaned up. checked condensor, ok. replaced points.
Removed plugs and checked compression, #1: 50 psi, #2: 0 psi, #3: 50 psi, #4: 0 psi. put oil in cylinders, rechecked, same.
Pulled valve cover, checked valve gap, adjusted Cylinder 2 & 4, were zero on exhaust, now all at .020 cold. Checked compression, I now have about 50-90 psi in all cylinders. Got radiator from shelf in garage, poured out pumpkin seeds(came from farm area in Illinois) Installed radiator, hoses are junk, don't put cap on radiator.
Pulled carburettor float covers, looked clean, poured full of gas. checked dampers, oil is ok. checked jet levers free, ok. Installed junk battery, turned over, oil pressure at 20 psi. Attempted to start.
Well, accelerator and jet linkage are not connected, but the car ran at about 1200 rpm, oil pressure 55 to 60 psi at 1200 - 1500 rpm, temperature comes up ok, so far.
fuel pump inoperative, probably stuck, I had float covers off, and poured new gas in as needed. I got the water temp up to about 120 - 130F, ran the car about 10-15 minutes.
Did hot compression check, minimum of 85 psi, the highest (#1) came in at 110 psi. I will run it in later, re-adjust the valves, and expect it to further come up. Winter is on its way soon, so I might not do any more until spring (I have nowhere to work on it) but I don't have to pull the engine for rebuild. Now I have to cover them up.
It has indeed been a good day!
mike parker

That's amazing how they can run after 30+ years. John Twist says he has towed cars to free up the frozen engines and then started them up, and they rarely don't run.
The engine in my '57 hadn't run since about
1972. When I first got it in 1993 mostly in pieces with just a rolling chassis with the remnants of the center tub, I decided to try to start the engine. I put fuel in the tank and it leaked all over the floor (rust holes in it). I used a 2 gallon gas can and ran a hose to the fuel pump. Then the fuel pump was stuck, but a couple of raps from a hammer got that going until I heard some gas dripping again. Both of the carb floats were stuck open, and corroded/glued with gum and white corrosion. I cleaned them, replaced the needles with some spare/used ones that came with the car.
The coil wire looked like it had gotten chewed off by rats, so I changed it with a used one. The key was missing, so I hot wired it with a toggle switch. The choke and throttle cables were missing so I operated them by hand. It cranked about 7 or eight turns and sputtered. This repeated about 2 or three more times, and all of a sudden it started in a cloud of smoke from the oil that I had sprayed into the cylinders. After a few minutes I shut the choke off and it idled just beautifully, revved smoothly, and no smoke!
The compression was good at between
132 - 140.
I ended up rebuilding it anyways while the car was totally apart so I would know what I had, but I bet I could have left it.
The machine shop opened up the bores to .020" over and reground the crank etc. but they said the cylinder bores weren't too bad, except for some minor pitting from rusting and a small ridge at the top.

Ralph
Ralph

Ralph,
Forgot the distributor primary wire, I did have to replace that too. I will run it next week maybe if the weather is good, and see if clean gas did anything good to the carbs. It's just too bad that the PO removed the doors, seats, master cylinder and cut some wires. I think that's it. It looks like I have a lot of electrical problems, the front parking light will not go out with the battery hooked up, I couldn't get anything on the dash to work (knobs wouldn't pull, turn, etc.) But I definitely am happy.
mike parker

Mike,
So the car is all together except for the doors, seats and some wiring? That's a bonus after all those years. When you get ready to leave it for the winter I would suggest spraying some fogging oil which can be picked up at a marine or snowmobile supply store and maybe even at NAPA. We get it at Canadian Tire in Canada, and it is great for preventing rust and corrosion in the combustion chambers and carbs etc.
during storage. You can spray it in the spark plug holes or with 2 cans at idle spray into the carbs and the engine will stall leaving a coating of the oil throughout. I have used it in my MGs, boat, chainsaw, lawnmowers etc for years and never have a problem. It burns off easily in the spring. Good Luck!
Will we see you at GT 30 in Mackinaw next summer? :')

Ralph
Ralph

Ralph,
The major parts are doors, seats and wiring. I really should get new window gaskets, as I am afraid to drive with the existing ones. I am afraid that the back windows will blow out. I am hoping to have an MG running and in good enough shape to get to Mackinaw. Obviously, it won't be completely restored, but if it runs, I will try. I have not used fogging oil, but I have used Motorcycle chain lube before, and I have been happy with that. I will check out fogging oil, it may be better.
Thanks.
mike parker

This thread was discussed on 25/10/2004

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