John S's Journal

Finally getting around to finishing what I started way too long ago. Lots of time on my hands and a coronavirus lockdown is the perfect time to reawaken my 1970 Tourer. Took the completely painted engine off the stand last week and have been slowly moving towards getting it back in the car. Surfaced flywheel and clutch components are back on, washed out the engine bay that was painted months ago. All of the horrible red paint was stripped from everywhere. All lines and brackets back to bare metal as they where originally. Engine paint was rattle-canned with a close approximation of the Primrose Yellow, black components were cleaned and resprayed where needed months ago. The wiring harness was stripped of the sticky electrical tape and the correct blue harness tape was applied then as well. Did a little more harness and electrical cleanup yesterday. New bullet connectors and some fabric harness loom for the sub-harness that goes to the rear of the car. New clutch slave cylinder and hose installed and new motor mounts installed. Pretty much ready to jack up the car and drop the engine and gearbox back in.

I picked up a 1970 MGB Tourer when I spotted an ad on Craigslist and noticed it was located about 2 miles from my house. I was told it needed a clutch and hadn't been driven for about 2 years but the engine had been rebuilt about 6 years ago and hadn't seen much use. Battery was dead (who sells a car with a dead battery?) so after jumping it and confirming it wasn't seized and that it looked to be a rust free split bumper former California car, I made a cash offer and had it towed home. A new battery, some clean plugs and a little fresh gas and it's a runner with good compression across the board! Put my 1979 Tourer up for sale and it was gone within a day of the ad posting. Now fast forward a few weeks.

Engine and gearbox are out and clean as a whistle. Engine is in primer as are lots of the bolt on ancillaries. Parts have arrived. New B&B 3 piece clutch kit, new mounts, lots of gaskets, brake & clutch MC's, slave cylinder and hose,etc. Pedal box stripped, painted and MC's installed.
Flywheel is surfaced and ready to go.

Next is to get all of the engine and components painted, reinstall all the freshly painted bits, install new seals, install the clutch components and mate the engine and gearbox back up. When that is done, I'll move on to the engine bay cleanup and respray.