John S's Journal

Haven’t been able to spend much time outside to work on the GT so I’ve had plenty of time to think about how I want to attack the items that need to be addressed. My first plan was to clean it up inside and out. Get the paint cleaned up, polished, and sealed to make it look better and protect the old paint. The interior is cleaned up and looks great other than carpet. A good vacuuming, and shampoo will help the musty smell but the carpet needs to go at some point. It’s outside under a carport so while it is, I’d like to fire up the pressure washer after soaking things with degreaser and clean it up before putting it in the garage. I considered leaving it out under the carport while I dismantle the ‘70 but now that the smoke and ash are diminishing, I really think it would be best to get it in the garage alongside the wreck and keep the daily driver outside.

I had initially thought about just pulling the engine and transmission without trying to start it. My thought was to pull the one out of the wrecked roadster along with everything else of value and haul it away once I was done with it. Then pull the GT engine and transmission, really clean up everything, go through the brakes, clutch hydraulics, rear diff, wiring, etc. and implant the ‘70 engine along with an OD gearbox that I’m working on. I was planning on cleaning up the original GK engine and looking into the condition with an eye towards a refresh for later reinstall back into the car at some point.

That was the initial plan but then I started thinking it might be worth doing some things while the engine was in situ just to see what some fresh gas, plugs, points, etc might produce. Don’t want to risk damaging it so looked in the Tech Library at the Awakening an MGB article just to see the recommendations. I’m going to pull the engine and transmission regardless but decided to post the question to the forum to see what others would do. The consensus is to try to run it. Had a call from a friend that suggested Marvel Mystery Oil in the cylinders and soaking and hand cranking which I’ve heard works well. Decided that sounded like a plan and then read a reply from a forum member suggesting it so that is the new plan. I will let that soak happen while it’s outside and I’m working on reviving and protecting the paint. In the meantime, I’ll pull the HS4’s and manifold, distributor, plugs, wires etc and swap over to the ‘71, drain the tank, flush the lines and get it ready to crank to check compression. And hopefully it will run like a champ.

A plan has been formulated.

Now that the fate of the roadster is decided, I raised the bonnet to see what it looks like. Everything from the rad diaphragm back is good so it’s time to start picking at the carcass...