Matt Drayer's Journal

I knew the rear hubs had to come off as soon as I saw the oil in the drums. A bit of encouragement was required on the passenger side. Little did I know there was a mystery waiting for us to solve!

It's amazing what small decisions and mistakes made by previous owners can lead to. Something as innocuous as installing or configuring a part incorrectly can create bigger problems literally down the road, and this is exactly what we discovered.

Oh well, more parts to order, wait for, and install -- here it is almost the end of May and we still haven't fired the engine. Will we drive this car this summer?!!!

<br/>Marblehead MG - Episode 22: Rear Brakes Teardown, Part 2

With the rear end stripped, cleaned, and painted it's time to reinstall the drum brake apparatus ahead of reinstalling the hubs. New shoes, springs, and adjusters are on the list.

A small part of me had hoped none of this would be necessary, but a larger part is very relieved that it's all new equipment. In addition, knowing that I've personally done all of the work -- for better or for worse -- is a good feeling. With all the stones turned and all the parts replaced there are no uncertainties about the status or integrity of any component, which is confidence-inspiring, if unbudgeted

<br/>Marblehead MG - Episode 23: Rear Brake Buildup

We're in full-on reassembly mode now. The rear hubs arrived -- one replacement, one spare, for one low price! Installing them wasn't too bad.

There is still the slightest bit of in/out play on the passenger side even with the replacement hub. Not sure what that's about. And it looks like there are already Speedi-sleeves on both sides, too, so those are now sitting on the shelf. Attaching the half-shaft seemed to cinch that up so I guess the play it's not super concerning, particularly given the amount of usage our little car will likely be seeing. Famous words, I'm sure...

Overhauling the rear end was such an extended effort that we ended up with an intimidating amount of video to work through. Much like the project itself, breaking it up into pieces and then reassembling them into a whole has been the best approach to keeping the episodes flowing. The bottle is uncorked now, so you can look forward to lots more videos to be published over the next couple of weeks!

<br/>Marblehead MG - Episode 24: Rear Hubs!

I remember pulling the transmission out of the car back in November. I didn't have a good understanding of the drivetrain assembly and I had removed all of the bell housing bolts connecting it to the rear engine plate. The engine came out easily enough, and there was the transmission, still sitting in the car. Now how was I going to get THAT out?

After doing some research I realized there were four bolts to remove and then the tranny would be free to leave the vehicle. A bit of searching and swearing later, the bolts were out and so was the transmission, which amazingly was small enough and light enough that I could lift and carry it on my own (I'm used to tanks, I mean Jeeps).

The transmission was a mess, similarly coated in filth, looking like a tired, hopeless lump of mixed metals. I brought it into the workshop and began cleaning it up. Hey, look at that, it's really just dirty. No major external damage.

As the distinct smell of old stale gearbox oil wafted upstairs from the basement ("Babe, do you smell something funny?" "Um, no? What do you mean?" I lifted the gearbox cover and peered inside, expecting the worst. Wow, not that bad! Reverse has a couple chewed teeth, but only a couple, and the rest of the gears actually look pretty excellent. I'll clean this up and get on with things.

Of course, then "things" got on and our cleaned-up gearbox sat in the corner of the workshop. For five months. Every time I walked into the workshop I'd see it over there in the corner, neglected, waiting to be addressed, quietly judging me.

Finally, after getting LOTS of other project things done, gravity pulled me back to this component and it was time to complete the job. A fresh coat of paint and WOW, what a SWAN! Could it even be the same oily, dirty beast that I dragged in here almost half a year ago?

But wait, where is the reverse gear spline locating pin? It has to be somewhere... [fast forward seven hours + entire cleanout of workshop + garage] ...it's nowhere. I've lost it. I can't believe I've lost it. No, this is impossible. I've bagged and tagged every single little piece on this project. Every nut, every bolt, every rusty cotter pin. I've saved *everything*. It must be somewhere... [goes through all parts bags again]...it's nowhere... Maybe I never had it? Maybe that's why those couple reverse gear teeth are chewed? There's no explanation, it's just...gone.

To Moss Motors. They don't have it. To BPNW. No. eBay? Nope. Rimmer Bros??? YES!!! And it's only a few bucks...um, plus $24 shipping??? SRSLY. Maybe someone on the forum has an extra, or can help me to fabricate one. I'll post a thread. Wow, so much help from everyone, and especially @Steve-in-Florida, who just happened to have an extra reverse gear spline locating pin to contribute to our project -- thank you!!!

With the replacement RGSLP installed the gearbox was complete and ready to be reattached to the engine. Time to bring it back upstairs and out to the garage! Maybe there's light at the end of this transmission tunnel after all...

<br/>Marblehead MG - Episode 25 - Gearbox Prep

It was just a small sheen on the bottom of the fuel tank, but I knew there was no good reason for it to be there. The car had been on jackstands in our garage for months at this point. It wasn't actively leaking -- there were no visible fuel drips on the cardboard, and I hadn't added fuel to the car since we brought it home. But I knew. I just knew.

I decided to hit it with the wire brush. Even if I was going to paint the tank I'd need to descale it first. I hit the sides first -- a bit chunky but not so bad. Okay, let's give the bottom a shot. Corners are decent, so that's good. Alright, let's give that spot in the middle a scrub and see what happens...

<br/>Marblehead MG - Episode 26 - Fuel Tank

Believe it or not, I'm almost 50 and while I've wrenched on a bunch of vehicles in my life, I had never actually changed differential fluid. Brakes, sure. Coolant, fine. Gearbox, yep. But never a diff. Life is weird that way.

I was a bit intimidated by the prospect of doing this on the Midget for some reason -- I guess I figured it would be a messy, frustrating job. I also had a fear that my beautiful new drum brakes would be ruined by leaking oil seals in the hubs coupled by leaking gaskets in the half-shaft interfaces.

A nice surprise was that my 1/2-inch wrench extension fit both square plugs just fine without any filing, and the addition of an inexpensive fluid transfer pump made all the difference. And the drums are still bone dry, so I guess all that worry was for not (but time will tell...)

<br/>Marblehead MG - Episode 27: Differential Oil Change