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PostPosted: March 9, 2021, 6:24 pm 
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Dash looks great. Hard to beat molex for cost effective connectors using a relatively cheap F pin and crimper.

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PostPosted: March 10, 2021, 11:21 am 
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Thanks MV8. Sure enough. Molex is good stuff IMO. I used the original .093" connectors for many decades ago, back when I was designing and building manufacturing equipment. I used them when wiring the rear lights on my Locost so I could easily remove the rear fenders. Certainly as good, or better than the original Lucas connectors I think. Them and Amp are tough brands to beat. I used the Amp connectors in my power supply design days because we were an Amp customer and had most all of their tooling.

Steve, it is fun stuff..... for a while. I still have a lot of heavy, greasy stuff to do too. Fortunately 98% of the rusty stuff is behind me. :mrgreen:

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PostPosted: March 10, 2021, 1:46 pm 
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rx7locost wrote:
Twenty over, the vents are Nostalgic Air 32-9.


Thanks compadre


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PostPosted: March 20, 2021, 11:34 pm 
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rx7locost wrote:
Steve, it is a '65-'66 Ford Mustang radiator. I wanted the built-in trans cooler. Otherwise I might have used a late model MG radiator. There are 2 different ones, one for the 6-cyl and one for the V8. They have different hose locations. The V8 one matched my engine's needs. Other than that I think they are the same size. I did cut into the radiator duct panel. I also notched into the 2 frame rails, mostly for the condenser's needs. I'll have to figure out the anti-roll bar mounts later. I accidentally cut one out. You could get by without notching the frame if you trim the front flange on the radiator and used a much smaller A/C condenser. I wanted to optimize the size of the condenser and at the same time, the electric fan's airflow thru both it and the radiator. The radiator does extend down low, a good distance below the frame as you can see in the one photo. Others have used it this way so I'm not too concerned. It is not like I'm planning on driving my car thru 12 inches of snow. :mrgreen:


I just starting looking into this stuff. Pretty sure I’m going the MG route for radiator. I found 3 row ones. Should work fine really. It’s just a cruising car. I’ll have to track down the AC stuff.

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PostPosted: March 21, 2021, 9:22 am 
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I would say, "Go for it". If it were not for my auto trans, I might have gone MG radiator.

Definitely go for the '77-80 model radiator if it works for you. It is the larger of the 2 sizes. One caution, unless you get the very very late 80 radiator, they have a funky radiator fan switch that mounts into the radiator using friction fit via a grommet. It is not a very reliable method IMO. The very late '80 radiator added a retention bracket to prevent it from popping out unexpectedly. An aftermarket 3 row version?? I don't know which version it uses. On my '79 convertible, I added a ty-wrap thru the radiator to prevent the switch from a surprise exit.

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PostPosted: March 21, 2021, 10:40 am 
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Not much happening right now with the GT. I am trying to get the '79 convertible ready for the year's driving. The heater has now been fully Sandblasted and painted. The heater core cleaned out and new foam sealant all around. The heater had been disconnected by the PO and the heater cables cut out. The heater valve removed etc..... Pretty much a gut job. Now ready for reinstallation.

The seats were very sun faded and there was no bottom support. This year's MG seats had 6 rubber straps supporting the foam of the seat squab. They were weak and very stretchy. Once seated, the foam was pretty much sitting on the floor. Since this is a functional car, I stripped the squabs down and rebuilt the straps using nylon webbing instead of buying new from the usual suppliers. I wire wheeled the seat frame and repainted, then reinstalled the otherwise pretty good foam and covers. The backs of the seats were untouched. I tried sitting on them and they are much, much better than they were.

Now on to the re-carpeting. I bought a kit rather than try and DIY from flat carpeting. If not for having no way to do the binding process, I probably would have tried just buying a couple of yards of auto carpeting and DIY. That's where I am right now. in the middle of the carpeting process. I plan on gluing everything except the flat floor pieces down and use Velcro on the floor pieces rather than using the OEM snaps. Let the next owner add the snaps if they want to. Supposedly the snaps are there to let you remove wet carpeting to let them dry out, but the rear end of the floor is secured by the seat slider mounts so they could never be dried outside of the car.

Next up on the '79 is changing out the trust washers in the diffy.

This '79 MG is in part primer and a bit bent out of shape. It will never be a show car or even a 50/50 (50 feet/50MPH) beauty under my ownership.

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“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

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PostPosted: March 21, 2021, 10:06 pm 
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I’ve never heard the 50/50 thing. That’s funny. I did find 3row rads, it may ball me up for condenser application. I can’t think that far ahead yet.
Don’t you just love the spring working conditions?

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PostPosted: March 22, 2021, 10:43 am 
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Sure enough Steve. When the garage is filled with GT parts, the poor ol' '79 sits in the driveway. I have to be selective on the days that I work on it, what with cold and rain this time of year. The last few days have been nice. Yesterday I removed the top for better access and got things cleaned up. I am surprised at the great condition of the original floor! There was only a small bit of surface rust under one of the seat runners. rust converter and some leftover Rustoleum made quick work of that. I made a few patch panels to glue over some old roll bar mounting holes. Today will be the last of driveway work for a while due to upcoming weather conditions. I hope to get major progress done, at least the rear and sill carpeting) and then the ragtop put in place before the end of today.

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“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

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PostPosted: April 4, 2021, 9:26 pm 
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Carpeting is now done. The kit wasn't one that I would call great. It did do the job for a driver though. Then I went to reinstall the forward console. This piece holds radio and the heater controls, both temp and direction(Off -heat-defrost). Both of these cables were previously cut. This proved to be quite to procedure. the direction cable had to be installed on the heater box before it was dropped into place. Finally, after several attempts it worked out. the interior cable ends had to be secured to the controls before the controls were secured to the console.

Seats installation only took a few tries. Everything said that the slider rails were to be secured to the floor over the carpeting and padding. The OEM design had 4 aluminum spacers about 3/8 inch tall that bolted to the slider rail. and down to the floor. And some wood pieces fit over the spacers. Once installed the seats would not slide for whatever reason. Re-engineer the system. I cut slots in the carpeting and custom fit new wood slats that were 3/4 inch oak. Once bolted down, both seats slide as intended.

The interior looks pretty nice for a 42 year old car not having gone thru a restoration.

Next up was plumbing the heater core. Today I installed a new heater valve that part went OK. The design of the return line required some special 1/2" tube that was no longer with the car and it is NLA. the return line goes from the heater core, to the NLA tube then to the custom molded lower radiator hose thru a rubber nipple. HMMMMM. I have a cast elbow with a brass fitting from my MGA days. This piece was put to use. I cut the nipple out of the lower rad hose and inserted the MGA elbow. Voila! We now have heat! Just as the outside temp hit around 78 degrees!

Yesterday was the first real start of the engine this year. I found that the clutch pedal went to the floor. It appears that the slave cylinder had leaked over the winter. Once the fluid was topped off and the system gravity bled, the clutch is now working again. Time for more parts ordering. I'll replace the master cyl and the rubber hose while I'm at it.

Soon, very soon, I will get to installing the thrust washers in the diff!

Tomorrow our 1-1/2 week long, 80Lb houseguest will be going home. We were dog sitting for our Son's family dog as they took off playing in Moab. We'll both miss her and at the same time, be a bit sad to see her go.

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Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766


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PostPosted: April 8, 2021, 11:56 am 
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I never know when to quit taking on unexpected projects. A neighbor stopped by a couple weeks ago. He had bought a house with a derelict '72 MGB rusting away under the rear porch. He offered it to me Gratis. I went over and looked. I said I was not interested in the car but might ask around to see if there was any interest. If not, then I might get a few parts that I could find a good home for. I did ask and got no interest. This last Monday I went over with some tools and picked a bunch of bits and bobs. I have been selling most of them cheap just to recover a bit of my time over the last few days. There were a few very desirable parts too. I hate to see parts go to the dump instead of helping out fellow hobbyists.

In addition to the MGB, there was a ratty fiberglass, 1-piece, front end for a Midget/Sprite (not a bugeye). I though I had someone for that but he (his wife) decided it wasn't in his future. So now it sits under MY deck awaiting to find a new home.

Still awaiting my clutch parts and it has turned rainy for the next few days so no more work on that front.

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Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766


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PostPosted: April 8, 2021, 2:19 pm 
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rx7locost wrote:
I never know when to quit taking on unexpected projects. A neighbor stopped by a couple weeks ago. He had bought a house with a derelict '72 MGB rusting away under the rear porch. He offered it to me Gratis. I went over and looked. I said I was not interested in the car but might ask around to see if there was any interest. If not, then I might get a few parts that I could find a good home for. I did ask and got no interest. This last Monday I went over with some tools and picked a bunch of bits and bobs. I have been selling most of them cheap just to recover a bit of my time over the last few days. There were a few very desirable parts too. I hate to see parts go to the dump instead of helping out fellow hobbyists.

In addition to the MGB, there was a ratty fiberglass, 1-piece, front end for a Midget/Sprite (not a bugeye). I though I had someone for that but he (his wife) decided it wasn't in his future. So now it sits under MY deck awaiting to find a new home.

Still awaiting my clutch parts and it has turned rainy for the next few days so no more work on that front.

Can you take some pictures on your next walk over?

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MGB/GT V8 5.0L. viewtopic.php?f=36&t=20782


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PostPosted: April 9, 2021, 3:08 am 
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I'm embarrassed! Was reviewing your build couple pages back with Capt'n Morgan and I had trouble figuring out what engine monitoring gauge this was, til the Capt'n tapped me on the noggin and whispers in my brain 'clock', duh


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PostPosted: April 9, 2021, 10:06 am 
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Tundra 7 wrote:
rx7locost wrote:
I never know when to quit taking on unexpected projects. A neighbor stopped by a couple weeks ago. He had bought a house with a derelict '72 MGB rusting away under the rear porch. He offered it to me Gratis. I went over and looked. I said I was not interested in the car but might ask around to see if there was any interest. If not, then I might get a few parts that I could find a good home for. I did ask and got no interest. This last Monday I went over with some tools and picked a bunch of bits and bobs. I have been selling most of them cheap just to recover a bit of my time over the last few days. There were a few very desirable parts too. I hate to see parts go to the dump instead of helping out fellow hobbyists.

In addition to the MGB, there was a ratty fiberglass, 1-piece, front end for a Midget/Sprite (not a bugeye). I though I had someone for that but he (his wife) decided it wasn't in his future. So now it sits under MY deck awaiting to find a new home.

Still awaiting my clutch parts and it has turned rainy for the next few days so no more work on that front.

Can you take some pictures on your next walk over?


Steve, here you go. Not much to look at unless you are looking for a particular "bit". I did note that the passenger side jacking bracket was rusted away and just laying on the ground where it fell. One headrest had rusted away. pretty bad shape. It will certainly come apart when they try to remove it. I posted some of the parts I thought someone would be needing on the MGEXP board. https://www.mgexp.com/forum/buy-sell-an ... s.4317683/

Contact me for a special friends and family discount if you see anything interesting.

I did pick up a functioning British Leyland AM/FM radio. Not sure what I'll do with it, probably sell it off to recover some of my time. I had hoped to find the SU's, sun visores and a tonneau bar, but none to be found. It has a pretty nice front bumper I will probably go back for.


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Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766


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PostPosted: April 9, 2021, 11:44 am 
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Perry, you would be lost without the Capt'n, wouldn't you?

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Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766


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PostPosted: April 9, 2021, 4:44 pm 
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I see what you mean.
For you visor stuff is it the bars or clips you need. If you want anything 3D printed let me know.

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My build : http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtop ... 35&t=17160

MGB/GT V8 5.0L. viewtopic.php?f=36&t=20782


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