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 Post subject: Re: MGB GT Zetec
PostPosted: November 15, 2021, 11:02 am 
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Joined: December 29, 2007, 10:41 pm
Posts: 1004
Location: Vancouver, BC
Quote:
ou can flat top the welds without any loss of strength


Yup, with full penetration the welds could be ground down flush. At this point it's somewhat finished, but as stated, another one will be made once the car is running.

As for the Dunlop decals, I got mine from a guy on Ebay in the UK, but most of the British car parts suppliers do list them. The on Ebay does them in various widths (and has lots of other decals available): https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153070992108?hash=item23a3bdfaec:g:dJYAAOSwBLlVU1aB

In other news, I haven't done much on the car lately, but I did pick up a spare motor a few weeks ago. I was looking at the serpentine belt (a while ago), and the pulley looked very close to the steering rack, which was odd as there used to be about 3/8" clearance. I figured it was the motor mounts settling, but when I attempted to jack the motor up to take the load off the mounts, the whole car moved, so that ruled out the mounts, I then put a pry bar between the pulley and the rack just to see if the motor would budge. It didn't but the pulley moved more than what it should have. So, long story short, it looks like the Zetec in the car is ripe for a rebuild, the end float of the crank is way out of spec. The "new" spare motor may be going into the car while the current motor is being rebuilt, but I still want to pull the pan and look at the condition of the bottom end of that motor.

One other issue with the Zetec currently in the car, someone decided to use what appears to be red loctite on the crank pulley bolt. I can't get it to budge, even with an impact gun rated to 750 lb. The spare motors crank bolt cam out with no issue. The reason behind getting the crank bolt out is the timing belt looks overdue for a change. But, I might just risk it and leave it, I'm really wanting to get it running or rather just running.


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 Post subject: Re: MGB GT Zetec
PostPosted: November 15, 2021, 5:46 pm 
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Use a propane/map hand torch on the bolt head for a few minutes.

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360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
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 Post subject: Re: MGB GT Zetec
PostPosted: November 15, 2021, 7:29 pm 
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Joined: December 29, 2007, 10:41 pm
Posts: 1004
Location: Vancouver, BC
Quote:
Use a propane/map hand torch on the bolt head for a few minutes.


Tried that already, no luck. I'm not too fussed though, that motor will be coming out sometime in the next year or so and the other will be used instead, in either a rebuilt form or as is, depending on what I find when I open it up. If it requires a rebuild I'm leaning towards forged rods, high comp pistons, and a set of slightly warmer cams, nothing too wild just something a bit livelier than stock.


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 Post subject: Re: MGB GT Zetec
PostPosted: November 16, 2021, 5:58 pm 
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Now that I think about it, when annealing aluminum I found the hand torch barely adequate. It will probably take an oxy/acetylene with rose bud.

Off the shelf or will you attempt a regrind on a reduced base circle?

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Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12


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 Post subject: Re: MGB GT Zetec
PostPosted: May 9, 2022, 10:48 am 
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Joined: December 29, 2007, 10:41 pm
Posts: 1004
Location: Vancouver, BC
It's been a while and for some reason I can't sign into the website from my work computer (something about a malicious program stealing passwords), anyways here's a bit of an update on my MGB GT Zetec.

The spare motor I picked up was torn down and given a quicky rebuild (rings and bearings), and the adapter plate was replaced with one that locates the starter in the "stock" location for a Focus. I say "stock" because it's about 1/8" off the stock location so the dust shield didnt line up. The reason behind using the different plate is the fact I now have much more room to fabricate a new header.

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Following that, the glass finally went in. It took a bit of struggling but the GF and I managed to get both the front and rear window in:

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And then, things didn't quite go to plan. I hooked the battery up, and the electrical had a few small issues, which turned out to be mostly grounds, and one bad headlight connector. I then proceeded to turn the motor over without plugs to get oil pressure, which turned out very well
to get oil pressure, which turned out very well. Plugs were put back in, and I made an attempt to start it, but no joy. The laptop was hooked up, and with some fiddling with the ignition trigger offset, it fired up. Unfortunately that was at the end of the day, so things had to wait two weeks due to a road trip to see the GF's family (7 hours each way in the Jaaag was quite enjoyable).

Once back from the trip and back in the garage, I bled the brakes and tested a few other things before attempting to drive it up the street. Well, it drove up the street but the motor had to come back out again. The gearbox that was in the car either has a bent input shaft or the input shaft bearing is toast. Luckily I picked up a spare a few months ago (for no reason other than it was cheap). This meant the motor and gearbox had to come out for the 8th time (I think). With the GFs help, it took 4 hours to re-and-re the motor, modify the gearbox, and get running again. I also swapped out my fabricobbled serpentine belt idler bracket for a Retroford bracket which is way better than mine. It allows adjustment at the idler instead of the alternator.

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Which all lead to this: https://youtu.be/ATVmEg623rY

And one final shot with it's garage mate (for the time being):

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 Post subject: Re: MGB GT Zetec
PostPosted: May 10, 2022, 8:25 am 
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Joined: May 19, 2016, 8:46 am
Posts: 57
Location: Chesapeake Va.
Rod

Very nice build. Hope you have fun with this car.

Have some questions.

First, what transmission are you using? Did it bolt, without an adapter, to the engine? I went back through the posts and didn't see a reference to it.

Second, In pictures of the engine in your latest post on the rear of the engine. The water housing for the return with the large and smaller outlets. That appears to be from another car. What is it from? Did you have to modify it to make it fit? Did you make the base to hold the thermostat as well?

Thanks for any information you can supply.

Red


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 Post subject: Re: MGB GT Zetec
PostPosted: May 10, 2022, 9:46 am 
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Location: Vancouver, BC
Red,
I'm using an RX8 6 speed and an adapter plate from rx8gearboxadapters.com . Don't quote me on this but I think the renesis shares the same bolt pattern as the earlier spinning doritos, so you might be able to use any of the Rx7 gearboxes too.

The water outlet is a modified TR6 t/stat housing that bolts to a plate that I spot faced to accept a t/stat. From what I've read, the focus housing has a bypass in it to warm the engine up quicker for emissions or something along those lines, but supposedly you can run without it. Hopefully this proves true as I'm not wanting to create a bypass system.


Rod


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 Post subject: Re: MGB GT Zetec
PostPosted: May 10, 2022, 9:47 am 
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Joined: March 19, 2011, 10:22 am
Posts: 2386
Location: Holden, Alberta, Canada
Great looking build Rod

Just going through your build pics again and I really like the dash paint, what is it?

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 Post subject: Re: MGB GT Zetec
PostPosted: May 10, 2022, 9:51 am 
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Joined: November 6, 2020, 6:29 pm
Posts: 599
Location: Spring, TX
cs3tcr wrote:
Red,
I'm using an RX8 6 speed and an adapter plate from rx8gearboxadapters.com . Don't quote me on this but I think the renesis shares the same bolt pattern as the earlier spinning doritos, so you might be able to use any of the Rx7 gearboxes too.


This is my understanding as well, and my hope, as I'm going Renesis in my 'Rotus' & have an early FC drivetrain.

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 Post subject: Re: MGB GT Zetec
PostPosted: May 10, 2022, 11:13 am 
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Location: Vancouver, BC
Perry,
The dash paint is VHT wrinkle paint, though there's no reason for the dash to be painted in high temp paint. It's the closest to original off the shelf wrinkle paint that I could find. Most people now go with a wrinkled powdercoat, but at the time I was trying to keep costs down.

Rod


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 Post subject: Re: MGB GT Zetec
PostPosted: May 12, 2022, 1:51 am 
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Just found this. I know that front yard.

Nice work Rod.

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 Post subject: Re: MGB GT Zetec
PostPosted: May 27, 2022, 10:50 pm 
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Location: Green Bay, WI
Sweet you got this all together. How’s it run? Move out pretty nice? Has to sound great, that’s a great engine. Turned out really nice.

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

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 Post subject: Re: MGB GT Zetec
PostPosted: May 31, 2022, 7:02 pm 
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Location: Vancouver, BC
Steve,
It's running but not all that great. I have to tune the carbs still and do some minor tweaking to the ignition map. But other than that, it's been fun to drive. We had our annual All British Field Meet earlier this month, which was the deadline to get the car "finished". I managed to get it finished enough, but not completely. I still have to fit the windscreen and read window trim, along with a small list of minor things.

Here's a few pics of what I did leading up to the show and at the show. First off was I fabricated some window winder adapters, it turns out you can't fit early window regulators to later doors, so in order to use the early handles you need to do some fabricobbling:

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I also applied some decals and plates to really PO the purists:

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Beyond that it was just tidying up both cars:

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And taking them to the show:

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And here's a few of "Quality Assurance" taking a look over the car:

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Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have it running properly and fingers crossed it will have a Panhard rod installed. I ran into a bunch of old customers at the show and one of them has a spare panhard rod for a B. It will hopefully be in my possession soon.

Rod


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 Post subject: Re: MGB GT Zetec
PostPosted: June 1, 2022, 7:30 am 
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Location: Green Bay, WI
You have a Europa too?!! Wow it looks amazing too. Looks like a very fun day with the picnic basket and cheese, right my alley. GT looks awesome, nice job!
Are you running Megasquirt on that? I ran through all that with my Mazda engine I put in a 7. It’s awesome when you get it dialed in.

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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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 Post subject: Re: MGB GT Zetec
PostPosted: June 1, 2022, 7:48 am 
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Location: Spring, TX
:cheers:

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