Ken G's Journal

The last two days have been fairly productive. The hand brake lever and cable has been installed, the wiring underneath is secured, the engine side covers and front pully are fastened down. I filled up the transmission and so I believe I have everything that I am required to do to install the engine and transmission. (Famous last words huh)

This week I'm going to fiddle around with the engine mounts and make sure I understand how the back transmission mount installs. I know it is different from when it came out as I've got the O/D transmission going in.

If I have some time during the week I'll start to reconnect the wiring harness to the lights and horns and other bits in the engine compartment and to the rear harness.

It took most of the day but I was able to get the engine in and the mounts locked down. One road block that I ran into that was unexpected was that my Engine lift arm was about 4-6 inches to short to make it easy. I could get the engine and transmission into place but I couldn't get enough distance on the arm to easily move it in place.
After the first time not sliding easily I pulled the whole thing out with the idea I could extend the arm out. Well I was at my last setting on the arm so I fiddled with the chains and the balancer to allow for some more adjustment. I think when I pulled the engine out I have the longer chain at the back, but while working on the engine I switched them.
On the second try with patience and some 2*4 pry bars I was able to muscle it into place.
The engine mounts went ok and then I started working on the transmission mounts. for some reason what should have been a 30 minute job turned into a afternoon ordeal. the mounts on the transmission went in ok, but the mounts on the body fought every step of the way which was just weird. With out the mount in there the bolts lined up and went readily in, but with the mount added in place they would not start. but eventually I was successful and happy for the days progress. The things you think may be difficult turn out to be easy but the things you think will be easy, the car likes to trick you.
Now that the engine in back in, The fun begins getting all the parts back together and connecting it up.

I had a very good lunch hour today. Got the valve cover, alternator, fan, fan belt, coil, and sparkplugs installed. Yes it is all low fruit on what needs to be finished but it is fun when the to do list goes down and I get to throw out empty part boxes.

The work continues putting the 1976 MGB back together.
My Saturday was totally blown but I did squirrel away some time on Sunday.
Most of the engine electrical connections are made and checked, The alternator is tightened and belt is in place, the Radiator is installed with the exception of the hoses.

I made up the OD drive connections for the switch to the harness and wired in a new indicator light in the dash .


I had hoped to accomplish more last weekend but I'll take what I can get.

The goal was to have it running at the end of May and with only two mores days left in the month that isn't going to happen. Oh well what can you say life get busy some times. BUT I did have a bit of success today, I managed to get the windshield installed on the car with the new bottom seal. After reading about this on the forum I was dreading it, but I didn't think it was too bad. About 45 minutes to set the new seal into the window track and around 2 hours by myself to get the 4 bolts locked in and the seal flattened.

It has been 2 years since my last journal post and in those two years I've done no work on the car. It has been sitting in the garage patiently waiting for me to simultaneously get free time and ambition something very rare with two pre-teens in the house.

But I'm happy to say that I have managed to do a restart on this project and after cleaning the garage last week I've managed to work two weeks in a row and can feel the excitement growing and some semblance of a feeling of accomplishment.

I honestly couldn't remember where I was on the various systems that have to be completed to get this car running again. So I spent some time making a checklist of all the various component needed to be completed in the car. It is like three pages long front and back. Pretty detailed and a bit overwhelming but I didn't want to miss anything (I still will) and I just work more efficiently with a check list.

The first thing I decided to tackle was the electronically system. Most of the connections had been completed and the dash had been temporally fastened in but I figured there were a few things that were either done incorrectly or were outstanding and not completed so I decided I needed to do a full test of all the components. I got a couple of 6 volt lantern batteries and connected them in series and started testing.

So this car is a total Frankenstein, parts swapped from so many places. The electrical system is from a 77 and the car is a 76. This caused some complications and the turn and wiper stalks different but it also made for some little wins. The 76 has the OD in the right stalk and the left stalk has a push button which I've got wired to the horn. There are a lot of the warning lights that were built into the 77 that don't have a spot in the 76 so those have been capped off.
Anyways using the test batteries I was able to get the hazards, turn, running lights head lights and brake lights working last weekend. I did find something a bit strange, some how I have one head light is halogen and the other in incandescent. No idea how that happened????
Today I was able to get the the the new OD light properly connected, the bright light dash warning light working, the horn to beep, the windshield wipers turning, the gauges lights lit and connected a USB outlet with a battery gauge. I also installed the starter.

Overall it still looks a mess but I'm happy with todays progress and hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to connect the starter, install the distributor and test the brake system.

Too early for any predictions but I'm glad to be getting at it again.