Ken G's Journal

It is amazing how things sneak up on you and drain on your free time. Kids sports, camping trips, getting sick and work just all plot against doing the fun projects. it has been 2 months since I last worked on this thing.

But today the soccer game started at 8 am so I've had most of the afternoon free. I climbed back into the garage and cleaned it again to be able to get to the MG and started to work.

I installed a new negative battery cable, hooked up the starter and battery and tested the electronics. They are basically working I have a couple of lights that I have to check the grounds on but overall good enough.

I pushed the car into the driveway, added a couple gallons of gas and tried to get it to start. I had hoped that I would get lucky and it would just fire right up. nope not that lucky.

So I checked, fuel is getting pumped up, and the plugs are making a spark good signs. I set the static timing per John Twist, double checked the wire alignment 1,3,4,2. and ...Nope. I advanced the timing small amounts multiple times. nope. Took a break.

Reset the timing again, tried a couple more times nope, nada nothing. So I'm giving it a rest. Having a nice cool beverage, doing a little research and we'll try again tomorrow.

Continuing on with the project. Documenting it in the journal some how makes it a bit more real, ev3en when there isn't a ton of progress.

Today I installed a brake relay, I was digging through a box of items and came upon it. I don't even remember buying it but I figured since I had it and everything was easy to access I'd take care of it. I also rewired the horn relay to a different power source. I think I will eventually add in a power stud or second fuse box but this should be ok for now. But that stuff is all pretty small.

I got a bit of time today but it is HOT in the garage.

I worked on the clutch and brakes today. Topped off and bled the clutch line and started working on the brakes. I started bleeding the rear brakes with the EZ bleeder and ran into some problems. The driver side front line was not tight to the flex line so that leaked a bunch and then I found that the same line going into the reserve was also weeping. Of course this is the line that attaches to the bottom of the reserve and is a royal pain to get at. I tighten the line under the car, remove the fluid from the reserve, loosened and retightened the hard line and tested. All seemed good. So I started bleeding again and it is leaking again there. Very lightly but right on the paint of the engine compartment.

So after mucking around with that for 4 hours, I'm done for the day.

We will see what tomorrow brings.

I believe I've figured out the power drop off issue. For the testing I was using two 6 volt batteries in series. This worked generally but what I noticed is when the key was turned on the volts at the brown wire dropped from 9.15 to 7.52. I went over all the connections and didn't see any errors in the wiring so I made the guess that lantern batteries were too weak. So I got out the car battery, connected it with a 10 fuse to the line and it seems to have worked. I've got my lights, horn and turn signals/ hazards working. Maybe I've been a bit to cautious with this but I'm trying to avoid "smoke" issues.

I've got the relays installed for the headlights and horn, reattached the dash, and installed the firewall plugs, starter and distributor.

Next up I plan to verify the clutch, brake and fuel lines.

So yesterday was a nice high point, to day was a bunch of frustration.

I had noticed that the headlights were not matching, one halogen and one incandescent so I bought a set of those cheap LED lights with the ring around them. I was thinking they would be work able in the short run and the day runners and extra turn signal lights would be useful.

Beginning in the morning I pulled out the old lights installed the new ones and made up some connecting wires for the day and turn lights. Wired it all up and nothing worked. Monkeyed around with it a bit and was able to get some of it to work but then I found an issue which I messed around with for hours and still haven't sorted out.

When the car ignition is not on, the new headlights work fine, but when I turn on the ignition, the lights turn off. Just weird. I have been pouring over the wiring diagram, traced the power, searched the web (found one similar issue (but there was no resolution) and I just can't sort it out.

I do have relays on the headlights and that might be part of the problem, but it isn't the whole thing.

I removed the relays and wired up the lights light original and they work fine with the ignition off, with the ignition on they are still one but are only at 5%. When the ignition switch is turned on something is adding a ton of resistance (I'm guessing) and I've got no idea.

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.