Mike Harman's Journal

Well I joined this site last month and thought it about time to put pen to paper and let others know a little about me and my car.
I have always liked the MG marque since I was a small lad many years ago and wanted a MGTC. Unfortunately I have had to wait until my seventies to get a car not a TC but MGB Roadster. The reason for the MGB was that I could not find a TC that had not been added to in some way from the factory build.
The Mg I bout is a 1965 Roadster and is stock standard as it came from the factory on or about the 18th February 1965. and was first registered in NZ on the 27th April 1965.
The car has been well looked after and shed stored all its life. The last owner had it for around 20 years and only did 900 miles in that time to the testing station for 6monthly warrant and rego. The hard top and touneou cover along with the packaway roof are all original and in excellent condition.
Lucky that I own a automotive workshop with our son and can do all the work ,servicing etc . I have changed all the fluids and oils as well.

The forums are very interesting on how some of the members work out the problems with their cars.
At my business I worked on alot of MGB GT and MG midgets that customers had from complete engine rebuild to diff rebuild but I am pleased to just have my car to work on now that I have retired.

The weather wasnt very good so I decided to attack the carbs on Lil Blue as she had ben idling a bit rough and just didnt feel right even after doing the points plugs etc.
After taking the cans off and checking the jet height I found that the front carb was way out compared to the rear one.so I cranked both jets up to the bridge and marked them with twink then I backed them off exactly two turns started the car got it up to temp unclamped the connecter clamps on the throttle bar did all the tests leaned the carbs up one flat and then the vaccum test adjusting the this by throttle idle screw. Well what a difference Lil Blue really wants to go now runs
sweetly and rocks the car when revved up.
Well thats it for today time to hit the sack .

Hi All
Well it was a fine day here today and I thought it time to sit in the sun and clean the rear wire wheels on Lil Blue, each wheel took about an hour at least using isopro alcohol and a couple of old rags. well after the job was done it made quite a difference and was well worth the effort will attack the front ones next when I have some spare time.

Today I fitted a hidden switch to the fuel pump So that when I am out crusing in Lil Blue and stop at a cafe for a coffee some low life can not pinch my pride and joy. yes they may get it to start but it wont go far without the fuel pump working in fact it stalled just as I got it into reverse.which is what I planned. All the gauges and ignition will work so all that they will do is flatten the battery trying to start it.
The switch is not under the dash as this is too easy to find but is eay to reach from the drivers seat with out being obvious. what you are doing.you can keep guessing where I put it but I will not be disclosing the location. Well thats it for today next job will be to fit the new water pump plenty of time as we are in lockdown with no where to go

As we are in lockdown still it has been a chance to fix little problems on Lil Blue. Anyway the previous owner had sprayed fish-o-lene (rust stopper) every where inside the door panels and as a result the drivers door lock wasnt working.I removed the door card and then the lock, while trying to remove the E clip that holds the lockinb bar on I managed to break the tit off that works the lock bar.
Head scratching and a bit of Kiwi injurnuity and it was fixed.
This is how I repaired the lock.first I found a 2mm ht bolt in my collection then drilled the barrel end to take this bolt with a little bit of effort winding it in so that it cut a thread into the muck metal barrel.then i shaped the end to fit through the lock bar slot I also shaped a nut the same. once this was done I put the nut onto the bolt and put the lock bar on to the nut screwing the nut down just enough to put the E clip in between the bolt head and the nut as this was going to be up against the barrel with a washer as it was before this would hold the bar in place. Then I measured the amount that I would have to shorten the bolt by did this and checked that it would fit etc. used locktite 245 on the bolt into the barrel and waited for this to set then I put the lock plate on over the bolt head and onto the nut. remember that I had allowed for the E clip this is important as I then put this in place and tightened the nut up to it.Then I made sure that it all lined up and worked , then I put some solder onto the nut to make sure that it will not come loose.
Hey presto it works really well so if any of you have trouble with your door locks this is just one way to fix them and get alot of satisfaction from acheiving it'
Ps Lil Blue is a 65 model with pull handles.