Dan's 1976 MGB

Made some good progress tonight.

Hooked up the driveshaft -














Reinstalled the shift lever (need to get a new boot) -














Wired up the starter -














I also tightened up the engine mount on the passenger's side and bolted the engine down to both mounts (no easy task when the car is raised up high in the air!).

Here are a couple of shots of the crossmember installed. You can see the hole drilled through the body of the crossmember to allow access to the rubber transmission mounts.


























So now I'm off the Scout camp for a few days, so no work until at least Wednesday night. The next task will be to take the steering rack off to tighten up the driver's side engine mount, then put the intake/exhaust manifold back on so I can reinstalled the exhaust system. Then I can get the car back on the ground to finish hooking everything up in the engine bay and reinstall the radiator.

I was able to get the crossmember installed last night. Also did the reverse switch (which had gotten caught up in the engine bay on some other wires) and a couple of the engine mount bolts.

The crossmember was a bit of a pain and required some 'staging'. Once I figured out how it all went together with the engine restraint rod, I collected the appropriate wrenches, sockets and bolts and rolled under the car. I had to remove the driver's side rubber mount to get everything to align properly. Then I realize that the transmission, which was resting on the rear crossmember, was too low to start the crossmember bolts. So I rolled out from under the car to jack up the transmission. The only place I could really jack it up was where the trans joined the engine (otherwise I'd have no room to work), but once I started jacking there, the engine started to shift upwards, not the rear of the transmission! So, I put nuts on a couple of the engine mount bolts. Then I was able to jack up the transmission only. Rolled back under the car, not I had the transmission too far up - couldn't get the mounts up high enough! Roll out, lower the trans a bit, roll undr, still too high, roll out, lower trans, roll under - okay, perfect!

At that point, it's a balancing act, holding the heavy crossmember with one hand while aligning the engine mounts in their slots and the bracket in the bottom of the crossmember while with the fifth hand starting a bolt in the hole to fasten the crossmember to the undercarriage... Once one bolt was started, I could relax. Only to discover that the transmission needed to be lowered a bit more that start a bolt on the OTHER side. Roll out, etc.

Once the crossmember was attached with a couple of bolts, I could reattach the driver's side engine mount to the transmission, put the other crossmember bolts in and then - using the 'crossmember mod' - put the nuts on the engine mounts holding them to the crossmember. All done!

This took me a lot longer than I thought it would. No work tonight, as we have a dedication for one of our Scout's Eagle Project at the Municipal Building at 6:45.

Time to start reattaching the myriad of parts, wires and hoses to get the B back on the road. Here are all of the nuts, bolts and small parts that need to go back on/in the
car -













In addition, of course, there are large parts like the transmission crossmember, engine restraint rod, radiator, intake manifold, carburetor, exhaust system.....

Here is the order I planned out -

1) Trans connections - slave cylinder, reverse switch, speedo drive, starter
2) Crossmember & restraint rod
3) Driveshaft
4) Tighten front engine mounts (including removing/replacing steering rack)
5) Shift lever
6) Intake manifold, carb, exhaust system, air cleaner, fan, alternator
7) Remaining underhood connections - hoses, etc.
8) Radiator shroud, radiator
9) Fluid refills - brake, coolant, gearbox top-off, oil top-off, steering rack
10) Bleed brakes
11) Charge battery

In addition, I need to buy new tires. The front ones are 10 years old, and the rears are somewhat older than that. But I think I will wait until after the 'first drive'.

Last night, I spent some time positioning the car in the garage and jacking it way up in the air.














Now I have plenty of room underneath. Then I hooked up the speedo cable and clutch slave cylinder, and repositioned the transmission (shoving it around with my feet!). I also started to tighten the engine mounts (well, the passenger's side one, until my forearm cramped up from twisting it in unnatural directions!).

Clutch Slave Cylinder -












Speedo Cable (needs to be tightened a bit more) -












Tonight I hope to get the rest of the underneath stuff done (steps 2 & 3 above).

Today was the big day! I started by reinstalling the starter (you only put the bottom bolt in as the upper side of the starter is held in place with one of the bolts that holds the transmission to the engine - hence the screwdriver). I had to tilt the engine over to do this, and of course, when it was on it's side the oil mostly leaked out of various spots! Well, I need to do an oil change anyway.

Once the starter was in place, the boys and I then rolled the B out into the driverway, moved the engine and crane into place, and hoisted the engine up. Then we dragged the transmission over, lowered the engine and mated the two. It took a couple of tries to get the main shaft of the transmission into the right spot but once there, they slid together. Then we bolted it up. Back came the straps and we raised the whole shebang up into the air!

So we push the B back into the garage, and get the engine in place. I jacked up the rear end so we had some 'angle' to slide the engine in with. I also ended up having to jack up the front end, as the legs from the crane can't get under the spring pans. The last 'jiggling' to be done was to jack up the tailshaft of the transmission to get it to slide up over the rear crossmember. Then we did a bunch of pushing and shoving to get the mounts on the engine to align with the engine mounts in the bay. Total time for the install was about 3 hours. Not bad for the first time!






























































So next up is to reconnect the myriad wires, cables and hoses that make the thing run. But I'm in pretty good shape and on target for August 3!

I spent a lot of time this past Saturday and Sunday finishing up the prep work for the engine re-install! The last task was the replacement of the driver's side engine mount, a fairly daunting task due to the steering shaft passing through the mount bracket - meaning you can't get a regular-thickness wrench on the nut holding the mount in place. All of this is done blind, by the way, as the nut is underneath the bracket, between the bracket and the front chassis rail. After messing around with a bicycle wrench (which is very thin) a decided to bite the bullet and remove the steering rack. Some pictures follow -

Two mof these bolts hold each steering rack end to the back of the wheel hubs. They were VERY frozen and required using the 'heat and beat' method to remove - heating them up with a blowtorch then putting a wrench on them and beating with a hammer!













There are 4 of these bolts that hold the rack to the chassis arms. They were not difficult to remove, being nice and covered with grease and grime.




























The steering arms removed....




























And the rack is out!















All of the bolts.















After removal of the driver's side engine mount -
















And with 2 new engine mounts....

Done a lot of prep work in the past week -

1) Cleaned up and painted the transmission crossmember, and modified it with a couple of holes drilled through so I can tighten the crossmember to the transmission without dislocating my arm. This is a commonly-done mod.














2) Cleaned up the engine restraint rod and bracket. Amazing how much grease and grime collected on these parts! Also replaced the rubber bushings.


























3) Cleaned up the transmission housing, it was REALLY grimy and greasy. It cleaned up pretty well, I used several plastic scrapers and then Simple Green. It looks like it may have actually been painted black at some point (mainly the bell housing) which is strange, as I always thought the transmission was left unpainted aluminum.


























4) Removed, cleaned up and repainted the rear engine mount brackets. The rubber bushings and the pin were replaced, as were the actual rear engine mounts. Took a little bit to get the bushings into the bracket holes - about 30 minutes of pulling, pushing, vising and yes - swearing! - to get them through the holes.









































5) Replaced the passenger-side front engine mount.















Pretty much all that is left is the driver's side engine mount - the one with the steering shaft going right through it! After trying several wrenches (including some recommended bicycle wrenches that are very flat) I felt like the bolt may have started to 'round' a bit, so I decided to remove the steering rack to get to it, as is usually done. I am hoping that I can simply remove the steering shaft at the front/bottom of the rack and slide it through the housing.

I've ordered all of the parts I think I will need for the engine install. New engine mounts, fan belt, exhaust downpipe for a '75 (non-catalytic converter equipped) B, new radiator hoses and various nuts 'n bolts. I ordered most everything from Moss directly, but the downpipe is from Victoria British (Moss doesn't carry just the downpipe). I also sourced a used fan from North Carolina (as I had left mine on the '76 engine and forgot about it!). The Moss order is supposed to arrive today, the Vicky Brit order on Tuesday.

Still not sure which clutch I will be using, but I will look at the one that's on there as I ordered a new rear crank seal.

I'm going to spend some time this week-end cleaning the transmission and starting to work on the engine mounts. The driver's side one is supposedly a real hassle to remove, since the steering column goes right through it! Here is a picture. You can see the steering shaft goes right through it -













Both mounts really need replacement -














I also want to clean up the transmission cross-member and do the mod where you drill a couple of holes in it to access the bolts that hold the transmission tailshaft in place.

Picked up the used engine from a '75 B from Motorcar Garage on Wednesday. Right now, it is sitting on a rolling cart in the garage, while I determine what parts I need to order to install it. Probably mainly engine mount parts, and I'll put new radiator hoses on as well. It came with a clutch that actually looks pretty decent, so I am not sure if I'll replace it with mine or not. Maybe I will remove it and compare the pressure plates. I want to get the order in this week-end so I can get it next week, and maybe the following week-end start to prep for the reinstall.

Ok, been a while since I did much of anything with the '76's engine work.... This spring, I started casting about for a solution to the engine issue - I could have simply redone the rings and bearings of the engine, but everyone I talked to said it was really false economy not to get a full rebuild - to the tune of $4,000 to $4,500..... So, that wasn't really an option, since I don't want to spend that kind of money on this car. But I did locate a good used engine from a '75 B, at the Motorcar Garage in Maple Shade, NJ. It's an hour from home, so I am going to get it this afternoon!

I need to order some parts - engine mounts, some gaskets, etc. - before I can reinstall everything. And I want to degrease the transmission, too.

I'm trading the old engine towards the new one - say good-bye!

Well, it appears that the blue smoke is caused by (drum roll, please) - broken rings! Both compression rings came aprt into 2 pieces when I removed the #2 piston from the cylinder bore! I guess that is good news. So I will replace those rings, and probably replace the main bearings as well, as they seem a little worn (some hints of copper showing through - not as bad as they look in the pics below). The cylinder bores themselves seem to be in very good shape - no scoring and no ridge at the top of the piston's travel. So I will probably pull each piston out, replace the rod and main bearings, then clean everything up and put it all back together again. I do need to check the valves to make sure none are burned or hanging up, and maybe replace the valve seals as well.

The broken rings...













Rod Bearings



























Main Bearing

Made a lot of progress last night. Got the engine mounted on the engine stand, after removing the valve cover, intake/exhaust manifold and cylinder head. Next step will be to remove the oil pan and pull out the pistons to see if there is indeed a broken ring on the #2 cylinder. I'm hoping there is, to make the fix relatively simple.

Engine Mounted












Cylinders 1 & 2












Cylinders 3 & 4












Valve side of the Cylinder Head













As always, complete pics are here -

http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c30/ddibiase/1976%20MGB%20Engine%20Work/

Got some more work done on Saturday, before spending the rest of the week-end on Rob's Eagle project.....

Got the flywheel removed (no problem when you have the right tools!)...





































The next step was the engine back plate, which came right off after after removing about 10 bolts.













Finally, I test-fit the engine on the engine stand. Took a little jiggering around of the arms to get them in the right positions. Once I had it on, however, there were gaps as the boltd I bought were a little long. So I have washers to fill in the spaces, and will probably remove the cylinder head before final attachment to the stand.