MGB Roadmaster

[BlownMGB-V8]

Stock grind from Melling.

[BlownMGB-V8]

Driving this car and mine back-to-back it's clear it needs the Monroe Load Levelers on the rear so I ordered a set from Amazon. $91.99 which leaves $35.13 of the contributed funds. I hope to get those installed before the BV8 meet.

The horn relay clicks so it's probably the horn connection. I'll take a look at that while I have the car on the lift. Currently have 105 miles on the engine refresh and all is well. Backed out the idle screw and now it idles so slow it doesn't even register on the tach. But it seems a comfortable speed. Tweaking the swaybar has now become the priority item. My car comes off the lift today so I'll see what I can do about that.

Jim

[mgb260]

Jim, Are you replacing the coilovers or using the Load Leveler's as additional shocks?

[BlownMGB-V8]

Adding them. It means dialing back the springs on the coilovers to get the right ride height, I set it so the wheel flange is zeroed out vertically and then the ride height is adjusted with the axle shims. In this case since we already set that it just means bringing it back to vertical with the spring adjusters. In the end we get a stiffer spring rate and stiffer shocks both of which are good. I will TRY this time to measure the spring rate of the load levelers before I put them on and report back here. Amazon generally delivers within a couple days.

I put the car on the lift today. The swaybar links were too long making the ends of the bar hit the rims. I had a couple of 1/2" stud heim joints on the shelf so went to Menards and got matching pieces and 7/16" grade 8 bolts then came back and made a couple of adapters to match the bolts to the 1/2" heims and bolted it all up. Looks like it'll be OK now. We had some oil leaking out, looks like a valve cover so I inspected the gasket and tightened them down. Slight mismatch on the holes, so I fixed that too. Re-tightened the headers again, didn't get much there which is good. Sprayed everything down to wash off the oil. No leakage from the front or rear seals, transmission, or oil pump but both valve covers were leaking. Hopefully that is fixed now. Think I'll go out and have a look at the horns. The gas I sprayed it with should have dried up by now.

Jim

[BlownMGB-V8]

Curse You Max Fulton!!!!
(Damned, damned. double damned Bullet Connectors!!)
Horn works now.

Jim ;-]

[MGBV8]

Pretty sure those connectors came with the wiring harness.

[BlownMGB-V8]

It was an AAW wiring harness. Max added the bullets. Tried to tell him they were a bad idea but he just wouldn't listen.

Jim

[MGBV8]

There are bullet connectors all over most MGBs.

[BlownMGB-V8]

Each bullet connector represents at least 5 and up to 18 failure points. They are exposed to an oxidizer at best and oxidizers plus corrosives if outside the cockpit. If under the bumper like this one was, add road salt and weather. In those conditions it is guaranteed to fail. The only question is how long it takes. Scatter a few of those around the car and your brand new AAW harness is meaningless after the first few years. I won't have them in my car. My electrical problems have plummeted and when they do occur have easily determined causes. I use gas sealed connectors exclusively and have never had one fail. You'll never be able to say that for bullet connectors unless they are brand new. There is a reason they are no longer used in new cars. Because they are BAD! Let oxygen get to your conductors and sooner or later they will no longer carry signals. That's just simple chemistry. But hey, we are all entitled to believe what we want, whether it has any basis in fact or not.

I've been working on the cruise control. This is the Ford system. As it turns out there are at least three distinct variants, distinguishable by the connector on the actuator module. There are two different connector bodies, an older larger rectangular one and a later smaller oval one. Of the rectangular one there are at least 3 variants and you can tell them apart by the holes that are blanked out. I like the one used in my Lincoln Blackwood truck because it's already installed there and in my roadster and I can swap parts to troubleshoot so I installed that one in the RM but the switch module is not illuminated. OTOH the wiring seems a little easier to sort out. It has pins 1, 2 and 8 blanked out. There is also one with 3, 4 and 8 blanked out and the other one has pins 3 and 8 blanked out and as you can see has an extra wire to deal with, also multiple speed signal inputs, all of which may not be necessary.

All the switch modules so far use 4 pins but do not work the same so neither the actuators or the switch modules are interchangeable between systems. So while you can get your parts off different cars you need to be sure the actuator and switch module are compatible by checking the actuator connector. For instance in the older version (90's and early 2000's) the ON switch shorts the switch leads whereas the Focus version (~2008) reduces resistance from about 4500 ohms to 2500 ohms to switch on. I don't know why this was done, but they are not compatible. As the system becomes more complex it gets harder to figure out and less likely to work without all it's original connections into the rest of the system. I know the older system works. I have reason to believe the next one can. Beyond that I'm not willing to say at this time. The oval connector one has 6 wires.

In conjunction with replacing the switch module with the earlier style in the RM and getting that up and running I'm replacing the custom console switch panel in my car with a standard switch module in the ashtray so it is in a more convenient location. My switch panel uses a 60 ohm resistor on a green switched power lead that feeds the ON switch where this feed comes via the horn button clock spring in the Ford module so that's a wrinkle I'm sorting out. That 3rd feed is needed, I just have to be sure it's connected to the right pin. The resistor however may not be needed. That is the resistance of the horn relay coil that the power comes through. More on that later.

Also many of the wheel balance weights have been thrown off. On a pair of my wheels I was successful in restoring balance by replacing the missing weights (identified by the residual 2 sided tape), covering the weights with speed tape and restoring the wheel balance. On the RM it is a bit more difficult as there are residual tapes from multiple balancing operations but I will do what I can with them. Worst case we may need to rebalance the wheels.

Jim

[BlownMGB-V8]

Still no joy on the cruise but I may fix that today. The question of that 50 ohm resistor has come up.

Cleaned the inside of the wheels (a very dirty and thankless job), added weights where it looked like they might have been and taped them. Here's a useful tip: Ever have trouble sticking the weights and the tape to the inside of the wheel after it's been cleaned? Try painting the area you want to stick to with contact cement. Works great. I used the solvent based type, not sure it'd work with the water based.

Having sealed the valve covers better I now see oil being deposited around the oil filler cap. Might need to review the PVC system.

Jim

[BlownMGB-V8]

Cruise: The 60 ohm inline resistor in the "ON" line is not needed. I tested the identical system in my car and it works fine without it. Same actuator, same switch module, same wiring. Problem may be in the speed signal. I think we are taking that off the MegaJolt controller. On my car it came from the GM engine controller. That may need some tweaking.

Jim

[BlownMGB-V8]

Ran the full battery of tests on the cruise, it all looks good but then.... you know, it's funny how it won't work unless the cable is connected to the carb. All good now.

I'm still seeing a little oil deposited on the valve cover but maybe that will go away after the engine is run in a bit, and the oil has been changed as it is a little overfilled.

It just started a lean spit at very light throttle so I'll reset the fuel pressure regulator and see what that does. Definitely fuel related though.

But next I need to mix up some silicone rubber to pour into the ash trays on both cars and finish out the job on the cruise.

Got about 140 miles on the clock.

Jim

[MGBV8]

"I need to mix up some silicone rubber to pour into the ash trays on both cars "

??

[BlownMGB-V8]

I should be posting some photos later today, time permitting.

The Monroe load levelers came in yesterday, I'm working up a jig to measure the spring rate then those need to go on.

Jim

[DiDueColpi]

Are you measuring the springs or the shocks Jim?
I just use my hydraulic press, a digital bath scale with a piece of 3/4 plywood glued onto it, and a tape measure.
I have a shock stud bolted onto the cross bar for the ram and a 2x4 with a hole bored into it screwed to the plywood on the scale.
I use it mostly for measuring gas shocks and air springs. Never thought about load levelers.

Cheers
Fred

[BlownMGB-V8]

Almost exactly my setup Fred. Looks like the spring rate is 60lbs/in which stiffens up the coilovers nicely and the second shock is also very helpful. But far too light to use 4 coilovers plus there would be no height adjustment.

Here are the ash trays





The load levelers are mounted and I'm set to adjust the height tomorrow, very much like we did the weekend we set the toe-in.

Fuel pressure is at 7.5psi which is right for Rochester Quadrajets. About the limit of what they will take without flooding.
I've tweaked the advance map and will upload that tomorrow to take care of that low speed spit. Wasn't that smooth of a map anyway. I had to pull several degrees out in the sub 1500rpm range. Apparently the stock cam is more efficient at filling the cylinders at those speeds.

That should be pretty much everything. If I get the chance before go time I may put the AC gages on and check the subcool and superheat just to fine tune the charge.

Oh, and maybe I mentioned I replaced the breather on the intake with a tube up into the air cleaner housing, I added a flame trap to the tube. I'll try to get a few more miles on it and then change the oil and filter.

The number for the load levelers is Monroe 58575

Jim

[MGBV8]

"Fuel pressure is at 7.5psi "

Keep an eye on it.  That is on the high side.  6-7psi would be fine.

[mgb260]

Jim, How about a pic of the load levelers installed?

[BlownMGB-V8]

We've been running 7.5psi for the last couple of years and it's been fine so I didn't see any need to change it.

Here are a couple of shots of my car, it's identical to the Roadmaster loadleveler setup.

Jim

[mgb260]

Jim, Thanks!

[BlownMGB-V8]

We ran into a small issue, but it means the car won't be making it to Wytheville next week, just a minor little problem with a couple of cam lobes going round. Fortunately the vendor is sending us a new replacement cam and the lifters and gaskets won't be a tremendous expense but there's the small matter  of labor time and scheduling to deal with so the car may not be ready for another couple of weeks or so. Disappointing but there it is. Sometimes flat tappet cams just fail and this time we got to play the part of the victim.

The ultimate solution of course is to convert to a roller cam but those don't come cheap and for a big block Buick I think the cost wouldn't be far south of a grand and not likely to be something we would consider. (At least they are available.) But the upside if we did would be the ability to use just about any generic oil in the engine and not worry about wiping out another cam. That *almost* makes it worthwhile, and for many of us is a pretty good argument when building a new engine. I certainly bought into it on my stroker 300.

Anyway, we'll have the car up and running pretty soon and get it back out on tour. Hopefully we won't have any problems with the next one.

Jim

[BlownMGB-V8]

Steve came up last weekend and we did the cam swap on the car and a few other things. Ken Nicks bought a set of Melling lifters to match the cam so that all the parts came from the same manufacturer.

We pulled the pan and then discovered it was a great challenge to get it out of the car and I couldn't for the life of me figure out how I had removed the pan with the engine in the car last time. In retrospect I think I have it figured out. The confusing part is that we put the car on the lift to remove the engine for the refresh and Dan asked me where I wanted him to put the driveshaft, Steve and I both remember that clearly. So we thought the transmission must have still been in the car. I think now that we were mistaken about that. I think I had simply shoved the driveshaft back above the differential, and had removed the transmission, bellhousing and flywheel and that was why I was able to get the pan out before we pulled the engine. Maybe If I had read back in these notes I'd have found that. But no matter. We did manage to make extra work for ourselves but as Ken noted, we now know that the engine is nicely cleaned out inside.

As it turned out the cam wasn't bad. Well let me say maybe it isn't bad since nobody has measured it and he is remarkably unreliable about these things. We did find a couple of collapsed lifters and those would have produced the same symptoms. We briefly considered just swapping in the new lifters but any time you replace a lifter you take a chance that it will wipe out the cam lobe so we chose the surer path of replacing all those parts. We treated the cam lobes with some of my ever dwindling supply of unobtanium (concentrated Molybdium Disulfide engine assembly lube) and let that soak in, followed by comp cams white cam lube and then Melling red assembly lube on the lifters, and finally a pint of Lucas flat tappet oil additive in the crankcase, and precharged the oil supply. On startup we held 2K for 15 minutes and then went on a 45 minute road test. There were some minor oil leaks, one at the front of the pan which I think I've taken care of, and the valve covers of course. I'll tackle those tomorrow, it requires draining the coolant down enough to remove the top hose.

We replaced the water pump. It was wobbly and undoubtedly was the source of the noise we had been hearing. Odd that it didn't leak though. We found that we cannot use the water pump for the AC application as it is too long, it has to be the non-AC one. We also noticed the coil wire for plug #1 shorting to ground so we'll need to keep an eye on that. A set of custom plug wires may be in our future eventually and we will need help with that because of the EDIS coils. A set of usable wires seem to be hard to find for some reason. We found a Mr Gasket 710 at O'Reilly's that we could slightly trim and use to plug the front bung hole in the rocker cover so no more wrestling with the PCV cap at the rear when adding oil. And, Steve trashed the dipstick, so I had to make a new one. Again. This is getting to be a habit that I don't very much care for. And I think Steve has maybe earned a new Spurious Name.

Ken also donated a new Edelbrock carb but we used the old Qjet for the break-in as it was a known quantity. Should be able to fit the new one sometime in the next couple of weeks. I'm going to put some miles on the car, looking for any potential issues and maybe by the next Happy Hour we'll be ready to discuss getting it back out on tour. In the meantime I'm going to enjoy driving it and comparing it to my roadster. Both are fun cars to drive but for very different reasons.

Jim

[BlownMGB-V8]

Adjusted the AC charge yesterday and improved the performance.

A few weeks back we made a change over from R134a to R290 refrigerant. For those not in the know, that's propane which is a far superior refrigerant to r134, has larger molecules, and isn't as prone to leaking out of the system.  

At any rate it was working well with a minimal charge so I adjusted it upwards to see what improvement I could get and wow! Not what I was expecting at all. With head pressure around 250psi (r134 can run up to 350+) and 20-30 on the suction side I was getting 20 degree air out of the vents with the fan on high and the evaporator thermostat was cutting out the compressor occasionally with it cranked all the way to cold. Superheat/subcool numbers were high, in the 30/60 range indicating the need for even more refrigerant but with those vent temps I just didn't feel like pushing it right then. If it turns out to have an issue with freezing up I'll try another 25psi but I don't think there's any rush.

I may be able to swap out the carb next week.

Jim

[MGBV8]

Been awhile.

The 750 Edelbrock carb was a nice upgrade from the old Quadrajet.  It worked pretty darn good right out of the box.  Needs just a slight tweaking.

Max Fulton even managed 23 mpg on the trip back to Florence, KY for the V8 meet in Monticello, IL!

[BlownMGB-V8]

For those of you who haven't yet heard, in September we had a tree fall on the MGB-Roadmaster, damaging the roof and the rear hatch. We have settled with the insurance company and have decided as a group to alter the direction of the non-profit and will be selling the car. It will be sold under a Salvage title and we are asking $8,000 for the car but greatly prefer to sell it to someone who will repair it and remain within the community that built it. This represents a very good opportunity for someone with body-working skills to own an extremely nice GT with historic significance, at a very low cost of entry.

The damage: No glass was broken but the rear hatch no longer seals and is more easily replaced than repaired. We do have access from at least three sources to the needed parts available from Vendors who are interested in seeing the car get repaired and remain within the community so that it can appear at future meets, and can accommodate the new owner accordingly. None of the three have stated their terms but it would be reasonable to suspect they might be quite favorable. We will pass that information along. The roof is rather wrinkly on the driver's side (the tree fell lengthwise) and may or may not be repairable. It might be easier to replace it than to get it smooth again, or it may be repairable as-is. We have the paint codes. I will be posting photos.

The car: As is often the case, we had just finally after a 12 year long process gotten the car completely sorted out. The recently refreshed 455 Buick engine has never run so well and Max hit a high of 24mpg with 21 being the highway average. We had come to the point that the only improvement we could have made to the car might have been to install a better radio. In terms of handling, performance and overall driving it has peaked. It is the epitome of the Grand Touring car in every way and it is just a shame more members didn't get to enjoy it like that. It is equipped with electric power steering, cruise control (Ford), air conditioning, Mr. Mike's Fiero seats, a V8 T-5 in excellent nick, Jaguar IRS with the 2.88 gear ratio which works extremely well with the big block engine. We recently added sequential LED turn signals under the front bumper. In good condition and completely disregarding the history and historical significance of the car this would be at least a $30,000 vehicle and those things only add to the value. Spending $20K repairing the car would therefore be justified but for someone with skills the cost outlay to do so could be as little as a couple grand.

The future of the British American Deviant Sportscar Society (B.A.D.A.S.S.): It's really a bit early for full disclosure due to pending negotiations but rest assured that our non-profit is dedicated to the goal of benefiting the community as a whole, including all enthusiasts of the sport. To that end we have a definite objective in mind and are working towards a long term self sustaining result and upon reaching a commitment between interested parties will make full disclosure to the community at large. We aren't quite to that point yet but should be soon.

We reserve the right to negotiate with any and all persons of interest and make the best decision on behalf of the group in terms of who to sell the car to and under what conditions. Competitive bids will be considered but will not be determinitive. The timeline for closing the deal is indefinite but is not likely to happen until after this year's BritishV8 meet in Long Island. Until that time the car can be seen at my location in Florence, Kentucky. As the official and legally recognized acting Agent of the non-profit it is my responsibility to finalize the sale and conclude negotiations on behalf of the organization, in accordance with the instructions of the officers and members as a whole. So any members who hold an opposing opinion need to make their wishes known. This posting constitutes notice.

Jim