New headers!

The headers finally arrived, they were painted by the builder to keep the rust at bay but I'm not sure what paint he used so I stripped it off and painted them with VHT 2000 degree paint. A couple of good coats then put them in the oven at 250 degrees for half an hour. After letting them cool, crank it up to 400 and heat for another 30 minutes. another cool down then go to 600 degrees for half an hour. Just make sure to do this on a day when the wife isn't home. Baked paint doesn't really smell appetizing unless you're a gearhead. They do look good though.

well, the weather finally gave me an opportunity to get out and get stuff done. Last week I got the rear axle housing back from being narrowed. I took a Ford 7.5" axle from under a Ranger and had the long side narrowed to match the short side. Then got an extra short axle and now the axle will fit under the GT. I also scored a limited slip carrier from a Bronco II. I got the complete disc brake set-up from a Mustang with a 7.5 and fitted it to the Ranger axle housing. Here's how it went together....

Limited slip unit from the Bronco II..

These caliper brackets from the Mustang were originally mounted to the outside of the axle flange, when putting on the axle for the MG swap, they need to be cut so that they will bolt onto the back face of the axle housing flange...

like this.

next goes the brake backing plate...

and the rotor.

then bolt on the caliper slide bracket using shims to center the rotor in the opening..the washer is just stuck in there trying to get the spacing right..It will be replaced with a shim in the final assembly.

Then mount the caliper....and the anti-moan bracket that straps to the housing to strengthen the mounting. One other bonus is these calipers have an integral parking brake.

and you've got a 7.5 Ford rear end with limited slip and disc brakes that will fit under the MGB GT! Now to take it all back apart for clean up and painting before final assembly.

Also sourced a Buick 300 water pump that I've been needing and when I looked at it compared it to the Rover pump, I realized it wasn't even close. It seems I had a timing cover that was only used a year or two on some Rovers and would put the water pump up too high. So after a brief search, found a Buick V6 timing cover that was just what I needed. Now to get the gaskets and put all this together.

Well, the weather has not been cooperative of late, so not a lot of work haqs been done to the bodyshell. I have picked up a few pieces here and there. I got a cooling fan and relay module from a Volvo 960, nice and thin, good sized fan. Got the Ford 7.5" rear axle housing back today from getting narrowed. It looks great, I'll post some pics tomorrow. I did learn one thing in gathering parts for the rear end...There are two different length "short side" axles from a 7.5" axle. Apparently the drum brake axles are a different length than a disc brake axle. I grabbed both my "short side" axles and took them to the guy that was narrowing my axle and noticed that they were not the same. IIRC, I got the second short axle from the Mustang 7.5" rear when I was getting all the disc brake parts. So now I need another Ranger axle. The difference is fairly small, the Ranger axle (drum brakes) is 26 3/8" whereas the Mustang axle(disc brakes) is 27 5/16.

other parts and pieces collected so far...

While the bodyshell is a work in progress, I've been collecting more pieces and parts for the build. I acquired a Ranger 7.5" rear axle assy, and am having it narrowed to fit the GT. I got disc brake rotors, backing plates and caliper brackets from a Mustang and calipers/pads from a Taurus SHO. I've modified the caliper brackets to fit the Ranger rear axle per a post on a Ranger forum that someone pointed me to. I also have a locking diff from a Bronco II, along with 3.08 gears from a Ranger. Hopefully with the V6 T5 trans gear ratios, this should be a good setup. If not, there are plenty Rangers out there with 3.45 gears...Also had a friend that used to own a speed shop give me an aluminum rear axle cover that strengthens the carrier with two studs/bolts that press against the carrier bearing caps. Looks good to boot.

more progress on the bodyshell

Well, it's been awhile since I updated the blog. I've been busy getting the bodyshell repaired and closer to paint. Stripping the bottom of 38 years worth of oil, road grime and paint isn't easy or fun. But now I've got a line on a soda blaster that a friend has, so I'm putting it on hold so I can get it done a little easier. I built a rotisserie of sorts so I can get tothe bottom of the car a little easier. Here's a couple of pics of the progress so far. It's getting to be summer time here so it's pretty hot and nasty work....not what you would call fun, but a diversion nonetheless.

When I took the front suspension / crossmember off and first turned the car up on it's side, I found a "jog" in the pass side frame rail right under the crossmember mounting holes. At some time in it's life, the car was wrecked or hit on the right front, effectively "shortening" the frame on that side by about a half inch. That's why there were so many spacers at the front bumper mounting bracket on that side...

engine together, mostly..

The engine is, for the most part, together. A few parts to be taken off, painted or cleaned up a little more and reinstalled, but mostly there. I'm going to start on the wiring harness soon, trying to clean it up of any unneeded wires, connectors, etc. so I can route it under the intake and out of sight as much as I can and rewrap it better. I'm going to repaint the plenum and valve covers, I think. Not really liking the plain black and silver of the engine. Maybe it'll look better when it's sitting in the engine bay. We'll see.
Hopefully, the weather will hold out this weekend and I can get some more done on the body, still need to get the engine / trans out, along with the front crossmember / steering rack so I can get the body on a rotisserie to work on the underside.