MGB V8 Roadster restoration project – Report 48

V8 Register – MG Car Club 160612-V8-restoration-Mike-Macartney-Rebuild-Report-48 1

June 2016

With the shell away for soda blasting I had a chance to get on with some of the other work to do on the MG.

The rear axle, ready to be stripped. Please don’t screw the two screws that hold the brake drum on too tight. They won’t come out anyway because the wheel also holds the brake drum on. I had to use an impact screwdriver on these ones.

I found, by accident, that this magnetic tool rail is useful to hold parts after they have been painted – a washing line for painted bits. It also works if you cover it with a rag so that metal particles won’t adhere to the paint.

The brake drums are in good condition. The paint came off eventually with the mule skinner. The rear hubs below proved difficult to remove even with the puller.

MGB V8 Roadster restoration project – Report 48

V8 Register – MG Car Club 160612-V8-restoration-Mike-Macartney-Rebuild-Report-48 2

Brake back plates are held on with 4 off 5/16” nuts and bolts.

To pull out the halfshafts I placed two long 5/16” set screws and nuts into the axle casing and then replaced the hub and tightened up the rear hub nut, which in turn pulled the bearing and shaft out of the housing.

For paint stripping find a friendly bodyshop that will sell you some. The paint strippers that you can buy in normal shops are useless. The paint stripper I got from the bodyshop is called STARCHEM SYNSTRYP. It works fine.

Why do, so called ‘restorers’ use red oxide over rust, then paint top coat over the top. It just makes it harder when you come to restore parts properly. Get as much rust off as possible before treating any rust left and then coat with etching primer.

MGB V8 Roadster restoration project – Report 48

V8 Register – MG Car Club 160612-V8-restoration-Mike-Macartney-Rebuild-Report-48 3

The outer flange on the diff cover needed heating to straighten the edge.

After paint stripping, ‘mule skinning’ and blasting in the cabinet the diff cover came up ready to paint with etch primer, to protect it from rust, before I eventually get round to painting it with primer and top coat.

This is what a limiting slip diff looks like when the cover plate is removed.

MGB V8 Roadster restoration project – Report 48

V8 Register – MG Car Club 160612-V8-restoration-Mike-Macartney-Rebuild-Report-48 4

Rear hub flanges cleaned of rust and Kurust has just be painted on.

After about half an hour it turns the surface of the metal black. FRONT SUSPENSION PARTS The uprights, or stub axle assemblies on the original MGB V8 project I bought where exchange items. Being left for so long in a damp and leaking garage, by the previous owner, they had gone rusty. The actual stub axle was OK as it had been assembled with the hub, disc and wheel bearings and some grease. I did not want to take the assembly apart as it all seemed OK and was greased. I taped up the stub axle part with masking tape to protect the machined surface. I wanted to stop most of the grit getting into the bushes at the top and bottom of the ‘trunion’, I think MG called it. To do this I tried using masking tape, this didn’t work so I used the tape that butchers use for taping up poly bags. You can see this orange tape in the photo. This tape is also useful for masking out parts when painting lines, stripes and patterns on vehicle bodies and motorcycle petrol tanks. Before this part is fitted to the car I shall make sure I pump plenty of grease through the grease nipples to clear out any grit that may have collected in the joints.

Stub axle assembly masked up ready to clean up for etch priming.

Call me a bit ‘over the top’, but I don’t like to see large flash lines on forgings. I thought the flash lines on the steering arms were excessive so I ground them off with the angle grinder with a flap wheel fitted. Perhaps by 1978 when this MGB was built the tooling for these steering arms was getting a bit tired? Any comments, suggestions to mikemacartney@btconnect.com 12

th June 2016