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MG MGA - Tiny brush for bullet connectors?


I'm going to go through all of the bullet connectors to clean them (and all grounds). I'm thinking I would like to have a tiny wire brush for getting into the female connection. Something like the little cleaning brush for the gunson color tune. Anyone know of anything like that? If that's not an option, what is the best way to clean these terminals to ensure a good connection?

Thanks!
JM Morris

Jack, better to replace them. They are plated steel inside and they tend to rust. Also the steel tends to get brittle with age and if they are the original connectors the insulation is probably rubber and starting to decompose. Don't know if you have suppliers over there but this is the one I use http://www.autosparks.co.uk/index.php?content_page=home Lindsay.
Lindsay Sampford

Check a gun shop for small bore rifle brush, maybe for 17-caliper air gun.
Barney Gaylord


Thanks both! I will let you know how I handle it.

--Jack
JM Morris

Which ever way you decide to go, I'd recommend including dielectric grease for all connections to prevent future degredation.
Chuck Schaefer

Finally a use for that dremel tool... you do have one right?
B Suelzle

I just did a shot in the blast cabinet with glass beads. Then dialectic grease.
Jim Ferguson

Q-Tip and teak cleaner then dip the bullet ends in dialectic grease.
David Werblow


D__n! I don't know why I didn't think of the dremel tool! It's one of the most used tools I have.

But I have learned that internet providers think an awful lot of their 17 caliber bore brushes.

And I did order 3 small bore brushes (3/16)from the Justman Brush Co. off the internet at a reasonable price.

This will teach me to wait for additional responses on this bulletin board!

And yes, I have plenty of dielectric grease--the BIG tube.

Thanks, guys.
JM Morris

I wrap steel wool around a small drill bit chucked in to my battery powered drill
S E Bryan

"Teak cleaner"? What is that?
David "it is .177, BTW" Lieb
David Lieb

Above, Lindsay Sampford:
"Jack, better to replace them. They are plated steel inside and they tend to rust. Also the steel tends to get brittle with age and if they are the original connectors the insulation is probably rubber and starting to decompose. Don't know if you have suppliers over there but this is the one I use http://www.autosparks.co.uk/index.php?content_page=home Lindsay. "

To which I add that actually the originals are spring temper brass, tin plated, and the effective lifetime is about 30 years, even if they are kept in a dry location, like under the dash. They stress crack, and even if you clean them down in their little tubular rubber house, they have no tension to maintain contact. The newer steel ones are nickel plated, and do rust but don't break. I use OxGard, but for many years just used chassis grease.

Since there is maybe $20-30 total of sleeve connectors on the whole car, and since even if the ones you have are not broken now, they soon will be, why be masochistic?

(little brushes are very good for many things, but this is a waste of time!)

FRM
Fletcher R Millmore

David,

“Teak cleaner” can be purchased in most boat yards. It comes in both liquid and powder form and is used on teak, a type of wood used in construction or trim on many boats.
David Werblow


Fletcher: Do you by chance know how many there are of each type for the whole car? In other words, how many 1 wire connectors, how many 2 wire connectors, how many 3 wire connnectors, etc.

Freight (and time) being what it is today, I think it would be the most economical to order them all at once, if that's the route I go. If no one knows, I'll try to keep count and add it back to this forum.

Thanks!
--Jack
JM Morris

Jack, according to the diagram it looks like 10 double and 19 single for a 1500 with twin horns, one fog lamp and a heater blower. What have you got? Lindsay.
Lindsay Sampford

Jack -
I don't really keep track since I work on a lot of different cars and try to keep some on hand, but I figure 20 singles and 10 doubles as the basic requirement, right in line with what Lindsay counted. Later cars like post 74 MGB use a few more, Jaguars have truckloads!
Triples and quads, in both isolated and commons, and 5 ways isolated are available (British Wire), but rarely seen except on older cars never touched, and never absolutely necessary. The multis jack the cost up a bunch.

FRM
Fletcher R Millmore

Good estimates! You guys may have been peeking. See here: http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/electric/circ_snap.htm
Barney Gaylord

Nah Barney - it's just that it isn't much more than we have fingers and toes to count with!
My question is, how do you come up with time to do all the stuff you do and still manage to record it all on such an amazingly functional way? I wish you were in control of all websites!

FRM
Fletcher R Millmore


I'm blown away! I had a '62 Mark II in college and stayed bewildered and at the mercy of locals who were "supposed to know". (And stayed broke too.) But with the encouragement of my Father, the Mk II was how I started learning. Now--anybody that has the desire can fix and maintain one of these cars with the knowledge and encouragement that's available here.

We're gonna have to build a shrine to Barney!



JM Morris

Building up a 1700 web page MGA tech library is at least theoretically simple. Just quit your day job and treat the web site as a full time job for 10 or 12 years. Doing the recent 7 month body restoration with new body sills might be viewed as part of the process of composing 36 new web pages with 350 photos and notes.
Barney Gaylord

Barney, that's BS and you know it, Theoretically simple yes, but it's the temporal dilator you are keeping secret that I really want to see documente4d! Or else you have figured out how to call up the assistants of Hephaestus to help out.

FRM
Fletcher R Millmore

Hephaestus eh! I had to Wikipedia that one; the Greek god of technology, blacksmith to the gods.
Lindsay Sampford

Did they mention the lovely assistants?

FRM
Fletcher R Millmore

This thread was discussed between 16/03/2010 and 20/03/2010

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