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MG MGB Technical - Rear muffler mount

Can someone tell me where the fibre washers go on the rear most muffler mount? I bought a whole new exhaust and mounting kit and I can see how the rubber mounting blocks and brakets fit but can't tell where those four fibre washers go. Do they go against the rubber blocks with the threaded studs so they are between the brackets and blocks? So if you're looking at it all tightened up it goes nut, lock washer, flat washer, bracket, fibrewasher, rubber block, fibrewasher, bracket, flat washer, lockwasher, nut.

I hope that makes sense!

Simon
Simon Jansen

Well, I have another problem. If you look at the pic on the bottom of this page: http://www.asciimation.co.nz/pics/page7.html you'll see what it is. The rear end of my car is way too high so now the exhaust doesn't line up at all. I can't get the pipe to join to the muffler. I think I will have to lower the rear before I can even get the exhaust sorted out. I need to drop it about 3 inches I think since ti is a RB car originally but now without the weight of those RBs on it.

Also it is a bit tricky working out where all the pipes go. I actually found I got the best fit by putting the second pipe from the front in the place where the centre muffler would usually go and then have a short straight piece in it's place. I haven't welded anything together yet though.

Simon
Simon Jansen

G'day Simon,

Making great progress and am excited for you. On your second topic above: based on an experience of mine.

Not sure about the height of the rear end and the alignment issue but would have thought that the alignment of the pipe section (relative to the rear muffler) emerging behind the rear axle could be adjusted as part of the angle setting exercise to get the pipe clear of the axle at max strap extension.

I was interested to see the photo of the pipe showing it appearing to be 'short' of the point of joining to the rear muffler. (Hope you are still with me, this seems wordy but I am trying to stick to the points). An experience of mine may help here, and possibly with the extent of adjustment of the alignment issue above.

When I reinstalled my engine/gearbox and just about everything else you could reasonably expect to take off the car, the last thing put back under the car was the previously installed exhaust system, in one piece from manifold join to end. We had the dickens of a job in getting both middle and rear mounting points to match up, and the alignment relative to the underbody appeared 'out' as well - remember the system had not been fiddled from the point of removal. The whole thing was out a clear 1" in length.

The car was standing on axle stands, the rear under axle - the front under the chassis rails either side, necessarily behind the line of the (reinstalled) engine weight. When we repositioned the front stands beneath the front suspension the entire thing lined up spot on.

The lesson appeared to be that the engine weight (installed after the car had been positioned on the stands) had bowed the front/rear alignment and managed to 'shorten the car underbody line by that 1".

Not sure how your front is held up but noticed in photos from the underbody painting section that a jack and axle stands were distributed under the body. If you try the rear axle/front suspension (wishbone bush housing)mounting points you may find that the overall car alignment/underbody length are more 'normal' and provide a clearer picture of just what alignment adjustments you are dealing with in this instance.

Regards
Roger
Roger T

Simon:

I would guess new springs as a start. Will you need the shorter limiting straps if you lower the car?

On a separate note, what can you tell me about the hub adapter? I need one for my car and it looks like getting it made is going to be the only option.

Pete
Pete

Simon, your springs seem too curved and my recollection is that they should be much flatter when nthe weight is on them. Yours are presumably hanging at the moment but they seem very low. Now the front muffler fits immediately after the Y piece and not next to the tail box. Just maybe this is your problem
Iain MacKintosh

Thanks for the comments guys. I am pretty sure my problem is the springs are too curved as Iain says. The car is on all four wheels at the moment. I was just using the stands to hold bits of the exhaust up while trying to fit it all. So it is sitting how it will when finished. The engine and gearbox are in already. The car is sitting about 18 inches at the back from the centre of the chrome strip to the middle of the wheel and I know that's wrong! I am leaving out the centre muffler and have a straight piece of pipe to go in it's place.

Pete, do you mean the adaptor I have in the middle of my steering wheel? I made that. I machined it from a piece of thick walled tube from a driveshaft place then had it chromed. The badge was off ebay. The idea was to use velcro to hold it in but I found that you can't stick anything to the back of the badge since the silver paint just comes off! Luckily I was able to repaint it carefully. I wrapped tape around the edge of the badge and now it's now just a tight push fit. There is a hole through the middle of the hub that means you can poke a rod though form behind the wheel to pop the badge out if needed. The chromed bit is held in place by two circular plates. One goes under the wheel when it is screwed to the shaft hub and the other fits into the chrome bit. There is a nut welded to the lower one and a bolt through the middle of the upper one. You just tighten that and the two plates pull together clamping everything together (if that makes sense).

Simon Jansen

Simon:

What I need to sort out is how to attach a new MOMO steering wheel in place of my original. MOMO does not make a hub for this application. (1967 car) My thoughts at this point are to take the original wheel to a machine shop. chop off all the spoke bits and hae the face machined for the new bolt pattern. I would have it made from billet, but splines are a pain to make. All other sugestions welcome.

Pete
Pete

I got a Sportline hub which uses the same bolt hole pattern as the Momo wheels. I did have to machine a tiny bit off it on the lathe to get the shaft to slide on far enough.

This is their web site: http://www.sport-line.it/uk/main_uk.html

No idea if they are available in Canada.
Simon Jansen

OK, I think what I am going to do is get the springs re-arched. That's not too expensive here and the easiest way to get the height down. I will have to take them in tomorrow (last chance before next year) so tonight I will pull them off the car and measure the height of the curve which I believe should be about 5.5 - 6 inches? Mine are certainly more curved than that. I want to aim for about 15 inches from the wheel centre to the chrome strip unloaded so the car should sit a little lower than that with a full tank of fuel and a spare tyre in place. With the springs off tonight I will let the axle sit on the rebound straps and check to see what my exhaust alignment is like then.

Simon
Simon Jansen

Thanks Simon. I will give them a try.

Pete
Pete

Simon, I actually measured the height of my car a few weeks ago and put it on this site. From memory I think it was about 14" give or take 1/4" with the front and rear beaing virtually the same. This was for a fully built roadster with a half tank of fuel. It looks absolutely right on the road. Now if you are going for 15" and are a rubber bumper car I imagine you won't be far off the mark.
Iain MacKintosh

Simon, when I replaced the rear springs on my CB Roadster, I had similar problems. The springs were so bowed that I couldn't attache the rear shackles. I put stands under the axle & loaded up the boot with as much weight as I could find until I was able to attache the shackles. I left the weight in the boot for quite some time afterwards. Eventually everything settled down. My original exhaust was scrapped & a new one fitted. It was custom made not stock. Barrie E
Barrie Egerton

This thread was discussed between 18/12/2005 and 20/12/2005

MG MGB Technical index

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