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MG MGB Technical - Should anyone have this much bad luck?

Some of you guys may have seen my posts over the last 2 weeks, along with my feeble crys for help. heres where we are at the moment, and I still don't have the car on the road, and am wondering what will happen next.
I have never had so much bad luck in my life. In hindsight I would have done everything a lot different but......
I got the engine rebuilt and it was going like a dream for a couple of weeks. Then the starter gradually began to fail. I had done a few hundred miles and needed to do an oil change , and it looked like it would be an easier job to take the oil filter out to get to the starter, so I thought I might as well fit the adaptor while I was doing it.
I got the adaptor fitted, with very difficult and cryptic instructions . To test it, I had to clutch start the engine because the starter was playing up, and we still hadn’t checked enough to make sure it was the starter and not the wiring somewhere else, or the battery.
Got half way down the street and noticed what was the contents of my sump all over the road.
Had to tow the car back up the hill and back into my garage. I was feeling pretty despondent as it was a difficult job to do (with my equipment/tools anyway), and I knew I was going to have to pull it out again. I pulled it out checked everything was ok, and put it back in. I was more inclined to think I hadn’t centered the adaptor in the groove properly rather than I had assembled it wrong. The next day it occurred to me that I had misread part of the instructions and was going to have to pull it out yet again which I did again that night. After putting it on again, I went back to my bench and found a gasket on the table, which looked like the main gasket they supply with the adaptor, that sits up inside the groove on the engine block. I took it out again to check, not as concerned this time as I am an expert oil filter adaptor installer, having done it 10 times! I must have got 2 gaskets in the adaptor kit because the one in the block was there, plus I had the original one from the cartridge oil filter.
Once again I clutch started the car, very confident that all would be ok, oil all down the street again. Tow back to the garage. (grinding teeth all of the way)
I rang the MG “specialist” where I bought the adaptor and they didn’t really know much. I decided to get my mechanic back to fit the adaptor, so I would know it was done properly.
Started the car again, more oil down the street. I rang the mechanic to come back.
He played around with it for a while, pulled it out and noticed that the outer edge of the oil filter was burred and must be rubbing against the block. They had sold me the “correct” oil filter with the adaptor, at the MG “specialist” and it was too big (diameter too big)!. When you would screw the filter up, it would rub on the block, and hold it out two or 3 turns from biting down on the seal properly. It was only a 1/16” or so out so you couldn’t notice visually that it wasn’t tight. Because the filter was slowly tightening up on the engine block, it felt like it was tightening home. The mechanic found a more suitable/smaller oil filter with the correct thread and problem solved.

Now it was time to attack the starter. Checked all connections several times, cleaned joints, checked and recharged battery to eliminate any other possible problems as MG’s are known for bad ground problems. Got the auto electrician out and he tested everything and said definitely needed a new starter. Looked like a bit of a tricky job to pull out but I was assured by lots of well meaning people that it would come out the bottom, no need to remove oil filter, Dizzy etc. I mucked around with it for 2 hours and know way was it coming out. Tried again the next night, as I was assured it would come out with a bit of jiggling to get it in just the “right” spot I didn’t want to pull distributors etc out as I am not too sure about getting the timing right etc, and by now I had just about had enough of mucking around with it, so I got the mechanic out again to pull the old starter out and put the new one in. He confirmed the difficulty of the job by having to pull out the oil filter adaptor (once again !), the distributor, bracket for the ignition and a few other bits.
It turns out that apparently they came out with 2 different types of starter, a big one and a small one. Guess which one I have !! Anyway, put the new one in, slipped in from the bottom easy, a lot smaller and lighter overall.
Everything sorted out, everything should be ok now, turned the key over…..same thing.. Labored a bit, then nothing. I assumed that I missed something and the starter must have been good all along and the battery must be failing under load or something. Recharged battery, rechecked connections, solenoid ok, full power at solenoid etc. Should be ok now. Tried again……nothing. Decided to get my wife’s car with a new battery and try a jumpstart, that would eliminate the battery as a problem. Put the leads straight on the starter terminal, with all car wiring disconnected from the starter and using the starter body direct for ground…..still nothing. Time to get the mechanic back.
He came out and pulled out the starter, tested it out on the ground, seemed ok?? He cleaned up all the surface of the engine where the starter bolts to, as that could be the only final explanation. Put the starter back in, still nothing. Took it completely out of the car again, and this time it didn’t go at all with power directly on to the terminals. He gave it a few taps with his boot and it came to life. I sent the starter back to MG “specialist and the new one, did in fact fail under load, and had a crook armature. Getting it back today, what will go wrong next !!

Craig

Craig,
It has been said that owning such as we do, LBCs, builds character.
However, I think you now have enough 'character' for two of us.
Or look at it another way ~ "Intimacy breeds contempt".
Sorry I don't mean to belittle your woes, its just that all these MG idiosyncrasies do bring us closer to our cars, in an obtuse sort of way.
Having had all this nastiness you will be able to 'speak from experience' the next time the subject arises. And be sure it will.

My own experience ~ Did an oil change & did not notice that the old filter seal was stuck to the block. Started it up on - the way to work (night shift) & deposited the new oil all over the garage floor. Pushed it out onto the gravel driveway with a squeegee. First & last time that has ever happened to me.

Regards, Graham.
Graham Ayers

If I am thankful for anything it is that I noticed the oil coming out before I sailed off up the road and damage was done to my freshly rebuilt engine!
Craig

It could be much worse, you could be married to my ex-wife. Not only would you not have an MG, you would dread coming home from work every day.
******

Craig, It sometimes feels like there is more pain than pleasure with MG's, the only way round it is to have more than one example in your garage, or should I maybe say, at least one working example!. There will more problems, parts that do not fit, break or fail, but if you treat it like a bad drug addiction, it is easier to deal with.
Tatty

I'm very sorry to hear about your bad luck. This is the kind of thing which happens to all of us at some time or other. On the basis that there is only a finite amount of bad luck around and you clearly have had more than your fair share, I'd like to say thanks for making life easier for the rest of us.
Finally I'd really suggest that when testing a modified oil system, doing it on the road is really taking a serious chance with whatever good luck is left in the pool and you might feel that running the engine at idle until it gets good and hot and then speeding it up with the bonnet open and constantly montitoring for leaks might be a much safer way to go in the future :-)
Steve

Thank you Craig, for sharing your bad luck story! I periodically experience what I term "Rich's Luck", assuming that either God has really got it in for me as he seemed to for Job, ( God knows I probably deserve it!) or that my fate has been cast to the wind and thrown back in my teeth. You make me feel lucky!!!! Just don't blame you- it's a combination of factors, and you only have control of one of them.Thanks, and Merry Christmas- and I mean Christmas, not Merry Holidays, as the politically neutered would have it.
Ken R
Ken Rich

There are also some good stories Craig so don't be too upset.

Decided to go to South of France for a holiday MGA ready MGB no engine. Thought I would take the "A" but her who shall be obeyed disagreed and won. Thursday evening dropped in an untried S/H "B" motor and gave it a quick 10 mile road test and Friday departed to France. 3000miles and two weeks later returned to Holland and the only thing I had to do was remove the thermostat (40 degs in the shade in France)
CS

This thread was discussed between 10/12/2002 and 11/12/2002

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