Mark's Mgbgt Adventure

Since buying my MGBGT in 1998 I've heard many, many time people talk about how difficult it is to remove and refit the transmission cross member. Some people resort to cutting holes the the crossmember in order to get it off.

Last night my son and I started the process of removing the engine by disconnecting it from the car's body. Of course I tasked Thomas with going under the car to disconnect the drive shaft and remove the crossmember. Fortunately I remember reading years ago about an "easy" method to do this. I dug through my old issues of MGB Driver and found in the July/August 99 issue an article on this subject. It's actually a reprint from British Leylan's MGB V8 Workshop Supplement.

I've attached a jpg image of the page but if anyone wants a better copy of the page just email me and I'll send you a pdf scan of the page.

Yesterday I pulled the engine out of the GT. I rented an engine hoist for pulling the engine since at the last Club meeting I couldn't find a member with a hoist.

I got the engine tilted so the transmission would come out and was raising the engine to clear the car when the engine stopped moving; the engine hoist had gone has high as it was going to and I still needed another foot before the engine would clear the grill. I was not expecting an engine hoist with inadequate lift height.

Fortunately, the Club was having an upholstry tech session so I hurried over hoping that there would be a different or bigger crowd that at the last meeting and some body would have or know someone with an engine hoist. And yes, someone did have a hoist that would work.

So the engine is now out, and the engine bay and engine power-washed clean. Monday I'll return the inadequate engine hoist.

The B-series engine in my car isn't from a B; I believe it is actually out of a Marina. The engine number is 18V658M-L17025. Also, the "clock", or engine block casting date, located under the distributor, isn't like a B's either. Anyone know what the numbers on my block stand for?

I just finished stripping down the engine. I only found copper showing on two bearings. If I'm luck on the main journals will need to be ground down. I also found the cylinder walls to be in good condition; no scoring of the cylinder walls according to my finger nail. There is a perceivable bump at the the top of the cylinder wall. I'm not sure if that means that the cylinders will have to be bored out or just honed to remove the top ridge. Also, the cam shafts appears to be in very good condition to me; on obvious wear makes on the lobes. Considering that the engine has around 80,000 miles on it, I think it is in very good condition.

Yesterday I finally got around to dropping of the block, head and crank shaft to my machinist and today I dropped off the valves, pistons and rods.

He's going to inspect the valves to see which ones can be reused and he'll be inspecting the rods for roundness and straightness.

This guy works on engines as a hobby. He must have had 2 dozen engines sitting around the shop including a 30's vintage Olds V-8, a couple Chevy dragster engines, a Mini Cooper engine, and a few industrial Ford straight sixes. I think he's going to do a good job on my and his rates are reasonable.

It started out as an engine rebuild. I then figured I might as well paint the engine compartment while the engine was out.

About a week ago the grill came out because I could see some surface rust just behind the grill. Then I figured I really should take the front apron off in order to do a proper paint job around the grill openning, and of course that meant that the bumper had to come off. And since the bumper is off...

Last night I decided I wanted to install the headlamp gaskets that I bought years ago. When I removed the driver's side headlamp assembly I discovered a fair amont of rust around about half of the assembly mounting area.

One thing leads to another.