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Inside:• LA to Dillard, Georgia• Letters of Intent • MG 2012 Report• MG 2012 Photo Essay• Zinc Plating

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Vol. 22, No. 5

S imon Dix • 1977 MGBMG 2012 Concours Top Point Winner

Shelve MG 2012 as a Perfect Show !

Inside:• AGM Report • MG 2013 Update• Basic B• Gearbox Seminar* Removing FloorsJanuary / February 2013

Vol. 23, No. 1Inside:• The Pilgrimage • Final• MG 2011 - RENO • Basic B • Rally Photos• BMTA• The Future is in Your Hands

May / June 2011Vol. 21, No. 3

Drive DriveDrive!

The MG DriverThis bi-monthly magazine is packed with over 60 pages of useful information with the right mix of Technical and Member information.

4

ARIZONAMembersCottonwood Steve Loeding 1440 E Crestview Drive 928-649-2260

Flagstaff Martin Levendusky 3860 North Patterson Blvd 520-526-6515

Gilbert Christopher Harder 3e Ln887 E Santa Fe Lane 480-313-0686

Richard Timian 15317 East Via Del Palo 480-899-3272

Gold Canyon Andy Kurtz 5143 S. Diamond Cholla Court 480-983-4499

Green Valley Robert Agar 149 E. Santa Belia

520-625-9285

Robert Collins 2133 South Via Tulum 520-625-9841

Page Dan Brown

POB 1030 928-645-5514

Phoenix Ken Adkison

2141 W Carson Road 623-330-0066

Dennis Hosier 3024 East John Cabot Road 602-867-8065

Brian Kopf

234 West Kristal Way 623-582-8534

Ken & Ginny Martin 4846 East Indianola

602-840-3554

Kingsley Meldrum 2418 E Cathedral Rock Drive 970-818-6670

Brian Smith

25040 N 44th Avenue 623-208-9657

Prescott Dale James

639 Star Rock Drive 928-541-1272

Bill & Penny Meyer 1180 Gambel Oak Trail 928-445-8718

Tray Schreiber 1792 Exeter Drive

928-445-5167

Red Rock Robert Swetzer PO Box 1145 520-682-2629

Scottsdale Marc Feig 6052 East Ludlow Drive 480-205-9283

Tempe Mason Corbin 9136 S Kachina Drive 913-219-1279

Tucson Dr Alan Barreuther 1161 E. Calle De La Cabra 520-742-6342

Stephen Coughran 4729 E. Sunrise Dr. PMB386 520-577-8640

David Germain 7865 E Camino Bavispe 703-855-5764

Tumacacori Valerie Misinki PO Box 8095 908-581-9832

Vail Bengt Lydell

16917 S. Orchid Flower Tr. 520-883-0972Service Recommendation ListClarkdaleClarkdale Classic Service924 Main Street928-639-0432

Phoenix British Motor Classics2115 W. Shangri LA Road #5602-995-2028

British Sports Car Service2316 E Polk Street602-231-0706

PrescottEuropean Auto Technicians1125 Haining Street928-445-5559

The Shop925 A Hinman Street928-778-0540

TempeThe MG Shop936 E. Gilbert Drive480-967-5631

TucsonErnie’s British Cars1121 West Wetmore Rd.520-888-3055

Highway Drive Repair Services4401 North Highway Dr.520-888-6089

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$$ Good Deal

57

MGB Driver • January / February 2013

MGB Driver • January / February 2013

56

Tech Talk John Twist

Technical

Coordinator

MGB Driver

John, I now have some minor questions: I

have only one key – what is the best source

for blanks? The valve cover leaks a little,

tightening the rear nut helped a bit. Other

advice? The left rear shock leaks very

slightly. Easy fix? Ignore? Regular gas OK?

Type of oil you recommend?

Thanks! —Ted Miller

Ted,Phil Cooke at triple-c.com makes

keys from the original key num-

bers. The valve cover gasket is best

purchased from Moss Motors. Their

gaskets are thick cork and work won-

derfully. Adhere the gasket to the

cylinder head with silicone gasket

goo and let the valve cover seek its

own position.

The rear shocks, the Armstrong

lever type shocks, are durable. If they

need rebuilding, use Peter Caldwell

at Worldwide Imports in Madison,

Wisconnsin. He does a fabulous job.

On the other hand, if it’s just an oc-

casional drip, I’d ignore it. You’ll find

the car leaks in many more places

than just that shock!

Use mid-grade gasoline – 89

octane. If you do a compression

check and find that the compression

is really high (over 160 psi) then use

the highest octane. The cars were

prepared for very low octane (“pool

gasoline” with an octane of 80), but

after years of rebuilds or enhance-

ments, who know the actual com-

pression?

I would use 20W/50 in the engine;

80/90 hypoid gear oil in the gearbox,

differential, rack and pinion, and the

carb dashpots (do NOT use GL5 – GL4

is just fine, but the higher rating stuff

will hurt the brass components). Use

NGLI #2 lithium grease for all zerks

and wheel bearings.

John,I replaced the cap and rotor on my

77 MGB (Allison Ignition) and it would

not start. I put the old parts back on and

it started and ran fine. I checked the new

ones over and they looked fine. I put them

back on and nothing. I put the old parts

back on and nothing. The spark from the

coil appeared to be weak so I replaced it.

Still no sparks at the plugs. Everything

looks fine but when I metered the coil

input I had only 6-volts. The old coil was

a twelve volt as is the new one. What did

I do? I swapped caps and rotors twice and

what was a running car is now garage art.

—Michael P.S. – I enjoy your videos. I need to

tell you that I am an old school British car

guy – I prefer side curtain cars with points

and condensers but I can no longer afford

those.

Michael,The 1975-1979 MGBs have a six

volt running circuit for the ignition.

Only during “start” does the coil

receive full battery voltage. That

means that the coil must be a six volt

coil with about a 1.5 -2.0 primary re-

sistance. These coils are often labeled

“12-volt use with 2.0 ohm external

resistor.” So, if you’re using a 12-volt

coil in a six volt system, you’ll get

half the spark. That may be part of

the problem!

Hi John,

My odometer quit and I want to

pull it out for repair. My hands do not fit

behind the dash. Is there any easy way to

pull the dash forward for access? Help this

has all the earmarks of a major project.

Have a 72 B that is a driver and I like to

keep everything working if possible.

Thanks, —Jon

Jon,My hands are large, too, but it IS

possible to work with the speedo suc-

cessfully! First of all, drop the heater

control out of the dash. You’ll need a

pick or awl or dentist tool to depress

the pin in the rotary wheel and pull

it off the heater control. Then use a

deep 5/8” socket to spin off the nut

from the control – then wrench it

out of the back of the dash and let it

dangle. Now you can get access to

the speedo.

Remove the nut from the trip

odometer cable and let it dangle.

You’ll want to spin off the two

thumbnuts then pull the speedo out

of the dash. Then disconnect the

speedo cable. Now you have it in

your hands.

Offhand, you’ll want to send it

to Nisonger Instruments in Mama-

roneck, New York, for repair. If you

want to attempt the repair yourself,

you may find that the pawl which

ratchets the odo has fallen off and

lies loose in the case of the speedo.

John,My carbs keep overflowing from the

needle and seat. Any ideas? —Ralph

Ralph,Your fuel pump should produce

two to three psi. Any more than three

will overwhelm the needle and seat

in the carb and cause it to overflow.

John,Can you tell me if the timing specs

for these cars change as a result of the

unleaded gas we use? My mechanic times

my car by “feel/experience” and tells me

that if set the timing to manufacturer

specs it would not run well at all. If this is

true how do we go about timing our cars

properly? Thanks, —David

David!

Timing is CRITICAL! Timing CAN-

NOT be set by feel or experience! It

must be set with a timing light! Let

me explain.

Every other year or so we offer

a technical seminar – “Tuning for

Speed.” Several years ago, we had

a participant drive his 1967 MGB

from Hershey, Pennsylvania to Grand

Rapids for the seminar. The first day

of the class we tune the car to extract

as much power as we can from the

existing components. Before we

changed the timing, we checked

it and found it to be at 27-degrees

before top dead center at maximum

mechanical advance – around 4000

rpm – vacuum disconnected. We set

the timing at 32-BTDC and the next

day placed the MGB on a dynamom-

eter to find 62 HP at the rear wheels.

Just for fun we set the timing back to

27. We lost FIVE horsepower! Timing

is CRITICAL!

Set the timing in your MGB to

32 BTDC at maximum mechanical

advance with the vacuum discon-

nected. You’ll need a dial back timing

light for most MGBs.

John,

Your YouTube videos are excellent!

I have a 1979 MGB. All was functioning

fine before I parked it in the garage and

didn’t drive it for six months due to work

travel. I started the car today – started and

run great. I pushed the clutch pedal in to

put the care in gear and the clutch went

to the floor without any resistance. No

clutch. I looked under the car and there

is no fluid. I tried letting the car run for a

while to see if something (slave cylinder,

etc.) would either build pressure or other-

wise begin to function. No luck.

Where do I start my diagnosis? I have

not done any work on the clutch or slave

cylinder on a MGB but am pretty handy

with a wrench. Have needed to be with the

MGB being with me now for many years!

Appreciate your help and I’ll try to

push the car out of my very tight fit single

car garage, so I can get it to the front ga-

rage and jack it up. Best, — Dave

Dave,

Since the pedal is floppy, I expect

you have had a hydraulic failure.

There are three components in the

hydraulic system – the master cyl-

inder, the slave hose, and the slave

cylinder. When approaching this

hydraulic failure it’s best to replace

all three components. However, you

can probably restore the action of

the clutch simply by adding fluid to

the master cylinder and bleeding the

Technical HelpNAMGBR has assembled a group of technical experts to answer your questions

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