1973 MGB GT- A little rust 30/08

I thought indicators had to make a noise as an audible warning, although I may have just made that up. Glad you got rid of the old bi-metallic at last though

On modern cars this may be the case. Out of my old 'uns only the Peugeot makes an audible ticking (but when the indicator relay sits beneath the dashboard (made out of a little Tikes Toy!) that is not surprising. My 944 did not and neither did the one before it (relays are in the engine bay).

On both Mondeos there is a ticking from the instrument cluster though despite relay being housed at the very front of the engine bay.

One way you may get a louder audible clicking Adam is to bolt the relay onto the dashboard or firmly attach it. This worked on my Spitfire (upgraded relay with it bolted onto the metal part of the dashboard) and my Dolomite Sprint (a bi-metallic relay fitted correctly into the clip, again on the metal part of the dash).

Of course, this is all academic if your relay does not click in the slightest :lol:. Out of curiousity what relay do you have fitted? .

So today I gave myself the day off uni.. and did more work on the MG (Its ok, I do Automotive Engineering so its practically homework...)

Anyway, I bought some car ramps a week or so back and they've been rolling about in the boot so today I got them out so I could have a good look under the rear end again

After a couple of tries where it got halfway up, it got up on the ramps fairly easily



Also the valance didn't scrape, though imagine if it was this low at the front all the time... hmmmmm....



So anyway got underneath and most of it looked rather something like this



A bit crusty and mucky, both of the bump stop pedestals are gone, the axle straps are shot and the nuts holding them on look well rusted in place, yay!



Oddly, the passenger side of things looks a bit cleaner than the drivers side.. not sure if this is because someone has changed suspension parts on only one side in the past, or the spring could have got moved as part of the MOT welding last year? Though saying that, the damper on the drivers side looks newer than the passenger side?? should be interesting to see whats what when it comes off haha



Thankfully the nuts and bolts at either end of the springs don't look too bad despite the MG forums claiming how the front one is impossible to get out and I'll have to cut it off, we'll see.. I was almost tempted to start the telescopic damper conversion but I'll leave it for another day just so I can start early and get all the suspension work done in one day (or at least thats the plan..)

Going back to the front of the car, I quickly topped up the brake and clutch reservoirs as they seemed to be a little low, and got the car back off the ramps.

Then, as I've got my new drill, I decided to get on with my overrider removal/numberplate light relocation efforts. To recap, I'd already got one off so I needed to drill three holes in the bumper, one large one for the body of the bulb holder to go through and two for securing the bulb cover down with bolts.

I'd worked out that I'd need around a 20-22mm hole for the bulb holder to go through, the only drill bit I had that was that big was for wood and it didn't work really..



But it gave me an outline of where the hole needed to be and being the resourceful student I am, I set to with a small drill bit and my tools of metal torture





It looks pretty agricultural (and it is, but hell I'm from Suffolk) but it does eventually get the job done. After much sawing, chiselling and filing I got something like this



Trial fitted the bulb and bulb cover to give me a template for the bolt holes resulted in this



BAM, sorted!





I haven't done any measuring for location on the bumper.. roughly at the end of the second digit in on the numberplate and as far away as I could get without hitting the end of the bumper Just got to replicate it on the other side.. Why didn't I just do one as Rich suggested?...

Anyway, onwards!

The next victim



The quickest way to get these off I've found is to ignore the bolt holding them on as they're rusted solid. So I pull the rubber off then hacksaw through the thin metal bit that the rubber usually mounts too, this gives you access to the end of the 'bolt' which the overrider mounts by. Rather than drilling the smooth head off it, I prefer to drill a ring of small holes around it in the thinner overrider steel (obviously I'm throwing all my overriders away ) which leaves you with something like this



Then I get my chisel and hammer and take out the thin bits of metal left and pull the overrider off, unplug the light and it comes away, the central bolt can then be hacksawed off.

This was the point where my camera died :/ but pleasingly, this sides numberplate light was held in with bolts that only had superficially rusted heads, the nuts came off easy which saves me from drilling it like the other side (which I did catch with the drill slightly, oops) so tonight I shall clean up the light lens and housing and probably have a go at mounting it in the bumper when the drill has a bit more juice in it

So while I did start the day with one numberplate light and end the day with one, its progress Also now I have the drill I shall be aiming to fit a drivers mirror, just a case of getting all these MOT jobs out of the way

Thanks Phil, hope your projects are still going well

Well even more progress today!

Just finished off what I started yesterday really, after getting the second numberplate light out of the car, I gave the glass a good clean and the metal housing a good polish to ensure good light reflection on to the plate.

Then I braved the weather today to get it fitted, took a lot less time that the other side which I'm either putting down to experience or wanting to get out of the wind and rain!

I decided to use my 'drill a hole with lots of holes around it' method for crating the main bulb holder hole this time and it seemed to be quicker, bit of tidying up the edges with the chisel and file and the bulb holder was soon in place



Yeah its only roughly symmetrical...

After that was in place it was a quick job as before, to pop the bulb cover on top to use as a guide for the bolt holes. So soon I was left with this







So now I'm finally rid of those ungainly looking overriders and the numberplate is suitably illuminated for the MOT, good stuff.

I still need to get under the car and change the reverse light switch to try and get them working again (though this isn't crucial for the MOT), I shall also be playing around with dash lights again, the horn contacts do need adjusting though to get that to work for the MOT and I'll need to fit an exterior mirror too. Slowly but surely getting through the list of stuff to do

I think I'm going to do that flasher swap as well, some days my indicators seem to flash quicker when turning left than right. Perhaps the car's telling me to go somewhere else.

Top work Adam. The rear end look so much tidier without the overrides, and the number plate lights look smart enough. Your B really shows that a lot of love and some minor mods can make a massive difference. It's a cracking car mate, and really inspiring for my own B project. Unfortunately wing mirrors and reversing lights are at the bottom of my list

Thank you very much Its coming along slowly but surely and the pile of bits to be fitted is getting smaller!

You really should get a thread up for your B, would be good to see some pictures and see what sort of condition its in

Compared to many classics I would say they are cheap. For around £3k you will get a very sorted 'B in comparison to many classics out there. Certainly way better than a Stag, GT6, Dolly Sprint, Beetle (even a late Spitfire) and many other classics for the money, probably less with a bit of searching (and it is not like there is a shortage of cars to choose from) .

The Bullets do look better I have to say, but I did hate them on the Spitfire (they were not great for seeing out of). If they are not pointing the right way (as they weren't on the Spitfire) you can get washers to go under the base which Pete at LD Parts sells (Stags have this issue with stock mirrors, and they came with all sorts from the factory (some were Tex equipped (about the only real choice left for a Stag), others were now defunct manufacturers).

The rubber bumper B is a lot of things, but that's the first time I've come across anyone equate it with a one night stand.