Third brake light

I decided to part with originality and put in a third rear brake light.  I used the Moss motors kit and mounted a wood block on the rear parcel shelf.  I think it will give better visibility when braking. 

Heater box and fan.

I have been waiting for the return of my re-sleeved master cylinder and also for the Union cloth headliner from Shorten's in England.  Poor Lou told me she was waiting for a helper, as she can no longer see to thread her sewing machine needle.  I hope the parts will hurry along, although I have been taking a little vacation from the cars anyway.  I have had it happen before as I work on a car, that I lose interest and ambition for a month or two.  This hiatus lasts a variable length of time, it is one reason I try not to set a deadline for completion.  My hobby would be too much like work if I had to do it whether I want to or not.  Today I was back in the saddle, I knew there were lots of thing to do while I waited for the other parts.

I bench tested the heater fan motor, no go at first. I opened the motor and cleaned the copper contacts on the commutator. The brushes seemed to be in good contact. Upon reassembly the motor spins well.  I painted the motor housing and fan housing mounting brackets. I will try and clean the aluminum housing up with out painting it.  It is fairly corroded and dirty, but may clean up.

Fan motor

Brake blues

I should really say master cylinder blues.  I thought the cylinders had felt pretty smooth, so I used a re-build kit.  Unfortunately, when I filled it up the cylinders leaked badly.  So I had to send it off for a re-sleeve job.  I'll post my experience with that when I get it back.

I had some new rubber hoses for the front brakes, I got them with the car.  I think they were from Victoria British, at any rate, they fit the drum end well but not the hard line connection.  They were also too short, they wouldn't have allowed a full turn of the steering wheel.  So I ordered new from Cecelia at Scarborough Faire.  I decided to do the hard lines over too, I had thought to leave that until the engine is out, much easier to work them in then.

All this means little progress as I wait for parts.  I hope to have some more progress soon. 

Carpeting, seats and windows.

The carpet is in, I used the original pieces as templates whenever possible.  The seat sliders needed some de-rusting and cleaning. The side windows and the quarterlights cleaned up nicely.  The front quarter light rubber is very good, I was glad for this as the replacement rubber I used in my other Magnette was no fun, and doesn't fit that well.  On to the pictures:

Sound proofing and carpet fitting.

Front seats in place.

Front seat slide rails.

Window regulator channels painted after rust treatment.

Quarterlights in place, with door handles and exterior door trim
in place. The red reflection in the chrome is from my MGA
parked next to the Magnette.

The windows are in, lots of fiddling with them but not truly difficult.  The brakes are next, this front drum is typical of the spider webs that accumulate during inactivity.  The brakes are proving difficult. Bolts recalcitrant and line fittings not wanting to re-thread are the norm.  I will soldier on, with brakes, clutch and seats in the car I should pass the time waiting for headliner material and other finishers from England in the pleasant pastime of driving. 

Progress with ongoing tasks

The wiring harness is now connected to all dash instruments and switches.  The engine bay is nearly complete, only the brake lights, heater fan and windshield wiper motor left to connect.

Dash instruments in place.

The trunk carpet and liner are in place, though the liner is only in for test fitting.  There are some sound proofing bits still to go in and the rear seat will be put in before the trunk is buttoned up.

Trunk liner and carpet.  The side parts of the liner still need to be made, as does the spare tire well carpet.

The carpet preparation and carpet fitting is well started, I have been gluing the permanent pieces in with the 3M 8088 spray on contact cement.  It has worked well in other projects.

Transmission tunnel and cross member carpets in place.

Loose carpet pieces cut and test fitted. 

Parcel Shelf

The Magnette has a very useful parcel shelf that runs underneath the dash, it collects chargers, sunglasses, etc. This week I treated the surface rust and replaced the vinyl cover.  I use Evaporust for soaking smaller parts that are rusty.  For this long panel I wire brushed and then sprayed some Ospho. I used black Rust inhibitor paint from Eastwood to cover everything.

First pictures are of my restored Magnette to show the Parcel shelf in place:

These show the project parcel shelf, nearly ready to go back in.  Just need to finish wiring, carpet, heater, etc. first.

Magnette Clock

One of the quaint features of the Magnette is the panel lighting and the clock, with its green glow.  The speedometer has its numerals painted with a fluorescent paint, the light bulb for it is positioned beneath a UV filter.  The numerals and in indicator should glow an eerie green.  They probably did for the first thirty years.

The clock also has green numerals, it sits above the windshield at the front of the headliner.  The pictures below show the clock and its thin, cardboard-like surround.  The surround should keep the light from causing the front of the headliner to glow.  

I haven't cleaned up or tested the clock light or clock yet.  I was very happy to find it with the dash gauges!

Sound deadening and wiring harness

I have been putting some raamat and dynamat on the interior panels, this should help with sound and heat.  Both are foil-backed butyl rubber which I had left over from other MG projects. Further heat and sound control will be achieved with an under carpet padding application.

The wire harness seems to be correct from British Wiring.  I stuck with the voltage regulator/generator for now.  The only tricks I know to pass along are:
1. Use the single long wire from the fuel pump on the old harness to attach the new rear wiring harness to, then pull it though the channel above the front quarter-light and then through the rear parcel shelf into the trunk.

2. The main harness feeds through from the engine compartment to under the dash.

3. Put the dash gauge cluster on a box to hold it up while you are connecting all of the controls and gauges.

I am now reconnecting the wiring and finishing the sound deadening program.

After all is re-wired I will test with a small battery charger before connecting the battery.

Some more pictures of the sound and heat protection in place:

Padding over the foil/butyl rubber along the firewall.  Trying to
 plug all un-needed holes.  

Rear floor and seat base.  

Wiring removal and gauge refurbishment

Today was more wiring harness removal and working to get the relay, regulator, solenoid and gauges ready for re-installation with the new harness.  Some detail work but satisfying to see things clean up.

With the wiring mostly out I can get on to sound and heat reduction.  I will use some aluminum/butyl rubber (Raamat and some left over Dynamat).

I cleaned the knobs with simple green, then re-lettered with a white paint pen.
I wiped off the excess but did have to sand (1000 grit) some smeared white paint.  Then
I clear coated with an Eastwood clear coat.

The harness is here, wiring fun begins!

The harness from England via British Wiring arrived last week, while I was in Delaware steaming and visiting grandchildren.  Today I pulled the harness and electricals from the engine bay and firewall.  I will do the interior and rear harness next and then pull the new harness in and hook things up.  As of now I am going to stick with the generator, so will keep the voltage regulator as stock.

Left side of firewall.  I cleaned the regulators and relays as
I went along today.

Right side of engine bay.

Spider webs on Lucas electrics, a scary thought for reliability.

After I finished in the engine compartment things look like this:

So I won't be driving or starting the engine again for awhile.   I have some more summer things to do with family, but will keep working as morning time and temperatures allow.

Gas tank

I have been trying to work through the worst heat wave I can remember. Great pool days but hot in the garage, in addition I am working on an MGA coupe which is in my driveway.  Way too hot in the sun.

I am awaiting a new wiring harness from British Wiring, they say it is being made in England.  I ordered in mid- May.  Patience is not my strongest character trait.  In the mean time I have been chipping away at other necessary parts.

The Leatherique rejuvenator and cleaner arrived last week, so I have done two cycles of both on the front and rear seats.  A hot car is what they suggest for the seats while the rejuvenator is working, perfect for that in the back of my Discovery on 105 degree days.  The leather is looking better; a bit softer and more uniform in color.

Front seats prior to treatment, after seams re-sewn.

Front seat after treatment.

Rear seat back before treatment.

Rear seat back after Leatherique treatment.

Seat bottom after treatment. The pleated section improved the most, the larger panels are softer but remain darker in color. 

The gas tank was removed for inspection, I have a boat tank I have been using for temporary engine starting.     The Magnette tank had a fair bit of rust in patches.  I decided to use an Eastwood tank sealing kit.  The kit uses a metal prep cleaner, an acid etch and the plastic sealer.  You have to add your own muriatic acid and acetone to their directions. The process takes a bit of time as you slosh and then turn the tanks to assure all surfaces are clean, etched and then sealed.  I used the same kit about 5 years ago in my other Magnette and it has been fine.  The sealer coating was generally good, but you can see there were some thin spots in the pictures below.  The tank is now back in the car.

I also replaced the oil line with a plastic line from APT in Minnesota, the fittings were already in place for both ends. It seems fine with one start up done, no leaks for that test.

The filler pipes, there is an outer rubber tube with an inner metal pipe.

White sealer through the sender hole, some uneven coverage,
in-spite of tiresome turning and sloshing.

Tank back in place and ready for fuel, at least I hope so. 

Magnette Wood

One of the best things about the Magnette is it's retention of real wood in the interior.  The dash, door caps and front and rear windows all have some beautiful wood.  I have been sanding and re-finishing the wood.  These pictures of the door caps and instrument surround give a look at the beautiful wood involved.

Gauge surround. 

Door caps

Beautiful burl in the door caps pieces. 

To everything there is a time... oil pressure line, seats and heater valve

Summer time is not my usual choice for being cloistered in my garage working on MGs, I try and drive in the summer, and tinker in the winter.  I have been doing some projects on the cars however, luckily the spring and summer have been cool so the garage and driveway work can proceed.

This Magnette is making some progress.  I previously reported the leaking oil pressure line, well it got me twice since then.  Probably both my own fault.  I removed the old lines and joined them in the middle with a brass compression fitting( 3/8" from NAPA), this same system has worked on my other Magnette for four years. While re-installing, I initially hand-tightened the connection to the engine block, then did the compression junction, and finally tightened the fitting to the back of the gauge.  Without another thought I reconnected a battery, turned the key on and went under the hood to start the engine.  She started right up and the oil pressure went to 60 lbs, flushing the gook out of the lines with carb cleaner improved the gauge reading. Then I noticed the gurgling from my hand tightened line to the block.  Joy to frustration in 3 seconds.  After tightening that, things seemed joyful again, until I noticed a pinhole spraying oil out of the hard line about 8 inches from the gauge, I must have opened it while wire brushing or while re-fitting the line.  So I am back to finding a new solution to the oil pressure line problem.

Hard lines, from engine block on bottom; to the gauge on the top. Compression fitting in the middle.

Compression fitting at firewall on my other Magnette.

The factory used a rubber hose at the junction of the two
hard lines. Good for 50 years. Note original style hose clamps.

This longer rubber hose came off the gauge side of a
1958 ZBV. It appeared to be stock, with old-style
hose clamps. This has a higher VIN number than
 the ZB being rebuilt now.

The seats are back from the upholstery shop, the seams are resewn and things look pretty good.  I am going to use Leathertique products to re-vitalize and clean.  Then I will consider whether if re-coloring is needed.

Driver's seat.

Rear seat bottom.

Rear seat back.

The heater box and core were cleaned and rebuilt.  The original heater valve seemed solid, but a new diaphragm (from Lou Shorten) should prolong leak free life. The heater core had no obvious leaks, the radiator shop will do a pressure test when I get to the radiator. It is amazing how much material flushes from the core.  The re-connection of the heater control cables and understanding the settings for heat, demist, etc will be done another day.

New paint on the outside will dress this up, never to be seen behind the parcel shelf.

Valve components.

I have also been sanding and re-finishing the wood for the window surrounds, the door caps, and the walnut veneer for the gauges and glove box.  The dash ends still need attention, I have never done the re-veneer work that they will need.  The uncomfortable jobs tend to be shunted aside, when there are so many familiar things to do.