1971 MG - advice please!

Audiodelic

Hi there,

I've lurked in and out of this forum and thought I'd finally take the plunge and see if I could get some advice on a car dilemma.

I've always been a classic car fan and have wanted to own one for years. Last Autumn, myself and my other half took the plunge and bought an old '71 MGB GT via the internet. The main reason we went for it, was because a mechanic guy we know said he would help us fix it up. Neither of us is very mechanically minded but are not afraid to get our hands dirty but we reckoned our enthusiasm and willingness to learn about doing up cars might help us get it sorted, along with this chap.

We bought it from England and the mechanic and my other half drove it a long distance, got it on to the ferry and over to Ireland. I couldn't believe it when it finally arrived!

Apart from cosmetic rusting (on the bonnet, boot hatch and chrome bumpers) he reckoned that all it needed was a new oil pump as he said the engine, breaks, gears and the major components were all working well. Happy days we thought.

Mechanic guy agreed to help us start fixing it (for a fee obviously) but got too busy. He also lost the keys, so he had to break a door lock as it had to be moved. In the process he broke the steering barrel too.

To cut a long and painful story short, it now sits in the driveway, immobile, gathering rust and breaking my heart.

I HATE to see it rotting away but I don't want to part with it. I can't really estimate the extent of work required but I'm sure the steering barrel is a tricky one. I don't know whether to just sell it or to try and track down someone who would be able to help fix it.

Any thoughts from the knowledgable car folk in here would be sincerely appreciated.

Great forum - I'm officially hooked!

ds20prefecture

Audiodelic wrote:

Any thoughts from the knowledgable car folk in here would be sincerely appreciated.

Hi Audiodelic

I'm certainly not knowledgeable about MGs, but it would be worth someone who knows these cars to take a look at yours and give you an idea of the steepness of the learning curve ahead of you.

Can you be a little more specific about the problem it currently has?

i.e. will it not start? Does it start but not idle? Does it start but not enagage gears? Does it drive perfectly, but there's too much rust to drive it (unlikely ).

It sounds like you cut the chord with the mechanic,but it might be worth getting his assessment of where the car currently stands so that you can bring it to someone with more time, or indeed fix the problems yourself.

From my limited understanding, MGBs are simple cars with robust mechanicals but weak electrics. This may not be the right forum for diagnosing issues - you may have better luck with MG specific forums. Try Yahoo Groups. But give us something to get started on anyways

Oh - and give us some pictures. If the car's body is too far gone you might be better off writing it off as an expensive lesson and using it as a parts car for the next one.

Where are you based? Maybe there's someone local here who could have a look.

franksm

Hey there

It's not a red MG is it ? There's one parked here in Ongar (Clonsilla), been parked up for a long while. Car looks fine otherwise...

Hopefully someone else here with MG experience will chime in, but in my own experience a lot of the work on such cars is generic enough and needn't be expensive, unless something really big is broken or if there's a lot of rust/paintwork that needs fixed. Get in touch with the local MG club and ask them to recommend someone who can work on it for you. This is "classic car show" season, so you ought to pop along to one and ask the people there.

Parts for popular classics are ridiculously cheap compared to modern cars - I bought an alternator for my Stag - £35STG compared to £115 for the same thing for an MX5. www.Moss-europe.co.uk will supply any MG part you care to think of (they're not the cheapest tho) but if you check them out, you'll get an idea of the prices.

I was watching some car programme on cable where the guy had a mk1 MR2 and had to replace the ignition barrel/lock - it was fairly easy: remove the steering wheel cowl, remove the steering wheel, and then there were three bolts holding the lock mechanism on.

Good luck with it, don't let this put you off the car - it's just a pity that you were depending one someone undependable. Anyway... why doesn't *he* pay for your new locks and repair it ?

Dades

A quick search brought up a couple of sites...

http://www.headfortmg.com/index.html
http://www.mgireland.com/

Also my brother had an MG and used to go to a specialist mechanic in the south Dublin area - I'll try and find his details for you.

Post a pic if you can, and take pity on your baby!!

Audiodelic

Folks,

Thanks so much for your efforts.

Briefly, here's what I reckon the car needs.

It has been dorment for 9 months after driving from the south of England via Pembroke, Rosslare and Dublin. As soon as we got it here, it did one run up the road and died. The mechanic guy said it was the oil pump and we picked one up.
He also said that the gears, engine, brakes and nearly everything under the bonnet was in good order. The electrics even seem ok as when they drove it back, the heating and radio worked! Although my other half said the horn kept going off inexplicably of its own accord.

So to answer your questions Ds20 -
"i.e. will it not start? Does it start but not idle? Does it start but not enagage gears? Does it drive perfectly, but there's too much rust to drive it"

It won't start due to a broken steering barrel (which happened earlier this year). Before that it would start but wouldn't go. The mechanic said that if we changed the oil pump, it would be fine. Before the oil pump went, it engaged the gears fine and drove perfectly. The rust is not that bad. YET.

I don't think the mechanic guy will pay for the locks or steering barrel and I don't really want to deal with him again. It's a red MG and we're in Crumlin.

Ok, I just took some pics - what size should they be?

ds20prefecture

Audiodelic wrote:

It won't start due to a broken steering barrel (which happened earlier this year). Before that it would start but wouldn't go. The mechanic said that if we changed the oil pump, it would be fine. Before the oil pump went, it engaged the gears fine and drove perfectly. The rust is not that bad. YET.

Shouldn't be an expensive fix. By "steering barrel", I assume you mean the ignition barrel and it's lock on the steering wheel. You can use this without the steering wheel lock, but you'll probably need a new key/barrel combination. Join the MG clubs and I'll bet someone has a spare, or pretty much any mechanic will be able to advise on fitting a new one. In the meantime, you might want to hot-wire the car. I have no idea how to do this, but if you can remove the ignition barrel it should be failry self-explanatory, or someone can chime in to advise you.

For the oil pump, you'll probably need a mechanic to sort that out, but if you find the parts beforehand you'll have an easier job getting a mechanic to do it for you.

Sorry - this isn't much help, is it?

Audiodelic

ds20prefecture wrote:

Sorry - this isn't much help, is it?

Yes! It is helpful, thanks so much. The more I look at it, the more I think it's not a lost cause. I know the door sills were fixed not long ago, the wheels have some fixable rust and the exhaust is stainless steel. Due to the large sunroof and a leak, the interior is quite musty.

I'll try and upload those photos now...

ds20prefecture

Audiodelic wrote:

The more I look at it, the more I think it's not a lost cause. I know the door sills were fixed not long ago, the wheels have some fixable rust and the exhaust is stainless steel. Due to the large sunroof and a leak, the interior is quite musty.

I'll try and upload those photos now...

Not to burst your bubble but from the sounds of it you may have serious corrosion issues. Before investing any money in the car I would get an idea of the full extent of this - structure/body work like this can quickly run into the thousands, or worse be fixed cheaply and botched.

If the interior is damp, that probably means you have corrosion in the sills, the floor, the boot and anywhere that water gathers. If the sills have already been repaired, I would have an MG expert assess how well it was done - poor repair work will be weaker and rot quicker than the original metal.

A stainless exhaust is a good thing, I just fitted one to my car (for about €800!). However, it's presence might point to the previous mild-steel exhaust rotting because of excessive moisture in the exhaust, which in turn points to potential "issues" with your engine. It might also have just rotted through normal use, so I wouldn't worry too much about this as long as there's no water in the oil, or oil in the water.

Audiodelic

ds20prefecture wrote:

If the interior is damp, that probably means you have corrosion in the sills, the floor, the boot and anywhere that water gathers. If the sills have already been repaired, I would have an MG expert assess how well it was done - poor repair work will be weaker and rot quicker than the original metal.

Well the mechanic said a good job was done on the sills and he himself has fixed up a ton of classic cars. The interior isn't really damp, and the reason it is is due to a section of the sunroof being frayed. It actually looks fine inside, it's just a bit damp-smelling.

Can't seem to upload the images - it's telling me that they're been partially uploaded - does this mean they're too big?

irlirishkev

Hi,

Don't lose hope. The thing about MG's, is that they're so popular with enthusiasts, that you can practically build one from scratch. My dad bought an old MG B and fixed it up.. When he got it, it was a right heap, but now it's one of the nicest ones around.

Try the MG clubs, here, and in the UK. You'll also find they have an excellent free technical support line, for advice etc, and you'll be able to purchase parts online.

The BGT is a great looking car, don't let it rust away

MG Owners Club UK

Kevin.

quarryman

Audiodelic wrote:

Can't seem to upload the images - it's telling me that they're been partially uploaded - does this mean they're too big?

try http://tinypic.com/

also if you are using Win XP install this and then you can right-click the pic to resize it before upload.

Audiodelic

I have 7 images and have resized them all to below 150K each in photoshop - it won't even upload one of them.

quarryman

Audiodelic wrote:

I have 7 images and have resized them all to below 150K each in photoshop - it won't even upload one of them.

go to http://members.boards.ie/ and load them to your file manager instead.

then link the file directly.

Dades

The Atheist wrote:

Also my brother had an MG and used to go to a specialist mechanic in the south Dublin area - I'll try and find his details for you.

Got his name so here you go...

Terry McNally
Cranmer Lane (the lane is opposite Ryan Pub at Beggars Bush)

Don't have a number but you might find him in the book.

G'luck!

Audiodelic

There must be ghosts in the machine - have uploaed the pics to my file manager but can't figure out how to see them.
Here's the Tiny Pic option (thanks Quarryman for the heads up).

http://tinypic.com/907r4l.jpg
http://tinypic.com/907qk5.jpg
http://tinypic.com/907znl.jpg
http://tinypic.com/907x2t.jpg
http://tinypic.com/907x8k.jpg
http://tinypic.com/907xc0.jpg
http://tinypic.com/907ztc.jpg

Audiodelic

The Atheist wrote:

Got his name so here you go...

Terry McNally
Cranmer Lane (the lane is opposite Ryan Pub at Beggars Bush)

Don't have a number but you might find him in the book.

G'luck!

Thanks Atheist - I've also sent a mail to the Headford MG crowd so thanks also for that.

Alfasudcrazy

Seems to me that MG requires a total trim & fittings strip down and a complete body repair. Pity you don't seem to have any place to store it. At least if it was sheltered from the elements it would give you more time to decide your options.

Audiodelic

Alfasudcrazy wrote:

Seems to me that MG requires a total trim & fittings strip down and a complete body repair. Pity you don't seem to have any place to store it. At least if it was sheltered from the elements it would give you more time to decide your options.

Tell me about it. Mechanic guy was meant to store it for us but let us down on that front too. I think the best thing to do is to call some of those contacts people have helpfully suggested and see if I can get a quote.

v-deniso

The best thing you can do is contact the following

MG Enthusiasts Club,
Mr. Liam Ruth,
16, Hillside,
Greystones,
C. Wicklow.
01-2876790
http://www.mgireland.com/

They have a run coming up so you could go to that for more info and to see other MG's
Jul 22nd
7.30pm
Spawell Hotel Templeogue


Once you talk they the guys there they will help you out with all the bits and pieces to get you on the road again. They have very good mechanical knowledge of those cars.

If all the car needs is a bit of TLC to the bodywork, a respray and some new
parts €2000 will get you close.

You could also try
Eamonn Walsh
34 Barnhill Road,
Dalkey, Co. Dublin

He has two B's for sale at the moment and I think they do a good bit of servicing too.

MercMad

I think the other here have given good advice. Dont give up on it. It may look a bit shabby now but take it one day at a time and start fixing it, it will slowly start to get better and your attitude to it will improve.

I would suggest you buy a decent car cover for it too as its getting near the "wet" season now !

The oil pumpo, whats the problem here. Is there an oil pressure gauge or is the engine making noises? You sure itys not a FUEL pump you need ?

Definitely talk to the club and arrange for the car to be picked up and accessed !

Dades

MercMad wrote:

I would suggest you buy a decent car cover for it too as its getting near the "wet" season now !

Aw jeez don't say that it's only halfway through July! :cool: