1970 MG MGB - Cleaning and Inventory

The second major step of any restoration, once you've made your decision, acquired the car, and given it a good look over, is to clean and inventory what you have. In the following video my daughter describes the cleaning and inventory process on her 1970 MG MGB frame off restoration project:

Commenting Disabled

Hey Folks,

For the few legitimate posters out there I apologize in advance. I'm basically (despite customizing every setting for this blog) getting spammed to death by spam messages advertising cialis, etc.

Because of this I have basically completely disabled commenting on the blogspot blog. If you want to comment, ask questions, etc, please feel free to friend us on facebook.

Jody

New addition: 1970 MG MGB

Well, it appears that a "new" car has followed us home. This 1970 MGB actually will belong to my daughter. This is going to be a father/daughter restoration project. Here's the video introduction to the car:

TR8 Brakes and Soda Blasting

I finally got around to putting the calipers back on the TR8. While I wait for the brakes to gravity bleed I opted to play with the 15lbs soda blaster we picked up from Harbor Freight a few weeks back.

This soda blaster is actually one of the better quality items I've seen out of Harbor Freight in a while. Normally stuff is pretty cruddy, but it works, and is exponentially cheaper than buying a heavy duty commercial equivalent.

The metering block requires some fiddling to get the feel for it. But, once I managed to get that down we were able to get a rim from the TR8 cleaned up and ready for fresh clear coat. Here's what the rim looks like after a quick soda blast:



Next step is to put a couple coats of Clear Coat on it and put it back on the car. You'll note that the tire is still attached to the rim. Even though soda blasting will cut through the old clear coat down to the metal it won't damage things like anodized finishes or rubber.

1998 Dodge Dakota - Replacing the Serpentine belt

So we've been doing more repairs than restorations of late. Here's a video showing you how to replace a serpentine belt in a 1998 Dodge Dakota.

1981 TR8 - Power Steering & Brakes

In honor of Triumphfest, which I am presently missing, we've had the TR8 in the shop for the past week in another attempt to get it roadworthy. When we last seriously looked at the TR8 it had taken every opportunity to leak out every sort of fluid it contained. We'd corralled the coolant issues and the oil drippings were no different from any other LBC I'd ever owned as it marked it's territory.


Brake fluid and Power steering fluid, on the other hand, appeared to be coming from everywhere. I picked up the necessary brake bits from Delta Motorsports here in Phoenix and ordered all the parts necessary for a complete R&R (Remove and Replace) on the power steering. The past two weeks has seen me removing and cleaning up the power steering components. Today's task is reinstallation. At this stage of the morning the power steering pump has been installed and the rach has been placed while reinstalling the front cross member. Once we finish the reinstallation of the power steering we'll be replaing all the leaky buits of the brakes, and we should be able to get this old car back on the road!

Jody

Cleaning the garage.

So I took a break from my writing about our road trip to spend a morning out in the garage. There was a whirlwind of activity out there before going on the trip and the resulting mess means no new work until everything is cleaned.



This photo portrays the common leftovers from any given project: used parts, oil and coolant. I've shared this photo to remind us all to be responsible about our leftovers. Now, oil is easy. In the United States every store that sells oil needs to have some means of accepting used oil. I use these great water bottles (which last forever) to store my used oil. This will be taken to Autozone later today and deposited in their oil recycling bin.

Coolant is a different matter. In Tempe, where I live, the city has drop off services for chemicals and such. After checking their list, coolant is one of the things they accept. You'll note that smaller bottle (which originally had juice) is clearly labelled as to what it presently contains.

Now recycling parts can actually add some cash back into your parts budget, providing you don't have to return them for a core fee. Here in Phoenix there are a number of metal recyclers. Scrap metal prices have skyrocketed in the past few years. What I like to do is to keep a collection of scrap until it's big enough to fill my truck and then haul it down. If you're really keen on getting pennies for your scrap then it is very beneficial to sort it by type. Certain metals (copper and aluminum for example) have much higher per pound values than steel.

Remember, we're all responsible for cleaning up after ourselves. Make sure you recycle properly!