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Wednesday, March 05, 2008

A Step Sideways on the MGB Today

Argh.

This morning as I was tightening down the caps on the crankshaft, I noticed that it was binding up. It took about 3 hours to figure out that I had unwittingly allowed the two top thrust washers on the middle cap to get jammed and as I tightened down the bolts. In doing so, I bent them and bound up the crankshaft. A local British car repair place found the problem and I'll be getting replacement thrust washers tomorrow, but a whole morning was wasted. With my free time in the afternoon, I took care of chores I would have needed to do this weekend, hopefully freeing up some of the time I need to finish this project. Luckily, I didn't damage the crankshaft and in talking to the folks at the British car place I picked up some more tips.

Everything should go smoothly tomorrow, right?

Update: As I recall, the last time I did this, I managed to screw up one step farther along. The next thing to do after the crankshaft is secured is to install the pistons. When I installed the pistons last time, I managed to drop one too hard onto the crankshaft and scratch it. I had to pull the whole darn thing apart and get the crankshaft machined again. I don't think I'll be making that mistake again.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:59 PM

    I remember the first engine I did a full rebuild on. Didn't think to mark the caps and conrods to pair them up. Ended up having to re-machine the whole lot. Like you, I learnt from my mistake.

    Got some good news on my restoration. The BMW dealer got the belt tensioner today, along with a few cosmetic parts I'd ordered and forgotten about, and the brake differential switch should be here tomorrow. Should be Ok to drive down to the auto-electrician on Monday to get the last bit done before certification.

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  2. I did the same thing with my pushrods this time and just went out and ordered new ones. Good luck with your BMW restoration.

    :-)

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