| THE MG |
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 | |  | February 1, 2009 - The plastic engine is back in the car.
I clamped a piece of plywood to the bottom of the framerails to ensure the bottom of the engine will not protrude below. And it's looking pretty good. It needs to come back 1.5" from the current position to put the shifter in the correct location, which will place the right head almost up against the leading edge of the footwell. I can make a little more room there if need be.
On the driver's side, the head sits slightly forward so there's more clearance there. But it does hit this protrusion at the bottom of the footwell. A bit of poking around revealed an odd thing - there's a significant amount of footwell in front of the gas pedal at WOT. Space you simply can't use. Is it left over from RHD versions of the car? That useless space is exactly where I need more room in the engine bay, so this is working out nicely. So nicely, in fact, that it appears very little work will be needed to stuff this giant drivetrain in place. Work beyond rebuilding the frame from the firewall forward, of course. But passenger compartment intrusion will be minimized. Amazing.
entry 165 - tags: footwell, clearance, engine | | |  | February 2, 2009 - Time to get out the sawzall, let's get the engine fitted.
This is the passenger's side footwell. This big handy dent is almost perfect. In fact, on initial test-fitting, this side of the car appears to have been factory modified for my needs.
entry 166 - tags: firewall, fitment | | |  | February 2, 2009 - The driver's side is not as good.
Notice how much further the footwell extends inboard from the frame rail. But all of this space is useless - the gas pedal visible in the cut is at full throttle. So, I shall reclaim this space from the interior for the engine.
entry 167 - tags: firewall, fitment | | |  | February 2, 2009 - Remember the steering crossmember that really should have been 2x2?
Well, it's getting closer. To ensure as much oil pan clearance as possible, I had to take a chunk out. Right about an inch at the back and nothing at the front.
entry 168 - tags: steering, frame, clearance | | |  | February 2, 2009 - After a bit of finagling, the transmission is in place.
Sort of. It's sitting about 1" to 1.5" too low and pressed up against the top of the transmission tunnel. Some more surgery may be required - but the fact that I'm this close without making any modifications is astounding. There's one doodad just below the shifter (pardon the technical terminology) that will require a small hammered dent in the tunnel to allow the shifter to be centered in the hole.
However, a test fit of the hood with the engine in place tells me that I'm either going to have to modify the hood or lower the engine. I've been testing the fit with the oil pan level with the frame rails, 5" off the ground. Possibly more, actually, when I review my notes. They show the rails at 5.75" high, although I think that was with the original wheel size. Regardless, I have lots of clearance. I'm tempted to drop the whole thing by 1" to improve clearances everywhere. I'd put a crossmember in front of the pan to protect it. A quick check with a tape measure shows 4" of clearance on one of the Miatas in the garage, so 4" is certainly streetable.
entry 169 - tags: fitment, transmission | | |  | February 2, 2009 - Here's the current shifter location.
It's offset slightly to one side due to the aforementioned doodad but the longitudinal placement is pretty much perfect.
entry 170 - tags: transmission, fitment | | |  | February 6, 2009 - It's in!
The entire drivetrain is in place. There are jacks and clamps and various cheating involved, but I've found my final location. The engine is down not quite an inch from where I had it before, mostly to accommodate the transmission and tunnel. The problem I had with the hood not closing before? It was the hood prop hitting the top of one of my new suspension towers - you can see how it's been cut down on the right side compared to the left. But still, it makes for a better location.
entry 171 - tags: fitment | | |  | February 6, 2009 - And here's the final shifter location.
Looks perfect. You can see the square hole I had to cut in the top of the transmission tunnel to make space for the trans - the tunnel has a low point while the transmission does not. Sorry, make that the tunnel had a low point...
The "doodad" I mentioned before is a reverse lockout solenoid. Above 5 mph, the solenoid prevents you from hitting reverse. There's some logic to that, but it's a hassle for me. It could easily be removed completely but given the tight shift pattern of a T56, that's not the most intelligent solution.
On Elvis, we pulled the solenoid out and tweaked the spring tension in the lockout. This negated the need to run wires to the solenoid, but it still left things a bit on the bulky side for me. I'm going to see if I can manage to design a replacement that fits flush to the side of the transmission. It looks plausible.
entry 172 - tags: transmission, fitment, reverse | | |  | February 8, 2009 - A view of the driver's side motor mount.
Yeah, it's close to the steering column. I might be able to make it work with some artfully curled tubes - or I'm wondering if I can use the extra pair of bosses on the block and support this side of the engine a bit further back.
I did what is hopefully the final cutting of the tunnel today and welded the frame rails in fully. It's not easy welding 1/8" steel to thin floorboards from below without burning through. It's not pretty work, but it'll hold.
entry 173 - tags: mounts, fitment | | |  | February 17, 2009 - Not much work on the car of late.
I'm thinking that I want the full engine with all accessories before I go any further with motor mounts and the like, and that means I need to kill the Camaro. So I'm starting by making storage arrangements for at least one car while I do the work, to ensure I have space in the garage. I may shift my attention to the rear of the car first and get that sorted out, simply to postpone the chaos.
In other news, I brought an LS1 Miata home last night. No, I don't get to keep it! It's been fitted with a big nasty cam and makes a really fun noise. As an added bonus, it also has north of 400 hp. Janel got all giggly when she fired it up in the garage. Too bad we're still breaking in the rear end, so I can't unleash the hounds on this thing. Yes, this requires some self-control.
But I did learn something. It has a modified reverse lockout. The solenoid has been disabled and a different spring inserted. Even when being careful, I bounced off reverse twice while aiming for 5th. Most times I hit the desired gear just fine, but I wasn't too excited about it. So the plan is now to retain the reverse lockout in fully functional form. I'll just have to reshape the transmission tunnel. It's hammer time!
entry 174 - tags: transmission, Miata, Camaro | | | March 29, 2009 - There haven't been any updates for the past month, I know.
That's because I've been working on other things - the Targa Miata went to Laguna Seca for a two-day track event and my editor feels I should be working on my new book instead of hacking up an old MG. So I've been concentrating on that.
I did pick up a new set of motor mounts, though. They'll give me a little more clearance for the steering column. Not a lot, but hopefully enough. I'm also getting concerned about clearance between the alternator and the steering rack pinion. I know there are a number of accessory mounting options for the LS engines (thank you Car Craft for a well-timed article there) but I'd prefer to maintain the Camaro setup because, well, I have one.
In other news, there's a Austin Healey Sprite in the garage right now. I've been tasked with making the freshly built 1275 engine run. Part of my payment for that is an MGB GT body. Hopefully it'll provide a few useful bits and pieces to help restore Janel's.
So, there's not going to be much work on the MG for a little while yet. I really need to be working on that book!
entry 175 - tags: mounts, fitment | | |  | April 27, 2009 - Happy birthday to me!
I know, there hasn't been any progress on the MG in a long time. I've been working hard on the book instead, to the relief of my editor. But Janel is starting to think I should be spending a bit of time on her little black car - and to help motivate me, she gave me a bead blasting cabinet for my birthday. It's going to make working on 37-year-old MG parts, 15-year-old Miata parts and 11-year-old Camaro parts much nicer.
entry 176 | | |  | May 27, 2009 - Finally, some real work!
In a fit of procrastination, I dragged the S10 rear end into the garage to pull the axles out. That'll let me get started on converting them to the 4x100 pattern and also mount the Miata brakes. Then I'll build the 3-link setup.
First step, of course, is to drain the fluid. It actually looked pretty clean.
entry 177 - tags: rear axle | | |  | May 27, 2009 - I was a little surprised when I saw the differential.
Using the classic "turn one wheel and see which way the other one goes" test would indicate this is an open diff. But there's some extra machinery here and what looks suspiciously like a clutch pack. The upper doodad spins when I turn one wheel, and it's spring-loaded and can open up. High rates of spin might lock up the rear or at least bring the clutches into play. At least, that's my theory right now. Interesting little thing though!
entry 178 - tags: rear axle | | | May 29, 2009 - Well, I was right on the function of the differential.
It's a clutch pack that is brought into play with a wheel speed difference of 100 rpm or so, and disengages at over 20 mph. So, might be useful when trying to get out of a mud pit, but not so much for our use. Thus the original plan of using the Camaro differential remains.
entry 179 - tags: rear axle | | |  | May 31, 2009 - The next step with the rear end is to figure out how to fit Miata brakes and wheels to it.
There's an obvious problem here - too many studs! The Miata uses a 4x100 bolt pattern. The diameter of this flange and the raised "hub" in the middle also need to be cut down. So I've passed it off to a machinist to make everything fit work. I don't think it's too hard a job with a lathe, but without a lathe it's pretty tough!
It's not really a big step, but having Miata wheels mounted to the rear end with brakes will make me feel like I'm really getting somewhere. Plus Janel approves of the fact that the S10 rear end is no longer in her way near the garage door.
Anyone need an MGB rear end?
entry 180 - tags: rear axle | | | June 4, 2009 - Well, apparently my hope of having the stock axles modified was a bit premature.
The machinist says the center bore can't be brought down all the way to Miata diameter, so my rotors would also have to be machined for a bigger bore or I'd have to use a different rotor - one off a Civic might do the trick, for example, as they have a larger center bore. The estimated cost is around $245 for the work.
Meanwhile, Moser Engineering will make a set of brand new high strength axles for $295. I think I'll go that way.
Of course, if I'm buying new axles, I could simply have done that in the first place and shortened the Camaro housing and saved a bunch of money. I didn't look into the price of custom axles ahead of time. Still, with the S10 housing, I'm assured that everything is straight and aligned which will avoid some potential problems.
entry 181 - tags: rear axle | | |  | June 7, 2009 - The rear axle has a few brackets on it that I won't need.
The brake line brackets and the two big spring mounts are going to go. I'd like to reuse the brake mounting tabs at each end if I can, a well-designed adapter should let me simply bolt the Miata parts on. At least, that's my theory.
entry 182 - tags: rear axle | | |  | June 7, 2009 - An hour or so later, the housing has been reworked.
Those spring mounts were extremely solidly welded on, let me tell you. Lots and lots of bead. Still, nothing an angle grinder and a hammer wouldn't fix. I also wire-wheeled the axle tubes to clean them up as I'm going to be welding on them and, well, it's just more pleasant dealing with clean parts. The rear cover was also thrown into the bead blaster to get the worst of the junk off, inside and out. It'll all get painted black, as I'm not really looking to emphasize the differential.
As soon as I can get my axles back and make a couple of measurements, I'll get those new ones ordered. That will let me mount the brake rotors and work on the brake brackets. It'll also let me bolt on wheels so I can start work on positioning the axle and building the three-link rear.
entry 183 - tags: rear axle | | | June 9, 2009 - I was thinking about the best way to proceed on the car, and decided it was time for a few parts.
First, of course, I need to order those axles. But I had to retrieve the stock ones from the shop that had looked at the possibility of turning them down.
So while waiting for that, I figured I'd look at building the brackets under the car. But before I could do that, I had to get my hands on the rod ends I'd be using for the arms on the suspension. Actually, they're not rod ends. They're similar to rod ends with a threaded end on them, but they have bushings in them instead. Better manners for a road car, you see. I should have them before too long, then I can start working on the bracketry on the car.
This order involved a lot of time poking through various fascinating circle track catalogs. It's a very specialized but standardized field, and I have no idea what some of these parts do. It's fun trying to figure it out!
entry 184 - tags: rear axle | | |
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