Baby Ruby

[taxirod]

Not quite!!! Anyway, Morris is still awaiting its new manifold.


Yesterday, I got a bit of garage time and made a new bracket for the brake light switch.
Excited, the car can now go out for a quick blast!
I started up and reversed out of the garage, but when the back wheels got to the "dip" near the kerb, I lost drive, along with a metallic whining noise from NSR wheel. Straight away I knew it was the splines on the wire wheel, after I got the car back in the garage I ordered a new hub.
That arrived today, but when i cleaned up the splined part of the wheel I noticed this:






Wow, thats some wear!
Now I'm ordering a new wheel.





Here's the new hub, measuring around these splines there is quite a bit of wear on the old hub too.

It feels like Im being tormented at the moment, one thing after another, but the truth is probably just that I built a car 5 years ago with secondhand bits which are wearing out now.
I must get to the bottom of it all soon.....

[taxirod]

They all have some wear, to be expected on parts that are 50+ years old.
I spoke to 2 seperate companies that deal with MGB stuff all the time, both said they had not heard of this happening before, usually there is a clonking noise which gives warning that the splines are now worn and need replacing, there is no specific way to measure to check things are within tolerance. It seems most likely that its a perfect storm of me using a load of used parts from different vehicles. Ive replaced the problem corner with a new wheel and a new hub, so at least I havent got older bits wearing out newer bits now - on that corner at least.
The other good thing about the new wheel is that it can run tubeless, so I will eventually replace them all.

Meanwhile, I had lots of conflicting info on setting the float levels. First attempt had it running too weak, next attempt had levels too high, and apparently 1mm out is massive on an SU. Finally I contacted Alan at Atspeed Racing in Rayleigh, he knows his way around an SU. It went against the grain for me to cough up for someone else to do such basic work on my Ruby, but after so much frustration where at times I felt I was going mad, I think its been worth it to rebuild my confidence in driving the car again. It felt good to drive it home today, despite lousy weather.


one other little job Ive done recently is to fit LED headlight bulbs - check out the difference!

[taxirod]

At last Ive been able to enjoy the Ruby again.










This was after revisiting an old haunt of ours for our anniversary.

Now I'm eagerly looking forward to the summer (esp after decent weather here Tuesday and Wednesday), thinking about what adventures we can go on!

[Happydaze]

Cool! Lights are bright, good. Watch out for the taxis, driven by loonies!

Chris

Sent from my SM-T515 using NSRA mobile app

[taxirod]

Cool! Lights are bright, good. Watch out for the taxis, driven by loonies!

Chris


Sent from my SM-T515 using NSRA mobile app

Yes, but while I'm driving the Ruby, the maddest taxi driver is not working!!

[mygasser]

the headlights look light they dip in opposite directions, are the bulbs both in right? it's boss eyed, lol. glad it's running well again now.
neil.

[taxirod]

the headlights look light they dip in opposite directions, are the bulbs both in right? it's boss eyed, lol. glad it's running well again now.
neil.

looking at the pics again, I see what you mean, but it must be a trick of the camera, they dont look like that in real life, also when the headlights are on (they are off in the pic, just sidelights) they're aim is true. As Elvis Costello sang.

Had a great time at the swap meet today, I went there without much money, and had no plan of what I might buy, if anything.
Then I chatted to someone which left me with the expectation of getting a Ford 302, suddenly I had stuff to look for!






I came home with headers, bellhousing and flywheel for a 302.
I've never had a 302 so know little or nothing about them, someone told me that they have either 157 or 164 tooth flywheels, when I got home I counted and found that my ?10 flywheel was a 157, but since i don't have the engine yet I don't know whether its correct, but hey, it was cheap so I grabbed it.
The ally bellhousing is 6 bolt so should fit my 302 ok.
The door mirrors, I sort of had a plan, maybe they'll show up somewhere on my Morris 8 build.

Thanks to NSRA people for organising the Swap meet, nice to be there and feel the winter is behind us, great to see all the rodding faces.

[taxirod]

Today was fun, headed off in the taxi, sun was shining, had 2 x SBF to collect, one with a gearbox.










Could only fit in 1 engine and box. Have to go there again, probably in a couple of weeks, to get the other engine. All good fun, I love to look around Keiths yard.
Suspension down a bit at the back, this is my working taxi, so once the engine and box were in the back of the garage (just room to squeeze them in behind the Ruby), I tidied up the taxi, then its off to work, I wonder how many "Is that transmission fluid? / Did you have an old engine in here today? " type comments I'll get from my passengers!

This engine is from a 1987 Lincoln town car, so its roller cam, and has a few goodies on it from the other engine I'm going back for.

Hopefully I'll be able to start a new build thread later, meanwhile I can fix up this engine, and collect bits.

[mygasser]

does the box have a kickdown/tv cable ian? if not it's an aod'e' needing a standalone control module ecu thingy similar to what i got with my 4r70w box. if it has a cable it's an aod and has no electronics, just needing the cable adjusting properly or the box will eat itself in very short order.
neil.

[taxirod]

Today I had another trip to Keiths place.





Even the grill had rotted away!









Hard to even recognize that its a Mk3 Cortina from the back!

Apart from generally enjoying a sunny day out, I brought the other SBF home.

Keith said that this engine was better than the other one, but I want to use a SBF which has a roller cam.
The first engine is a 1987 so def roller cam.
But on this engine I cant find an engine number





This is where the casting numbers were on the other engine - nothing here, or anywhere else that I can see.




Keith believed that this engine had the little ends gone, although I've been told that is very unlikely on a 302.
Looking at the damage to these valves, I wondered if this was all the trouble was. However, it could also have been damaged by rough treatment after removal - note smashed spark plug.










I dont suppose its possible to tell if its a roller cam from the above pic?

I guess I'll pull it apart to find out for sure. I need to decide which of the 2 engines to start playing with.

[mygasser]

the above pics are a flat tappet engine mate. roller lifters are taller with either a forked 'dog bone' linking them in pairs with a sprung steel 'spider' holding the dog bones in place or (if aftermarket a link bar joining the lifters in pairs. either design holds the lifters only allowing vertical movement without the rotation that's normal for flat tappets. you can see both types here ..... https://www.google.com/search?sca_es...ih=608&dpr=1.4
neil.

[Blackpopracing]

that valve has taken a wallop too! You will most likely have to cut it off right by the head carefully to remove it.

[malstbird]

ooh **** took me a minute to spot that !

[taxirod]

I'm not too worried about that, as I'm keeping this engine as a spare for now.

After enjoying Wheels day yesterday, I realised that the interior mirror on the Ruby wasn't ideal positioned. Also, when you flip the passenger seat forward to get into the back seat, it knocks the mirror.
I got a little bit of garage time today, and played with my purchase from the Swap Meet.





Pair of mirrors, but one was damaged. Mounting it as it was resulted in the mirror being too low, so i hacked about so that one piece slid inside the other






It didnt want to weld




so I stuck it together















Simple little job, but better now for vision and the seat tipping.
I quite like the wackiness of using an exterior mirror as an interior mirror.
And i have the previous mirror from here to fit in the Morris now. In case it ever actually drives!