OUR CLASSICS
You can buy a Sixties MGB for less than £2k but there’s the potential for big bills and even bigger headaches…
1967 MGB GT
R eaders with long memories may recall that I bought a tatty chrome-bumper MGB GT for less than £2000 a year ago and you might have pondered on its fate. Well, it’s still in my hands, but the cylinder head is off as I write this and I’m waiting for the replacement to arrive.
Bear with me, dear reader, because getting to the removal of the cylinder head is a long tale that involved a succession of bodgery that sometimes involved domestic plumbing pipework and plenty of cable ties. Needless to say that it’s been tough going and my plans for getting stuck in with some local navigation rallies remain very much on hold.
To get things up and running, local garage Oklahoma Motors changed the points, rotor arm and distributor cap, then my mate Kenny replaced the rotten exhaust system with a stainless steel one, fitted a pair of new batteries and brought the ’B down to my storage unit on his truck.
The problem was a notable reluctance for the engine to fire up and an obvious lumpiness and lack of power when it did kick into life. Fortunately I’d met a top-class restorer – we’ll call him Matthew – acouple of months earlier who’s a genius with mechanicals and bodywork and super-methodical, too.
Matthew’s first job was to sort out the rough running, so it was on to Cambridgeshire-based MGB Hive (who will be appearing a lot in the coming paragraphs) for a carburettor re-build kit.
It arrived the day after ordering and Matthew had the pair of SUs away and off to an expert who re-built them in exchange for a bottle of single malt. The rubber mounting blocks also had to be replaced because the ones on the car were filled with silicone. With those re-fitted we needed a new choke cable (from MGB Hive) because the old one had been incorrectly fitted and damaged.
Now we had a ’B that was trying to start but wouldn’t. I’d already bought a completee service kit from (surprise, surprise) MGB Hive, which included all of the oils I needed plus a thermostat. And that’s when we found that the ‘B didn’t have a ’stat fitted and it simply wouldn’t crank over with the new one in. Take the thermostat out and it would at least try. Was there a link between the missing thermostat and the recalcitrance when firing up? More than likely. Along with the service kit Matthew wanted to renew all – and I do mean all – of the gaskets, hoses and clips and tackle some re-wiring at the bulkhead and forward of it. And the more we dug in, the more it became clear that Mr Bodger had been at t
