One for the crew at Pep Boys

[protege]

Thought I should post about these guys. Say what you will about "chain" stores, but they know their stuff.

Some of you know that I've had some problems with the MG. Mainly because the shop that "restored" it, didn't do a good job. They either didn't do all of the work, or half-assed it to get the car out of there. But, after finding out that one of the Pep Boys guys is into classics, well, he now has my business. He knows what he's doing, and it no longer means a trip across town.

The most recent job, was to have the fuel lines replaced. Apparently, the "restorers" used the cheapest lines they could find, which weren't even fuel lines! Cheap rubber hose, in other words. Rubber, that simply wasn't designed to handle gasoline.

As soon as I mentioned the car's symptoms--running rough, stalling, being a bitch to start, etc.--they knew what to look for. Of course it helped that by the time I got it there...the fuel line was leaking Still, they got it fixed quickly, and I had it back the next day. It's still running a bit rough, and is usually a bitch to start, but it's because of the colder weather, and because the carb linkage needs adjusted.

Getting one-day service on a 40-year-old car, one that's long out of production, from a company that hasn't been here since 1980...is freaking awesome. Most garages say they can't handle it, or throw their hands up. Twin carbs and ignition points aren't exactly common these days

But, Pep Boys came through. In fact, they did it again last night. This time, one of the taillights had failed. Even though just about everything is available for these cars, I wasn't about to order from my usual parts supplier. For one, the bulbs are overpriced after you figure in the shipping. Two, I was a bit tired of the taillight lens sitting on the counter--I'd removed it as a reminder to fix it

When I went to PB last night, I'd forgotten the part number. I knew it was #14-something, but none of those were on the shelf. Went back to the parts counter, had the guy check it...and was pleasantly surprised. Seems that after 40 years, it had been given a new part number. No wonder I couldn't find it! For the record Sylvania bulb #1157 is a direct swap

Thanks again, guys!

[Bosch]

You and my buddy jeff could have just hours of beers and talk of MG's. I understand you totally about them, since I spent many an hour working his Midget only to have it barf oil and valves during the break in start.. You have my greatest respect for trying to keep an MG running.. I have never been so frustrated at a car in my life, I understand its british and made by blokes who couldn't have cared less but it seems that the so called experts know even less about them.. The engine builder installed a bent rod so it just ended up eatiing itself and a couple other things were just not right about that build.

It frustrated jeff so bad and his family finally gave him a bribe, sell the midget and all the parts and you can go pick out just about any other project car you want to go racing in.. That was how horrible the midget project made him.. It would have been a cute/cool car(remember I'm a girl I can say cute about a car ) but it was just not in the cards. He did sell it and he almost instantly became a new human.

[protege]

Towards the end, quality control at MG (and Triumph) got pretty bad. By the 70s, the company was heading towards bankruptcy, and eventually nationalization. Most of that was because of the mess called British Leyland. BL had way too many nameplates, and had a serious bias *against* MG. Odd, since that name always sold well...

The only reason those cars were seen as "unreliable," is simply because they didn't get the proper maintenance on this side of the pond. Many owners were unprepared to work on them, and foisted them on garages...who didn't understand them. Once sorted, they're reliable cars

I'm no expert by any means. Most of what I know, is from watching my dad work on it, and from taking most of the car apart years ago Then there are the many MG books in my library, plus all the crap I've downloaded over the years

[Bosch]

Towards the end, quality control at MG (and Triumph) got pretty bad. By the 70s, the company was heading towards bankruptcy, and eventually nationalization. Most of that was because of the mess called British Leyland. BL had way too many nameplates, and had a serious bias *against* MG. Odd, since that name always sold well...

The only reason those cars were seen as "unreliable," is simply because they didn't get the proper maintenance on this side of the pond. Many owners were unprepared to work on them, and foisted them on garages...who didn't understand them. Once sorted, they're reliable cars

I'm no expert by any means. Most of what I know, is from watching my dad work on it, and from taking most of the car apart years ago Then there are the many MG books in my library, plus all the crap I've downloaded over the years

And hacked together wiring and some of the stuff I saw on that midget were pretty typical of things in local cars that were up and running. True if you don't understand what they are you are kind of flying blind. They remind me of Aston's Ferrari's and other super cars they are either driven into the ground or just left to rot since owners don't/can't won't work on them and won't trust anyone else to work on them. Sad really.

The internet has helped really in finding documents wiring diagrams and other things to help patch or rebuid some of these old cars and make them solid.

[protege]

And hacked together wiring and some of the stuff I saw on that midget were pretty typical of things in local cars that were up and running.

My own car had some things like that. Until I ripped the (original) wiring harness out, it was a mess. Quite a few areas had been "repaired" by letting new wires into the harness...but with the old ones still in place, and bare connections against the bodywork Other places, were held together with tape!

[Fox One]

My own car had some things like that. Until I ripped the (original) wiring harness out, it was a mess. Quite a few areas had been "repaired" by letting new wires into the harness...but with the old ones still in place, and bare connections against the bodywork Other places, were held together with tape!

But with all that wire-on-metal, at least you don't have to worry about a ground!

[protege]

But with all that wire-on-metal, at least you don't have to worry about a ground!

No, instead I had to worry about fires Quite a few of the circuits in an MGB are unfused. Meaning, if they short out...you get a nice light show And yes, I know that first hand--since the radio console isn't installed yet...I had to wrap the hazard light switch with tape, lest the connections short out against the transmission tunnel. Found that out the hard way, in fact. As I was going around a sharp corner, the switch moved, and came against one of the bolts holding the gearshift boot in place. Pretty unnerving to see sparks at night in a dark car!

[Bandit]

No, instead I had to worry about fires Quite a few of the circuits in an MGB are unfused.

Ah - Lucas "Prince of Darkness" Electrics.

Sounds like the MG is like the fun I had with the RX-7 I had. Fun as hell to drive, but you better get handy with a 10mm socket, a 8mm socket, and a 53mm socket. Not to mention a screwdriver and a soldering iron.

Fun times - won some championships with it. Fun car. Never got into the car, always put it on.

B