Replacement Tank - Part III - plus Hubcaps

New Tank

  This morning at 10:00, Jan from Gene's called me to say that the car was ready to be picked up.  I was going into a meeting at the time so at 11:00, when the meeting was over, I asked one of my co-workers to give me a ride to pick it up.

Harold had replaced the tank, adjusted the front and rear brakes, cleaned the oil screen, changed the oil, fixed the head lights by replacing the second fuse from the left, replaced fuel and vacuum hoses, and replaced the sending unit.  All of this plus labor and tax came to $227.77.

He had put $10.00 worth of gas in the tank so I headed out to fill it up and see if the previous leakage problem was solved.  I could have gone to a station on the West Chester Pike but I wanted a little bit of a test ride so I took Sproul up to Bryn Mawr, Darby-Paoli, and Goshen all the way up to Strasburg and 352 to the Wawa at the turn pike.

Refueling at the Wawa - 3353 miles

I stopped there for gas and while gassing up had a couple of guys come over to ask questions and chat about their sports cars.  That's one of the great things about this little car, you get to talk to a lot of people.  Now for the bad thing.  As soon as I filled the tank, gas started spilling out from under the silver cap over the sending unit.  The old tank had some black sealant gunk all over that spot but Harold had not sealed this thing.  I called Jan and she asked me to bring it back over.  On the way back, I just headed down the West Chester Pike straight to Gene's.  The brakes are working great, much stiffer than they have been and with plenty stopping power.  I got it going up to 70mph on the straightaway without any problems.

Black sealant gunk on the sending unit cap

When I got to Gene's Harold took over while I walked over to the Country Squire Diner for a little lunch.  I came back a little less than an hour later and he had sealed the sender unit cap with black gunk and taken 2.5 gallons out of the tank to give the gunk time to seal.  I will let it sit until Sunday and then I will refill it and see what happens.  Harold said to bring it back if it still leaks but I think it will be fine.

From there I headed home to get my truck because the Bullet was still at work and I did not want to have both the Bullet and the MG in the lot.  I will ride the Bullet home after work and then come back and pick up the truck later with my wife.

New MG hubcaps

Before going back to work, I took a couple of seconds to put the MG hubcaps on the MG.  I think they look rather nice.  I still like the original wire hubs that came with the car better but I like these hubcaps well enough and I think I will keep the on for now.  I know it was no big deal to make them but I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out.

Next I'm going to need to wash this thing to get all the yellow pollen off it.  I will have to do that this weekend to be ready for Carlisle.

Tank with black gunk sealant

Close up of new hubcaps

Read More »

Replacement Tank - Part II

Shortened spout

Last Tuesday morning I got up early and headed out to Angelo and Son's before work.  The trip had to be made because they had not returned any of my calls since I dropped off the tank at the beginning of the month and I was afraid that they hadn't done anything at all.  I was pleasantly surprised to find the shop open and that they had already cut the spout.  They hadn't finished welding it back together but they promised to have it done later that same day and although I was skeptical I was glad to see a little progress.

Much to my surprised I got a call at work a little after 14:30 saying that the tank was finished and that they would be in the shop until 16:30.  I wasted no time to head out there as soon as possible.

The job looked great and they only charged my $40.00 for it.  They recommended that I put some tank sealer around the inside of the welded joint as an extra precaution which I did this morning.

On my way form from Angelo & Son, I stopped at Gene's and made an appointment with Harold to bring in the car next Tuesday to have the tank installed, the oil changed, the headlights fixed, and get a complete check up before Carlisle.  Harold said he would keep the car for two days but that I should have it back by Wednesday afternoon.

Below I have some photos of the sealing the seam process.

Fuel Tank Repair Epoxy

Bead of epoxy compound

Sealed seam 

Shortened spout

Tank

Read More »

Replacement Tank

Replacement tank

The replacement tank I ordered from JBugs got here on Friday.  My plan is to call Angelo and Son tomorrow to see if they will do the welding needed to modify the spot and then take it to get it installed.  Let's see how that turns out.

Out of the box

Fill spout

3/4 view

Read More »

The Fourth Day of Christmas - The Feast of Saint Thomas à Becket

Willistown Quaker Meeting Graveyard

The Feast of Thomas à Becket broke blue and bright but still cold.  By mid morning the temp had rising to 40 and it stayed there most of the day.  At about 14:00 I stopped by Gene's to talk to Harold the mechanic about the tank on the MG.  He had not found a solution to coating the inside to prevent any further rust and suggested that I look for a kit to do this.  My answer was to replace the tank, as it is not only rusting inside but also leaking from the filling spout.  Harold said that if I could find the right tank he would install it.  

I searched the web and found this 1961-1967 tank to be the closest thing to what I have. According to the website they are on back order but the cost is not bad at around $160 plus shipping.  I would have to find someone to cut and reattach the top of the spout as the stock model would protrude from the hood of the MG.  I will have to do some further research on finding someone to do this but a cursory search on the internet has led me to Angelo & Son in Havertown who might be able to do the work.   

By the time I got home, shortly after my stop at Gene's, the temps had not gotten much better, maybe around 43, but Fortuna fortes adjuvat and I made the decision to roll out the Bullet.  The run did not last long.  

I headed up Goshen and made it as far as the Willistown Quaker Meeting House where I did a quick turn around.  The layering up worked for all my body but not having winter gloves really put the strain on my hands.  I think that by the time I had reached Providence Rd my hands were already frozen but I pushed just that little bit extra to make a good turn around.  If I want to ride in this weather, even for short distances, I have to find a glove solution.  The Meeting House is about 5 miles from my house so the whole trip was just a little over 10 miles.  I did stop at the graveyard there for a couple of pics and to rub my hands together until the circulation returned.

When I left the house the odo read 2663.6 and when I returned it was at 2675.1 

Willistown Quaker Meeting Graveyard

Willistown Quaker Meeting Graveyard

Willistown Quaker Meeting Graveyard

Read More »