Stainless Steel Tray

A stainless steel plate was fabricated and placed under the master cylinder and heater blanking plate to make things easier to keep clean.

The reconditioned, lumpy cam MGA MKII 1622 engine that I had bought with the Geelong chassis was used with a MGB "O" type head & exhaust manifold.  A two-inch exhaust system was installed with two hotdogs. 

Compression ratio was calculated at 9.5:1. 

 

Radiator Cowl

A fibreglass radiator cowl and a 13-row oil cooler kept everything cool.  The improvement in efficiency of the radiator and fan with installation of the radiator cowl was remarkable.  The cowl causes the fan to drag air through all columns of the radiator rather than just the area immediately in front of it.  I highly recommend this accessory.

An aluminum alloy valve cover and RAMAIR air filters were purchased.  The carburetors were reconditioned (new gaskets, seals, jets and size "AA" needles). The new carpet was installed along with beige leather seats, door & cockpit trim.

 

 

First Photo After Restoration

All the remaining shiny bits were attached.  A gallon of fuel was put in the tank, lubrication system primed, fingers were crossed, engine was cranked over and she came to life again.  The head was re-tensioned, valve clearances reset, carburetors tuned, timing set and it was time for registration and a photo or ten.

While on the trailer heading to the registration office, we had our first real bad luck when it started to hail (typical Melbourne weather as ten minutes prior it had been fine!)  No damage done.  First photo on the left taken after 15 miles on the odometer.

 

Bits & Pieces for Assembly

Two months after Kermit returned to the road, I started contracting overseas. I reluctantly mothballed him on stands in my garage for ten years until 2001. 

During that time, I returned back to Australia every 25 days visiting family & took him for a brief monthly blast by the beach before putting him back in hibernation. 

The long spells between monthly drives caused the hydraulics to deteriorate.   In 1996, new seals were installed.

 

Worn Clutch Release Bearing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In July 2005 after only 6,500 miles, a problem with the master cylinder caused the clutch release bearing to wear excessively. 

While the engine was out, we found that the reconditioning done in Geelong on the MKII engine was less than professional.  It was fully reconditioned and converted to use unleaded fuel.  The new piston tops were milled in order to reduce the compression ratio back to a more reliable 8.8:1.  The crankshaft was machined while the camshaft was ground back to standard specification.  Standard size "6" needles replaced the leaner "AA" needles in the carburetors.

 

Modified Heat Shield

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the pictures above, you can see where the standard heat shield was modified slightly with a bulge in the centre in order to clear the bulkier MGB exhaust manifold. 

In the fight against vapour lock, in December 2005, I experimented with ceramic heat shield material from ACL.  I tossed the two small asbestos pads and fabricated a deeper, full width ceramic / aluminised steel sandwich plate and pop riveted it on top of the standard steel shield.  So far, the results are superb.  After 800 miles of city traffic in 30 to 35 dCel, I have not had any vapour lock.  Fingers crossed, but so far I am very impressed with this product from ACL. 

Below are some photos taken of Kermit's engine after reconditioning.  Please click on the small images for enlargement (and when finished, please close the new picture window to return to this page).