JOSH.

Clan Chieftain · Post by **Clan Chieftain** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 10:27 pm

8) We must give credit and every support to this lad be it help with bits or technical know how to help him with his project. It is young guys like this that we need to encourage for the future to keep the marinas on the road. I know how he feels it being his first car and all that and he wants to do it up but if it needs a lot of welding and probably an engine I would suggest to him to take off the good bits and weigh it in for scrap value. Save up a bit longer and get one that is up and running with an MOT. It may sound hard Josh but what you are about to spend on it you could get yourself a good one.
Bear in mind that once you start poking around jacking points etc you will probably find a lot more rotten bits.
There are more on this forum who will agree with me than disagree. Save yourself a lot of grief and hard earned cash and scrap it now before it costs you.As I said before it sounds harsh but its hard facts...GIVE IT SERIOUS THOUGHT.

JubileeNut · Post by **JubileeNut** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 10:57 pm

If we all did that, there would be none left! :?
If he finds there is to much for him then I am sure someone may want to take it on?
Plus it may not be as bad as it seems! It looked OK and if he gets stuck in then it will cost less to do.

Clan Chieftain · Post by **Clan Chieftain** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 11:41 pm

I am only thinking of the cost it would be to Josh to do it up. It gets to the stage when you have got to be realistic. Fair enough if someone else wants to take it on. Look what Sam is saying on another topic, she is prepared to sell hers to a MINOR owner for bits !!!

ado28 · Post by **ado28** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 12:17 am

There is some truth in that Larry but at the same time people need to learn new skills and young Josh is at the age where he can learn quicker and possibly choose a career in body building/ mechanical engineering and end up rebuilding the car on his own. Then it would just be a matter of the cost of buying the parts required to restore the car. Part of the fun in this hobby is restoring the cars back to their former glory when they appear beyond it

JoshWard · Post by **JoshWard** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 9:23 am

Hi Larry, she really isnt that bad, in fact the guy at the garage was really surprised about how solid she is underneath (she was undersealed properly from new and I think she was undersealed properly since then as well).
I know the N/S/F jacking point just needs treating to stop it going any further and a plate putting over it, the other side is a little more serious but at the end of the day there are plenty of people on here who have had to do far more to their cars!
As for the engine there are plenty of scrap MGBs round these parts so if worst does come to the worst it could receive another engine at relatively little expense.
I know I will probably end up spending more than what the car is worth, I only payed Ã‚Â£100 and if I was to sell it on ebay I know I could get quite a bit more than that as MK1s are going up in price all the time in ebay land.
But you wont be finding this MK1 on there. I could have bought a far better MK1 but I always wanted a project and I want to really get to know these cars (well as much as I can without buying a basket case

). Who knows what other projects I could do by learning on this car (and the next planned project- a total rebuild of a Triumph Herald although I wont be buying one for a few years).
As for money so long as I can pay for the parts and where needed the labour then I'm fine. I'm not going to make her concourse! We just want to get her through an MoT and then do other jobs every now and then (new rear arches, upgrading, sorting out interior etc etc).

Clan Chieftain · Post by **Clan Chieftain** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 10:28 am

8) Good on you Josh and I wish you the best of luck. Anything we can help you with then let us know.

JoshWard · Post by **JoshWard** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 11:31 am

I will!

XER905L · Post by **XER905L** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 8:21 pm

I dont go to commercial establishments except to get MOT tests and buy spare parts - the fun and challenge owning a car for me (and maybe Josh?) should be fixing it up with your mates, learning and sharing the ups and downs as you go along, not some Ã‚Â£50 plus VAT per hour greaseless monkey who doesnt like my ride.Of course then you need a spare car or two to get from A to B as repairs dont get done overnight!
If i was in JoshÃ‚Â´s shoes I wouldnt spend money repairing jacking points, I would just grind them off and repair the original floor pan without hopefully having to reduce the rigidity of the shell by inserting a big plate if they are too rusty to remain.I invested Ã‚Â£10 each car in a trio of Aldi trolley jacks , I have undersealed the jacking points on 2 of my Marinas and never again will a scissor jack crack that underseal and give rust a chance to eat into my car floors (the 3rd car has big rot issues caused by 1990 replacement front jacking points rusting).
I have tried opening and closing the front doors on Marinas with replacement front jacking points with the front end on a trolley jack and the doors sometimes will not close unless the car is back down on its wheels.I wont willingly buy a Marina with plates or rust issues in the floor pan,but I will someday have to find a good estate someday to replace my rusty estate which will remain just a garage trophy
I dont know if lack of factory jacking points is an MOT failure though

Clan Chieftain · Post by **Clan Chieftain** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 11:19 pm

You get a table with the square metal legs.Cut the leg to the size you need for an outrigger, weld a plate on to it and then weld it on to the floor.
New jacking point at very little cost

Thats the jacking points done Josh very cheaply 8) 8)

JoshWard · Post by **JoshWard** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 10:05 am

Sadly I need to get these repairs done by someone else as it's not really driveable to get back to my place anymore (unless my dad wants a large fine for driving it- the smoke is rather large at the moment

)
We simply dont have the facilitys to do these type of repairs either, we have a small garage which is filled with old motorbikes and a small driveway which is on a slope...
The chap who is doing the work did his apprenticeship for BL and specialises in BMC/BL cars so I've no worries about him not doing a good job.
As soon as it's through it's MoT me and my dad can do the rest of the work as it is driveable to places to work on it if it needs work we cannot do at home or where it will be stored.

andrewwita · Post by **andrewwita** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 11:22 am

i say well done josh -
i am in the same boat as you -
i am now on my second marina so i still only know limited info about the cars but am learning more and more every day thanks to the mmoc club and the guys n gals on here.
i can only do so much to my car so i have to take it to a garage to do all of the welding - as i am not able to do that here - if only i had a garage i could at least try but even to buy a garage in london around here is Ã‚Â£35,000 so no chance of that happening - the mechanics i can do and general repairs but welding is out of my league - i have told the garage that i want to get that car thru an mot first and then i can do more and more work to her on the road - even if it means driving her around in part primer and part old paint for a bit - till i can afford to get her painted

so i wish you all the luck josh

JoshWard · Post by **JoshWard** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 12:27 pm

I can easily get access to other garages round here but all my relatives' ones are full and all their driveways are on slopes. I though East Anglia was supposed to be flat

I'm notgoing to write the engine off until the head as been taken off and we can see whether it just needs new rings or a rebore.

Muskydo · Post by **Muskydo** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 2:00 pm

What sort of mileage as this car done? I worked for BL for about 15 years and never had to overhaul a B series through wear, unlike a Ford the B series or A series for that matter should be good for well over 100,000 before needing any sort of piston / bore work. If your man is a BL guy he should know that. Get the car away from there and follow the suggestions on here first, and attempt it yourself.Myself I suspect it's simply a sticking ring, or more likely a perished valve seal through lack of use.If it was mine I would remove the plugs and fill the cylinders with diesel or something similar and let it stand for a few days,then give it a proper flush and try again, if no joy pull the head of yourself learn by doing not by paying someone else ! As for sloping driveways, you lucky lucky B*****d I dream of having a sloping driveway all I and a lot of other enthusiast have is the road outside where rain or shine we do our own work on our own cars. Finally there's little point in asking the advice of knowlegdable helpfull people if you don't listen to and follow that advice. Let the guy do the welding then tow / trailor or drive it from there. :roll:

Cheers
Steve

If you want to know anything just ask, and someone will help....

~Sam~ · Post by **~Sam~** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 2:37 pm

Jesus the villagers are out with their pitchforks in force today.

I am willing to sell the engine out of a car that I am scrapping to minor owners because a) no one from the Marina community wants it and b) it saves the minor boys having to break a road worthy car for the engine.

JoshWard · Post by **JoshWard** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 5:41 pm

Muskydo wrote:What sort of mileage as this car done? I worked for BL for about 15 years and never had to overhaul a B series through wear, unlike a Ford the B series or A series for that matter should be good for well over 100,000 before needing any sort of piston / bore work. If your man is a BL guy he should know that. Get the car away from there and follow the suggestions on here first, and attempt it yourself.Myself I suspect it's simply a sticking ring, or more likely a perished valve seal through lack of use.If it was mine I would remove the plugs and fill the cylinders with diesel or something similar and let it stand for a few days,then give it a proper flush and try again, if no joy pull the head of yourself learn by doing not by paying someone else ! As for sloping driveways, you lucky lucky B*****d I dream of having a sloping driveway all I and a lot of other enthusiast have is the road outside where rain or shine we do our own work on our own cars. Finally there's little point in asking the advice of knowlegdable helpfull people if you don't listen to and follow that advice. Let the guy do the welding then tow / trailor or drive it from there. :roll:

Cheers
Steve

If you want to know anything just ask, and someone will help....

Hi Steve, The car has done about 120,000 miles and as far as I'm aware the piston rings last on average for about 60,000 miles. I cant attempt the work myself, as I've said before there's nowhere I can take the car at the moment, and my dad isnt willing to help me do the work. I want to do all the work myself but my dad wants someone else to get it through it's MoT.
I dont think anything would happen through lack of use. This car has been on the road from 1975-2008 and only stopped being used regularly a couple of months ago.
I want to do my own work on my own car but sadly that isnt going to be possible all the time.
The engine has been run at speed forsome considerable time and there is no sign of any difference.
The mechanic is a BL guy and used to work on these cars all the time. He then worked in the Police force as a mechanic and maintained two Marina TCs there.