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Just got back from a test drive with the 4 new KYB's out back and they work really well. I had read they ride rough but I didn't get any harshness from them at all. I went for a quick blast down the tollway and they rode fine. There's one intersection by my house that would have the rear end bouncing a time or two with the old shocks - with the new shocks it was super smooth crossing it. One more thing crossed off my list.
Today I received 2/3 of my Quarterbreed conversion kit. Still waiting on the drive shaft but I got the flywheel/flex plate and the actual kit itself.
I've been stock-piling parts for this winter's 700R4 upgrade and rear cage rebuild. The UPS man has been here so many times over the last week he made me show him what I was working on. Today's haul included a new governor cover since the one on the transmission looks a little ratty.
I also picked up a 700R4 governor recalibration kit to adjust the shift points.
Since my car has the speed sensor in the rear diff, I don't need to use the transmission's speedometer pickup. Which is good because the transmission I bought just has a gaping hole where the speedo sender would go. I picked up an ICT Billet 551961 speedometer delete plug for the 700R4.
I had a ridiculously brutal week at work and needed a way to decompress. I decided to pull out the old front brake calipers from this summer and powder coat them.
I assume these are the original calipers . They looked pretty crusty when I pulled them off this summer.
In the MGB circle it's controversial to split the caliper halves, but I have been doing it for 28 years. In my opinion it's safe as long as you replace the square-section o-ring between the halves and replace the bolts. If you've read any of this thread you can guess that I'll replace the bolts with yellow zinc chromate Grade 8 bolts.
Here's one of the caliper halves in the sand blaster.
If you're bored, here's a vide of me trying to sand-blast while filming.
After going through the sand blaster, I bake them in my powder coat oven at 400* for about 30 minutes. This cooks off any oils/grease still left.
Here are the caliper halves out of the oven.
Since I don't want powder coating on the finished surfaces or in the bores, I mask those off before coating.
Fresh powder before baking:
Caliper after baking and cool-down. I need to order new pistons and bolts then I can rebuild them.
I had two strange issues pop up Sunday evening that I just finished fixing
The first issue was that the radio stopped playing through the door speakers when the brake was pressed. I pulled out the wiring diagram to make sure there was no common point between the two circuits and there wasn't. My car has an aftermarket amp in the trunk so I had my wife step on the brake pedal while I probed the amp connections with my test light. When I probed the +12 volt connection, the door speakers started working again. Take the probe off the +12 volt connection and the speakers stopped working. I checked the resistance of the ground wire and it had about 100 ohms. I ran a new ground wire to a different location in the trunk and now the radio works when stopping the car.
The second issue was the right rear turn signal stopped working. I pulled the bulb and it tested ok. I tested the bulb socket and it wasn't getting +12 volts. I pulled the light assembly and found a shorted wire between the C3 connector and the bulb socket. After replacing that the turn signal worked perfectly.
This week I got the driveshaft for my Quarterbreed conversion, so I officially have all the parts for when I start that. Looking at the calendar I probably have another month to month-and-a-half of driving weather until winter happens.
Today both of my classics got washed and a coat of Butter Wet Wax. It's not the longest lasting wax but I really love the shine.
My wife and I took the Jaguar out for a drive this afternoon. Chicago isn't known for sports car roads but there are a few hidden gems if you're willing to drive. And under the excuse of looking at the changing leaves, we headed out west to Oregon, IL. Once there we turned south once we hit the Rock River and followed it down to Dixon IL, the boyhood home of Ronald Reagan. That part of the trip was about 100 miles on 2-lane country roads and the fastest I went was about 62 mph. My calculated fuel mileage was 22.5 mpg.
One we got to Dixon we jumped on the I-88 Tollway and headed east. While much less scenic than the 2-lane country roads, we made up for it by setting the cruise at 75-80 mph and gobbled up 85 miles in no time at all. My wife fell asleep and woke up 20 minutes later saying "you know it's a comfortable car when I fall asleep". My calculated fuel mileage for this part was 19 mpg.
I keep forgetting this car can hear me. Tonight there was condensation on the inside of the passenger side windshield and it looks like a coupe drops of anti-freeze came out the AC drain. Looks look my winter to-do list just got another item added.
