Eric's 1952 MGTD

Got the car out and drove it today, put about 4 miles on it.  Was 38 degrees outside, ran OK but I suspect it will like warmer weather better.  Got some nice compliments while filling the gas tank: After driving it I put it on the lift and adjusted the brakes.  They tended to pull to the left, as I suspected the right front brake was too "loose".  Next drive should show more even braking. Also checked front end alignment.  Greg McDaniel must have also had a means to check this when he rebuilt the chassis, it was right on with 1/8 inch of toe in: Then I setup some marks on the garage door for setting the headlight alignment: Got a tonneau cover to install, then we should be done.  Well, except for a pesky real small leak of coolant from around the water pump.  Previous sealing of the water pump bolt that goes into a cooling passage seesmed to work, so not sure if it's the same bolt or another source. 

Finally got doors to latch correctly today, yeah! Also finished installation of the convertible top.  Here's a picture of the top in place with all four side curtains also installed.  Not sure I'd ever want to be putting all this together in the side of the road during a rainstorm.  But still it does look kinda cool.

Lots of progress.  By the end of December we basically had the interior done, including seat installation: We had ordered red beading to put between the fenders and the body, it's shade of red was not a good match for the bright red paint so Eric decided to go with black beading instead: After finally getting the black beading in, things started to go pretty fast.  Ray's been gone, so Vince has been on his own.  And many of these tasks are things Vince has done at least once before. Here's the back half of the car completed: Vince then flipped the car around to concentrate on the front of the car.  It's basically done.  All lights installed, although turn signals don't work. No major challenges in getting all the bodywork to fit, just the usual wrestling to get things to line up, so far so good. Resolved our third engine related issue.  We'd already found double O rings on the oil filter (leaked...

The interior is almost done.  We got the two vinyl pcs that we had made installed, then installed doors and side panels plus vinyl across tack strips at top. Both doors needed help in alignment, several experts have recommended putting turnbuckles on the diagonal strap on the inside of the door to fine tune the planarity of the door.  Here's some pics before and after of the driver's door: There's a sizable gap at the bottom rubber door bumper.  The gap is gone!  Pretty cool. Here's some more pics of the interior.  I'd say we're about 90% done on the interior.  We've got good door fit, but need some special shims to get the door gap when latched correct.  We need some special bolts to install the seats.  Door panel by passenger feet to be installed.  And a little more work on the carpet installation, esp on passenger side.  Plus clean up some of our mess. Darrell now has the rest of the exterior sheet me...

We got the welting trim installed around the dashboard, turned out pretty good.  We were able to find 5/8 inch staples, 1/4 inch crown, that worked in my air nailer that did a good job on the upholstery materials. We've started on the rest of the interior.  Found one major miss on interior parts.  The rear wheel arch covers are not there.  And Moss usually sells these only as part of an entire kit for a car.  We asked Moss if they could provide, they never did get back with us.  So we went another way - have these pieces made at a local trim shop. Here's a picture of what we need from Julie's car: Two pieces of vinyl, sewn together, with padding underneath.  We made a pattern for the trim shop to use: We went to a guy I've used before, was formerly with First Avenue Trim.  He will make us the two wheel arches within a week.  Sweet.  And reasonable price. Also placed our first order for parts today.  The major piece...

Got wiring completed (except for lighting, which gets mounted to fenders).  Installed tunnel cover, floors, and transmission cover. With all this progress we got to the point of being ready to start the engine.  We had the usual myriad problems with starting a rebuilt engine.  Coolant leak at a water pump bolt (a little goop fixed that).  Two o-rings on oil filter canister so it leaked (removed one).  Loose fuel line clamp at fuel tank (tightened).  No fuel pump (found aftermarket fuel pump that was polarity sensitive, SU fuel pumps run no matter which way they are connected).  Overflowing fuel bowl on front carb (float was jammed in down position, pried it free).  Confirmed oil pressure and compression prior to start.  Compression was 120, 145, 155, and 150 front to back.  All systems were go except no spark.  Found internal grounding on 12 volt side, points spring attachment not done right.  Corrected.  Tried again, no...