Luv2Wrench

I've definitely experienced that feeling before. The mock ups help a lot. Seeing other completed cars helps. Our family couch was also a pirate ship. The lazy-boy recliner was both a rocket ship and a fighter plane. Very relatable.

Just need to keep it from evaporating so brown mason jars would be perfect. It'll be a nice green/blue when it is ready. I find nickel plating one of the easier plates to do though over steel/iron it works better with a copper plate first. For protection I think it'll work fine without the copper first. For appearances it works better over copper/brass/bronze.

If that nickel plating was thick enough then you'll be able to save that solution to use for nickel plating, just reverse the wires. I made my solution the same way, vinegar and using nickel welding rods. If you have enough the whole solution will be the blue/green color you see just below the cathode.

Wow! That's awesome!

As always, great work! I've found a bunch of different uses for the JB Weld Steel stick. Really handy stuff.

It is a mystery for sure. It does seems to be temp and/or pressure related. Driving in the neighborhood the temp never got over 85C and oil pressure was a max of about 60. At speed out on the roads the temp got up to 100C and the oil pressure was 70 or so. The engine is now out of the car and on an engine stand. I've started the disassembly but haven't gotten that far. Everything looks great so far. I expected the bell housing to have oil in it but it didn't. The clutch looked fine but it seemed the outside of the pressure plate might have been covered in oil.

Guide coat is super helpful though I'll admit to saying some unkind words about it in moments of frustration. You'll be super happy you spent the considerable extra time when you're done. A flexible sanding block is helpful for a car like the MGA. A cool trick I saw was to lay the strip of sand paper on the curve of the car and then apply the foam sanding block while bending it to the shape. The sticky backing on the paper holds the foam in the shape of the car. YouTube video probably explains it better but I can't find it right now.

Thanks for the kind words. I used the original style seals. The leak is rather substantial though seems to only happen if the car is driven at speed for 10 miles or so. Just a casual drive causes little issue. I have most of the car torn down and should have the engine out tomorrow. Once out I'll be able to try and figure out what the issue is. I've read that it can be difficult to fit the cork gasket and/or sometimes it moves out of place. I have purchased the conversion kit for a modern seal and once I figure out what the issue is I'll decide if I'll fit it or not. If I were keeping the car to drive myself I might be tempted to live with the leak and park it over a drip pan. Since I plan to sell it soon I think the best course of action is to get this fixed now such that the next owner will not have to deal with it.

I took another two test drives to try and verify what I'm seeing. I did another drive in the neighborhood in 3rd gear so 3.5K rpm the whole way. I did about 4 miles of that. Water temp remained around 85C (which is what the thermostat is). After this drive only a couple of drops of oil which is consistent with what I've been seeing since I first drove the car. The second test drive was another 15 miles out on the open roads in traffic with speeds around 50-55 and about 4K rpm. Multiple times the temp got to 100C and a bit over at stop lights. It did come down some once moving but never really below 90C. Of course it is 87F here right now so pretty hot. When I returned it wasted no time leaking the oil out like it did before. I'm thinking the issue probably has heat and/or time component and that's why I didn't see it before. I also noted that oil PSI is a touch over 70psi at the speeds on the open road and just over 60psi when driving in 3rd gear in the neighborhood. I guess it is possible there is a pressure component to the issue as well. I also noted that the oil level is right on "full" so I think it is possible that is a contributing factor. I wouldn't be surprised if it leaks until it is happy with the level. I don't, however, feel that's a solution... at least not yet. As for the show tomorrow I think the combination of issues is going to keep me from going. I'm not happy with the oil leak and/or running hot. Throw in a 70% chance of thunderstorms and I'm not sure that's a situation I want to press my luck in.

Ugh... so after returning from a 15 mile drive it is leaking oil from the rear main. It doesn't appear to leak while running but dumps at least 1/2 a cup when it stops. This XPGA engine does leak when stopped because it doesn't have a true rear main oil seal but only a few drops. This is leaking much more than that and it wasn't doing that before so something has changed. As such I've cancelled my plans of driving to the car show. The plan was always to gradually drive the car more and only really venture out when I felt comfortable. Unfortunately that didn't happen as smoothly as hoped. It appears that I didn't get something correct when assembling the engine so I'll pull it back out and figure out what I either didn't do or did wrong. All in all I'm pleased and proud of all that I did get correct. The car drove nicely on its first couple of real drives and looks stunning. I got lots of compliments at red lights. I've always heard getting a car properly sorted is the hardest part and I can certainly see that.

Today was the day!!! It took awhile to get the car registered but that process is complete and I drove out of the neighborhood onto real roads. First intersection a vintage Porsche pulled up next to me and the guy said "nice car" and all of those hours of work just melted away. His car is probably worth 3 times what my little MG is but it sure felt great. I only went on a 3 mile drive but I felt like that was plenty to see how it handled at speed. The road in front of my house is 55mph and even at 7am I had to book it to not get run over. The good news is that it appears to handle 60mph without that much issue. At that speed it ticks over at 4,000 rpm which is up there but I guess OK for a 4 cylinder?? The brakes are fine and it drives straight. It is twitchy on the steering compared to my daily driver. Certainly not an issue but you do need to remember that turning the big old wheel really does something and it does it right there and then! I'll add some more miles today and tomorrow I'm going to a local British Car show. It is a fairly large event so it will be fun to see the other cars and have something of mine there. It is about 12 miles away so I think a good next step.

I'm relieved to see vice grips being used.

Thanks for sharing. I've done this and used very similar technique. I think you covered all the bases. I'll add that multiple anodes of various shapes can be helpful for parts that are not straight. It is helpful to think of plating as line of sight and make sure you have anode coverage around the part at roughly the same distance away. I found that various YouTube channels cover making your own solutions at significant cost savings. Caswell is nearly foolproof and making your own requires some experimenting. The cost saving can be significant.

Great job hanging in there and dragging this old girl to the finish line. We're all pulling for you!!

Glad you're feeling better Chris, that COVID can be tricky.

Really turned out nice. Gotta get me a tool post grinder.

I see you still have that giant quarter. Stunning works as always!

Cool car, I heard people were dying to get in these back in the day. Bad Dad jokes aside... looking forward to seeing this restoration. Thanks for sharing!

The post from Thursday really helps tie all the pieces together and yes, that basically looks like what I'll be doing to get the Metz back together. Really glad you're documenting the process for me. I can follow pictures.

Amazing workmanship, thanks for sharing in such detail!

Seeing the tires again reminds me of the first posts some 12 years ago. I vividly remember realizing that you were *making* tires and that this model was going to be at a level I'd never seen before. I really had no idea such things were possible. It has been a wonderful dozen years since and you never fail to impress. Thank you so much for taking the extra time to share your passion with us.

While it is a bit difficult for me to fully grasp exactly what you're doing, I have a feeling that in about 9 months I'll be doing something very similar. Obviously my Metz has the same issue with bearings for the hubs. At one point I had a plan for doing that (I'm sure we discussed) and bought a bunch of bearings. I think I later determined they fit a bit different and it wouldn't work. What I do know is that all the detail you've presented here is likely to be a huge help sometime later this year.

MjSieler, When I was considering having someone else paint the car I learned that a good way to go about it was to call paint suppliers and ask for contact information of painters that did freelance work. Most of those guys/girls will have access to a paint booth. You're not going to get a warranty but if you find someone that is highly recommended you won't need one. They won't paint your car if it isn't ready and they'll tell you what you need to do. If I was only painting one car that would definitely have been the route I would've taken. Sorry for the detour Chris.

It really is always something! A huge disincentive to have an old car. I really like things are get done and stay done. I see I'm in for a world of hurt in the old car arena. lol

As they say... "You've come a long way, baby!" Looking great Chris!