Not My Car Chris Humphreys' NG TF
by Peter Bambrook
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  Front Suspension  
  The front suspension was stripped down into its component parts. Care was taken when releasing the springs although it was a bit of a non-event really. The crossmember, springs, spring pans, upper spring guides and wishbones were taken for blasting and priming and on their return I gave it two coats of Hammerite Black. I bought two exchange shock absorbers and two exchange Kingpin/axle assemblies from MGB-Hive which looked great along with a set of bushes. I also ordered new bump stops and new nuts and bolts for every component  
  Gearbox  
 

I got ambitious with the gearbox. I took the major assemblies out of the case stopping short of splitting the gears off the original shafts. The synchromesh all looked in good order so I decided not to separate the gears. The selector forks were removed and all inspected. I renewed components where necessary, according to the Haynes, cleaned all components and re-assembled. I fitted a new bronze bush on the selector fork and a new rubber boot where the fork exits the bell housing. Even more ambitious, I decided to do the same with the overdrive. I replaced the solenoid and various other consumable items and whilst being a little tricky to re-assemble, I eventually got the unit back together. I re-mated it with the gearbox, not forgetting the cam on the output shaft to operate the overdrive oil pump.

Time will tell if I got the unit back together properly.

  
  Engine  
 

The engine turned out to be a gold seal replacement engine prefix 48G. This meant that it was based on an 18GG engine. Stripping the engine is fairly straightforward if you follow the Haynes manual. Don't forget to remove the plate holding the distributor drive in place otherwise the camshaft will never come out. When I came to reconditioning the engine I discovered that it had already had liners fitted so I couldn't open it up to .060" oversize. Apparently liners can only be bored to 0.030". The bores were already at this size so just a little honing was required. The crank was re-ground and the block was skimmed to ensure level. New core plugs were fitted and the engine was re-assembled using plenty of oil. A point of note here was that the gasket set contains a comprehensive set for all engine types. There are different oil pump gaskets for the 3-bearing and the 5-bearing. You guessed it I fitted the wrong one. More about the implications of that later, just to say make sure you use the correct one. It has to completely cover the mating face of the oil pump.

The head turned out to be cracked so I bought another on guarantee of its condition. That also was cracked so rather than keep hunting for one to recondition I bought a reconditioned unleaded head and sent back all my valves, springs and collets etc. The camshaft was in good condition and I got a bargain rocker assembly on ebay. This was assembled and fitted to the engine.

  
  Rear Suspension  
  As the check strap attachment had been broken off my rear axle and that there was a lot of play in the differential so I decided to buy a reconditioned exchange axle from the MGB Hive.At the same time I bought reconditioned rear shock absorbers. They also fitted new bearings to the half-shafts for me at the same time. I had the brake back plates blasted and I painted them with the Hammerite Black  
  Drive Shaft  
  I stripped the unit down, removed the Universal Joints and de-greased, cleaned and painted the parts. I bought two new joints and re-assembled the joints ensuring that the joints are aligned accurately to stop knocking. Care is taken that the roller bearings don't get dislodged. At one point the unit slipped and dropped roller bearings off the bench onto the floor into various boxes under the bench. Unfortunately the old unit got knocked off at the same time and the old rollers went everywhere as well. After much frustration I did find all of the rollers, separated the new from the old and with plenty of grease reassembled the caps.  
  Carburetors  
  The carburetors, twin SU 1.5", were rather grubby and rather than send them for reconditioning I though I should have a go myself. I stripped them completely down and send the bodies off one by one to a company in Bournemouth who aqua-blasted them bring them up almost like new. I bought a rebuild kit and new spindles, but the spindle bushes were ok. The reason they were sent away separately was so that I could use one unit as a template for rebuilding the other. I'm glad I did as the springs and cams are a little tricky. The units were then setup according to the Haynes manual.