When I was reading up on these shocks, it sounded like it was best to just replace them if they ended up leaking badly. The backs seem OK so far... they pass the bounce test, at least! The front just kept bouncing, haha.

You did the right thing. I just mention it for future reference to investigate/ try to fix other stuff first before buying anything even if it needs to be replaced anyway. It's safer than driving a car with no shocks.

Fixing broke stuff is a great way to learn and if you screw it up; it's was broke and going to be replaced anyway.

Ah, yeah. I agree! That was half of the fun when I first started digging into this car. I was able to keep a lot of stuff, and there were so many neat little designs that I thought were very clever. The general lightness of everything was really interesting, too. There are also the designs where you look and say, "Yeah, they had to save a buck there...".

I tightened things up a bit more, and 99% of the weird suspension sounds are gone, now. I'd like to replace some bushings, but it's alright for now. I'm thinking of getting poly bushings and new springs, front and back, but I'll hold off on that for the moment.

I took the car onto the highway for the first time, and it very happily kept up with traffic. In fact, I was able to blow past them pretty easily. The power consumption was anywhere between 5Kw and 40Kw, just depending on the conditions. Uphill, downhill, accelerating, etc. I'd say the average was a very satisfactory 9-11Kw.

Any idea what your range will be when you get it sorted out?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-04-17 09:40 AM by 1974MGMidget.

The great thing about a loud exhaust is that it drowns out all the rattles and squeaks from the the suspension and the rest of the car.

I suppose you'll just need a loud stereo.

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Midget 50th - A Spridget Event
It was a Blast!
http://sprite-midgetclub.org/

Yeah, but a loud stereo will reduce his acceleration and range!

With those numbers, I'm using 50-60 amps at 65 MPH. My battery pack is is 45 AH, but I will only be using 80% of it at most, so 36 AH. So I could go for about a half hour at those speeds, which puts my range around 30-35ish miles at 65, which is about what I expected. Around town it will go 2-4 times as far, I think. At least, that's how I think it all works, haha.

Once I drive it more I'll start taking down some information and see how it looks. Then comes some optimization




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-04-17 10:16 AM by jbman.

This little guy arrived today! It’s a very small 240W amp to replace the radio. I have the original radio box, and I plan to mount this board in the box with some nice little speakers. I get a lot of “reading” done by listening in the car, so it’s important to me to have something there. I don’t want to waste the watts (or dollars) on a big sound system for this project, though. The board was $20 shipped, and I just need to track down some speakers. Easy!

Jefferson,

This is intriguing. Please consider photo-documenting your work here, too. I've got the original radio--which won't work with my conversion to negative ground--and also the vertical console mount, and have long pondered what to do with it. Some DIY instructions and a photo series would be great!

Joel

I'll take a few pics in progress and some of the results so that you can decide if you want to go the same path. My radio console is a little rusty, and the vinyl is kinda nasty. I don't think I want to recover it with vinyl, but I'd like to keep some texture.

Here's the plan so far:

1. Remove old, nasty vinyl, switches, lights, etc., probably drill the rivets and remove the old light bracket as it's in the way of the speakers
2. Clean up rust and flaky paint with WD40 and steel wool
3. Cut and drill new plastic face for board to mount in the original radio location - holes for volume pot and input jack
4. Fit plastic face to original radio opening
5. Prep everything with mineral spirits
6. Spray everything with crinkle enamel of some kind
7. Mount speakers to plastic board behind grill using original long bolts
8. Run some wires from the fusebox to the board, and from the board to the two speakers

My speaker grill is a bit rusty, so I don't know what I want to do with that, yet. I might clean and paint it with some gloss black. I do like the chrome, but it just looks pretty grungy. If it cleans up nicely, I'll just skip painting it.

These are the speakers I'm using: Speakers

They seem to be pretty decent, and I wanted some 3 way speakers to get the best quality I could in as little space as possible.

This is the board I purchased: Amp Board

It has 3 pins that you can use for another input, perhaps from an actual radio or something. I just want to play audiobooks and music from my phone, so the input jack is sufficient. Several other boards on that same listing have all kinds of functionality, including bluetooth. They're just as cheap. This one most closely matched my design, though.




Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2018-04-18 10:57 AM by jbman.

Jefferson,
Use sandpaper to clean up the rough spots/remove loose paint/etc. and spray with a phosphoric acid prep to get rid of any rust. Once clean and rust free you can wash it in soap and water, let it dry and spray with phosphoric acid prep and let dry. This should give you a great surface for the wrinkle paint. VHT makes a really good one and make sure you follow the directions closely, it can be fickle.
You can spray the speaker grill with the same phosphoric acid, same rinse, etc. followed by clear coat or paint of your choice.
Rut

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1960 Bugeye undergoing restoration, 1275
1970 MGB, Pale Primrose
1967 Triumph TR4a
1966 Triumph TR4a
When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy'. They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life. John Lennon

Hey, thanks! I'll give that a shot.

my grille was pretty rusty, I cleaned it using wrinkled aluminum foil and lots of soap and water - the result was so good I simply clear coated it and it looks like shiny chrome to this day (25+ years later)

I got some more suspension stuff done today. I got off of work a bit early, and I finished my homework for the week, so I had most of the afternoon free to work on the MG.

I replaced the trunnion bushings up front, which took just a few minutes. I decided to tackle the leaf spring bushings (those rectangular pads) since I had them on hand and the fronts went so well. Fast forward four hours and I finally have that awful job done, haha. It really wasn't that bad, it was just the first time I'd ever really done anything with leaf springs, so it was a much larger mess than it should have been

I was hoping to start on the radio console, but I'll have to save that for this weekend. I'm still waiting on the speakers, anyway.