GRM 2006

Let's go racing! But first, we need a car. What shall we build?

I keep coming back to the same event: Kuhmo Tires Grassroots Motorsports $2005 Challenge.

And every time I think of the challenge, I keep coming back to the same theme: an MGB GT with a V6 engine.

I've got this old '68 MGB GT that I originally bought for $200 to use as a parts car. Once I got it home and really evaluated it, I found it was on the edge of being either a parts car or a restoration project. And, in addition, the previous owner had redone the suspension and there was a trove of parts under the rear hatch floor. Uh-oh! So, I never did anything with it except let it sit under one of my sheds; after all, it didn't cost anything to sit there. Its not like I had to feed it or anything.

Plus, I always thought that at some point it would make a neat SCCA SOLO II or road car!

Well, when I finally made the decision to build it, I decided to build it as a GRM Challenge car, And I quickly realized that selling $200 worth of parts that are not needed for a race car would be pretty easy, after all selling used parts is what I do best.

Why only $200? According to GRM rules, I'm not allowed to sell more than the amount I paid for the car. Thus, $200 worth of parts sales reduces the GT to "FREE" status according to GRM rules. Selling (no, practically giving away) the cylinder head itself would quickly netted me almost that much!. Heck, by the time I finish 'parting it out', I'll have lots of $$$'s in my pocket with which to follow GRM Rule #19:

"If you do turn a profit on selling parts off the car,
we suggest you take your significant other out to dinner to compensate
them for having a $2005 car hanging around the house."

All the MGB GT body really needs is a good paint job and an aluminum patch riveted over the rust holes in the floor. And its no big deal that the car doesn't have much of an interior. Heck, a race car doesn't need an interior other than a dash and a seat for the driver. Plus, the suspension is in pretty good shape so, that's not an issue either. The majority of the work will simply be converting the car to V6 power, losing weight by getting rid of unnecessary items, and making the car look good for the concours judging. So, the '68 GT will be the base vehicle for the GRM Challenge.

But, what about a drive train? Well, here in north Alabama, Camaro V6 drive trains are cheap and easy to find. Old dead Camaro's are sitting around next to trailers all over the countryside. So, the thing to do is find one and buy it cheap for the drive train and then sell everything else to recoup that investment.

So, could I build a V6-powered MGB GT for $2005? I think so.

And, with the help of members of our virtual car club, theList, I've got lots of expertise I can draw from during the build. Yep, that's correct! The way to enter the car is in the club category. And the way to build the car is to use the various club members' expertise as we pass the car around from one to another to eliminate most of the labor costs.

So, we've developed theList Racing Team as part of theList to complete the build. Adam Housley and I can do the drive train conversion and most of the metalwork. Wray Lemke can do the electrical work. Bill Wheeler can spray the paint. And lots of other members will pitch in with their particular specialties. Several will even travel with us to Gainesville for the GRM Challenge.

5 October 2004: Well, today I bought a wrecked '95 Camaro with a 3.4L V6 engine that only has 77,000 miles on it. The Camaro looks like a banana that somebody smashed square in its butt. That's exactly what happened. The driver apparently lost control and spun around slamming into a pole smack dead in the middle of the rear of the car. The rear of the body is now sitting where the back seat usually sat! And it looks like somebody jacked the rear end 3 feet in the air! But, the driver lived!

I paid $800 for it, and have already gotten a commitment from a guy with a wrecked Camaro to buy $800 worth of body parts for his car (again, the rules restrictions - that amount would maximize me on recoupable parts sales). And when I stopped by my friend's junkyard to see if he wanted the Camaro hulk after I sell the front clip, he did. We also agreed to swap the hulk for some other items I might need during the build - up to the point where he can still make a profit. Our first swap was all my 3.4L fuel injection stuff for a 2.8L V6 intake manifold with carburetor, a 2.8L V6 distributor, and a 2.8L V6 timing cover/oil pan and water pump off an old engine he was getting ready to toss in his core pile (a junk guy comes by ever so often and gives him a few pennies per pound for the pile). The 2.8 engine had a knock so it was worthless to him but he can sell my Camaro stuff. Good deal for him, huh?

So, I now have a '68 MGB GT rolling body shell and a '95 Camaro 3.4L V6 engine with 5-speed transmission and drive shaft. Plus, I've got a 2.8L V6 intake/carburetor setup, a 2.8L V6 distributor, oil pan, water pump and timing cover. Now I've just got to put it all together!

11 October 2004: Several things happened today. I got the drive train out of the Camaro! And I got all the fuel injection stuff off the 3.4L engine and took it to my friend so he could inventory and shelf it for future sale. The front clip and doors are off the Camaro and ready to help put another Camaro back on the road. And what's left of the Camaro has been hauled to my friend's junkyard. All that work just to get the V6 drive train for the GRM car. Soon, we can start working on the car itself!

Plus, I've ordered the V6 installation kit from Bill Guzman at Classic Conversions.

16 October 2004: Today, Adam Housley and I got the engine and transmission out of the GT. We also removed the heater assembly and started mapping out our plan of attack for fitting the V6 engine. We decided 'weight is our enemy' so we're seriously looking at everything we can remove from the car.

22 October 2004: While I'm waiting for the V6 installation kit, I decided to spend a little time with the car itself so I don't get too far behind. I pulled the GT dash to see what work would be necessary to use it as, with all old MG's, its foam pad was cracked and broken in several places. The dash covering has to go. And: rust! Yep, when I got all the foam and vinyl off the dash there was rust in the corners of the board and around the steering column.

No problem. GRM Rule #10 states:

"Interiors may be gutted, although the basic dashboard or dashpad must remain.
If the original dashboard pad has since rotted or deteriorated away,
it may be replaced with a full piece of aluminum."

Next, instead of replacing the dashboard with a piece of aluminum as rule #10 allows, I started cutting and welding to correct the rust problem. Once I'd gotten rid of most of the rust, I started mocking up the dash with the instruments.

Here's a photo of the dash in progress. The instruments are refitted along with a huge oil warning light and all the basic MG switches. I swapped the '68 rocker switches with a friend for a set of early toggle switches. They just look "racier" than the rocker switches. If you look closely, you can see where there's still some rust right below the tachometer; I'll correct that as I continue to work on the dash. I've also got a few holes to close up and some additional welding to do before I recover it with black vinyl; however, after my cutting/welding, it still fits in the car where its supposed to! Oh, that huge red thing in the middle of the dash: I'll use it as an oil pressure warning light.

30 October 2004: Well, here's what I've accomplished since I last posted:

1) Gutted the interior of the car. We'll fabricate aluminum floorboard replacements for those areas where there's some body rust. Everything else will be cleaned and sanded in preparation for paint.

2) Removed the MGB motor mounts and smoothed the frame rails,

3) Removed the MGB slam panel and started retrofitting it as a bolt-in/bolt-out item, which makes installing and removing the engine a bit easier.

4) Whacked out the entire firewall area where the heater usually sits rather than shape it with a hammer like Bill Guzman's instructions describe. That gets rid of a little weight and makes that area look a lot cleaner. After doing that, I can never go back to a heater in the car; but, we're building a purpose-built racecar that we'll also use in local SCCA events so it doesn't matter.

So far, there's been no cost for any of this work - just lots of labor.

Next, I'll remove all the heater controls/flaps inside the car and fabricate an aluminum plate to close the heater/fresh air holes in that portion of the bulkhead. And we'll sand/clean the engine compartment in preparation for paint. Plus, the clutch and brake plumbing have to be moved/reshaped. Hopefully, by then my motor mounts and brackets will arrive.

2 November 2004: Today, my engine mounts and headers arrived from Bill Guzman of Classic Conversions out in California. Things are beginning to get tight now that I've included the cost of the V6 installation kit. So, we'll have to continue to do some serious parts swapping from here on out to get to Gainesville within the allowable budget.

4 November 2004: I dropped by my local Advance Auto parts house and bought all the necessary engine gaskets to fit the 2.8L V6 carburetion setup. We've now got about everything we need to install the drive train in the car except for fluids and serpentine belt.

Following Bill Guzman's detailed instructions, I 'modified' the driver-side firewall bulkhead with a BFH so it will clear the headers he supplied as part of his V6 installation kit. And its now time for a period of "elbow grease", cleaning/priming/painting the engine compartment. That'll occupy the next few days until we test fit the engine for the first time.

It took a couple of days to take photos of the engine compartment work we've done due to some unusually hard and long rain, but here's what the modified engine compartment looks like before we start cleaning it up:


Front View No slam panel, heater area cut out, firewall 'massaged', motor mounts removed	Heater Area/Firewall Detail of heater panel area & where firewall 'massaged' to clear V6 header	Driver Inner Fender MGB motor mount removed	Passenger Inner Fender MGB motor mount removed	Front View Detail of slam panel removal

12 November 2004: Labor, labor, labor.

Looking closely, one can see standing water from our recent rains on the radiator duct panel

The engine compartment - with exception of the pedal box area - is cleaned, sanded, and primed. The firewall area where the heater was originally located is smoothed out, and the edges where we did some cutting is cleaned up and flattened in preparation for the aluminum blocking panel we'll make and install. The firewall has also been massaged so there's clearance for the V6 headers. All the unnecessary holes in the inner fenders and firewall have been identified so we can braze them shut. As soon as the rain stops, we'll remove the pedal box to clean, sand and prime that area. Then, we'll go around the engine compartment several more times until we get it smooth enough for paint.

Plus, we removed all the excess seam sealer in the engine compartment, almost a pound of the stuff. Seems when the car was built, the factory just slopped that stuff in and around the seams without concern for any excess. Heck, in some places it was spread 6" away from the seams themselves.

While the primer was drying, we started removing the soundproofing from the interior of the car. Just the soundproofing from the driver floor and half the transmission tunnel and rear shelf was over 10 pounds; and there's lots more soundproofing to remove from inside of the car. We'll also cut out all the GT-specific metal from the rear of the car.

And we've also got to start cleaning up the body itself so our fellow theList Racing Team club member, Bill Wheeler, can spray the paint. You can see where we've begun that work on the passenger fender. I really don't want to put more paint on top of the old paint: its just more weight. And removing most of the factory paint is just labor. So, a little work and the body can be stripped of most of its paint, at least down to the factory primer. Remember: weight is our enemy.

Why all the labor? The car will have a minimalist racing interior, basically just a dash & driver's seat. By the way, Adam has some interesting weight reduction ideas in store for us, door-wise! So, everything in the interior has to be cleaned and smoothed in preparation for painting. That's why we're removing all the excess seam sealer/undercoating.

21 November 2004: Labor, labor, labor.

The master cylinders and pedals are out of the car and the entire engine compartment is finally cleaned, straightened and primed in preparation for paint. The firewall area where the heater was has been covered with 3 small aluminum panels made from scrap aluminum and pop riveted in place. The aluminum hood, though already light, has been lightened down to 2 pounds. How? We removed the center brace and everything associated with the factory latching mechanism since we're not going to use it. Heck, we even removed the hood prop with all its brackets. Instead of the factory locking mechanism, we're going to install lighter hood pins to the two ends of the slam panel we removed. After all, GRM Rule # 12 states:

"Fenders and hoods may be replaced
as long as the replacement is solid, safe,
and resembles the original piece and has a positive latching device."

Those hood pins are a "positive latching device" - actually, 2 positive latching devices!

And while we're waiting for a clear, 70° day to shoot the paint in the engine compartment, we started working in the rear hatch area. The first thing we removed was the wooden boot (trunk) floor; and, since we don't need it anymore, we removed all the metal supports that are welded to the body (Remember: weight is our enemy; and every ounce removed adds up to pounds). While working in the hatch area, we realized we didn't need the huge MGB GT gas tank. Again, we made a swap: the MGB GT gas tank for a smaller Midget 6-gallon tank which we'll locate where the original tank was located. It and its contents will weigh much less than a full MGB tank.

Some months ago, I bought 3 MGB ST fiberglass front air dams for $50 from a company in Florida that was going out of business. Two are new and one used. I sold the new air dams for $50 and figured the used one was just junk. Actually, the guy who bought one of them stiffed me & never sent me the money ("I'm on way home from business trip and am tight on cash but would like to take it with me. Can I send you a check when I get home?") so I only received compensation for one. This week, I fitted the used air dam to the car to determine how much work would be required for it to look nice; surprisingly not much, just some fiberglass repair and unnecessary holes filled. So, I'm including that transaction in the budget as the ST air dam (some call them spoilers) looks pretty neat on the car, giving it an aggressive stance

25 November 2004: Rain, rain, rain. All week, 24 hours a day. Since I can't work outside on the car, I've been spending time prepping the engine for installation.

And I also cleaned up some unneeded 'bosses' on the engine block; one that was in the way of my passenger side motor mount in particular. The 'bosses' were for engine ancillaries that we're not using (i.e., air conditioning, power steering, emissions items, etc.). And I started relocating the oil filter and oil pressure sensor so they won't interfere with the engine mount. Actually, we're discarding the Camaro's oil pressure sensor altogether and are going to use the original MGB's sensor which we'll locate on the firewall and plumb to the engine via flex hose.

While prepping the engine, I grabbed a hunk of aluminum from my trash pile and fashioned it into a 1-1/4" carburetor stand-off plate. That plate - fitted between the carburetor and intake manifold - will improve fuel flow. And, if our GRM budget allows, the spacer can be drilled to accept a Nitrous valve.

And, as we continue to prep the engine for installation, I'm sure we're gonna learn more lessons!

And keeping up with the GRM budget is almost harder than building the car itself!

3 December 2004: The last time I posted, the engine compartment was primed and awaiting paint. We borrowed a friend's paint booth last night and sprayed it. The delay was due to rain and cold weather, and waiting until he didn't need his booth. Here's what she looks like now (see, "it" went to "she" when new paint started going on):

Yes, that is a factory color: 1974-76 Citron

In the photos above, you can see several weight saving modifications. The lip around the engine compartment has been removed along with all the captive nuts that hold the fenders to the body - except for 3 per fender. That alone was a little over a pound. Also, the brackets for the splash panels are gone, 1 pound for both of them plus the weight of the splash panels. And, where we modified the firewall around the heater area: heater included, that modification resulted in 30 pounds of weight reduction!

Now, we start putting everything back in the engine compartment.

Additionally, like I stated previously, we've also been working in the GT hatch area, removing all the unnecessary metal supports for the hatch floor. These photos show some of the lightening tricks we've utilized. Lots of weight gone from back there.

In addition to removing all the GT floor support brackets, you can see where we're drilling the interior sail panels.

Nothing left on the battery tray. Heck, removing the rear seat bracket & factory seat belt mounting points took 1/2 lb off the passenger inner fender.

And I've not even weighed all the soundproofing and seam sealer we're removing from the car!

Not including the heavy wooden GT floor, the aluminum and steel we've removed from the hatch area weighed about 20 pounds! And there's more weight to be removed from both inside and under the rear of the car!

5 December 2004: An interesting day. I spent yesterday cleaning the pedal box assembly and installing it. I also got the front brake lines cleaned and installed.

David doing his thing.

Then today, David Maples - one of our the

List club members from Augusta, Georgia - drove up to do his thing with the engine. David is known for detailing an engine; he's staying through Wednesday and, by then, we hope to have it cleaned and painted. But, before he went too far, he wanted a couple of "before" photos:

While David was busy painting on the engine, I continued on my quest for weight reduction. You'd be surprised by the places on an MG where you can remove weight!

7 December 2004: Labor, labor, labor! We moved the car inside Sunday afternoon so we could continue to work even though its rained for more than 48 hours straight without stopping.

David worked Monday and today and now has the engine about beaten! Its a beautiful black with pewter intake and timing cover/water pump and Citron valve covers that will really set off the Citron color of the engine compartment. But he won't allow me to post any photos until he's completely finished.

And I've gotten the engine compartment almost ready for engine installation, and have been busy prepping the wiring for Wray Lemke, another of our club members, to do his magic. If you look closely along the passenger inner fender in the photo to the left, you can see the front wiring harness for the passenger side headlight and horn running along the upper edge of the fender. And don't those new V6 motor mounts look great!

Additionally, I've been busy up under the dash (which is out). No wiper motor, no heater controls, no demisters, no radio console support brace - everything that's not needed, I'm whacking out! In the photo to the right, you can see how much metal I've removed from behind/under the dash. The wiring harness is also stripped and we're removing every wire that's not needed. Plus, since we're running the rear harness inside the car along the passenger floor, we're also moving its connecter bundle inside the car where the wiper motor was located.

As we continue to work with the wiring harness, we'll also move the ignition switch from the steering column to the dash itself. Actually, in addition to instruments, the only switches on the dash will be a headlight switch, a horn push, a radiator fan switch, a fuel pump switch, and the ignition switch. Its a race car! There'll be no stalk switches on the steering column.

8 December 2004: Wiring, wiring, wiring.

Not only do I want to simplify the harness, but by doing so I'm also lightening the car. Plus, we're moving everything that might require maintenance/repair from under the car to inside it. That means, since the Midget gas tank's sending unit is located on top of the tank, the sending unit will be in the hatch area.

Remember, the car will no longer be used on the street; so, we've removed the turn signals and park lights (its a '68 so it had no side marker lights). We also removed the interior hatch light and its switch, the dome lights and their door activated switches, and the entire radio console with all its accoutrements. Plus, we've removed the reverse lamps and the license plate lamps. So, the only electrical fixtures on the rear corners of the car are its tail and brake lights; plus, the fuel sending unit in the hatch area, and fuel pump underneath.

That means the only wires we need to run to the rear of the car are a red wire (taillights), green/purple wire (brake lights), green/black wire (fuel sending unit), and white wire (fuel pump) plus the associated black (ground) wires. That's a little less than half the wires that originally ran to the rear of the car from the connector bundle out on the passenger inner fender.

Additionally, there are only 4 wires running to the front passenger corner of the car: a horn wire (purple/brown) and 3 wires for the headlights (blue/red, blue/white, and black). Out in the engine compartment several things have to change to accommodate the V6 engine. We're going to build a completely new wiring harness on the driver side of the engine because the V6's alternator and temperature sending unit are also on that side. And, since the brake light switch is also on the driver side, it can also be incorporated into that harness.

Behind the dash, all the wiring harness plugs going to the stalk mounted switches were removed along with those switches. The ignition switch was also moved from the steering column to the dash. So, the steering column only has the steering wheel on it - not even the steering column cowl! Plus, all unneeded wires were removed from the main bundle (the yellow overdrive wire, brake warning light/switch wires, heated rear hatch window wire, hazard warning switch and lamp wires, turn signal light wires, etc.). The area behind the dash now has very few wires/connectors; so, it should be easy to work underneath the dash!

I know this might have been boring to most readers; but, Wray needs to know my thought process so he can figure out what I was thinking about when I was removing wires. After all, he has to wire the car without me around. He has an old MGA coupe I need to pick up; so, I'll drop the car off at his place on the trip to pick it up the MGA. And I have a 3-main 1800 long block engine he needs for his Magnette so I'll pick the car up from him when I deliver the engine. Therefore, no special trips are needed to take the car to Wray or to pick it up (i.e., car on trailer to Wray's with MGA coupe on trailer on trip home; then, engine on trailer to Wray's and car on trailer on way home.).

9 December 2004: Well, today I went ahead and started building the new driver inner fender harness. Incorporated in it right now are the driver side headlight, temperature sending unit and brake lights. I also bolted the horn in place and wired it, worked on grinding and cleaning the metal around where we whacked out the radio console support, and readied the engine compartment for the engine.

Tomorrow I start assembling the engine now that the paint is dry. We removed the oil pan, timing cover, water pump, intake manifold and valve covers to paint the engine. They have to go back on along with mating up the transmission and installing the clutch slave cylinder, starter and motor mounts. Tomorrow promises to be a turning point as we prepare for engine installation this weekend!

13 December 2004: Switches, connections, fittings! I've literally wasted 3 working days - a few hours at a time - running around to every parts house and hot rod garage in Huntsville searching for ways to hook up my MGB oil pressure gauge.

Lemme tell you, my frustration level peaked! Then, I finally had a "come to Jesus" meeting with myself.

And I taught myself a hard lesson:

Throughout the conversion, never stop thinking MG!

        Unfortunately, at some point, I did! For some reason I started thinking Camaro and "lost sight of the forest because of the trees". Heck, the car is predominantly MG; therefore, most of the solutions to its problems will probably also be MG! So, I'm going to pass my lessons learned on to you. You may already know the answers but nobody shared them with me, and the result was 3 lost days plus the day (Sunday) where I finally just said "to hell with it" and walked away.

        So, here's what I've learned about oil sending units:

        1. Problem 1 - Installing a fitting in the V6 block to which I can attach an oil pressure line:

        The threaded hole in the driver side of the 3.4 V6 engine block (right next to the oil filter) from which oil pressure is measured is 1/8" standard thread. Its not metric! It's not a compression fitting! Once I figured that out, I just walked over to my MGB engine and removed the oil gauge pipe union from the passenger rear side of the block. It screws right into the Camaro block & provides a male end that can ultimately be used to connect to the MGB oil pressure gauge.

2. Problem 2 - Connecting the V6 engine to the MGB oil pressure gauge:

(a) Behind the dash of every MGB that has a mechanical oil pressure gauge is a tiny hard copper line about 48" long. MG called it the pipe assembly, gauge to flex pipe. It goes from the oil pressure gauge out to the connector, pipe and switch on the passenger side of the firewall. On '62 to '67 cars that connector is just a simple line connector; on '72 to '80 cars its a 3-way connector. Forward of that connector is an oil flex line that attaches to the oil gauge pipe union mentioned in #1 above. The pipe assembly, gauge to flex pipe and the connector, pipe and switch never break and have no real market value so are probably still on every MGB in any junk yard anywhere. I know they're still on all my dead parts cars!

My car, unfortunately, is one of the cars ('68 to '71) with an electric oil pressure transmitter connected between the oil flex line and an electric oil pressure gauge. Those sending units are terribly expensive even on the used parts market. I was lucky enough to find somebody who needed an electric oil pressure transmitter for one of his car and who had a '72 to '80 mechanical oil pressure gauge, pipe assembly, gauge to flex pipe, and connector, pipe and switch he would swap for my electric transmitter.

Boy! He got a deal: his oil pressure gauge, pipe assembly, gauge to flex pipe, and connector, pipe and switch are worth about half of what my electric sending unit is worth! But, I'm forced to stay within the constraints of the GRM budget. So, my car is now converted to a mechanical oil pressure gauge with the hard pipe assembly, gauge to flex pipe installed to a late 3-way connector, pipe and switch out on the firewall.

(b) Next, I needed to connect the engine to the oil pressure gauge setup described above. So, I went out to my MG Graveyard and removed another pipe assembly, gauge to flex pipe from one of my dead parts cars. I then straightened it, connected one end to the oil gauge pipe union I had screwed into my Camaro block in #1 above. Then I reshaped it so it went over my V6 engine and ended up as near to the rear passenger side of the engine as possible. At the same time I attached it to the valve cover studs to keep it from moving around.

(c) There was still about 8" separating that second pipe assembly, gauge to flex pipe on the V6 engine from the connector, pipe and switch on the firewall. That was easy enough to solve: I just connected my car's original oil flex line between the two using one of the early connectors to hook the hard line to the flex line in the exact position it was in from the factory. Voila! Oil pressure line hooked up from the driver front side of the V6 engine to the passenger side of the firewall and on to the original MGB oil pressure gauge. At no cost to the GRM budget!

        2. Installing an oil pressure warning light:

         I also want to add a new warning light in the center of the dash between the speedometer and tachometer. Its huge and will come on if the oil pressure drops to 15psi. One of my neighbors builds and drag races Chevrolet Malibu SS's. He has a garage full of racing bits and pieces. He's the guy who originally prompted me to install the oil pressure warning light; and he gave me an old setup he had removed from one of his cars.

I installed its sending unit in the connector, pipe and switch out on the firewall where the oil pressure switch for the anti run-on valve was originally located on '72 to '80 cars. Now, all Wray has to do is hook up the wiring for that light.

Next is figuring out how to hook up a clutch slave cylinder - on the cheap!

15 December 2004: Today was engine installation day. And I'll never, ever put another V6 in an early MGB again - not while keeping the clutch slave cylinder in its stock location! What a PITA (pain in the ass)! Nothing went easy. More on the clutch slave cylinder later; however, if anybody tackles a conversion like this: whatever Bill Guzman recommends you do for a clutch slave cylinder, DO IT!

Were it not for the GRM budget constraints I would've followed Bill's advice myself - and will the next time I do a V6 conversion (on a later model MG!). With his expertise and the various products he sells, the entire conversion can be done by 1 person with ease.

17-year old Adam Housley
as we begin the engine installation process

Adam and I spent the morning cleaning the transmission, bolting it to the engine, installing the starter and clutch slave cylinder, and ensuring everything was ready. Around 2pm we lifted the engine/tranny on the hoist. We both figured an hour or so for the installation. NOT! Adam left at 4:30 and I continued working until 7:30 when the engine finally settled on its mounts. The custom V6 5-speed tranny cross member isn't in place yet but the rest of the drive train is basically done.

Here are some of the problems we ran into because I'm keeping the clutch slave cylinder in its stock location:
    1. both motor mounts have to be left off the frame rails until after the engine
         settles in place,
    2. the starter has to be removed,
    3. the passenger header has to be removed,
    4. the clutch slave cylinder has to be removed, and
    5. the crankshaft pulley has to be removed.

Why? All the above is because we had to keep the engine tight to the passenger side during installation so the stock clutch slave cylinder would clear the bottom corner of the driver firewall, even after we whacked the firewall inward about 3". No, that BFH modification doesn't affect anything inside the car except the floorboard and transmission tunnel where they come together behind the accelerator pedal.

I've also got everything back on the engine except the starter and clutch slave cylinder. I'll put them on tomorrow after I get the tranny cross member in place. Plus, tonight the driver side header is fouling the bottom bolt on the steering column U-joint (the one clamping the U-joint to the steering column) so I don't have full turning radius. That might be because the tranny cross member isn't hooked up yet, we'll see tomorrow.

And here's what it looks like tonight. There's still a long way to go but the light at the end of the tunnel is at least visible.

Now, the clutch slave cylinder: One thing about the GRM Challenge rules is that they cause one to think about how to solve a problem without just throwing money at it. That's where I am with my clutch slave cylinder. Bill Guzman, of Classic Conversions recommends a hydraulic clutch slave mounted inside the bell housing which allows you to cut the stock clutch slave cylinder mounting point off the bell housing. With that modification, the engine and transmission slide easily into the engine bay; without it: PITA! Lesson learned: LISTEN TO BILL!

The stock '95 Camaro clutch setup is not user friendly nor is it designed for the guy who wants to tinker with his car. The clutch master cylinder, slave cylinder and the hose connecting them are only available through the dealer as a complete unit. And there's no way to bleed the system; so, if you open the system or if a part goes bad you have to replace the entire system, even though the slave and master cylinders are available aftermarket. The hose between the two, however, is a hose that's "pinned" on both ends - and its not available aftermarket. For that reason and the space constraints, most people go the hydraulic route. In my case, however, budget constraints don't allow latitude for purchasing a hydraulic setup.

So, since I had disassembled my slave cylinder from its master cylinder, I needed to find something else that I could hook up to my MGB clutch master cylinder - as well as something I could bleed - on the cheap! Actually, free if possible.. So, down to my neighborhood junk yard I went with my slave cylinder in hand. After an hour or so wandering down rows and rows of cylinders, I finally settled on a clutch slave cylinder from an '88 S-10 truck. It uses the typical screw on hose and has a bleed fitting. The only problem is that its bolt pattern doesn't match that of my 5-speed transmission. Well, I swapped cylinders with the junk yard anyway and headed to my garage for some fabrication.

The first thing I did was make a template of the place on the bell housing where the stock clutch slave cylinder mounts. Then I made a bracket out of a small piece of 3/8" scrap steel that matched that location and drilled it so I could install it on my bell housing with 2 countersunk bolts out of my junk bolt bin. Next, I rotated the bracket just a bit, drilled a center hole to match the '88 S-10 slave cylinder, drilled and threaded 2 holes to match the S-10 slave cylinder's bolt pattern, grabbed a couple of bolts from the same bolt bin to hold the slave cylinder to the bracket and test fitted it. I also turned a slave cylinder rod that was 3/8" longer than stock just in case I needed it.

Here are some photos that might help one understand what I did. Once the stock bell housing cylinder "bump out" gets past the lower corner of the firewall, there are no clearance problems under the car. Plus, I have room to install the slave cylinder from underneath - and to bleed the system.


Slave cylinder, its new mounting bracket and both push rods...	...slave cylinder bolted to bracket...	...slave cylinder from transmission side...	...and slave cylinder bolted to transmission

Next, I'll bolt the slave cylinder to the transmission, adapt my MGB GT clutch slave cylinder metal pipe to fit. Then, its just a matter of experimenting to see what length the push rod has to be.

16 December 2004: Today I got the transmission cross member installed and the transmission tail bolted to it. That lowered the rear of the engine and centered it in the car. And it helped quite a bit with alleviating the header fouling the bottom bolt on the steering column U-joint. Actually, when I ground the bolt flush with its nut, the problem was solved and there was no fouling.

I also installed the starter, my oil pressure line, and the radiator support. And I fitted the hood to ensure that the carburetor sitting atop its 1-1/4" spacer fits underneath (just barely!). Later, I can build a cold air box around it (ala the Shelby Cobra) and then figure out how to build a scoop on top of the hood feeding fresh air into that cold air box. Doesn't seem like a lot of progress, but it is!

17 December 2004: Today was again spent messing with the clutch slave cylinder. And I do mean "messing". The first thing I did was cut about 2 feet off the steel pipe and installed a 13mm to 3/16" fitting on the slave cylinder end from my "20-year box". We all have one of them, don't we? You know, the box you've been throwing things you didn't need into for the last 20 years. Then, I silver soldered a piece of 3/16" pipe with a fitting that connects to the one I installed in the slave cylinder to my original clutch pipe, and bent the modified pipe to shape.

And that's about as far as I got. Unfortunately, when I got the slave cylinder mounted, there wasn't enough clearance between it and the frame rail to allow me to connect the pipe. So, now I have to rethink my plan.

So, I switched my focus back to the hood, prepping it to mount on the car so I can modify it to use the used hood pins I bought in a garage sale a few weeks ago.

22 December 2004: Since my last post, several things have finally fallen in place.

One of them: the slave cylinder is finally in! I wouldn't do it that way again, I'd follow Bill Guzman's advice! To make it happen, I had to learn a lot about silver soldering different size pipes together.

Then, I installed the Camaro coil on the intake manifold using it as a blanking plate to block one of the vacuum holes for some of the original emissions equipment. And I finally figured out how to hook up the alternator on the driver side of the engine instead of in its original location on the passenger side - without using the huge OEM Camaro bracket. I just used some Camaro engine bolts and the MG's original alternator adjusting link.

The car is sitting on its wheels; the ST air dam reaches WAY down!

Next, the hood and fenders were refitted along with the ST air dam. Man, that made a difference. In the photo to the left, you can see some of the modifications I made to the hood to lighten it along with the hood pins and electric fan installation.

After installing the radiator, I tackled the hood pins. They were definitely a trick to install! To provide support for them, I bought a couple of 1/2" threaded connectors and 2-feet of 12" threaded rod. The threaded rod runs from the radiator duct panel to the hood pins mounted on what is left of the slam panel and connected to them via the threaded connectors.

Plus, I swapped the unneeded MG transmission for a late MG electric radiator fan and bracket. I then built a second bracket from some scrap metal and mounted it atop the radiator duct panel. You know, on most of these swaps, I'm coming out on the short end of the stick; but I'm staying within the GRM budget constraints.

A buddy stopped by tonight to see the car. He wondered aloud why I didn't just buy an aftermarket Hayden electric fan instead of going to the trouble to fabricate a bracket to make the MG fan work. GRM Challenge budget constraints, that's why! The Hayden fan would affect the budget; the "transmission for electric fan" swap doesn't. That's another thing the budget has taught me: fabricate instead of buy!

23 December 2004: Way back in November, I swapped the car's 12-gallon gas tank for a smaller Midget 6-gallon tank. Well, today I finally got around to installing it. Since its smaller, it takes less room under the car - front to rear, not side to side. And, because the Midget tank's sending unit is located in the top center of the tank, I decided to fit it through the GT's hatch floor instead of from underneath . That also fits with my plan to move everything from under the car that might need repair or maintenance; and it removed lots of weight - about a pound for the portion of the hatch floor I cut out.

And, while working underneath, I also removed the driver side battery box. I've gotta tell you, it pained me to whack out a perfectly good battery box; however, it was 2 pounds of unneeded weight. The next time I work on the car, I'm going to cut the battery cover into 2 pieces and pop rivet the driver side to the car's body.

You know, this car is one solid old GT. With the exception of rusted floors, everything else appears solid, original, and straight.

31 December 2004: There are lots of guys building old cars in their garages. Usually one never knows what's going on in the garage next door or where help with a project can be found. For example, a few days ago I was visiting a friend's Mustang garage project when I lamented about the exorbitant cost of enough Lexan to replace all the glass in the GRM project. He gave me the phone number of a friend of his who is building an MG-based LOCOST (Lotus 7 look-alike), and who happens to be in a business where he supplies/works with Lexan.

He needed an MGB short block and 5 Rostyle wheels for his car. I had the MGB short block left over after the head was removed to be sold, and 5 Rostyle wheels I didn't need - I've got lots of them. So, I now have more than enough Lexan to do all the glass plus enough to build a rear spoiler!

30 January 2005: Well, I'm in Kansas and have finally had a chance to put together Wray Lemke's thoughts on the work he did on the car. As you know, Wray is a member of our team who also happens to be an electrical genius. He spent a couple of weeks rewiring the car. Here are his thoughts:

WRAY'S THOUGHTS ON HIS WIRING MODIFICATIONS

	First off, this is a race car, not a street cruiser or daily driver. Safety first, functionality next, appearance last. If all those aspects can be used so much the better. Thus the choice was to use split loom to hold the wires. This is a very cheap but effective way to hold the wires in place and provide great resistance to chaffing. It is very easy to get to a wire for inspection if you need to. Wherever the split loom went through a body hole a Heyco hard plastic snap-in grommet was used. The loom fits very snugly into these and cannot move around. Although the harnesses could have been wrapped in good tape and made to look very tidy it would have not had any of the benefits provided by the split loom. The split loom lets you isolate the wires to a degree; there are a maximum of 4 wires per loom. The main battery cable is in its own single run of split loom. Some leads were run in split loom that went inside more split loom.
Battery cut-off switch on passenger-side of cowl	The battery switch location changed things. Since it had to be mounted for access from outside the car it actually allowed for less wiring to have to enter the engine compartment but put a little more wiring in the car, mainly some of the cables themselves. No choice there, since the battery switch body is inside the cockpit. The main cable had to be lengthened and run to the switch then a new cable built and run back to the starter. Since the new cable had to go back the same way I figured why not just run the heavy lead for the starter solenoid inside the battery cable loom that went back to the starter. The location of the battery switch also provided an easy run to the fuse block as well as a good place to terminate the charging output lead from the alternator. This allowed there to be only 2 leads to the starter, the battery cable from the battery switch and the solenoid wire, instead of the 3 or 4 usually found on an MGB.
	One thing that made the wiring a bit of a challenge was the *GRM* budget restraint. As a result I had to use as much used wiring as possible which was obtained from various piles of wire that Tony sent along with the car. If the jacket was still supple and bendable and the wire was shiny when stripped, then I figured it was acceptable to use. The BMC color coding scheme had to pretty much be eliminated but there you go. Any "new" wire used was leftover pieces I had on hand from other jobs. The blue solenoid wire and the brown hot lead wire came from stripping the outer jacket off a fairly long, leftover piece of Furuno radar power cable. I make my techs stow any nice chunks of wire like for just such a purpose. It was perfect; a good, big gauge and a very nice jacket.

The terminations were done in the same manner that we do them commercially. The ring terminals and splices are all soldered to their wires. The exception was in two areas. I figured that we needed to be able to isolate the rear brake lights since it was the only wire that was not terminated at a point that was easy to get to. A push-pin type of crimp connector was used under the dash for that. The female push-on connectors at the fuse block were also crimped on. Both types of connectors are totally covered by their plastic shells and could not be soldered. All soldered splices and terminations were covered with at least one piece of heat shrink. The battery cable splice has 3 layers of heat shrink, the battery cable ring terminals have 2 layers. The original AGC-type fuse block was replaced with a new style ATO 6 position fuse block.

And here are a few additional photos:


Split loom wiring harness run to rear of car	Split loom wiring harness behind dash	...before the split loom


Engine compartment before wires	Engine compartment after wiring	Driver-side wiring	New fuse block

The cost of doing this was really quite low. The split loom was cheap since we buy it in 1000 foot rolls. We use in marine and industrial applications as well as a military vehicle video system we integrate. The Heyco grommets, tie wraps, fuse block, terminal ends, and the battery cutoff switch come from Del City, a big wholesale supplier of automotive electrical stuff. I figure that I have around $35 worth of parts, my cost, including everything. The labor, of course, was donated. Rough guess:

60' 1/4" split loom @ $.03/ft - $1.80
30' 1/2" split loom @ $.06/ft - $1.80
Fuse block $6.50 (+-)
Battery Switch $16.95
Heyco grommets (2) @ $.15 ea.
Terminals - Maybe $5.00
Heat Shrink - $3.00

WIRING SCHEMATIC

13 February 2005 Well, I'm still in Kansas and Bill Wheeler, another club member over in Mississippi, is working on the body, getting it ready for paint. Before we left home for Kansas, we drove over to Starkville to visit my parents. On the way through West Point, we dropped off the car and my trailer. I'll pick it up when I'm back in town.

Here are some of Bill's photos:


No locks for doors all the inside of the door will be gutted; also, no outside trim.	Passenger side with no exterior door handle	Rear end smoothed

16 March 2005: In case you've been wondering where I've been, after 5 weeks in Kansas I was home for a week before taking off for Germany. That pretty much shot January, February, and most of March! Well, I'm home now; and the little car is also home from its stay with Bill Wheeler in West Point, Mississippi. When I got home from Europe, I was summoned to visit an ailing aunt who is living in an assisted living home in Starkville; so, I picked up my trailer and the car on the way back to Gurley from visiting her. Oh, my trip to Europe was great: good German food & beer (lots of it), and good times with our wonderful young soldiers stationed over there.

As for the car and the magic crew member Bill Wheeler worked on it; well. I'll let the photos speak for themselves; and MG guys will find lots of things to like or hate:


Yep, that's Citron with Pewter stripes ala "Jubilee" strips, a checkerboard roof and an ST air dam.	Here's a better view of the roof. Its what Jerri likes best about the car! We've still got to add a 1/8" white strip around the Pewter one.	Yes, you're correct! There are no door handles! And there's a hood scoop. We'll use if to ram air to the carburetor since the air filter sits up inside it.	In addition to hand fabricating the scoop out of a scrap piece of aluminum, Bill also closed the cowl fresh air vent and the holes for the windshield wipers.

	Bill also 'smoothed' the front of the hood? He also reshaped the fenders around the parking lights as those openings will be used to cool the front brakes. And the grille surround has been painted Pewter to match the stripes. The grill 'teeth' will be replaced with aluminum wire mesh ala the new GMC SUV's (if I can find a wrecked one.).	The rear hatch? Its fiberglass! Yep, we had it made while in Kansas City. It weighs 5 pounds and is held in place with butterfly clips. And the rear of the car has a Sebring valance molded onto it.

But here's one of the neatest things we did: we lightened the doors. Yes, in order to do that, we did chop up a pair of perfectly good doors; but, I've got lots. Ad they now weigh only about 5 pounds apiece! (Hey, its a race car!) To accomplish that, Bill removed all the inside metal that supported the window regulators and door latches. Then, he cut all the door edges away leaving only enough metal to hold the latch mechanism and hinges. To open the door, you just reach inside and push the thumb latch as if the outside handle itself were being pushed. (We may, however, add a cable like on MGA's as we continue with body prep.) Pretty neat, huh?

And here's another lightening tip. While Bill had the doors and hinges off the car, he cut about an inch off the hinges so there are only 2 bolts holding them to the door. Next he removed all the metal holding the hinges to the body except for the center bolt going through the "A" post. Just by removing 5 screws, an inch of hinge and all the metal that normally holds the hinge to the car, he reduced the car's overall weight by about 7 pounds.

The cost for all this? $150 in paint materials, $75 for the custom fiberglass rear hatch, and nada - zilch - nothing for the Sebring rear valance! Why? It had no value. The vendor from whom I acquired it couldn't sell it because the fiberglass was so poorly done. It was a piece they got from Moss Europe to evaluate its quality for possible marketing here in the US. However, it didn't fit, plain and simple. It was too wide under the taillights, was too wavy along the top edge to fit the car and just generally didn't meet their standards. So, they tossed it in the trash. I happened to be in their warehouse when they did that and asked if I could take it home with me. They agreed so long as I never complained nor mentioned where I got it. I didn't, and Bill spent about a week cutting and reshaping it so it would fit.

Here are a few photos of the engine compartment. In one, the hole in the hood through which the air filter fits is visible. Voila! Fresh, cold, rammed air on the cheap.

And I don't think we've posted photos of the completed engine - with its Citron valve covers. Remember, David Maple's engine paint scheme was Citron valve covers on a Pewter intake manifold/front timing cover/water pump all bolted to a Black engine. Kinda matches what Bill Wheeler did to the body, huh?

The results? Watch out concours judges!

Today I also visited with a friend who's into Triumphs. He owns a local screen printing company which also does graphics. We're working on decals, numbering, etc. designs for the car. At this point, we just have to put it all back together and get it running: lights, Lexan windows, new wheels/tires, hooking up electrics, dash, driveshaft, shift lever, etc, etc, etc.

17 March 2005:

Today, in addition to starting the reconstruction process, I also got the fiberboard panel in front of the dash (between dash & windshield) upholstered with a scrap of black vinyl that was left over from another project. And I got started on final repairs to the dash in preparation for covering it with black vinyl from the same piece of scrap material. It has some rust thru on the bottom just to the left of the steering column that I'm repairing with fiberglass matting.

22 March 2005: So, lemme see what's happened since last we published:

1. The rusted areas of the dash are repaired and, thanks to Adam Housley, it's covered with black vinyl. Adam recently covered the dash in his '79 MGB so he has first hand experience working with vinyl and headliner foam. I've also started installing instruments and switches in it.

2. The carburetor and air cleaner are bolted to the intake manifold, and the front wiring harnesses are connected to the headlights, horn, radiator fan, and engine. The distributor is permanently back in place (hopefully, the engine is in time!), and all the engine needs are radiator hoses, a belt, and the alternator mounted on its brackets.

But, the neatest thing I've accomplished over the last few days is fabricating and installing the Lexan quarter windows and making the cardboard template for the hatch's Lexan window. Tomorrow I'll cut and install it.

Working with Lexan isn't as hard as I thought. After visiting with a local EP SCCA racer who also owns a body shop, I came away with enough knowledge and confidence to tackle making them. From his instructions, I devised a game plan:

        a. First, I made a cardboard template of the window opening.
        b. Then, after ensuring the template was properly sized by fitting it in the window opening, I traced its shape onto the Lexan.
        c. Next, using a metal jigsaw blade (around 32 teeth per inch), I carefully cut just outside my marked line. That allowed me a little "fudge factor" in case my pattern was off.
        d. After the Lexan was cut to size and test fitted with any minor adjustments in shape, I masked off and taped the inside of the window so I could spray paint its outer 3/4" edge with semi-gloss black paint. That covers the lip of the body through which the pop rivets are installed and gives the window a nice finished look.
        e. I then drilled holes every 2" all around the window and installed it using 3/16" pop rivets with 1/2" flanges. I used a hardened 3/16" drill bit designed for cutting metal so I could drill through the Lexan and into the window surround of the body.

Here are a few photos:


Close up of window installation. Lots of pop rivets!	Passenger side. Saturday, Bill Wheeler will install a 1/8" white pinstripe around the Pewter side stripe.	Driver side. Good view of checkerboard roof panel.	Close up of front fenders where various vendor decals will be/are installed. More to come!

No dollars were involved in any of this work other than the cost of the rivets, and I'll not know that expense until all the windows are in. So far, I've not yet used a box of 100 rivets. Primarily, everything done since the car came home from Bill's is just lots of labor!

24 March 2005: Lexan is neat stuff to work with. Today we got the rear hatch window installed and also made a Lexan spoiler for the hatch. To make it, I took a piece of 7" wide Lexan, put it in a metal break and bent it into a 6" piece with a 1" 90° lip. Then, I pop riveted the spoiler's lip to the hatch just below the window making sure it followed the hatch's body lines and the curve of the bottom of the window. It turned out pretty nicely, if I do say so myself!. Here are a few photos:

A good view of the Lexan windows
and the rear spoiler. The black edges of the windows really set off the checkerboard roof!

Spoiler with Vietnam & Desert Storm Veteran decals.
We'll also add a "theAutoist.com" decal.
In case you can't read the decals:

3/4th of the spoiler.
In the photo you can see how it
curves to match the hatch lines.

(my only political statement)

Adam and I also got the Lexan windshield cut and test fit. Next I'll paint the edge black and pop rivet it in place. However, before doing that, I'll make a center windshield support out of a scrap piece of aluminum to keep the Lexan from flexing inward under speed. Photos of that over the weekend when its finished.

26 March 2005: A gorgeous, sunny Saturday just made for working on a car. Bill Wheeler came over from Mississippi to spend the weekend with his parents. Yet, somehow he ended up spending the day with me and the GRM car:


I thought Bill was just going to put tiny pinstripes on the car; however, he came prepared to wet sand and buff it first. With 1500 grit paper & his kit bag of various polishes, Bill turned a beautiful paint job into a fabulous one. The difference in the body before & after is like night & day! And I thought it shined before Bill tackled it	When Bill moved away from the front of the car, I tackled. the ST air dam. I wanted to soften the front of the car so I taped off the ends of the air dam and painted them white. Bill then added 1/4" white stripes and Kuhmo decals. Pretty trick, huh?	Here's the car after Bill finished the 1/8" pin striping. Damn! This thing just looks mean! The LEXAN windshield I was installing when Bill arrived is pretty evident in this & the previous photo, however...	...here's a close-up of the aircraft-like windshield center support Adam & I made out of a scrap piece of aluminum we retrieved from the scrap bin at my local machine shop. the support keeps the LEXAN windshield from deflecting at speed; plus, its just trick!

13 April 2005: Its been several days since I've posted, but that doesn't mean I've not been busy. One of the obvious things we've done is put all the decals on the car (well, most of the decals).

We've taken so much weight out of the car that the bottom of the differential is higher than the bottom of the oil pan. So, now I have to de-arch the rear springs!

I finally got the dash covered and installed. If you remember, I had to repair quite a bit of rust in the bottom corners of the metal dash itself. Then, I covered it with a scrap of black vinyl left over from a previous project. I also covered the cowl top in front of the dash blanking out the fresh air vents. And I painted the steering column black to match the dash. There'll be no cowl surrounding it.

If you look closely in the photo of the dash, you can also see the MG shift lever a member of our local club modified to fit the Chevy 5-speed transmission. It fits in the original shift lever hole and is about 5" off the transmission tunnel, a perfect fit for quick shifts.

Finally, today was spent installing the exhaust system. I purchased a pair of Flowmaster single chamber racing mufflers and installed them using 2-1/2" aluminized pipe. I wish I'd taken my camera down to my friend's shop because what we created today is a real work of art, if I do say so myself! And I now know everything there is about bending pipe! Probably what took me 6 hours could've been done by him in half the time and I'm thankful he spent the time teaching me how to use his machine. Some day, I'll find an old pipe bender and buy it!

The entire system is built with flanges so it can be easily and quickly taken apart; and each run is held to the car with only 2 brackets. We ran the pipes down both sides of the car between the sill and the center floor brace with the Flowmasters located directly behind the jacking bracket. That way, the exhaust doesn't foul the clutch slave cylinder and oil filter on the driver side and is out of the way of the starter and plumbing on the passenger side.

And as you can see in the photo, the pipes turn out just in front of each rear wheel.

Finally, we built a 2-piece cross-over pipe from header-to-header in front of the oil pan. That means the crossover pipe is almost at the exact point where the exhaust pipe leaves the header which is going to be great for low end torque since it will pressurize quickly and hold back pressure in front of the exhaust system. And because its 2-piece, I can remove either run of the exhaust easily.

The only thing left to do to it is remove the down pipes from the header so I can weld the top of the flanges; I'll do that when I get the car back home.

22 April 2005: Well, because of all my travels for the Army, we didn't make the 2005 Challenge; however, we've now got enough time to really have fun with the car before the 2006 Challenge. So, we'll continue our quest for weight reduction.

The spring perch on the left has been lightened by drilling 4 holes in it. The one on the right is next. Then I'll sandblast and paint them.

Plus, if you remember back to when we installed the engine, you know that I lightened the suspension cross-member by drilling a series of holes through it on 3 sides. We're not going to remove the beam since the engine mounts are bolted to the cross-member bolts; however, while we have the suspension disassembled, we'll lighten the cross-member even more by drilling holes in its underside and places we couldn't reach while the springs were still in place. We'll also cut about 1" off the springs to lower the front end a bit more.

We'll also remove the brake dust covers and cross-drill the rotors, adding efficiency and further reducing weight.

21 December 2005:

Since my last post, I've been working on the rear hatch. In my metal trash bin, I found a couple of 1" wide 1/8" thick strips of aluminum. I shaped those to fit the contours of the hatch and Lexan window and pop riveted them in place. They'll keep the Lexan from blowing out at speed. Additionally, I drilled a series of holes in the Lexan window to allow air to flow from the interior of the car out through the window, also helping ensure the Lexan window doesn't pop out..

Over the past few weeks, I've also been studying rear ends and leaf springs. Remember, my '68 MGB GT came to me from the previous owner with a rear tube shock conversion. As I had no knowledge of the condition of them or the rear end, I dropped it for inspection.

The tube shocks appear to be in good condition and the only thing I had to do was reverse their mounting bracket bolts so the heads were in the wheel well and the nuts were to the interior of the underside of the car. That minor modification provided an additional inch of clearance inside the wheel well as the bolt and part of the nut that extends beyond it are now inside the 'frame rails' and not extending out to possibly rub my tires.

The previous owner, as I've said before, had started a restoration before I acquired the car. All the rear bushings are in excellent condition, and they are polyurethane! That's great as our GRM budget doesn't allow for bushing renewal. The rebound straps also look as though they've been replaced in the recent past. Additionally, I found the rear brakes are more than adequate for the