Surely I am not the only one to suffer from this phenomena.
What started out as a simple job a few weeks ago has snowballed into what is becoming a major overhaul.
Anyone else suffer from this?

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Cheers Dave.

I did today on engine steady bolts on the bulkhead needed tightening but drilled the heads off

Yeah the day before Minis @ Mt Cooper last year, a check over of the car for the trip the next day revealed coolant leaking from the top radiator tank seam. BUGGER!!!

So, as you do, while the rad was out I changed the rear main seal, clutch plate, release bearing and carrier and finally got around to throwing the pressure plate in a lathe and setting the post heights properly.

At the other end I re-engineered the top rad support so I can remove it without disturbing the thermostat housing/engine steady bracket and modded the bottom shroud section so I can lift the rad out without removing the bottom support bolts. (been meaning to sort these for only about 40 years... )

To finish off I also replaced all hoses, the thermostat and the cap.

Yes the Avalanche Effect is very real...

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Cheers,
Rod.
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'63 Morris 850 (Old Secondhand CAR)

Goldbrocade and Oscar, I feel your pain nd sympatise whole heartedly.
To explain my dilemma, I initially got under the car to fix some slop in the rod change which was an easy job. As I crawled out I put my fingers in a glob of black moly grease on top of the bottom arm. So the outer CV boot had split. A quick check on the drivers side showed the same problem.
While I waited for the new boots to arrive I made a pot joint/drive shaft seperator tool (18g1243). The drivers side went ok albeit a PITA to pull down the hub etc, and the new tool worked well.
9n to thee passenger side, the new tool would not locate into the pot joint correctlydespite numerous attempts. Finally succumbed to the inevitable that the whole pot joint would have to come out. So drain the oil and as I undid the sump plug it went easy for 2 turns then locked solid and a bit more pressure and it stripped the threads in the sump.
With the shaft out it soon became clear the Numpty that last did the pot joint secured the small end of the boot to the shaft not the joint inner.
I shudder to think what the next challenge will be.

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Cheers Dave.

I had a good time last night, the simple task was to install the o2 sensor and gauge..

The installation went smoothly and I turned on the power to check the gauge was heating and reading ok. While I was waiting I could hear the fuel pump priming, but it never shut off

I started to hear a drip and the fuel was coming out of the end of the carb, soaked through the air filter and bulkhead insulation and was going all over the floor

I removed the lid of the carb and checked the fuel bowl float and valve was working ok, so I reinstalled and check it was ok after priming the pump again a few times

There was fuel all over the floor, so I mopped that up and then removed the plugs to check for fuel. Only one had fuel on it (the one with open valves) and the rest of the cylinders were dry. I opened the front and back garage doors to get some fresh air in as it was getting a bit fumey

My next thought was to crank it over with the plugs out to clear out any fuel and to my surprise there was 4 simultaneous geysers erupting from each cylinder. The fuel went over the contents of the garage (which is attached to the house and right under the lounge room). At this point I came up with the brilliant idea to push it out onto the drive and try and get the fuel stink out of the house!

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SU's?

Sure have changed my MGBGT from LH to RH drive, while the engine was out I painted the engine bay it looked so good I couldn't just drop the engine in and drive the car as I planned. It turned into a bare metal restoration.

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Mk 1 Cooper S 1965
If you could erase all your mistakes of the past
You would also erase the wisdom of your present
Remember the lesson not the disappointment.

Found a paint bubble on the original front valence. Ok this area gets a hard life, it's a daily driver, so I figure a quick clean back of the bubble zone, touch up and done.

Ha, well the bubble zone was white water of the tidal surge, with 1/4 of the original full valence stripped back I found the seam infested.

Off with the bumper, OMG.......

Different as it was only just purchased, but a Jowett Bradford purchased believing it just needed a wiper arm is now a major project (not mine but I help with it).
- Steering box tight which turned into a worn out worm which is not available so now it is going to have a steering box from a different car fitted and a custom pitman arm made.
- indicator wiring is a mess of cut up extension cables and valve radio speaker wire.
- wiring is twisted and taped in many places including the headlights
- headlights held together with tape and flopping around
- 30 year old tyres
- crank pulley loose
- oil filter with 2003 date
- spark plug terminals are distributor terminals
- missing engine mounts
- two generator control boxes fitted and the one doing the regulating is hanging off the other with wire.
- speedometer needle loose
- oil pressure gauge stuck at max
- many missing bolts, for example out of four grille bolts only one is there.

Somehow in 2008 it and two others (now known to be just as bad) were driven from Perth to Sydney and it hasn't been used much since.

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1986 Mayfair (998 auto), 1974 S, 1974 Van, 1972 PMG Van

Test... Don't Guess