I noticed a few weeks ago that the last time my 1967 MGB GT was licensed and on the road close to 5 years ago. That was approximately when Covid-19 disrupted the world and I expect I wasn’t driving very many places at the time. Of course, that really doesn’t explain why the MGB has been off the road.
At about this time as we were all in a lockdown state I decided to reside my house and do lots of work on my 4 acre property. Well, the property and house are almost finished but the poor MGB has sat.
Another distraction was my purchase of a 1970 Lotus Europa S2 that also required lots of work. This Lotus took prioriy for a couple years until I blew the engine 2 years ago after doing a number of track days. I knew it was going to happen, just not when! Needless to say it’s become an ongoing project as well. I’m presently rebuilding the engine in my basement and preparing the body for a paint job.
If that wasn’t enough I also bought a “barn find” 1986 Lotus Esprit Turbo that hadn’t seen daylight in close to 30 years. Of course, that meant lots of work as well because a car that hasn’t been drivien in 30 years needs refreshing. The good news on the Esprit? I finally should have it on the road later this week after a mechanic sorts the old Bosch K-Jetronic CIS injection system. Anyway, sure looking forwad to that as it’s an incredably original car that’s almost like new.
Back to the MGB. The house is almost finished, my Lotus Esprit is almost ready to drive and my Lotus Europa is in pieces. This sounded like a great time to get back to work.
My ultimate goal is to have the MGB back on the road in the next few weeks. Even though the car is very original in many ways I have already made a number of upgrades such as installing an alternator, a dependable fuel pump and shoulder belts.
These early MGB’s had a very suspect electrical system with a total of two fuses and no relays. Pretty crazy really.
I’ve installed a panel with 6 relays and fuses to support the high beam, low beam, horn, heater, fuel and ingnition cicuits. The smaller 6 fuse holder will provide power to the switched circuits like gauges and the windshild washer motor.
I’m presently roughing in the wiring. I’ll provide an update later once it’s finished in a day or so.
