Refresh the Luggage Tub

Over ten years ago, I purchased and installed the Riviera pop top, bed and luggage tub. In an Agile-like spirit, some of the steps I took were good enough to demonstrate the feature, but not great for the long haul. Today, I re-approach the luggage tub.

 

Why Now?

finished work

A logical question to ask when you take apart something that is functioning is why now? This is an especially good question since I am in the midst of a significant noise control effort already. Well, it was the noise control effort that brought this to my attention. When I was working on the cab ceiling, I discovered that some of the original 1972 Westfalia stuff was not keeping the ceiling sealed. To access the leaks, I had to remove the luggage tub, and things kind of grew from there.

Ceiling Repairs

I mentioned that there were ceiling seal issues. Consider that the hinges and the front-center latch for the original 1972 Westfalia pop-top attach to the top of the bus above the front seats. These are mounted by passing bolts through the ceiling and then threading into some flashing which have embedded nuts. The bolts had been removed, or broke off, but the leaks were coming from where the flashing/nut bit touched the ceiling. These had broken down over the last 10 years and were weeping. So, I removed the flashing, the nuts, and anything else remaining related to the old pop top mechanisms, leaving six holes.

 

cleaning under the luggage tub

In an ideal world, I would have used no-longer-with-us Travis' welder and repaired the holes the correct way with replacement steel cut into small circles. Unfortunately, when Travis passed, a grave-robbing vulture (Bob) swooped in, claimed he and Travis were "like brothers" (say it all deep and blubbery to get the effect), and took everything he could fit into his truck and trailer over multiple trips while my sister-in-law worked through her grief. Bob the vulture took all 4 of Travis' welders. Yes, that's right; all 4 of them (Travis was a pipe-fitter by trade so welded pretty much anything) and a TON of other things, like all of Travis' other tools, for example. Like the Grinch, Bob disappeared as quickly as he had appeared and cleaned out all of Travis' valuables. Just as he was a non-entity before Travis passed, no one has heard from him since. May you die alone, Bob; you are the worst. I was suspicious of you then, and deeply regret not honoring Travis' memory as you cleaned out his legacy. I digress, but suffice to say I do not have access to a welder anymore, so I solved in a more ShadeTree way.

 

heat shrink before/after

First, I closed up the holes from below with the Constrained Layered Dampener (CLD) since I was applying it anyway. This left small, shallow, circular indentations, about the size of a US dime (in diameter) in the top. I filled the indentations with FlexSeal. Once dry, I painted over the FlexSeal and the rest of the top with the same white Rustoleum. Of course, around this work, I removed the tub, cleaned the top (picture above-right shows how filthy it was), and addressed the surface rust with converter and then encapsulator, both from Eastwood. With the tin-top good enough for another 10 years, I shifted to the luggage tub.

Tub Cleanup

The luggage tub needed it's own help. The rack bars were starting to show some rust, and one of them had become disconnected at one end. 10 years ago, when I initially installed the tub, I quick painted it with the white Rustoleum and attached it to the top with 4 long wood-screws. I had completely forgotten I had done that, but it had held on without issue. To my surprise, all 4 screws threaded right out of the metal top when I went to remove the tub. These holes served as the starting point for the more robust mounting I did later.

doing the doing

With the tub now on the floor of my garage, I drilled out the rivets holding the bars to the fiberglass. Over the course of many hours, I sanded them down to bare metal, and got off most of the rust. What remained got the converter/encapsulator treatment and then some white Rustoleum. Unlike the bars, the metal supports that run from side-to-side were in perfect rust-free condition, after sanding off the paint. I chose to leave them unpainted, and polished them with steel-wool before shooting them with clear-coat instead. When I purchased the top and tub, one of the luggage cleats was missing. I chose to replace all of them with stainless steel cleats (footman loops) which I bolted (M3 Allen bolts) instead of rivet'd in place. Incredibly, the footman loops that I used to mount the big speaker box into Oliver, the 1978 MGB, were a perfect fit. While everything was apart, I hauled the tub outside and applied a fresh coat of white Rustoleum to the fiberglass tub. Once the paint was dry, I set the tub on some old carpet bits to protect the finish a little bit.

 

Before I bolted (rather than rivet'd) the now-rust-protected-and-white bars back to the tub (M4 hex bolts), I tried 3/4" inner-diameter clear PVC/Vinyl tubing onto the round part of the bar. I thought this might help the paint last a little longer as well as soften the rack for things placed onto it. Unfortunately, the tube is just a shade too loose. I did not want moisture to wick underneath, and the gaps at the ends just didn't look that great. So, I pulled that off and used 3/4" inner-diameter clear heat-shrink instead. I warmed it carefully with a propane torch, just enough to engage the shrink and have it snug up on the bar. The picture above on the right shows how well the heat shrink sealed the bars. Honestly, FlexSeal probably could have done the same thing.

riv-nut tool set

Keeping with the whole noise reduction thing, I added some Noico to the hidden inside of the tub. I figured that it would reduce the vibration noise a little bit. Similar to the effect of adding this stuff to metal, the sound from tapping on the fiberglass changed to a much deeper note after the Noico was added. There is no way to know if this helped at all, but it seemed at least a little logical. The addition of the Noico added maybe a couple of pounds to the luggage tub, but if the noise on the highway is meaningfully reduced, this could be a contributing factor. Something is increasing the noise once we get up above 50mph, and since the luggage tub is right above our heads, it is a reasonably assumed source.

The last thing I did before installing the tub, I added a white pinch-edging around the outer edge. Originally, the Riviera pop-top shipped with a white edging like this. When I purchased this top, it did not have one. I don't think it really does much other than dress the edge a little bit. I could reduce some vibration transmission into the roof from the wind-whip at higher speeds, though. Again, like with the addition of the Noico on the underside of the tub, I'll take every fraction of a decibel reduction I can get. For those thinking of doing this to their luggage tub, it took 15 feet of piping. I had purchased 30 feet, thinking that woudl be enough to do the luggage tub and the pop-top. Clearly my guestimates were way off. I'll need to get more to do the pop-top, and I have enough left over for someone else to do just their tub. 

Tub Install

parts-express foot

Of course, I did not want to return to 4 long wood-screws holding the top on. While that appeared to work for 10 years, I did not want to press my luck. In a traditional install, the ASI/Riviera folks would bore 4 holes into the top and weld nuts in place from the underside. The top install would consist of 1 bolt per corner from above, passing through a thick rubber puck into the welded-on nut. Again, I do not have access to a welder, so I could not exactly repeat the original design. I could, however, pop in riv-nuts. A riv-nut installs like a pop-rivet: using a squeeze gun that has a mandrel and riv-nut sized for the job, you put the riv-nut on the installed mandrel, set it through the hole and pop it like a rivet. For the rubber puck, I found 4 rubber feet at a stereo-supply place (parts-express) that are 1-1/2" tall by 1-1/2" across. These feet have a central hole through the center.

 

I drilled out the old mounting holes large enough for the M5 riv-nut to fit. I applied the riv-nut from below: Since the riv-nut has a flush side (side where it is installed from) and a sticks-out side, it would be better for the sticks-out side not to be pointing down towards my head. As you can see from the stock picture of the foot, one end is wide, allowing the sticks-out side of the riv-nut a ready-made home inside.

 

view with the edging

I thought I could counter the Riviera install, and I run M5 stainless steel bolts from inside the cab up through the stereo-supply feet. This did not work for a reason I could not determine. So, I followed the original model with the bolts heading down from above instead: bolt through a fender washer, then the tub, through the rubber foot and into the riv-nut. Fortunately, the bolts I had were long enough to reach the riv-nuts but not so long that they protrude past the flush-side.

This whole affair became an incredible time consumer that I did not plan for. Once I saw the holes, I had to solve. Of course, I did not have to repaint the tub/top, nor swap out the cleats, replace the pop-rivets with stainless hardware, etc. This finished product looks better, will work better and is set up for seasonal maintenance. Which prompts me to encourage you to consider when was the last time you removed any of the plastic bits off your ride to clean up accumulated organic material. Your paint, and perhaps the integrity of your ride, will thank you.

Well, that's it for today. Thanks, as always, for following along-

A4-ward Progress

Apologies for the late publish. Not sure what happened; I'll chalk it up to user error. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I mentioned that in a charitable move, I bought Nemo (the 1997 A4 1.8Turbo) from T (See If You Love...). Today, I go through the fixes I have done to get Nemo ready for someone to proudly drive, while avoiding work on Zed, the 280ZX. In an earlier post (See Dust Dodging), I mentioned the replacement of the window and the front side marker. I did a few less obvious things that I'll cover today. Before I begin, Hapy belated Labor Day to my US readers. Traditionally, this is the start of the most productive period in our calendar year: from Labor Day to Thanksgiving. So, if you feel like you're working a ton over the next couple of months, it's probably because you are.

Oil Leaks
Old Volksies like to mark their spot with a little oil. Old buses and bugs do it. Now that Jettas and Passats have been around long enough, they do it too. It seems that VW's German brethren, Audi's, mark their spot as well. For Nemo, there are a few sources. I focused first on the leaking motor oil. I slid under the front end, and after having sat for a few days, the oil that had been flung up from below during a drive had dripped away, leaving fresh oil only where it was actually leaking out. There was a nice big droplet at the oil drain, so I checked the torque on that bolt. It was a little loose. Next, I could see fresh drops on the cross member under the oil filter. It was hand-loose. As in, I was able to twist it tighter with 2 fingers. I think we found our main culprit. With oil filter pliers, I tightened the filter snug.

The power steering rack has a leak, and before I do another steering rack removal and re-install, I am trying the Lucas Power Steering Stop Leak first. This has been leaking since T bought Nemo, and T had been managing the level regularly with just topping it off with regular fluid. I intend to eliminate the leak. The steering is still really good and tight, though I expect the upgraded suspension helps with the road grip and cornering on rails. I looked back through my blog and I can't believe that I never posted on the steering rack remove/replacement I did on Flash, maybe 4 years ago. I think my dislike of the banjo may have started with those banjo bolts. It was a really tough job, so I'm all the more puzzled that I didn't post on it. Weird.

Dented Front Fender
With increased confidence from my efforts on Zed, I wanted to tackle the dent in the passenger fender. I pulled the front side marker, following the process I described in Dust Dodging. Through the hole presented when the light was removed, I fed a pry-bar. I did NOT leverage against anything, I just pushed/pulled outward and the dent popped out. My efforts left a small convex ding, but it is much better than the cereal-bowl sized dent that was there.

Under-Dash Panel

this is from an auto-trans, but similar

With the outside looking fairly good, but needing a wash, I started looking at the interior. There are a few things that need improvement, but I'll really only get after a subset. I started with the under-dash panel. T had removed this panel to replace the clutch master cylinder and had not re-installed it yet. We had the panel, but lost the fasteners. I made-do with things I found in the garage. During the install, I discovered that the remote trunk opener button was faulty, so I will need to replace that. Otherwise, the install was about what you would expect. The panel should be held on with 3 bolts, 2 through the front and one from the side, near the fusebox. Threading the bolts from the front is a great opportunity to practice patience. Gravity is working against you, and you can't see where the bolt needs to go once the panel is in place, so breathe deep and expect it to take many attempts. Once bolted into place, these panels are supposed to have 2 pop-in covers which fit over the bolt holes. I only found one so I'll add one of those covers to the junk-yard list.

Passenger Sunshade
The last thing I got after in this car-fix session was the passenger-side sun-shade. This was sitting on the floor since T bought Nemo. It looks fairly simple to mount. The plastic hook-looking thing goes in with the hook facing towards the rear, and you press up and back until it rotates flat, leaving the mounting hole near the hole in the steel above. At least, that's the theory. The prior owner had replaced the headliner and when he did, he mis-routed the wire for the light on the mirror. Instead of routing the wire through the hole in the steel where the mirror "hook" goes, it was left just dangling below that steel. So, the options were: don't hook up the wires to run the lights, return the route of the wires so it passes it through the steel from above -or- hack something. I didn't want to not hook up the light. I tried to figure out how to re-run the wires, but it appeared to require removing a considerable section of headliner because of the shape of the steel ceiling, so that left me with some kind of hack.

I took my hacksaw (aptly named) to the sunshade housing that, when installed, disappears into the ceiling. I cut a channel for the wire to slide down, reducing the mount of wire that would be pressed between the plastic and the steel ceiling. This actually worked, and I apologize for not taking a picture. Hopefully, you can see the shape of the mount from the picture on the right, here. With the wire pushed into the channel, I plugged the wire into the plug hanging from the hole in the ceiling. I pushed the rest of the wire into the headliner, and then followed the "theory" I described above. It pressed into place with not nearly as much effort as I expected. Once rotated around, I threaded a bolt through, and the sunshade is not in-place and operable.

The other bits of the interior that need to be resolved include fixing the cover on the driver seat cushion, and replacing some of the brittle plastic bits. I may not get to those items, but I think I will try to get the AC working; it probably just needs a charge. The next most important thing to resolve is the trunk is stuck closed. I'll get after that the next time I choose to focus on Nemo.

Thanks, as always, for following along.

MGB - Test Start, Test Drive

Today's post covers the initial tests of all the changes that I did this past year on the little MGB. It's been quite a year. In August of 2016, I picked up a little British car to bust my knuckles on over the winter. I needed a break from the bus, and it looked like it was going to be a cosmetic fixer. As you've read along this past year, you learned as I did that there was much more to it than that. The brakes were squishy on the drive home, so I went to redo them only to lose the master cylinder in the process. I went to replace the brake master cylinder and had that scope explode into redoing the clutch master cylinder as well. We found rust-through in the floor under the nasty carpet. We found the front suspension bushings has been replaced with window insulation... or at least it looked like it. The coolant pump was failing. The fuel tank was leaking. So much to do and fix. Before I turned the key, though, I changed the oil and oil filter.

Hydraulics

We replaced both front disks, pads and hoses. In the rear, we replaced all of the brake parts: shoes, hardware, drums, wheel cylinders and the one hose. We replaced the brake master cylinder and polished the vacuum assist. Last, we replaced the fluid from end-to-end (kinda obvious with everything else getting redone). On the clutch, we replaced the master cylinder. Between the two master cylinders, we tore down, cleaned and painted the pedal box and pedals. The pedals got new rubber pads as well. Detailed postings 1, 2 and 3.

Body

We ripped out the passenger and driver floors. The rails were repaired, flattened and ground to bare metal. We measured, drilled and ground-to-metal for plug and seam welding the new floors and then had a party to weld them in. The seams were sealed with black seam-sealer and then we experimented with flex-seal to 100% fill the little gaps. Undercoating was applied. I didn't post on it, but in the rear of the little cabin, a prior owner (PO) had cut a big section out of the wall between the cabin and trunk. I repaired that big hole while leveraging the opening to install 2 6x9" Polk Audio speakers. The trunk lid was removed, cleaned, splits were welded and the underside painted. The trunk floor was cleaned, painted and sound deadener was added. The lid had new hinges installed, and the gap on the driver-side accounted for with washers so the trunk now seals all the way around. Detailed postings 1, 2 and 3.

Fuel

The tank was removed and sent to a radiator shop for cleaning and lining. All new fasteners were used during install, and we replaced the hoses, hose clamps, and float / level-sender. Up front, new hoses were installed and a discovered-to-be-faulty upside-down safety switch was replaced with another filter. I will be restoring a safety switch later. We discovered this system leak during final system testing. Detailed posting here.

Cooling

One of the first things we learned about from British Auto Works was the failing coolant pump. This system was the last to get our attention, though. We pulled the pump and the radiator. The radiator was treated with a vinegar and distilled water solution to de-rust / de-scale as was the heater (though it was done in-place). The coolant overflow bottle was paint-stripped and polished and a new pump installed. All new hoses and mostly-new hose clamps were installed as was the thermostat and thermostat housing. Detailed postings 1 and 2.

Front Beam
Second in scope only to the floor replacement, I spent last winter rebuilding the front suspension and steering. The steering mechanism got a clean-up, new gaiters, oil and new tie-rod ends. The suspension was completely refreshed, including new poly-impregnated rubber bushings all around, lots of paint prep and painting, new lower control arms, new front shocks, new front wheel bearings and upgraded sway-bar bushings. It's practically an entirely new front end. Detailed postings about the steering here and here, the front beam 1, 2, 3 and 4. Let's not forget replacing the engine mounts. That was fun.

Testing

Along the way, everything was tested to some degree. The cooling system doesn't leak at rest. The suspension doesn't make noise no matter who is jumping up and down on the bumpers. We stomped on the floors from above and beneath. The clutch engages when the pedal is depressed... and the engine isn't running. The brakes stop the car from rolling when nudged in the garage. These little tests gave us confidence to keep going, and believe that the system was ready. Eventually, you have to put gas in the tank and turn the key.

The last thing you do before you test is hookup the battery. I verified that the battery still had 12V (I was shocked it didn't need a charge), and then connected the leads. The key had been turned to RUN to unlock the steering, so the fuel pump started up. Fuel fountained under the hood, so we tightened a few things, and ultimately removed a broken flip-over safety switch. Once solved, I hopped into the driver seat, put the car in neutral, pulled the hand brake and turned the key again. Fuel pump started up, so I waited a second. After confirming that the gas-fountain wasn't happening I turned the key to start. The engine fired up almost instantly. I revved the engine a few times, and looked for exhaust color. There really wasn't any exhaust, so early concerns about running rich may not have merit. No black smoke to indicate oil nor sweet white smoke to indicate coolant either.
Test Successful.

A Drive
Running the engine in my garage felt awesome, but to really test many of the systems, we need some straight road, and more gas.. and a seat for a passenger and some seat belts. With the new floor came new embedded nuts for the bolts for the seat. this made the seat install a 10 minute effort even as I helped C on his new ride. Add in the retractable seat belts I bought last fall and I'm ready for a street test. Once the rain stops. Oddly enough, during the overnight after the test start, the battery ran down to nearly 0. I must have left the key in the ACC or RUN position, causing systems to stay active all night. Jeez. Road test has to wait while I charge the battery. While waiting, I noticed the front driver running light wasn't working and fixed it with some DeOxit and some patience. I rooted around and found a couple of bolts which could hold the steering column plastic covers on and put that together. I found myself wiping down seats and fiddling with things waiting for the nice weather to arrive.

Finally, I had an opportunity. We had an unseasonably nice stretch during the week and the weekend following was absolutely stunning: upper 60's and clear skies. So, I moved the herd of cars around the driveway, and pushed the MG out of the garage. With a clear rear-view to match the clear sky, I jumped in, fired it up and backed down the driveway. It's loud, and after a little it's-cold sputtering, it settled down. I was able to move through the gears easily; the clutch responded very well. The brakes still had some spongy in them, but I sped off down the street anyway. I drove maybe a mile around the neighborhood, and then started noticing all of the systems that were not working: everything on the green circuit. I chose not to drive to the gas station and instead drove home.

Upon arrival, I discovered that the thermostat housing was leaking. I torqued it down with a plan to look for a leak there on my next test flight. No gas leaked from any fuel line, the brakes remained consistently spongy so I'll need to do another round of bleeding there. The exhaust is loud everywhere with pop-pop-pop noises on deceleration, telling me there's an exhaust leak. Maybe multiple. Let's not forget the green circuit isn't working. Ultimately, though I declare Test Successful.

It was awesome to get that little car going. The throttle response is great, the steering is tight, the suspension over bumps is mellow. I have a few things still to do before it's really road-ready, but none of it is scary. Except maybe getting a top. That may have to wait until I can pay someone else to do it.

Thanks, as always, for following along.

MGB - Steering Rack Install

I realized that I didn't post about the install of the steering rack, so today I'm going to have a quick post about that. For reference, I removed, cleaned and re-assembled the rack in this post.

Pre-Alignment

steering arm seated in clamp

Before you start putting the three-armed monster in (what's that? See MGB - Steering Rack), check that it's centered left-to-right by turning the steering arm. Next, check that the steering wheel is straight, the center spokes level with the bottom of the car. On the other side of the firewall, you should be able to spot the steering column butting out. There is a clamp on the end for the three-armed monster to fit in. The clamp has a bolt/nut combination which needs to be removed from the clamp before assembling the three-armed monster. That bolt needs to align with a cut-away on the three-armed monster steering arm. So, look at the two ends, and recognize that if the steering rack is centered within itself, but not centered once the cutout aligns, your steering wheel won't sit nicely level. Fixing this could be as easy as a minor adjustment during alignment, or more complex like removing and re-installing that clamp or doing something to the steering rack. In my case, I was putting the old rack back in, and the wheel was close to level before.

In She Goes

If you're doing this alone, like I was, getting the monster in can be a juggling act. The column arm fits around the right engine mount bracket. Get the unit in the right general location, and use a rubber tarp strap to hold it there. Believe me, holding the monster in the right general location while also trying to do the fine motor work of getting the arm into the clamp is simply impossible by yourself. Once successfully suspended, set the steering arm into the clamp. If the clamp is not amenable, it has a split down one side where you can coax it open with a wedge. Once you have it in the right alignment, slide under the front of the car and drive it into the clamp with a rubber mallet driving against the housing. It should slide in with only a few light strikes. Remember, that's a $250 part, so rap on it gingerly.

The rack is held to the frame with 4 bolts and 4 nuts with some washers. Get replacements. The bolts closest to the firewall drive into nuts which are part of the mount. They thread in pretty easily. Just do enough to get the threading started. The bolts closest to the front use a pair of nuts each. Yes, I said that right. The order of the fasteners from the top: bolt head - washer - steering rack - nut - frame bracket - washer - nut. The nut between the frame bracket and the steering rack is absolutely necessary to not bind the steering action. Yes, I tried it without the nut to see what would happen.

Tie-Rod Ends

I blasted The Roadster Factory for their return policy and continued sale of junk tie rod ends. Get the sealed OEM ones, and use a different vendor if you can. There are a few out there. Assuming your new ends are the same size as the ones you removed, you should be able to thread the new ends to the marks you made earlier. I determined during my "Rough Alignment" that my new ends had more housing to them, knocking my measurements off. Had I to do it again, I would measure from the edge of the steering rack housing to the outer edge of the tie rod end instead. Regardless, thread on the tie-rod ends and set the wheel-end into the arm on the swivel, and finger the washer and nut on. Don't tighten yet. There's rough alignment to do first.

Rough Alignment
There are a few ways to get the alignment roughed-in. By roughed-in I mean close enough to drive it to a shop to have someone with a machine do it. It's possible that you could do it as well with one of the methods, but I encourage having it verified. The easiest method is simply looking down the line of your car and matching the front wheels front/back along the body line. I did this first, once I discovered how toed-out my front wheels were.

Changing your alignment is pretty easy: pull the tie-rod end out of the steering knuckle and rotate it on the tie-rod clock- or counter-clock-wise to move the end in or out relative to it's prior position. There is an alignment lock-nut just to the inside of the tie-rod end that will need to be loosened before you play with the adjustment.

After the body-line rough-in, I would encourage the measuring tape method to rough-in your alignment. Measure the distance between the inner edges of your tires both behind and in front of the swivels. If they aren't the same, you may have adjusting to do. Ideally, the front is slightly narrower than the rear for better handling and stability. This measurement should happen with the wheels on the ground after wiggling the steering a little bit and then centering as best as you can. It will take a few tries to get it right. Once you think you have it, tighten the lock-nut and test it in your driveway. I still need to complete this on my MG, but the steering is close enough now for me to move the car around my driveway / garage.

Regardless of which rough-in you try (and there are probably others), don't assume it's right. The idea is simply getting it close enough to take to a shop. If you aren't confident with your rough-in, have it towed. If your car is anything like my bus, it's getting used to riding on a flatbed.

That's it for today's brief posting on getting the steering rack back in. More to come soon, and, as always, thanks for following along,

MGB - steering rack

The last collection of posts have been about this project MGB I picked up last Summer/Fall. Today's post covers the efforts of removing, cleaning, and repairing the steering.

Context
The steering on these little British cars is only a hair more complicated than the old VW bus. The bus uses a system called "worm and peg", which is definitely not used in modern cars. Without opening up the steering box, consider that there is magic inside this box with two arms coming out it. The arm coming out the top connects to your steering wheel and the arm coming out the back connects to control arms that terminate at each of the front wheels. Within the magic box live the worm and peg. The "peg"  rides on the "worm" that is a threaded bar that looks like an auger. As the steering moves from lock to lock, the worm moves the peg from side to side, causing the front wheels to turn. Simple design.

3-armed monster

The MGB has a rack and pinion style. Rack and pinion has a gear (pinion) at the end of the steering column that rides on a "rack". The rack is simply a toothed bar to which the control arms are attached. In the case of the MG, the control arms and the rack are all one piece. Power steering includes more bits to boost the power of the pinion to move the rack. The MGB doesn't have the power assist, but its a tiny car with little weight, so there isn't much need. One other interesting bit about the MGB steering is that over half of the steering column is part of the steering rack so it has 3 long legs/arms to manage on extract and install.

Getting It Out

just removed. note torn d-side boot

Removing the steering rack from the MGB is actually pretty easy. For me, someone who takes forever to do even the most simple of jobs, that's a big statement. At the ends of the control arms are tapered "ends" that fit into the steering knuckles (sometimes called "swivels"). Since I had already decided to replace the rod ends, I separated the ends from the knuckles with a couple of smacks with a hammer. There are gear remover tools that are more graceful, but if you're replacing the ends and the nuts (always replace the nuts) anyway, a hammer works great.

p-side arm measured

With the ends separated from the knuckles, move up to the steering column part up near the firewall. Mark the way the two ends come together so your steering wheel will align properly on your first re-install effort. I shot the joint with a pop of spraypaint, but that was only because I couldn't find something like a paint pen. You can just see the marks in the picture on the right, here. Once marked, loosen the connection so it doesn't hang up on you later.

In order to easily get to the rack bolts, you may need to remove the little section of cowling between the radiator and the front beam. It is made of glueboard and held on with a couple of nuts. There are metal replacements for the cowling available, if your original is trashed. Once you have access to the rack, it is held on with 4 long-ish bolts. With those bolts removed, the rack can be removed by pulling it forward and down. If it isn't budging, check that the steering column is loosened enough.

Cleaning

p-side arm measurement

My rack was leaking, and was identified as a possible replace item by the shop. K2 and I saw that the bellows on one side were definitely torn, so I ordered a replacement set as well as replacement arm ends. We (step-son K2 helped a bunch here) started with simply cleaning everything up first. K2 used "Simple Green" and a lot of elbow grease to get the arms and main cylinder clean.  You can't put new bellows on while the arm ends are still attached, so when it was clean, I marked the control arm end positions with a shot of spraypaint (use a paint pen if you have one). Once marked, I removed the arm ends, and then the bellows. At this point, K2 doubled down on cleaning. He turned the steering from post to post, cleaning up any gunk that he found in the teeth. We removed the cover plate and looked for broken teeth on the pinion as well.

Repairing

Junk. Don't Buy These

The pinion had no broken teeth and the arms were in great shape. We decided not to replace the steering rack, and just re-seal the cover, refill with oil and replace the bellows. I used a very light application of form-a-gasket to help seal the cover. If you use too much, it gets into the gears, and that detail cleaning needs to be redone (guess how I know that). Before the cover plate is sealed on, the bellows need to be put on. Put a little bit of gear oil on the inside edge of the small end before you start. This allows the small end to slide over the end of the arm without tearing. Attach the wide end to the main cylinder and a-fix with the metal band. Before attaching the small ends, check where they should go so that they don't stretch nor bind when the rack is turned lock to lock. If you have marked the old location, its easy. I didn't but I found that once I started zeroing in on a spot, it actually was the same original position (there were tiny scratches on the arms). Tighten the small ends down with the smaller metal bands. Now, fill the system with gear oil: 90 weight (like the VW bus transaxle). "Fill" is about 8oz.

Ends

OEM. Buy These

Once everything above is done, all that's left are the ends. There are two kinds available out there, and I bought both to see the difference. These cars came with sealed ends that allowed no maintenance. So, if you thought your end needed grease, you can't grease it; you need to buy replacements. These replacements are made in England, though, so you're getting a good OEM part when you go this route. There are also replacements available which have a grease fitting. These are Chinese junk. The concept is great, the execution is appalling. The pair that arrived were rusty and the main rubber seal was falling off. Not only would it not hold grease, the rubber "seal" wouldn't stay on at all. I was only able to find them at the Roadster Factory, but don't shop there. When I alerted them to this poorly built part, and returned it according to their rules, I received no communication nor any money back. Vendor: if you sell garbage and then don't honor your own policy, you're a sham to me and will be called out accordingly: do not shop from The Roadster Factory unless you're willing to accept crap parts with no means of return.

Ends On
The OEM part, as expected, looked perfect and fit as you would expect. I threaded it on to the marks and tightened it down.

I am finishing up some other tasks before re-installing the rack, so I will post again when I have that completed. Thanks, as always, for following along.

Whatcha Hiding?

I realized that I hadn't posted about the screens I have been working on, or at least I can't find a post where I did.  So, I'll get remedial and cover that today.

Screens
In the later year campers, there is a closet blocking most of the left-rear window (on the driver's side, but all the way to the rear).  The driver couldn't see out this window anyway, so it doesn't create a blind spot.  I thought it would be neat to create a few screens to put over the window since the only thing a passing motorist would see otherwise is the backside of a closet.  When I built the ski rack (see Rack 'em, Snow Bum), I realized that I needed a screen if for no other reason to hide the equipment.

snow-themed screen lying on my garage floor

In the interests of spending no money, I went digging through my supplies.  I found the ceiling panel from the donor bus from which I got the Riviera Top.  It didn't fit my bus, and I didn't need it anyway, so I didn't bother with it.  Some careful measuring later, and I had 3 equal-sized screens that each completely blocked the rear window.  I set them on top of one another, and drilled mounting holes through so they would all mount the same.  Last, I held one against the inside of the window and marked drill holes in the steel.  A few minutes with the drill later and I had 3 interchangeable screens.

work in progress. top screen is the "Furthur" one
bottom screen was 1st draft layout

I base coated 2 of the screens with the same bright white that I painted the front bumper (see Front Bumper  part 4), thinking I'd use them as a landing zone for themes of stickers.  I hadn't really thought about what all of the themes would be, but I figured I'd have at least the one about snow.  For that one, I drew mountains based on pictures of various resorts around the Pacific NorthWest (the top picture).  Whatever stickers I had, or acquired, for snow would go on that screen.  I used the other white one first, just to block out the sun last Fall when I went to Eugene to see Furthur (see A Tale of Two Trips).  I just taped a picture and some inspiring words on there as a placeholder.  This Saturday, I completed my vision for a screen dedicated to music and music festivals: completely covered with images of ticket stubs plus the VW-your-face that was on the original screen when we went to Furthur.  I don't yet have a plan for that last screen.  Maybe, I'll use that as a spot for stickers, pictures, etc dedicated to camping, for those trips we take that aren't music-venue focused.

installed screen viewed from the outside.

That's it for today.  I've been driving the bus to work lately.  With the mufflers on the pop-top springs (see Spring Sprang Sprung), its conversationally quiet at idle.  With the window rebuilt (see Jalousie Window rebuild), its quiet enough to have an "outdoor volume" conversation while driving.  Its pretty fantastic.