Let's get started

• Replaced valve cover gasket
• Oil change
• Replaced accessory belt
  

Driving the MGB, Shelly (tbd), down from Frederick, Maryland, took about 45 minutes and wasn't too much of a problem. It gave me time to get used to the clutch and the general workings of the car. I took it easy the first day (as far as working on the car went), and only fixed up a mirror and showed it off to the neighbours.

Today was a different story. Excited, so excited in fact I once again didn't sleep, I got up at 7 and ran down to get busy. I started out by properly fixing the license plate (it was being held up by a paper-clip and a twisty-tie) and emptying out the junk in the trunk I wasn't going to need. I inserted the screwdriver into the ignition (the key is broken), turned, and waited for the engine to flare up.

It didn't. After panicking for a few minutes I calmed down and took out my multimeter. Indeed, the battery had plummeted to 2.5 V, something I should have seen coming. First thing on the shopping list: a new battery.

Jump-starting was anything but easy. The battery in an MGB is 'conveniently' located behind the passenger's seat, meaning that for a jump start the top must be down and the other car has to be pretty close by. Luckily I had extra-long jumper cables, and after moving my Altima several times and a few minutes of charging I was on my way.

I arrived at my friend's house where I was going to be doing the work. Today I was going to replace the valve cover gasket (followed by an oil change), and change the drive belt. I also had to replace the battery.

Replacing the valve cover gasket is one of the easiest car-related things I've ever done. It's generally done when the car starts leaking oil. I didn't observe any leaking oil, but the previous owner recommended I do the work. The new gasket was bought from Rockauto (see links on left). By the way, buy the more expensive one. It's a combination of cork and rubber, just like the original gaskets used to be like. These will last longer and work better. Below you'll see images of the nuts you need to remove to install the new valve cover gasket (red, left), as well as an image of the valve cover removed so you can see the new gasket in place (right).

Before any of this is done the oil needs to be drained. Never having actually done an oil change myself I was a bit puzzled as to where the oil drain plug was, but after googling the topic and going through several manuals I was reasonably sure the hexagonal nut under the right side of the vehicle was what I was looking for. Twisting it for a while a large amount of (hot) oil started gushing down on my hand. Bingo. Also I learned that in England they call the oil pan the 'sump'. 10W-30 was used as replacement oil.


At this point I was pretty tired, but went ahead with replacing the drive belt. I bought the belt at Advance, but they sold me the wrong part, so I'll be buying the replacement part on Rockauto again. Replacing the belt was quite easy, I simply loosened the nut holding the alternator taught, pushed it towards the engine to relieve pressure on the belt, removed and replaced the belt, and undid what I had previously done.

Going out for a test-drive the brake lights miraculously started working again. Shelly even felt so good after some fresh oil and a new belt, she started telling me a bit more about herself through her gauges. The speedometer, oil gauge, and clock were always working (apparently she's a cautious one, trying me out before she commits), but now I also knew I still had 3/4 tank of gas left, my rpm (after tapping several times), and the fact the engine was running ridiculously hot. In fact the gauge was off the scale.

On a different note, my grandfather has offered to buy me a new set of tyres!! More on that soon.

So that's where I am now. The car is still at my friend's place, patiently waiting and cooling off for me to diagnose the problem so I can drive her home tomorrow. It's going to be another sleepless night.