Thread: Stuee's 101 Rebuild

Looking good Stuee!! Making me envious!! That diff looks a whole lot better too!! You might just get away with carrier bearings!! Looking forward to the finished result, keep up the good work! My turn soon.....

Just noticed you have a plate over the spot the oil temp gauge goes. Was that only fitted to some of them?

Originally Posted by bacicat

Just noticed you have a plate over the spot the oil temp gauge goes. Was that only fitted to some of them?

That's the cover off the original oil temp gauge. I have a new one from John Craddock (via eBay) that I'll fit up once the dash is fitted and tested. I put it there to try and stop dust and crap collecting behind the glass after I cleaned and touched it up. My intention is to get both my original water temp gauge and oil temp gauge repaired at some point in the future. For the time being I have fitted a series 3 electrical temp gauge which is a straight fit.

Originally Posted by bacicat

Just noticed you have a plate over the spot the oil temp gauge goes. Was that only fitted to some of them?

Well spotted. Could be a series instrument cluster.

One pain with the standard fuel gauge and using a series 3 electronic temp gauge is the need for a 10V Voltage Stabiliser (I believe the 24V models don't need this with their fuel tank sender).

I have found this neat solution which rips the guts out of the standard voltage stabiliser and replaces it with a 7810 regulator.
How To: Replace Your MGB Thermal Voltage Stabilizer

The case itself makes a nice heat-sink as well as a convenient ground location. Will be doing this over the weekend if I can source the 7810 regulator.

Although it doesn't seem like much I got quite a bit done this weekend. Made up my 10V electronic regulator, repaired my 6-way switch and finished off quite a bit of the dash wiring.

I sourced my regulator from RS
RS part number 6616702
http://australia.rs-online.com/web/p...633D4E4F4E4526

Although the link I posted before says to gently pry back the tabs holding the top on I found there's really no space for gently. It might be because I was modifying an original Smiths item where as the link looked like an aftermarket unit. The internals of the original voltage stabiliser:



Regulator mounted and fixed to the top cover:


Closed back up and you would push to tell its not original if the tabs were a bit softer:



I had most the dash done and started testing things and I found that the 6-way switch was not working as advertised. I was a bit miffed as this was the third time I pulled it out. The reason it wasnt working is pretty obvious:


After a cleanup its apparent that some of the power supply rail has corroded/burnt away:


The springs that push against the contacts were also naffed:


After a tricky repair I managed to "replace" some of the rail with ground down solder and wire. No idea how long it will last but its reasonably straight forward to pull apart and now I know how to fix it the next one should be pretty quick.


Was lucky to score some springs from the hobby shop to cut up and replace the corroded broken ones. For reference for anyone interested in getting some before attempting to rebuild the switch they are 2.5mm x 12mm.


Back together and its working wonderfully now. Not just if I push the knob a certain way or on some settings only:


The current state of the dash. My wiper switch should arrive from ebay this week (generic rotary two speed with washer function), and I need a spot light switch yet too. For the spot lights and dash lights switches I'm going to look for the lucas type switches so it keeps the right look and feel. I'm not bothering with a dimmer switch of any sort, too much work and the back lighting is crap anyway even with the new fittings.

Got all 4 wisdom teeth pulled out today so feeling dandy atm, well I will be till I run out of drugs

There's only so much TV I can watch before I need a break so I snapped some shots of the completed dash wiring (all plugs hooked up) and the cable labels that I printed out at work for all the additional cables that I have run so far on the dash. All cables that came as part of the wiring kit have the cable name and number printed about every 40cm which is very handy. Not sure if I said it before but ended up going the basic automotive connectors over weather proof ones. They are a LOT cheaper

As per this thread:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/101-forwar...and-brake.html


I have been working towards getting the hand brake functioning:






While soaking the hand brake I also took the opportunity to soak the heater valve to get it apart. It was also seized solid and I had purchased a new one so just needed the ends and the metal bracket. After soaking the valve though is started working very nicely and actually feels nicer than the new one so I gave it a good clean and have just coated it in clear coat to hopefully keep the nice brass finish.




I just need to track down some joint washers and sealing washers now.