Wocha bin doin on your MG this week then?

David Aiketgate wrote: I had noticed a slight blow on the exhaust.

:nonod: I pretty sure that I wouldn't like any blow on my exhaust, however slight. :omg:
Although I do believe that there are some blokes who do like that sort of thing ........good luck to 'em, so long as they leave my exhaust alone I couldn't care less! :bust:

Hesketh is booked in for MOT at 13:00 BST tomorrow. Please think positive thoughts, cross fingers or observe whatever superstitious / religious incantations or gestures you feel may help.

I really could do with him back on the road with no more expense :woowoo:

David Aiketgate wrote: I had noticed a slight blow on the exhaust.
Investigation revealed this.

Clamp almost completely disintegrated.

Of course to fit a new one requires removing the flange and welding a new one back on.

So I took off the back box and had the welding done. All back together and no leaks!. Yeah!:clap:

Who's a clever boy then . Well done .
John

Airportable wrote: A short while ago I mentioned that I was going to fit a pressure relief thermostat at the front

I too thought about this as a big factor in the problems the K series faced is the location of the thermostat, and the fact that once the thermostat opens there is a LOT of cold water in the rad and pipes that suddenly floods into the engine when thermostat goes off short loop onto rad.

In the end though, I settled for a simple cheat - I have drilled a 5mm hole through thermostat. This allows a little flow of heated water into the long loop from start, without too badly affecting the warmup. The temp delta between short and long looks to have been reduced by at least 30 degrees on an average day, which I feel makes a big difference to the impact of thermal shock.

On supplications for Hesketh: I don't usually pray for inanimate objects unless it's a large teetering spanner & I'm directly beneath it. I have however been known to pray for the safe return of all my digits when I've got them into too tight a place with sharp edges!

Thats what superglue and bad language is for!

Airportable wrote: On supplications for Hesketh: I don't usually pray for inanimate objects

... And so shall be held to blame for his fail!!!

Well no, actually I blame the lead footed troll who managed to crush the previously working brake light switch so that they stay on....

At least nothing expensive to fix. just time and inconvenience of organising a retest.

Now,if you had asked me to pray for a lighter footed troll as tester then you might have come away smiling, in my experience prayer is a long term process & not just for MOT time. Anyway to make you feel better the switches aren't that expensive & are a bayonet fit; easily to remove once you have developed the technique of dislodging most of the joints around your lower back. The new ones can be a pig to refit as you will be disabled by getting the original off. Around here the ambulance service are quite used to these types of injury & the fire service rarely need to cut the vehicle in two to get the now crippled person out.

Yeah tell me about it! I'm going to take the seat out first.

As commented elsewhere, I'm just glad that despite the new rules I was allowed to drive Hesketh home to fit it, otherwise I'd be paying for mechanic discomfort at around £60 per hour.

In the spirit of full disclosure, the lead footed troll could even have been me, as there was some spirited driving and braking to match in the slightly extended drive to test center to ensure cat temp and braking efficiency with new pads etc.

Also in spirit of full disclosure, I'm a Zen Buddhist, so veiw efficacy of prayer in any situation as at best of limited nature and instead smile and continue to strive for inner calm in the face of these trials.

As commented elsewhere, I'm just pleased that emissions didn't crop up as a karmic bump in the road.

Almost total absence of beam pattern was also debated at length... I think a spare set of cheap headlights and getting them resilvered before next year may provide some peace of mind.

One thing that occurs, the switch can be reset by drawing out the domed headed plunger, it needs a good tug but will come out several millimetres. I replaced mine because it had been visited by someone with little skill & was unaware of how to use what they had; they had run a self tapper in the dome enlarging the shaft & jambing the plunger it in after heavy braking.

Sadly not in this instance. It's not one of the ratchet set-able ones. It's one of the later series fixed ones with the washer spacers, and it is internally intermittent. A quick inspection shows a hairline crack in the casing.

Bullet must be bitten, nettle grasped, seat will come out and feet will point skyward... I do a bit of yoga every now and then...

I got my headlight reflectors remetalised by a company that manufactures coffin hardware. The engineer is a top bloke and more than happy to help car enthusiasts out.
They removed the old stuff and applied the new stuff properly, all for @ A$60 the pair!
He told me he parsimonious, cheapskate, miseryguts beancounters at MG left out one vital step in the process.

When it's time to pull the headlights apart, BE VERY BLOODY CAREFUL, use penetrating fluid on the adjuster screws and the ball sockets, the plastic crap is a bit fragile.

And yeah I had the dubious privilege of replacing the brake light switch.
I couldn't get one easily/quickly from a specialist Mg parts supplier and here in Oz, the general parts stores don't have much in the way of MG parts on their listings but I found its also used in some GM crap so I got one using a GM part number.

Had to the same with window winder motors, they have a close equivalent GM part (only the wiring plug is different, easily changed)