MGB Inspection, Tune-Up and Testing
Saturday, August 24, 2013 -- 10:00 am
At Walter Szempruch home
4936 Ridge Drive, Gurnee, IL

Walter Szempruch has recently finished restoring a late model MGB, converted to Weber 32/36 DGAV carburetor. He had it running, but not perfect yet. Nine CMGC members were on-site this fine Saturday morning to check out Walt’s progress and offer assistance.

Walt has done a fine restoration job paying attention to every detail. Interior was spotless – dashboard looking better than new. Doors closed effortlessly and felt solid. Engine bay was painted the same time as the exterior and sported new fittings and hardware. Electrical harness was blue-wrapped and dressed with proper clamps. Wally was right when he said that the car was ready for the road.

We started with confirming the automatic choke functioned properly and made some mechanical adjustment to the idle screw and linkage. Our attention was next focused on the distributor timing. Barney demonstrated adjusting the timing by sound of the engine RPM changes when the distributor is rotated.

Walt noted that he found one cylinder (#2) was lower than the others - reading 90 PSI against 110 PSI for the others. A quick check of the valve tolerances was next. Barmy explained the ‘Rule of nines’ and demonstrated the method of adjusting the rocker clearances requiring only slight movement of the car (in 4th gear) and watching the valve closing sequence to determine the order of adjustment. While in the area, a quick torque check of cylinder head bolts was performed. All seemed well and a recheck of cylinder compression was performed. Unfortunately there was no change. Looking for a leak, 30 PSI of air pressure was injected into the suspect cylinder to determine if it was a valve seat problem or a compression ring problem. Air could be heard leaking past the valve stems and a faint hiss could be heard at the tailpipe. Results were inconclusive since air seepage could be heard from the other cylinders as well when tested. Since this cylinder disparity was relatively minor, we closed up the engine and called it a day. Walt will keep tabs in engine performance in the future and possible revisit the problem.

-- Victor L’Heureux