What Did You Do To Your Car Today?

[Firm]

Finally wrapped up repairs on this 78 MGB, originally acquired February 2024 out of north Mississippi and kinda chipped away at it as a side-project, very slowly. Needed a bunch of small fixes, some paint-work, and a deep cleaning. Installed a factory 'MGB' side decal and gave it a good fresh detail before taking some photos and listing it. Not a perfect car, will never be, but a good solid driver for someone looking for an entry type classic roadster. I wasn't sure how the market down here would be for a car like this, they are very common, but I was shocked....Listed for a fair price ($6900) on Marketplace and was absolutely bombarded with inquiries and something like 10K views in 3-4 days. So, it sold pretty quick and really close to my original asking price.

Nice to have one less project to spread my time on, and a little less clutter in the driveway is cool too.










Unrelated, but we had some nice weather last week (i.e the heat index was under 100F) so I commuted for most of the week in the T/A. Friday afternoon got stuck in an absolute monsoon of a storm, but even as a 40 year old car she handled it well, even hitting some really deap (6-8"?) standing water...no leaks, good defrost/AC, wipers kept pace, etc. Felt way more safe and secure in those conditions than you'd expect for something that old. Had some really good help getting it cleaned back up too.

[Firm]

Having issues with image hosting so just posting direct.

[Firm]

photos part 2

[Johnnymac]

Nice, I bet you are still sort of getting the lay of the land for what car enthusiasts like in that local.  Who would have predicted such interest in a small English roadster, but seems like there is a market.

Do you have any Japanese or German cars that you'd enjoy buying and restoring?  Seems like I only ever see the British stuff and American with you, so just curious.

[Firm]

Yeah, I honestly thought it was going to be a struggle selling that MGB here, but I probably could've sold 3 of them! Clean good looking little roadster with a stick shift for low $, I think that's what got people interested rather than it being an MG.

I've actually never owned a Japanese car...Only a handful that I'd ever have interest in; Miata, 240Z, SC400, maybe a Prelude, but I am really just not that into them. German stuff I can get into...I've owned 3 SLKs, including the one we currently have. I had a BMW 318CI ages ago too. I tend to favor Mercedes for whatever reason, but I keep my eyes peeled for Porsche's too as I've never done one and wouldn't mind trying it.

[Gurgie]

I've actually never owned a Japanese car...Only a handful that I'd ever have interest in; Miata, 240Z, SC400, maybe a Prelude, but I am really just not that into them. German stuff I can get into...I've owned 3 SLKs, including the one we currently have. I had a BMW 318CI ages ago too. I tend to favor Mercedes for whatever reason, but I keep my eyes peeled for Porsche's too as I've never done one and wouldn't mind trying it.

A nice Porsche 944 N/A would be a cool project for you. Parts are readily available for them, especially in the states at reasonable prices. 1986 and up are the ones to look for, as they have the updated dash that's much nicer than the earlier cars. Find one that needs a timing belt done, it's a big ticket item that owners don't wanna do (usually a $2k job) and do it yourself for $300ish. Then there's small things that are easily done like suspension refresh, sway-bar bushings, etc. Generally they're a pretty stout car & a non-turbo is still a fun car to drive, the gearing is lower than the turbo, so it's a little more playful. The turbo was geared tall and would just cruise along as a distance GT.

[Firm]

Yep, I've looked at some 944's over the years, just never pulled the trigger on anything. There are a few advertised locally, but they're very rough. Good tips too, thanks for sharing!

[Firm]

Changed the spark plugs in the DTS yesterday. Manual calls for them to be done at 100K miles, car is at 116K miles, and I believe these to be original, so definitely time to do them. Replaced with the exact same ACDelco Platinum, which to my surprise, were made in Japan just like the ones that came out of it.

Old ones - car ran fine, but these were obviously past their prime.

[Revelations]

It amazes me how long plugs can last. Years ago i bought a 2002 Suburban 2500 with the 496 V8 from the original owner, had a light missfire and he said its probably because it has the original pugs and wires still...it had well into the 300's. Yes, the plugs were absolute junk and replacing all 8 smartened it right up.

[Firm]

GM really had their ignition systems figured out, always have been best of the lot in that area for some reason. HEI was far superior to anything else at the time, they did coil on plug right, and anything from the early 2000's onward seems to run forever on the OE components. Our Escalade just hit 300K kms and is still on the original coils...I did plugs & wires once just as maintenance.

Fords on the other hand eat coils like candy, and the German stuff loves throwing misfire codes if you stretch the replacement intervals at all.

[RRocket]

GM really had their ignition systems figured out, always have been best of the lot in that area for some reason.

Not sure I agree with that when I was doing Corvette shopping...

[Tortoise]

The Highlander is still on it's original plugs.  240k km and 17 years. To replace them involves removing a bunch of stuff, wiper cowl and intake manifold, so my mechanic said not to bother.  It seems to drive fine.

[Gurgie]

I tried to do the plugs on the SLK-55 when I had it, 16 freaking plugs & some were a HUGE pain in the ass to get to & I just didn't have the patience. Car had a valve cover leak, so when I took it to my mechanic to do that, I got him to do the 16 plugs as he was in there.

[Firm]

GM really had their ignition systems figured out, always have been best of the lot in that area for some reason.

Not sure I agree with that when I was doing Corvette shopping...

Be a little more specific...If you're talking about LS based engine corvettes then I disagree, something needs to be really wrong for an LS to misfire. Tons of trucks running the same setup with huge miles and no maintenance. If you're talking LT1 Corvette, then yeah, the whole Optispark debacle is relevant - but that's 5 years and one engine that was only in performance cars (and some rare big boats).

[Firm]

I tried to do the plugs on the SLK-55 when I had it, 16 freaking plugs & some were a HUGE pain in the ass to get to & I just didn't have the patience. Car had a valve cover leak, so when I took it to my mechanic to do that, I got him to do the 16 plugs as he was in there.

Yeah, Mercedes (well, most Germans) suck for ease of replacement. Even my older SLK, you need some special tool to get the coils to pull off so you can get to the plugs, and the fairly pedestrian 3.2L V6 is also 2-plugs per cylinder.