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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - 1500 pulley removal (in car)

Hi All,

At last feeling good enough to do the tensioner. All going well until sliding the pulley off the shaft. As far as I can see there is not enough room with the rack in place. As all the books I have are for engine out doing this; loosening or removing the rack is not a part of any instructions I can find.

So has anyone took a front 1500 pulley off with the rack in place in the car? If so how? And if not any suggestions the shortest least work way to get the clearance to get the pulley clear and off?

In the mean time I will sort out the front ally block that has been giving me some leaking gip.

Cheers, Dave
Dave Squire 1500

Hey Dave, would it be easiest to loosen the rack? Pinch bolt at the column, couple of bolts at each mount, would that give you the wiggle room?

Or try a trolley jack under the engine to lift it up to give more room?

Malcolm
M Le Chevalier

Hi Malcolm, if I loosen the rack will it wiggle forward like half an inch without doing anything else? Is there any play at the column?

Will try jack under engine in a while when sump back on.

btw how's it going with the doors or are you on further than that now?
Dave Squire 1500

Just realised that if I put the sump on I won't be able to put the pulley back on and torque up anyway.

Pinch bolts have never been undone so its decisions time about what to do next.

Modern available for next 3 days so will probably have a go at rack in a minute after reading up. Warm hands up and drink coffee methinks.
Dave Squire 1500

Aye, bit chilly out today, plenty of warm up breaks required!

I finished off one door 90%-ish. The other needs paint so can't do that one yet. Today, with help from wifey-to-be we cleaned up the floor pans and slapped on some under seal.

Still a bit of welding to do on the rear arches/boot etc. but wan't to get some paint on bits that I could. Pic in a mo (sorry for the minor hijack, you asked! :-D)

Malcolm
M Le Chevalier

And RE: the rack, I can't see why anything would suffer if you undid the pinch bolt and carefully pull the rack out slightly. If you don't fully disengage the column splines everything should stay lined up OK.

I don't know how much play there is in the column unless you undid the top column bracket.

Malcolm.
M Le Chevalier

Don't worry about hijack, I asked cos I am interested.

As you say according to all I can see there will be some play, its just that the pinch bolts are really rusted and most obviously never been out. You know what I'm like with a new bit that's not going how I expected. Flippin hopeless!

Grandkids turned up to stay so decision to put it off till tomorrow made for me. (they just went to bed). Reading up. Will look to see if I have pinch bolts in my box of bits when its light enough to see in the morning.

Cheers, Dave

Dave Squire 1500

Dave the book says to remove the radiator to get at the rack and column, if yours is rusted in then you may have to do this to mongrel the two apart. Lots of WD40 etc beforehand on everything, you can't afford to shear off a "pinch bolt" i.e the night before.
What "ally" block are you referring to?? Cheers Rod
R W Bowers

Thats what I thought Rod. Soak it is.

I have the rad out so have access but worried about sheering off the pinch bolts.

The ally block is at the bottom of a 1500 crank case covering the front mains. It makes a closer to the sump, the front sump bolts go into it, its made of aluminium so soft. The bolts easily strip the aluminium if put in wrong and that's what I have done with it.

As well as that my tensioner is going so that's what the pulley needs to come off for.
Dave Squire 1500

Oh well.

PO welded up the front shroud, grill surround and valence into one so rad shroud not removable to get sockets into steering rack bolts. Making bottom brackets for rad to go back on before cutting off bottom lip of shroud to access bolts.

At least it will all be simples when I get around to engine removal.

All this to replace a £5 part.

Must work harder!
Dave Squire 1500

Dave,

As you don't have the sump on why not turn the crank so the webs are horizontal then place a clean plank under it and jack the engine up to get clearance.
David Billington

Tried Dave. I just picked the whole car up with still not enough clearance.

Onward later.
Dave Squire 1500

Dave,

I can't speak to the 1500 specifically, but in your situation it is pretty common to undo the front engine mounts and then jack up the engine to get the clearance you need.

Charley
C R Huff

Progress report:

Undid rack pinch bolts, slid rack forward about 1/2" and had enough clearance. The only other problem was some of the screws in the chain cover were tough to remove. Made 'tensioner compressor' from coat hanger wire and so all going back together fine. (just hard work). Sump on in a minute and then oil in.

Will soon see if it all holds together and engine starts.
Dave Squire 1500

This thread was discussed between 12/01/2014 and 17/01/2014

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