Pre-Project Recommendations & Cautions:

Secure “buy in” from your spouse and family that the project will be time-consuming, have you in the garage a lot, and will cost a good bit

On the other hand, realize that family members need and deserve a reasonable amount of your time… give them some

Remember that frustrations can build strongly for a long-drawn-out project, every “sub project” of which almost always takes more time than you estimated; while a frequent beer can help alleviate the stress, too many can create a whole new set of problems

Buy a shop manual for your car – they’re available at very reasonable prices (often in the $15 to $20 range for a used one and about $25  to $50 for a “new” one) on eBay and new on such sites as Amazon.com; it’s amazing how few owners of Classic Cars own one and how MANY problems can easily be solved by one; most such manuals have many illustrations; they’re also available as PDF files on a CD

Join an Internet technical discussion group or bulletin board for your brand of car (do a search for “[your marque], bulletin board, technical, discussion, group” and keep following the links until you find one; these are free, quick and easy to join, and often have hundreds of helpful members who are willing to answer any question you have (usually within minutes to hours)

Join a local club for your marque or a multi-marque club – you will often make valuable contacts who can quickly answer many questions that could take you hours to trace down through some other sources

Buy a fire extinguisher (preferably two) – keeping one near the engine compartment and the other in the cockpit when you’re working on the engine and at all other times both during restoration and after you start driving your car, remembering it’s an old vehicle subject to a higher likelihood of fire than a new one… it would be a shame to lose your valuable “baby” and the hundreds of hours and perhaps thousands of dollars of restoration all for the failure of spending $25-50 for a fire extinguisher

Strongly consider installing a battery cut-off switch – it’s a great safety AND anti-theft device

NEVER use just your floor jack – always use a minimum of four jack stands (I usually use six of them and two floor jacks… I value my life too much to take chances)

Check External Engine Components:

Thoroughly clean the engine compartment of mice and squirrel droppings, decayed leaves, oil sludge, road grit, dirt, and all the other products of long storage and disuse

There’s a good chance you’ll need to replace most / all rubber parts – particularly radiator hoses, fuel lines, vacuum lines, fan belts, etc as these parts suffer badly over the years from “dry rot”

If your car has the smog equipment on it, rotate the air pump manually to see if it works – otherwise, you may have a severe episode of black smoke from a burning belt

Check the generator or alternator for the same reason as above

Minimally, clean your plugs – it’s recommended that you change them as they’ll almost certainly be fouled

Replace your distributor cap, rotor, points, and condenser – they’re inexpensive and this can save you a LOT of trouble-shooting

Strongly consider replacing your ignition wires – high performance ones are available which indeed give a considerable improvement

See how strong your starter is; if it doesn’t turn over very well, it could be corrosion on the starter or battery terminals (easy to fix and a real problem if dirty)

Check the Battery:

If your car has two six-volt batteries, you might want to change them out for a single 12-volt one as many 6-volt batteries are difficult to find; this is a fairly simple change usually involving leaving the positive cable hooked to the “+” of the new 12-volt battery and re-routing the negative cable from the old second battery to now hook to the “-“ of the new one

If you think your existing one might be okay, take it into a parts store to get an “charge hold” test – most parts houses will do this for free and it can save you a lot of wrongly-directed problem-solving for apparent ignition problems that are due to a discharging or weak battery (many batteries that have set fully discharged for any length of time will never hold a proper charge again)

Buy a battery “slow charger” and, once your battery is fully charged by a conventional charger, keep the slow charger connected to your battery at all times during restoration – while these inexpensive ($10 at Harbor Freight; $15-$75 elsewhere) chargers cannot charge a discharged battery, they can keep a fully-charged one charged indefinitely, saving the cost of having to replace a brand new battery during restoration (this is experience speaking!)

Check the battery terminals and ground strap for corrosion; clean the connections with a small, toothbrush-sized wire brush and tighten them well after adding dielectric grease to prevent future corrosion

Check the Fuel System:

Drain the fuel tank and see if it’s relatively clean – it it’s only slightly “varnished” (the residue from dried fuel), you can clean it with a variety of solvents

If the tank is full of rust or grit, plan on buying a new fuel tank; they can be purchased from Little British Car Company (LBCarCo.com) for under $200 – far cheaper than rebuilding your carburetors several times from bad fuel

Add new fuel to the fuel tank, then purge the fuel system by pumping a pint of fuel into a bottle or can

Use an air compressor to blow your fuel lines clear; start from the carburetor and blow towards the fuel tank; if you get lots of light grey grit out of them, prepare to replace the metal lines

Check the metal fuel lines underneath the car and in the engine compartment – some people have found their either corroded closed or so corroded that fuel leaks out of them; if this is the case, under NO circumstances should you try to run your car as the fuel, under pressure, can spray onto your exhaust system and catch fire

Many British cars use the SU fuel pump, often located near the right rear wheel or in the trunk – when you turn on the ignition you should hear a few clicking sounds; when it and the engine are working properly, you’ll hear several rapid clicking sounds when you turn on the ignition – once the car is running, you’ll occasionally hear additional clicks but at a much slower rate

To determine if the pump is working; remove your line where it connects to the carburetor and, with someone helping, direct the fuel line into a small container – if no gas comes out but you DO hear a click (or few), disconnect the line back near the pump and try it again; if you now get gas/petrol, that tells you your pump may be working but your lines are stopped up between the pump and the carburetor

If you have to replace your pump, consider a rebuild kit if it’s an SU (as long as it’s NOT an “electronic” SU); these cost between $10-25 versus up to $200+ for a new SU pump; if you replace yours, don’t be surprised if it burns out in a year or two – quality control isn’t what it used to be

Check and replace any rotten rubber fuel line pieces

Replace your fuel filter, using one with a metal housing to avoid the possibility of an engine compartment fire from a plastic filter (many British cars had the dangerous plastic ones when new, but this should not be continued, regardless of how “authentic” you want your car to be)

Check the Carburetors:

About a week before you’re ready to work on the carbs, spray the interior of them (and all moving parts) liberally with WD-40 or some other thin lubricant that won’t damage rubber or gaskets

Remove the float bowl lids and clean out the float bowls

If you have two or more carburetors, be very careful to label the air chamber, piston, needle, and springs to keep each the same when you reassemble them (due to manufacturing differences and wear patterns, they will differ slightly)

Remove the suction chambers, clean them, clean the air pistons, and lightly sand the metering needles to remove the verdigris (with 600 grit paper or something like that)

Exercise the jets by moving the choke levers up and down about 50 times, all the time spraying the linkage and the inside of the carbs with oil

Use 90 weight gear oil in the dash pots for rich acceleration

Perform an Engine Pre-Check:

About a week or two before you’re ready to start, remove the plugs and introduce a tablespoon of oil into each cylinder (Marvel Mystery Oil or Mystic Oil or even transmission oil work best to penetrate through the rings and around the cylinder walls, reducing major friction when first starting a long-stored car)

Manually turn over the engine to make sure it isn’t frozen (on models with a metal fan blade, you can use it as a crank; on other models, you can sometimes use the fan belt, being careful not to get your hand between it and a pulley)

Check your cylinder pressure cold to against the specifications in the shop manual to see if it’s at least about 70% of the “warm” spec (to determine major ring wear or failure and piston/cylinder condition)

Remove the distributor and clean the points (setting the gap to factory specs

Static time the engine at 10 degrees before top dead center

Remove your coil wire and crank the engine to determine if you get oil pressure on your gauge

Clean your engine block and valve cover carefully and check both for past gasket leakage

Avoid over-tightening the valve cover as that can cause buckling and new leakage

Know that most British cars leak oil… but the quality of gaskets and seals is much higher today than they were 30 to 50 years ago; consider replacing many of them

Once you’re able to start your engine, let it warm up and then check your cylinder pressure against the specifications in the shop manual to get a better idea of ring wear or failure and piston/cylinder condition

After your engine is running well, you might want to consider an electronic ignition system (such as Pertronix); these usually cost about $100 and many prefer them over having to adjust the points – they can be installed by the owner if you carefully follow the directions, although they do require some technical knowledge

Check the Lubrication System:

Change the oil filter

Change the engine oil and replace it with fresh Castrol 20w50 oil – do not use “ecology-friendly” or “green” oils; they don’t have enough zinc in them for these older engines and transmissions and can damage them; if you can’t find the correct oil, buy 20w50 and an additive with ZDDP in it (which has the right amount of zinc

Check the Cooling System:

Drain the engine coolant and replace it with a mixture of fresh coolant fluid and distilled water – do not use a pure water as this can result in rust inside your engine’s cooling system; do not use tap water as it can cause corrosion problems

Strongly consider replacing your thermostat – it’s a usually a quick and inexpensive procedure and can save you problems

If your car has an electric radiator fan, consider replacing the fan switch – it, too, is quick and inexpensive and can save cracking your block (if you order a new one, you might as well order two; they’re usually less than $10 and a failure can kill your restored car)

Check the Transmission & Differential:

Drain the transmission oil and replace it with fresh Castrol 20-50 oil - do NOT use "ecology-friendly" or "green" oils as they don't have enough zinc in them for these other engines and transmissions and can severely damage them.  If you can't find the correct oil, buy 20w50 and a ZDDP additive (which has the right amount of zinc.

Check the U-joints

Check the differential for leakage and top it off

Check the Electrical System:

Most electrical problems on British sports cars are caused by corroded connections – many make fun of “Lucas, the Prince of Darkness” electrical systems when the actual problem is normal corrosion on exposed 40-70 year old parts

Pull apart ALL bullet connectors and sand the male portions with fine grit black sandpaper; roll small tubes of the sandpaper to fit into the female portions and clean them, as well – alternately, Little British Car Company (lbcarco.com) and probably others sell a set of tiny wire brushes that will go into the female connectors and other larger brushes for the male bullets (under $10 for several brushes)

Check your turn signals before driving the car – odd effects (no blinking on one side, irregular blinking, etc.) are often caused by corroded connections whereas NO blinking is usually caused either by a bad flasher, a burned out fuse, or a pulled-apart connection or broken wire

Use electrical lubrication (“dielectric grease”)on all the connectors to eliminate future corrosion

Open the fuse box and remove each fuse, sanding each connector lightly along with the fuse base; if the inside of the fuse box is oily feeling, clean it with a drying solvent (like brake or carb cleaner) – oil blow-by and road grit can get into the fuse box and cause the engine not to run

If the car doesn’t start or even try to turn over, check the relay (on MGBs it’s on the right wheel well about 8-10” behind the radiator); this item costs about $10 and some “daily driver” owners carry a spare or two in their trunk

Check the Clutch & Brakes:

If your clutch leaks fluid onto your foot when you depress the pedal, you have a defective master cylinder – it’s located in the engine compartment on the firewall and the rubber parts may be damaged; you can purchase a rebuild kit for it

Further check your clutch system by depressing the clutch pedal – if it quickly sinks to the floor, go through the following procedure:

Check the rubber parts of the system and, depending on how long the car has been stored and replace any parts that need it

Depress the clutch pedal; remember that if you feel fluid on your foot or ankle, you have a master cylinder leak

If you have leakage onto the garage floor under the car, it’s a slave cylinder problem

If the rubber feels spongy and there are clearly leaks in the either cylinder, replace it

Drain the fluid and replace it with Castrol LMA DOT 4

Do not put a bleeder on the slave cylinder

Depress the clutch pedal

Place your index finger on the bleeder hole

Take your foot off the pedal

Wait 20 seconds

Push the pedal down

Put the finger back on

Let the pedal up

Wait 20 seconds

Continue this process until you have a good burst of fluid – it usually about five strokes

THEN fit the bleeder and bleed several more times, cracking the bleeder loose instead of using your finger

Check your brake system by depressing the brake pedal – if it quickly sinks to the floor, go through the following procedure:

Check the rubber parts of the brake system and, depending on how long the car has been stored and replace any parts that need it

If the rubber feels spongy and there are clearly leaks in the master cylinder, replace it

Check the hoses for cracks and, if necessary, replace them

Drain the brake fluid and replace it with Castrol LMA DOT 4

Go through a similar process with the brakes as with the clutch

Jack your car up and, with an assistant, make sure the brakes actually hold the wheels from moving

If the car creeps or rolls on an incline or can be easily pushed, adjust the brake (most are adjustable by a turnbuckle or some similar method on the cable under the car)

If the emergency brake lever is hard to move or the button difficult to depress, lubricate it - an emergency brake can be used in lieu of your foot brakes in a rolling emergency by holding down the button and using the lever to brake your car... just do NOT let out the button!

Check the Steering & Suspension:

Make sure you can turn your steering wheel lock to lock and that the wheels actually move correspondingly

Check all your grease zerts and apply grease as appropriate

Once your car is driving, check your suspension for bouncing, clunks, etc. – there’s a good chance your bushings have deteriorated;

Often the springs will sag (they can be re-sprung by a good spring shop); also, your shocks may have gone bad (there are specialty shops that rebuild them)