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MG MG Y Type - Getting to know my Y / Starting!

Gents. I bought the Jacobs YB a few weeks ago. Ive not owned a Y before and am slowly familiarising myself with the car. I have a number of questions I hope you will be able to help me with.

The car has an electrical problem that means it rarely starts. I am assuming its the battery not holding its charge. It is c8 years old. I intend to replace it - any suggestions as to make or size? I want a maintenance free modern battery.Presume the car originaly had a pair of batteries?

The tyres have lots of tread but are brittle and old. I would like to change them. The car is currently on TD steel wheels. Any suggestions as to suitable brands of tyres available in he UK? The car will be used for some speed work so they need to be good and as grippy as they get. The TD boys over here all seem to run Firestone 15 560s.

The car has a Gold Seal TD2 engine with twin carbs. Any idea how I can simply check (without dismantling the engine)whether the head has been converted to unleaded and the choke size of the carbs?

The drivers seat back is broken. I might use this as an opportunity to put in a replacement. Are there period bucket seats available? Will they fit the YB rails? Or does anyone have a spare seat?

Has anyone fitted seat belts or a roll cage to a YB? Presumably youd need to attach both to the chasis? Bit of a worry if the body moved on impact!

Lots of questions - sorry!

Many thanks, Marc.
Marc

Marc owns the former Jacobs YB/0414.

Marc - I'll take your questions one at a time.

1a) make or size of battery. No ideas on make, but the more you pay as a rule the better the battery is. Size = same as BMC Mini - make sure the battery posts are the correct orientation though. Original battery was only one though not two. 12V battery therefore.

1b) Poor starting - does the engine spin over freely? Provided the engine spins easily are you getting a good spark at:
i) the point (remove distributor cap and rotor arm and "flick" the points with a nicely insulated screw driver),
ii) at the plugs (remove #1 plug, re-insert it in the HT wire and hold it with a set of insulated handled pliers against the body of the dynamo/generator and fire the engine with the ignition on - s/be a nice spark at the plugs - no spark here then check/replace the rotor arm (same as BMC Mini) as there have been a number of bad batches kicking around.
iii) Check that you have gas/petrol in the float chamber. When you first turn on the ignition the pump should "tick" until the float chamber is pressurized.
iv) Dont over choke it - I hadnt started my Y in 3 month but all it needed (and ever needs) is about 1/4 inch of choke on start up, then push it home fairly soon.

2) Tyres - TD steel rims are the same size etc as YB ones - just that TDs have holes in them and YB ones didn't. The Firestones are probably radials and there is much debate as to whether radials or cross/bias ply are better. Its a personal thing at the end of the day as you should only ever drive a car as far and as fast as you can stop it. That said, with cross/bias ply, and properly adjusted brakes you can stop both a Y and a YB in reasonable distance. I personally like the OLD CAR driving experience and an essential part of that is using cross/bias ply. On my YA (16") the choise is limited and in the UK I used to use AVON TOURIST tyres which are available from Vintage Tyres at Beaulieu (see www.mgytypes.org Links page for link). With a YB you are on 15" and the choice may be wider. Check with Vintage Tyres though as they will post/ship them if you cant get down to pick them up.
If you do go radials, the profile of a radial will NOT fit in the spare wheel locker though when properly inflated and it is an offense in the UK to drive a car with a defective spare tyre as well as an MOT failure.
If the walls are cracked - replace the tyres though, your life, and that of others depends on it.

3) Wouldnt worry about the head - just run it on unleaded. Remember when these heads were designed the UK was running on junk Pool petrol and the Y was perfectly happy on that. Run it on unleaded until such time as you need to do some work on the head and find out then. You wont break anything in the short term ... or the long term. If it pinks a bit on unleaded, retard the ignition slightly and you will be fine.

4) The Y seats are prone to breaking their frames. However, they are very comfortable when properly repaired. For the cost of getting a decent weld done on the frame versus buying new buckets and all the pfaffing that that entails - my money is on getting the seat properly welded by a good, competent welder - not Joe Blow next door who has a MIG. Again, remember, your life depends on that weld on that seat to control the car ... comfortably. Y seats do come up on eBay from time to time and they are always worth acquiring a spare, however, I would just go ahead and get that one repaired for now.

5) Fitting seat belts - have a look at the Hints and Tips page on www.mgytypes.org. There is a comprehensive set of notes there on how to fit seat belts to a Y.

Hope all of the above is helpful to you Marc. It might be an idea to change your alias though! We look forward to being able to post your YB on Ys on Parade as soon as you send me some details.

Best wishes, and happY MotorinG

Paul


Paul Barrow

Firstly, I registered on the BB a while ago with a random collection of letters as my previous expierience of the site was that web crawlers pick up your name from the registration process / BB posts and next thing you know you get inundated with spam. Thats one of the reasons why the MGF register and the MGCC speed championship now have BBs separate from the MGE website / BB. Having said that I hear security has improved so I did try and change my user name but it looks like Im stuck with it! For the record B dfgbjdfn is Marc Hanson. Will post details of myself and the car in Y's on parade when I get a chance - maybe tonight.

Paul, thanks for your comments. The battery has definately had it - loses its charge in hours such that it can't spin the starter motor. Hadnt realised the YB took the same size battery as a mini battery. The one in the YB was physically smaller but was 12v (although lacking in all other markings). Think it might be a light(er) weight racing battery as it was hooked up to a battery cut off switch and took up less than half the battery box.

As I intend to use the car for speed events I will go with radials rather than cross plys. Have even seen what look like some useable Yokohamas. Will try a deflated radial in the spare locker. I think it is ok to do so as long as you carry an inflator with the wheel (which I will - namely a pump).

As to the seat, will take it out tonight and have a look at where it has broken. If its just the frame will get it welded as you suggest.

Found the bit on the website about seatbelts last night. Getting to know both the web site and the car is going to take a little while!

Thanks again

Marc
Marc

Good job Marc.

Look forward to getting your info for Ys on Parade.

Paul
Paul Barrow

This thread was discussed between 21/07/2009 and 23/07/2009

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