Old & Rough Tool Case - part 11 -- Cleaning the inside of the case & installing the front lid back on

Started cleaning the bottom on the inside of the case.  Amazing amount of dirt on the leatherette...

The RH side is being cleaned & LH side is before cleaning.

Again, the amount of dirt is surprising...

The drawer guides are wood and there's a channel cut into the sides for the front lid's pin to ride in.  When the pins arrive at the very front of the case, the pins drop down to kind of lock in place so that when the lid is raised vertical, the bottom doesn't move fore-aft.

Continuing to clean the leatherette on the bottom of the inside of the case...

There's a pencil marking on the bottom of the case.  I think it says 28-B.  Don't know if this is a date code (1928?) or an internal code to keep track of something? Or?  I was careful not to clean this off.

Good picture of the RH side channel for the front lid pin.

LH side front lid pin guide.

Showing the wooden drawer guides on the LH side.

RH side drawer guides...

Cleaning the wood portion of the case bottom...

Started  cleaning the leatherette on the front opening edges...

Started installing the front lid.  First insert the RH side pin in it's furthest out and down position.  Then bring the lid up to this angle to make a triangle with the bottom of the lid to the front.

Showing that the RH side pin is in it's guide and fully forward & down.

The LH side pin is above the channel that it's supposed to ride in.

Even using this technique, there's a slight interference between the LH side pin and the side of the case.  At this point, gently push through the interference until the pin moves into it's guide channel.

This is after installation, showing the slight damage to the side panel's wood above the channel.  The damage is actually pretty slight.  Maybe about a mm of interference.

After slight sanding & cleaning, it looks pretty good.

Plus, this area is not visible when the drawers are put back in.

Right after front lid installation.

Front lid slid in to it's "open & stowed" position.

With the drawers reinstalled.

 

Charging the battery on the 1973 MGB

First, put the top up to get it out of the way.

Then, remove the carpet piece sitting in this well behind the seats.

The carpet is sitting on the decklid in this picture.

The cover panel over the battery is held in place with four 1/4 turn fasteners.  The screws have a flat screwdriver head.

I carry a stubby screwdriver in the glovebox for this purpose.

There are two wells for the battery.  Originally, the MBG came with two 6-volt batteries connected in series (to make 12 volts).

When I got the car, this is the way it was set up.  Just one 12V Odyssey battery jury rigged in place on the passenger side well.

The Odyssey battery is much smaller than the original 6-volt battery.

Battery charger connected to the battery.  I set the charger at 2A, which is the slow charge setting (it's better for the battery to slow charge over several hours, if you have the time).

Redoing the battery mounting is one of the items on the to-do tasks for the MGB.  It's a long list...

But for now, the car drives so it lives the way it is...

 

1994 BMW Model Line Brochure

 

Phil & Enzo - part 19

Saturday, October 10, 2020 -- Manhattan Beach Pier

It's a little hard to see but there are several people at the pier wearing hi-viz vests that say "code enforcement" on the back.  They are making sure that people are wearing masks and are social distancing.  I was about to ride back home when one of them approached me & told me that if I'm going to be walking around with my bike, I need to wear a mask.  I explained that I'm about to ride off back home & she said then I'm OK (don't have to wear a mask while riding)...

 

Old & Rough Tool Case - part 10 - Front Lid -- gluing down loose pieces of the leatherette, cleaning the leatherette & cleaning the felt center section on the inner side

Outer side of the lid.  There's a section near the top left where the leatherette is worn and loose (it's on the joint where the wood had separated and was glued back together).

In this picture, I pushed the loose piece up so that the wood below is exposed...

Applied glue...

After waiting a few seconds, pushed the loose leatherette back down and pressed to make it adhere.

Continued more cleaning of the leatherette.  The blue shop paper towel became pretty black all over...

Another area where the leatherette is loose.  Applied glued and stuck it back down again...

The outer surface of the lid.  All the loose edges have now been glued down and the remaining leatherette has been cleaned.

On the inner side of the lid, there's a center panel where it's recessed and covered with green felt.  Using a relatively gentle plastic bristle brush, the felt was cleaned.

In this picture, the small pile of dirt in the center and bottom half show how dirty the felt is...

After the brushing and cleaning.  It could probably use some more cleaning but too much cleaning will further damage the old felt.

Decided to stop here.  It's reasonably clean and all the loose dirt has been removed.

May try gently vacuuming it in the future (have to be careful to not suck off chunks of the very old felt!).