A wee bit of help please
Discussion
From this thread: www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=45574&f=23&h=0
My sister, being the headstrong and type that she is appears to be about to buy a 1975 MGB for about £5600. It has done about 20K miles.
What should I warn her to look out for - she will get the RAC in to check it out, but even still.
This is the first she has looked at, but it is a case of heart ruling head I'm afraid and I doubt I can keep her from buying the first one she sees unless I have some good evidence or suggestions for her first.
Help me help her please folks
Cheers
Phil
My sister, being the headstrong and type that she is appears to be about to buy a 1975 MGB for about £5600. It has done about 20K miles.
What should I warn her to look out for - she will get the RAC in to check it out, but even still.
This is the first she has looked at, but it is a case of heart ruling head I'm afraid and I doubt I can keep her from buying the first one she sees unless I have some good evidence or suggestions for her first.
Help me help her please folks
Cheers
Phil
Depends - can the 20k be verified?
just because it is a (possibly) low mileage car, doesn't mean you can be any less vigilant on your crawl over.... If it is genuine, then i would think that for the most part the suspension, wheels, interior etc will be fine. However if it cannotbe verified then these points will also need addressing.
The things you will need to look for if the car has not been used much will be internal - within the engine.... A car that hasn't been used for along time can cause a lot of grief in terms of perished parts. Thankfully the B is very simpleton and easy to sort should anything be wrong - no tricky internal rubber seals or anything. Also if the car is stored for much of the time, there should be evidence that the oil was changed prior to storage and again as it comes out, before usage - i'll bet you a £5 that it has not...!
So, if you do go ahead and buy it, get it serviced and oil/filter changed IMMEDIATELY and then the oil/filter every month or 1000miles until 3000 miles/3months and then at 3000miles/3month intervals thereafter - should last you 200,000miles by doing that!
Check the V5 of course (for exchanged engines etc - it should as far as i know have an engine block number on the offside between cyls 2 and 3, which starts with "18V") and there shouldn't be any smoke or anything from start up.
Lastly - you may need to get the brakes looked at if stored for long time - could be seized etc...
HTH
edited to clear up some points after Hut's post...
>> Edited by Buffalo on Monday 28th July 22:46
just because it is a (possibly) low mileage car, doesn't mean you can be any less vigilant on your crawl over.... If it is genuine, then i would think that for the most part the suspension, wheels, interior etc will be fine. However if it cannotbe verified then these points will also need addressing.
The things you will need to look for if the car has not been used much will be internal - within the engine.... A car that hasn't been used for along time can cause a lot of grief in terms of perished parts. Thankfully the B is very simpleton and easy to sort should anything be wrong - no tricky internal rubber seals or anything. Also if the car is stored for much of the time, there should be evidence that the oil was changed prior to storage and again as it comes out, before usage - i'll bet you a £5 that it has not...!
So, if you do go ahead and buy it, get it serviced and oil/filter changed IMMEDIATELY and then the oil/filter every month or 1000miles until 3000 miles/3months and then at 3000miles/3month intervals thereafter - should last you 200,000miles by doing that!
Check the V5 of course (for exchanged engines etc - it should as far as i know have an engine block number on the offside between cyls 2 and 3, which starts with "18V") and there shouldn't be any smoke or anything from start up.
Lastly - you may need to get the brakes looked at if stored for long time - could be seized etc...
HTH
edited to clear up some points after Hut's post...
>> Edited by Buffalo on Monday 28th July 22:46
I had a 74 MGBGT and from memory I'm pretty sure it had a 99,999 mileometer. So 20,000 on the speedo may actually be 120,000 (or 220,000 
). I would take a lot of time to inspect the chassis (or have someone do this) the engine would be low on my list of show-stoppers. Particularly look for corrosion around the rear spring rear mounting bracket. If the car's been cherished this will have been restored at some stage and will be indicative of what other work might have been done.
There's a good buying guide on an American site so you'll have to excuse fenders, hood and trunk instead of wings, bonnet and boot!!
Hope it turns out to be a good investment www.mgcars.org.uk/wdmgcc/body_buy_mgb.html
). I would take a lot of time to inspect the chassis (or have someone do this) the engine would be low on my list of show-stoppers. Particularly look for corrosion around the rear spring rear mounting bracket. If the car's been cherished this will have been restored at some stage and will be indicative of what other work might have been done. There's a good buying guide on an American site so you'll have to excuse fenders, hood and trunk instead of wings, bonnet and boot!!
Hope it turns out to be a good investment www.mgcars.org.uk/wdmgcc/body_buy_mgb.html
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