John Twist has helped MG owners with their cars for 50 years. His extensive experience, intricate technical skills, and willingness to train others are legendary in the MG community. John's hundreds of MG Tech videos combine hands-on instruction and technical expertise with lighthearted humor.
John trained in the service department of England's largest MG Dealership in 1973. From 1975 to 2016 John ran University Motors Ltd repair shop in Grand Rapids, Michigan. John began posting MG repair and maintenance videos in 2007, the early days of RU-vid. The University Motors Ltd shop closed in 2017 and John transitioned to teaching at MG events and seminars. When travel stopped in 2020, John began hosting MG Tech sessions on Zoom and posted them on RU-vid.
Through University Motors Online, John supports MG owners around the world with RU-vid videos, bi-monthly Zoom sessions, and a Facebook group. Learn more at universitymotors.online/
I just welded up one like yours out of 1 inch steel tube and hope to try it out on my MG tc 1949 didn’t think about moving the car beck and forth thanks great video
John, just checked out your video on the MGC GT suspension from 2013. Glad to see you're still making videos here, thanks for teaching me about these cars!
My first car was a red 1963 1100 with gray leather that cost me about $350. Had to tow it home as the transmission case on the bottom of the engine was cracked. Drove great after our DIY repairs but eventually I lost reverse, and then 1st gears, which explained what the few extra washers and springs we had left over were for! Luckily it was light enough to start like a scooter, with one leg out the door, and then compression start downhill. I then let the oil get too low and scored the engine, reducing top speed to about 35 or 40 mph. Nevertheless, I was able to sell it with an ad in the L.A. Times for a hundred or two. A couple weeks later the FBI knocked on our door. When I showed them my improvised bill of sale they left, but I asked why they were looking for the car. As God is my witness they said, “because it was used in a bank robbery”!!!
my part number appears to be a 41491 made in 02 74. is this where I look to see if it is a '4897'? i.e. do I need to look elsewhere or if I have a 4897 is this where it would be marked?
I could not get my charcoal to burn, but it seemed dirty and so I put it in a pan with acetone and the acetone turned brown and dirty. I repeated this quite a few times getting some kind of brown substance each time. So I don't know if some dirty oil got into that cannister or what.
I have over 100k miles on my O/D gearbox & it wasn't new when I fitted it (original box is non O/D). Apart from changing the oil & the O/D filter & the nylon bush for the gearstick I haven't had to touch it in all those miles. The shift on the box is the best I've had & I normally encounter poor synchros after extended miles on Triumph & Ford boxes but this box just keeps going. Its only downside is weight but then the rest of MGB is built like a tank.
Are you still helping people? If so I have a problem. I am restoring a MG MGB 1979 the problem I have is the people before me took the top off the thermostat housing to get water to the choke. I replaced the housing with a new one and I have been trying to find the right place to hook up the hose coming from my Zenith carburetor. All the picture show the hose going off the back of the block but I do not see anyplace that I can use. Please help me.
Check the Moss motors parts catalog Part Number 109" 470-245 Outlet, automatic choke" this fitting is located on the rear top part of the cylinder head drivers side. with two 7/16 nots securing it to the top of the head. The hose runs to the top automatic choke assembly. I have a video on youtube that shows near this are. Take a look at my videos. Will try to make a new video covering the topic. I would suggest getting a copy of the 1975 to 1980 Workshop manual. The earlier shop manuals don't cower the later equipment. I see good used copies of this book on ebay all the time at a good price. This MGB Workshop ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-B4G2QqYveVg.html
Excellent video, well worth watching (although I refrained from refurbing myself in favour of just buying brandnew calipers instead). Gearboxes and just these front calipers frighten me, fortunately the rest of the B mechanisms does not 😀
Hi. Great video! Love the deep explanation about inside that box. Didn't understood very well ( not my main language) but the thin wire could be replace with other thin wire? Why I need to keep the old one their?
Are these similar to SU Carbs on the Datsun Roadsters? I have never heard of MG are they collectable? How are they on reliability? Are they known to leak? I have always wanted a Datsun Roadster since I was a kid but if these MG’s are less expensive maybe I will settle.
I lost a wheel - TWICE! I was young and dumb. The car was NOT an MG but an Alpine. The failure was with a loud "scrunch" from the left front hub. I stopped, Inspected, reattached the wheel and proceeded onward. Got back to the dorm parking lot and decided to "test" my non-repair. Got up to 30 mph, jammed on the brakes and BUMP. The wheel departed the hub. Came to an abrupt halt yet the tire proceeded to bound another 100 yards --- right into the left rear flank of a brand-new Impala. Oops!!! I got a replacement form the junkyard, changed the hub in a snowstorm and lived a good life thereafter.
I love the look of that mini , It's just made to drive and have fun in and not having to worry about scratches or dings. I'm so done with all the 'perfection' on everything around me , as I get older it all seems like a wast of time to persue this while you could just be having fun. 😏
I repaired a "closed cell foam" float by drilling a hole in it just large enough for an automotive marker lamp (baseless bulb about 1/2" OD) Buoyancy regained and gage works great again. Drill hole slightly undersized for a tight press fit of the bulb glass into the foam.
John, thanks for the wonderful review of my Undo-Stick! FYI you didn't have to roll the car when you couldn't get the tool on the knock-off. You just had to flip it around 180deg and it would have worked fine. Live and learn right? Thanks again
5:24 The little round thing held in place by a six point star is not a capacitor. It is a resistor for spark suppression to reduce contact erosion and radio interference. On one of my 12V windtone horns it measured nine ohms. I plotted current versus voltage to see if it was some sort of semiconductor overvoltage suppressor but it came out a straight line - so simply a resistor.
Ahhh. The good old days. I was trained in English su's on Volvo when I was age 15. I have not got to work on a pair for years. KD needles and 30 wt was pretty close on a b20b.
I saw someone's wire wheel that came off once. 15 years ago. Heading south on LA's Harbor Freeway to just before it ends at Gaffey St in San Pedro on a mid-afternoon. I had to swerve out of my lane as there was a wire wheel in the middle of my lane. About a hundred feet or more ahead was an MGB missing a wheel and it's accompanying hub almost on the pavement. Forgot if it was the front or rear. The driver looked thoroughly bewildered but at least he had the sense to put his hazard lights on.
4:50 Something I noticed when I had my cam go south. I too had nicks on my cam, which was interesting being I used new ARP studs, and had all the big ends resized. What happened was two of my ARP studs, both on the cam side, turned while torquing, something I did not notice. By turned I mean the oblong top of the stud turned out so it was sticking proud of the piston enough to hit the cam on rotation. Both pistons 1 and 2 had this issue. I put a new cam in and took the surface of the studs down on the cam side using a Dremel to get clearance. Remember, there's not much clearance to the cam and some of the newer cams use rather large blanks, which too doesn't help. Measure and make sure of the clearance when using ARP studs.
