I brought the car back to Arkansas in 2005, whereupon I attempted to catalog the various loose parts. Hmmm. Shotgun shells... Unless the motor starts like the airplane Jimmy Stewart flew in 'Flight of the Phoenix', I won't be needing those...one 'complete' engine (for the most part) and one engine torn down...etc., etc. I won't go into too much detail.
I eventually disassembled the entire car. It wasn't enough to just get it running. I had to do it all. So, over the next few years, I bought a lot of parts...carpets, tires, trim rings, mirrors, rings, seals, gaskets, bearings. In 2006, I had the block 'boiled' and the head done. The machine shop polished the cam and the crank, as well. All for about $200. The only mistake I made was unwrapping the block before I was ready to re-build the engine. Well, that's not quite true. That was the second mistake. The first mistake was venting my dryer into the garage. The combination of moist dryer venting and an exposed block was, of course, RUST. When my brother announced that he was coming up for the weekend, and would help me rebuild the engine, I panicked. For another $90 of my 'MG money', I took the block back to the machine shop, and had him clean it up for me. Ah, the lessons we learn...
With my brother's help, I reassembled the engine with new rings, gaskets, seals, bearings. I painted the timing chain cover and the valve cover (which I'm now re-painting the correct silver).
Here are a couple of shots of the engine reassembly process...
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