Listers,
If your MG has been sitting around and you are just getting it back on
the road, REMEMBER!!! Replace those fuel lines! Nice fancy new paint
jobs do not look good when they are all charcoal-black.
Averted near disaster today whilst I was driving to work. All of a
sudden, there was liquid on my windshield....wiped it up with my hand
while driving, and smelled it....it was gasoline!!!
HORROR......WORST NIGHTMARE....VISIONS OF OLD "CHiPS" EPISODES...BANG!!
With luck, I was able to pull over, whip my top boot cover, whip up the
top and frame, tear off the carpet, get to the ground terminal and take
it off all in a matter of 20 seconds....the fuel pump stopped, but the
gas kept going....whipped up the bonnet to find to my luck, the crack in
the fuel line sent gas up and onto the bonnet underside. Good thing it
didn't spray all over that nice hot exhaust manifold.
The culprit was a 2" section of gas line going into the ZS carb. It had
dry rotted, and missed my examination of my hoses. I replaced a few, but
not all. This has made me learn my lesson for sure. Just as I get in to
go and start up my car, lo and behold, yet another geyser!
Popped the hood and found that the section of hose that joins the two
metal fuel lines by the heater box had sprung a leak also. I was able to
patch that with some scrounged bits from an absorbtion canister hose,
and I was on my way home, put Red Molly into her garage bay, and let her
rest from her near death experience.
Man, what a scare. 10 years of restoration, and I almost lost it all
from a measly $1.00's worth of fuel line.
So let this be a hint, Go out and inspect all your fuel lines for dry
rot. From the tank to the carb...just to be sure. We don't want any LBC
accidental deaths.
Oh, BTW ....two miatas, one BMW 325i, and a corvette w/T-tops all with
their tops UP on a 85 degree breezy day in Virginia.
SINNERS!!!!
Waved to them all, no waves back...do they realize that this is bad for
driving Karma??
That is all for the rant department today.
Good day and don't forget....
Drive 'em topless!!!
Kevin Richards
77B
67B parting out.
|