>...SO forget the spare carb diaphragm always carry electrician's tape. (and
>a shoestring, but that is another story)
>
>Larry Macy
>78 Midget
>
Larry -
Yeah... My story is that I was alone on a Sunday in 1984, enroute from
Blacksburg Virginia to Bloomington Indiana. ' Was new to MGs at the time
and had just learned to tune my recently-acquired '78 B. Started losing
power at Kentucky line and by Frankfurt, I could barely get up the exit
ramp. ' Had Haynes, Chiltons and Autobooks manuals with me. Not a hint.
Overnight stay. Monday: search for a mechanic. Found one who insisted it
was a clogged cat converter. His temporary semi-legal fix: loosen the
bolts from manifold to cat about a half-inch - it would be enough to get me
to the Leyland dealer in Louisville. Noooooooo. It made no difference -
except to make it LOUD. In fact it caused MG to rebreath its own exhaust
and unbeknownst to me the plugs fouled. It started missing badly and I
barely got into a rest stop about 30 miles out of Louisville. ' Couldn't
be the plugs, thought I, ' just replaced them! Got towed to Leyland shop.
Mind you I was pretty naive at the time. Mechanic says he'd have to pull
the head (6-8 hours at $60/hour!!!) just to diagnose. I wasn't THAT naive.
Instead, I had them store the car for about two weeks, I rented a car to
finish my business trip, returned to Virginia, rented a tow dolly - drove
back to Louisville - another night in a motel - took the driveshaft off MGB
and towed it back to Virginia. Called my mechanic-friend in Blacksburg and
discribed the problem to him and he diagnosed it -all over the phone.
$4.90 later I was back on the road - although I had to fix up that
converter. You're right, Larry, I did have some electrician's tape with me
and I could have patched the diaphragm in a few minutes had I known there
was such a thing! But then - a new one is so cheap and takes so little
space, why not just carry a spare? After all, I'm already carrying spare
heater control valve, bottom radiator hose, fan belt, fuel pump, water
pump, coil, distributer, alternator, U-joint, front wheel bearing, and,
and, and... I admit to a problem with carrying a spare: they're so rarely
needed the spare would probably rot in the toolbox before the original rots
on the carb. My current solution is to use SUs on all my Bs.
Incidentally, I can pull ahead myself in less than two hours.
Let me guess... the shoe string is for when the throttle cable breaks, right?
Cheers,
Allen
Allen H. Bachelder =iii=<
Sinking Creek Home for Wayward MGs
New Castle, VA 24127
USA
540/544-7333
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