Neil_Oldfield@nag.national.com.au wrote:
>
> Eric,
> Good to see you back, how was the "Long Drive".
>
Hmmmm, after getting through 1500 (yes, literally) bits of mail last
night I am still trying to find some time to sit down and write the
book. Don't worry, it will be up on my website NOT mailed to the list.
Suffice it to say that it was a bit of an adventure :-)
Cruising at 65mph for three hours in near 100F heat was fun... really,
it was fantastic except for the fact that wind and hair buffeting your
head tends to make your skin a little numb after a while (especially
when you come up behind a big truck that disturbs the airflow when it
feels like someone is hitting you around the head with a pillow). I got
a little more sunburned than I thought I would... the sunblock wears off
after a while, maybe.
It is a pity that the car (which I *thought* was having fun) didn't see
the humour in this. Three hundred miles out and I notice that the oil
pressure is dropping steadily and dramatically. I pull over and
find.... bugger all oil BELOW minimum!
No obvious leaks... no oil on the block... no oil underneath? Oh
dear... it must have all gone out the back end (exhaust) which means...
rings, valves, pistons??? But, she still sounds as sweet as she should,
so I fill her up and head off for my first overnight stop. I will check
her then (and keep an eye on the oil pressure... I only have another
hundred miles to go - I decided to extend my first thought of three
hundred miles at a stretch).
It is getting dark (yes, I left far later than planned - but that is
another story) and on go the headlights for the last thirty miles. Oh
dear... no tail-lights! Yes, I should have replaced both the headlight
AND tail-light/parkers switches at the same time... the switch has
collapsed. I just kept an eye out for traffic from behind... I don't
want to work on the thing on the side of this long, lonely road in the
dark.
Isn't it amazing how those police cars seem to appear out of the
bushes!!!!!!! Nice guy... likes the car and suggests I head on into the
next town and just watch my rear. When I stop, I swap the window washer
toggle switch (yes, that is what it is) for the tail-light switch.
Check the oil..... oh dear again, what is that smear of oil down the
side of the block? And what are those tiny bubbles along a few inches
of the head gasket!???
The story goes on... but suffice it to say that I did the next fe
hundred miles with the head gasket the way it was, and just topping up
the oil until I got into Melbourne. Bloody strong engines in these old
beasts.
Next instalment I will detail the damage control report when I pull the
head off in Melbourne, and my fun trip back. And I thought I might just
blow the cobwebs out... I think I actually blew the sh*t out of the
poor old thing.
Eric
'68 MGB MkII (blowing smoke)
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