I took my MGB up to Sears Point raceway Saturday for the first time
in about 6 years. The last time I drove her there I had just enough
time after getting the rebuilt motor in and running to take a shower
and drive up, just in time for the instructors meeting. This rebuild
got more than 100 miles of break-in before taking it to the track.
As a matter of fact with about 6000 miles on this motor it seems to
be in just about peak shape. It uses about a quart of oil in 3,000
miles (no leaks) and a recent stretch of clear road saw 105mph and
still accelerating. I had been having some mysterious loss of water
that was showing up on the right (distributor) side of the motor, but
with no obvious leaks from the radiator or hoses.
I am curious how she performs versus other BGTs. Would anyone in
the Beigh Arya be interested in a car swap tour where we trade off
cars to see how car similar to ours run?
I wasn't able to get the inner fenders flared enough to run the race
tires on the ZX mags, fortunately I still had a pair on some rostyles
that didn't rub. Narrowing an Rx7 rear end has moved up a notch in
priority. I just found out that GSL-SEs have the same bolt pattern as
MGs so I should be able to get rotors and halfshafts that are
easy to convert.
The day started out with the BGT running fairly well, but when I
took it out in the group 4 (open passing) session, my mysterious
powerloss returned. This problem showed up on my trip to Eureka,
prompting me to replace the fuel pump in Doug Milota's driveway.
On the trip back the problem was alleviated and after my second fuel
stop mostly went away, until Saturday.
During the first group 4 session, the problem returned. I check
the fuel filter, and the float bowls. The tach though flaky would
not necessarily crap out when the engine did so I didn't think that
it was ignition related. I was suspecting that the fuel tank lining
goo that I used to repair a leak many years ago was flaking off and
blocking the pickup.
After the last group 4 session (which I completely missed) it finally
dawned on me that the water on the side of the engine looked like it
was coming from the vicinity of the head gasket. I don't like doing this
on a warm engine, but pulled out my torque wrench and retorqued the head.
All of the nuts were a bit loose. When I gave it the 1000 mile retorque
I had done so to the specs given by arp for use with their moly lube (39
ft-lbs) rather than the factory 50. This time I torqued it to 50.
I took a quick run up and down 121, and the car seemed fine. One of my
two students had left early, so I offered my group 1A student a ride
in the last 1B session of the day. Much to my joy the problem had
been solved. Jasmine was running beautifully. I was still getting used
to driving Sears Point at speed when I hooked up with a 67 alfa sedan.
I think that I may have caught and passed him, because I remembered
it saying Giulia on the back, but didn't pay a lot of attention
to him until I realized that we had been running together for some
noticable amount of time. Possibly half a lap, possibly a lap and a half.
When I realized that I had someone to play with, I put a little more
effort into driving fast rather than just getting reacquainted with the
car. The group one session have limited passing (only in the long
straights), but even so we had one of those track sessions that make
the whole game worthwhile. I'd pull away from him in the turns, he'd
catch up in the straights. I'd never pull away so far that he couldn't
catch up again, but I'd almost always pull away in the tricky parts.
After the session I went over and chatted with the other driver. Much to
my relief he was not a beginning driver, but just new to the track.
He said that he could have passed me in the straights but hung back so
that he could watch my line through the turns, which explained why when
I started driving harder, I could never open up much more, he kept
learning all of my tricks. I actually gave him a ride when I did a lead
and follow with my student half an hour later, so between that and
the fact that I wrote *most* of my tricks in the lap description of my
book, I should have a lot harder time when I next drive with him.
I'm certainly looking forward to a rematch with the Alfa in an open
passing session, though I may forgo the 200 pounds of ballast from
carrying a passenger.
I'm also starting to regret not putting on a ported head and HS6 carbs.
I keep trying to tell myself that I don't need to make the MG faster to
have fun with her, but I keep wanting a little more power, a little
better braking, wider tires...
Looking forward to Laguna Seca on Nov 22nd....
Larry Colen
--
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by
killing all those who opposed them.
lrc@red4est.com http://www.red4est.com/lrc
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