Damn, this is good stuff! This list is almost as much fun as driving the
car. I've had a few responses off list as well as the public ones. The
first came from a friend who just said, "Yeah man, you da master". The
next was a slightly less enthusiastic, "my god man!". And then even
farther down the scale, "They gaol people these days for being this cruel
to their animals...".
That was followed by the disembodied brain theory, and the suggestion (just
one of many) that I should write a book. There are all kinds of theorys
about whether reality actually exists or is just all in our heads, but I
like the idea that life is real, because it's a challenge, and that makes
it fun (especially when you're winning the wars). I don't suppose any
publisher would want to print books en-mass with as many pictures as I
would want to include, so I publish my own public web site instead.
Now Bullwinkle is in the act with his side of the road Grapes of Wrath
repair to his motorcycle gear case, which is exactly the attitude that I
aspire to inspire in folks. Screw the problems. Put it back on the road.
First you have to get your priorities right, then you get your attitude
adjusted properly, and then you just fix the thing and drive on. Of course
there's some added incentive when you're out there all alone with no one
handy to come to the rescue.
Now Mr. Gilroy has this question about why the compression tester in the
tool box but not jumpers. Well, I travel light in the MGA, so I generally
don't carry things that are not often used, and especially if not
absolutely necessary. Virtually all of the tools I carry fit in a 12"
tackle box, and that will suffice to disassemble the entire car if
necessary. I know it's true, because I changed the crankshaft in a motel
parking lot once, just had to rent an engine hoist. That's when I bought
the 12" wrench, and then the 1" larger box to accept that wrench.
If the car will run, a dead battery is usually not a problem, just push
start it and off you go. When I do carry jumpers (like on the Alaska trip)
it's usually more in consideration of helping someone else out than it is
for myself. The compression tester on the other hand is small, fits in the
tool box, and is a diagnostic tool. Remember, before you can fix the
problem you have to figure out what ails it, and a compression tester is
nearly indisposable for certain cases of diagnosis. In this case I was
just checking to be sure it had good compression when it didn't fire, as a
process of eliminating an unknown, so I could stop wondering and move on to
some other area of diagnosis.
The problem with the battery in this case was that I was fiddling with the
starter on and off over 24 hours, and in spite of having a perfectly good
battery, it just has to run down eventually. You may have noticed that the
battery was not at the root of the problem. Indeed if I was stuck alone in
some remote area I would have been more careful not to run the battery down
by cranking on it so much. With all the friends around, that wasn't much
of a concern, so I was using the starter whenever it might help.
You may also recall the sideline thread about fixing the dizzy in a nearby
MGB while all this was going on. That particular action should demonstrate
the confidence and lack of concern I had about my own car, knowing (or at
least having some confidence) that I could get it going again when
required, I could take the time to help out another MG in need.
And then Nina had the comment about most of us not being a broke student
any more, which takes a lot of the incentive out of the need to be
creative. Well let me tell you that Nina hit it square on the head. My
first car was an MGA when I WAS a broke student. I learned to fix the darn
thing out of a matter of necessity when I couldn't afford to have anyone
else do anything more than change the oil. I had the car two weeks when it
dropped a valve and holed a piston, so I jacked it up in the yard and
started tearing into it to see what cold be done (with very little money).
I pulled the head and pan and broken piston, carried the head on my
shoulder 3 miles to the engine shop for machining the valve seat, bought a
valve, a piston with rings, head gasket and pan gasket, and proceeded to
put it back together within 48 hours. In 1968 that cost me $20 for parts,
$20 for machine shop service, and $24 for a Craftsman 1/2" drive socket set
with ratchet, a pair of slip joint pliers and a big screwdriver, and I
still have the tools (at least the socket set) and use them daily. Tools
are a damn good investment.
One reason the attitude stuck and stays stuck to this day is because I
remained broke long enough to get fairly intimate with the MGA, and it
really didn't take all that long. The guy in the service station down the
block never knew who I was, but the guy behind the parts counter at the MG
dealer sure did. I eventually had three MGAs in one year, with the first
two having been totaled by other idiot drivers. I'm actually rather fond
of that thought, because I was 19 at the time and the folks responsible for
the accidents were much older (but I still won't call them adults). Well
about the time of my purchase of the third MGA the parts guy jokingly
proclained, "Barney, the way you're going you'll be 30 years old and still
be driving an MG". So? At the time I wasn't quite sure why he made that
comment. It seemed perfectly normal to me.
Grapes of Wrath is a story about having to make do in hard times, which has
a lot to do with encountering need with lack of resources (especially
money). The guy wasn't necessarily being a good mechanic when he used
copper wire for piston rings in the old truck, but he found the means to be
creative when the need arose. That's what the attitude is about. Never
say die. The one significant advantage that we all have here is that these
old MGs are almost as simple of machines as that guy's old Ford truck. You
don't have to have a technical degree or any exotic tools to maintain them,
just enough desire to do the work yourself.
The more you do for yourself the more independent you get. Along the same
lines, the more you drive the car the more reliable it will get, and the
less likely it will be to leave you stranded. By the time you get through
the first 50,000 miles or so you will have memorized the shop manual and
will have fixed everything at least once, which is exactly the substance of
an expert mechanic. About that time you realize that there is no one in
the world more qualified to work on your car than you are, and you become
the one called upon when someone else can't figure out their car's problem.
Anyway I love you guys (and gals), all of you. Keep up the good questions
and the snide comments as well, and with continued discussion we can all
come to an understanding of how to keep these cars on the road without
going broke.
Now, is there anyone within driving distance of central or northeren
Illinois who would like to go autocrossing with SCCA in Rantoul in the
11th, or in Peoria on the 18th, or with the MG club at Utica on the 25th?
The driving season is getting cranked up nicely now, so there is no way
this MGA is going to be ill for very long. I have a club meeting in
Champaign on the 7th. Seems like good timing for a test run after the
rapairs. A week to 10 days should be plenty of time for engine repairs. Yes?
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an atttiude
http://www.ntsource.com/~barneymg
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