A while back, Hiran Wijetilaka from Australia posted a second request
for an MGB heater, having gotten no response on his first request.
My Alpine parts car had a heater in it, which I offered to him
assuming it would fit his B. After inspecting a friend's B on
Sunday, it turns out the B and Alpine are not even close. Oh, well.
I hadn't been over to where I keep the parts car in several months, so
Saturday, before finding out about the heater mismatch, I went up to
get the parts car's heater. Upon lifting the cover and opening the
door, I was greeted with the unpleasant and unmistakable stench of
rodents. Plus, dung was everywhere in the floor. I armed myself with
a stick and carefully poked around under the seats, ready to jump back
at the first sign of movement. I made a mental note to race to the
nearest hospital, just 5 minutes away, if I got so much as a scratch
from one of the little buggers. However, beyond the expected spiders
and insects, I found no living creatures in the passenger compartment.
Better check the trunk. The car is backed up to a fence, so one has
to reach over from one side or the other to open the trunk. I did so,
and a large raccoon jumped out. Pardon my French, BUT THERE'S A
F****** RACCOON LIVING IN MY PARTS CAR! I backed up, hollering and
hissing and waving the stick, ready to jump into my pickup and lock
the doors should the beast charge. Instead, it crawled under the car,
back into the passenger compartment via the holes in the transmission
hump (the car has no engine or tranny), and then back into the trunk
via the bonnet stowage area. The varmint knew its way around my car!
It then realized that there was no good cover in the car, since one
door and the trunk were open, so it jumped out of the trunk again and
disappeared. I was very careful, poking underneath the car in likely
hiding places, opening the hood, and looking under nearby cars and my
truck, but I never saw it again.
I cleaned up the floor by removing the mats, dumping them, and rubbing
them on the ground. Heater removal was uneventful after that.
However, I did find a BB shot in the windscreen, and a crack leading
from there up to the top of the windscreen frame. :^( Not that I'll
ever need it, but that windscreen is shot, if you'll pardon the pun.
Another windscreen that was inside the car was OK, so I put it in the
truck. It's now safe and sound in my attic.
Sunday I went back and spread 2 boxes of moth balls about the parts
car. That could keep it raccoon-free until I can permanently close
the holes in the transmission hump.
So, Hiran, if you're reading this, I hope you appreciate what I went
through!
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T.J. Higgins | tjhiggin@ingr.com | (205) 730-7922
Intergraph Corp. | Mapping Sciences Division | Huntsville, AL, USA
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