~ The car runs great, and, strangely, sounds better than before.
Well, of course! The mechanical explanation is that you now have a
nicely torqued head and you presumably set the valve lash when you
torqued it back down.
The non-mechanical explanation is that the car has happy memories...
~ I'm sure this head will eventually fail, but so what?
I've just gone over the 80-mile mark on my brand-new MGB engine.
It's running better than any M.G. I've ever driven, which should
be no surprise. And yet I'm aware that one day I'll take this
engine back out and put in another one, either the original block
that's been done more or less the way I did this one, or a comparable
engine. (I just want to last longer than a few months...)
~ And for all those of you who get queasy thinking about treating a sports
~ car this way,
Queasy? I get queasy when I hear of someone rolling a 911 off a
truck and listening to the bearings screech because the car has no
grease or oil in it to leak and mar the concours finish. What a
waste of metal. (And no, I'm not picking on 911s, it's just that
I heard about such a car recently; I'd be just as sick if it was
an M.G., or even a Triumph. :-)
These cars are meant to be DRIVEN. In some fundamental way, they
work better when they are driven hard and then maintained or repaired
properly afterward. Again, the mechanical explanation is that this
keeps the seals lubricated, the oil passages clear, the coolant
flowing, the gears meshing, all the reciprocating parts reciprocating
and all the rotating parts moving smoothly as God and Syd Enever
intended.
Of course, the *real* explanation is that the cars are happier when
they know they're loved, and they're loved best when they're driven
hard and then properly cared for afterwards.
~ driving it through the woods and all...remember all those
~ parts *are* replaceable...
Yes, but the memories aren't.
--Scott "Dum vivimus, vivamus" Fisher
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