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A week in the life (long & boring)

To: mgs@autox.team.net
Subject: A week in the life (long & boring)
From: "Dodd, Kelvin" <doddk@mossmotors.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 10:57:13 -0700
Ok, I have to share.  I am an MGphile.
7/26  Decided I had to drive a British car to the Morgan club gathering I
had been invited to.  Driving my Dodge Pickup just was not acceptable.  It's
been a long time since I pulled all nighters, perhaps I can remember how.
Hmm, which to work on?  I only have from 7.00 to night-night to work in the
evenings.  The MGBGT V6 is the only thing I have even close to streetable.
But it has some kind of vacuum leak making it sound like a banshee.
7/27-7/28  Pull and replace the Holley 2300 carb.  10 times, replacing
gaskets, remachining adapter plates, dismantle carb.  No luck, still sounds
like a Valkyrie at idle.
7/29  Give up on V6, pull 65 MGB racecar out of trailer.  Remove hardtop
(gotta have a connertable)  trial fit top that has been sitting in storage
for 3 years.  No way will it fit at this time of night.  Bald 195/60 14
tires, won't work with the gears I have.  Hmm, there is a set of 15"
Minilite knockoffs in storage that are destined for the MGA project.  Borrow
a 195/60 15 tire to check for fit on the MGA, looks like clearance is ok.
Try it on the B, a little tight, but worth a try.  Check the rear brakes,
still locking up the back right under hard braking.  Nobody ever came up
with a definitive answer for the guy on the list with the same problem.
Pulled brake drums, no leaks, no time to change out cylinders, it's 11 pm.
Ha, who needs brakes anyway.  Bolt the carb back onto the V6 GT just to
shove it out of the driveway.  You guessed it, no vacuum leak, it now drives
better than it ever did before.  I hate MGs, even bastardized ones.
7/30 early AM.  stuffed the stiff top and bows into the trunk.  Stacked 4
wheels on the passenger floor and behind the seats.  Strapped a 5 gallon can
of race gas into the passenger seat.  (made comment about Kamikazee MG
driver to room-mate, who was not impressed, I think she was wondering who
would cut the grass when I was gone).  Left for work kinda on time,
screamed up the freeway at some silly revs due to the gearing and short
tires.  Dropped the wheels off at the tire shop, decided that Japanese tires
would not be suitable for MGA, no matter how cheap.  Decided to opt for
Italian Pirelli's 195/60-15.  Pull into work, borrow a fellow MGer to
stretch the soft top over the bows, it fits.  (now all I need are two strong
people and a hot day to put it on again)
7/30 5.00 pm (yeah, I'm a 8-5er) picked up wheels two at a time.  Pretty
Italian Pirelli's are made in USA (Oh well).  Choked on the bill (thats what
credit cards are for).  Rushed back to work to install wheels in the parking
lot.  Hmm, front rotor is not really supposed to be self lubricating is it?
Found out why my back right brake was locking up, front left brake pads are
soaked in high quality silicon brake fluid.  Oh, well 3 brakes are better
than going home alone.  Checked fluid level (single line system) no
discernable loss, so the caliper seal leak is not bad.  Found distributor
hold down bolt was missing, scrounged around for a suitable nut and bolt.
6:30 on the road.  The wheels and tires look incredible and the gear ratio
is much better.  The tach is wacky and the speedo is not hooked up, so
driving by ear.  Let's see.  Bright red MGB, no side windows, turnsignals,
wipers, heater, horn, at least the oil pressure/temp guage works.
7/31  Run the TSD rally in a borrowed, beat up 58 Morgan +4 called "Ratty",
have fun shifting the Moss gearbox with weak 2nd gear synchro.  Love the
sound the cammy engine makes in the tiny hamlet of Cambria.
8/1  Follow the above mentioned "Ratty" to the airstrip below Hearst Castle.
Wow, talk about history.  Running an autocross on the same asphalt the rich
and famous used to land on.  Took the B out for one run on the course.  On
three brakes, the car still stopped better than most of the Morgans.  Back
left tire is scraping the outer fender under hard turns.  Got lost as usual,
does anyone else have a problem negotiating what appear to be a forest of
cones?
8/2  Early, off onto the highway again to get to work by 8.  Stopped for
breakfast with Morgan club people, got to work by 10.  Got chastened by
sundry people for being late and leaving wire wheels in the storage
building.  Hey, I called in, just cos' you couldn't hear my voice above the
wind noise.  Now I know why you don't see MG owners on the car phone.
That night, the hard top goes back on the car and it rolls back into the
trailer.  The GT gets pulled into the driveway.  I figure out the problem
with the carb.  (don't ask).  Crawl to bed.
8/3  Evening, now it's time to get the MGBGT V6 commutable.  Washed the car,
pulled the dead sheepskins off the tatty TR7 buckets, squirted some spray
bomb paint on the rusty rockers and exhaust pipes.  buffed what is left of
the paint, aired the tires, changed the rear (clunking) spax shocks out.
Hey it actually looks ok from a distance.
8/4  Commute the 80 mile round trip to work with no problems.  Start putting
together a list of all the things I hate about this car.  Bump steer is the
worst, time to re-engineer the front end.  Spend the evening tidying the
garage, and trial fitting the replacement bonnet on my Magnette.
8/5  On the way home from work, disaster.  Special long ricky racer studs in
right rear hub start to work loose.  So much for that idea.  Limp off the
freeway, tighten up the nuts as best as possible, make it home at 35mph.
Pull the right rear wheel, it's lunch.  Ouch.  Pull both the rear hubs and
replace them with the original ones.  Carefully negotiating around the two
Magnette hoods in the driveway.  The Minilite 15" bolt on wheel is
destroyed, and there is no way of running the other 3 wheels with 205/60 15
tires.  So a set of stock Rostyles with 185/70s get pulled off the parts MGA
where they had been resting since the 80 MGB got totalled.  Once installed,
the bump steer and front end shimmy have almost vanished.  The car is a joy
to drive and the heavy steering has gone away.  Ok, I think I may have found
the upper limit of drivable tires.
8/6  Made it to work ok, fingers crossed for the rest of the weekend.  Plan
to rebuild a pair of calipers for the race car, and get the Magnette running
again.  Oh, yeah and maybe finish mowing the lawn that I started on 8/3.

If any of you got this far, thanks for letting me download.  It's been an MG
kind of time.  Luckily, my honey is the one who was able to wrangle the
Morgan ride.  That's why there were no descriptions of the evenings at the
Morgan event.

TTFN
Kelvin.      
 

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