Yep, some days (weekends, weeks, years) are like that.
Keep the faith:-).
Monte
----- Original Message -----
From: "James Nazarian" <jhn3@uakron.edu>
To: "v8" <mgb-v8@autox.team.net>; "mgs" <mgs@autox.team.net>
Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2003 10:05 PM
Subject: What a weekend <Longish>
> This is one for the books and maybe one for Barney's grapes of wrath
pages.
>
> On Thursday we had a torrential downpour and Trisha and I happened to be
out
> in my roadster at the time, we had to ford through a 100foot long 6 inch
> deep puddle and then decided that there was just too much rain and we
should
> turn around and seek sanctuary at the grocery store. The roads reminded
me
> of watching rally cars fording streams, there were huge walls of water on
> either side of the car wherever we drove. We turned around in a fire
> station and forded the same puddle again, unbeknownst to us, on the deep
> side this time. I have a tear in my shift boot and while crossing the
> puddle we went down a drop in the pavement, when we did this a geyser of
> water shot through the shift boot and soaked us both, we made it back to
the
> supermarket and wandered around until the rain subsided. When we came
back
> out the car wouldn't start, I checked the distributor cap and it had a
large
> puddle in it, first time ever that I have had a water problem in the cap,
> but no surprise given the rain.
>
> On Friday morning I started off to help my brother do some work on his
car,
> roughly 1/2 mile from home the car died and I was forced to pull into a
CVS
> pharmacy. I was expecting water in the electricals or something similar,
> and after some searching I determined that the fuel pump was not working,
> given the fact that I had traveled completely downhill since I left the
> house I don't think it ever came on when I started the car. I hoofed it
> back up the hill to get the g/f's bugeye and went to buy a fuel pump. I
got
> into the car and tried to push the water from Thursday's downpour off the
> passenger side of the tonneau and it all went the wrong way via the cowl
and
> landed on me; soaked, yet again. The first store I got too only had a
> generic 4.5-7psi pump, no luck on the low pressure one; I went to a second
> autoparts store and asked for a universal fuel pump; for what car? I said
> universal and very hostilly described the square metal ones, I was
rebutted
> with a we don't sell anything like that. So back to the first store to
buy
> the too strong one, at this point the skies had clouded up and it was
> starting to drizzle.
>
> I bought the pump, some hose, and a cheap wire crimper kit and drove off
> praying that it didn't start to rain. Once I got back to the car I
decided
> that for safety I would install the pump in the engine compartment rather
> than climb under the car to work in a parking lot. I installed it near
the
> radiator by splicing it into my flex line. I ran the power via a toggle
> switch that I taped to the steering column so that I could switch it of
when
> stuck in traffic to avoid flooding the engine. I have always carried wire
> and a spare switch but never a crimper or terminals, go figure. After
> starting the car and verifying that it worked I drove the sprite home and
> started walking back down the hill towards my car. On the way I was
stopped
> by a woman at a bus stop wondering where I was heading and to bum her a
> light; after heading about 100 feet downhill I heard her yelling to me so
I
> started back up the hill. Upon reaching her she asked me if she could
have
> a ride and I declined by way of stuttering and headed back out again.
This
> is, perhaps made funnier by another story so I will digress shortly...
>
> A few years ago on our way to a club Halloween party my clutch exploded
and
> we were stranded on the side of the highway while waiting for AAA. A car
of
> kids stopped and asked if we would buy them gas in exchange for taking us
to
> buy gas. I informed them that we did not need gas and we were waiting for
a
> tow. They said they would give us a ride if we would buy them gas. I
said
> no, they persisted; after a number of f-offs and other kind suggestions
they
> left us alone...
>
> I finished the 45 minute drive roughly two and one half hours after
starting
> out without issue. After fulfilling my obligations to my brother we took
> his car to get a pressure regulator to control the fuel pump and to
install
> the whole works more permanently.
>
> I had every confidence that my original pump would start working again but
> considering that it is currently my only car and it is the original pump I
> took this as a sign and decided to keep the new pump. I installed the
> regulator and set off home with the g/f behind me. Right down the street
> the car ran out of gas and I realized that I had forgotten to set the
> regulator, one quick twist to 3.5psi and we were off. 30 minutes or so
> later the car fell flat on its face, naturally I assumed fuel.
>
> After some prodding I figured out it was lack of spark, not fuel as I
would
> have expected. I didn't want to test the theory with open spark because
the
> stupid pressure regulator was leaking and I didn't want to blow myself up
on
> a dark road at 11:30pm. I cranked the engine over and there was not
motion
> of the tack so I felt confident that I was right and set about looking at
> the dizzy. I popped the cap and much to my surprise the wire inside of it
> that went from the coil lead to the binding post had broken. I'm sure
> everyone can relate to an otherwise dependable car having two unrelated
> failures on the same day and so I'll spare you my expletives. Out came
the
> crimper and terminals for the second time today and I made up a temporary
> wire to get me home. This time the 45 minute drive only took 1.5 hours.
>
> The next day...Saturday... I set out for my dad's house (same destination
as
> Friday) to fix up the dizzy and get some other things done. This time the
> car ran out of gas every 60 seconds and I would have to sit for 60 to
refill
> the bowls and get under way again. After about a dozen of those I pulled
> the regulator out of the system, cut a chunk from my radiator overflow
pipe
> off and plumbed it in place of the regulator and finished the drive.
>
> Out came the pressure gauge and I determined that the regulator was not
> letting any fuel through. The stock pump had come back to life by now and
> was making 3.5 psi 33 years after having been installed. The new pump was
> making 6 and when left unchecked was filling the charcoal canister with
raw
> gas, this would explain why I was able to drive some long stretches, I was
> probably pulling gas right back out of the canister into the engine.
> Anyways... I pulled the regulator off and shimmed the spring to the point
> that I had the regulator flowing within 1/4psi of each of it's marked
> settings, and put everything back together. I made up another distributor
> lead and in the interest of not making a long story any longer, I have
made
> it 1.5 days without a problem.
>
> James Nazarian
> 71 MGB Tourer
> 71 MGBGT V8
> 85 Dodge Ram
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