[Mgs] Today's adventure

[Max Heim]

Since it was (almost) my birthday, my wife asked me what I wanted to do today. I said I wanted to drive the MG up to Alice’s Restaurant in Woodside for brunch. It was a beautiful day for a top-down drive. Had a great brunch, chatting briefly with a gentleman I know from vintage events — his XK120 was parked out front. Back in town, we stopped at the farmers’ market and the bookstore. When we got home I took in the purchases then went back out to button up the tonneau… “uh-oh, what’s that puddle under the car?”

Rather than crawl under the car in my “good jeans” I thought I’d back it up to to check what kind of fluid it was (I suspected fuel since I changed the gas filter yesterday). Oops — no clutch pedal. The clutch slave had blown out. It seems unbelievably fortunate that it had waited until safely parked in the carport, instead of blowing out on the mountain roads I had just been driving.

So I immediately started tearing it apart. The slave was a gloppy mess, and the flex hose looked pretty shabby, also. Then I twisted the end off the hard line trying to undo it (a 7/16 flare nut wrench apparently couldn’t hold the fitting, and what’s with that 15/16 nut? Who the hell has a stubby 15/16 open end wrench? I sure don’t — my 15/16 combo wrench is over 16 inches long).

Moss is getting a lot of business from me lately, over and above my “project” car. Oh well...

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Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
If you're near Menlo Park, CA,
it's the primer red one with chrome wires
And now GHN3U137949G
Old English White ‘67
Both currently out of service