The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (January 16 - January 31, 2019)
Wednesday-Thursday January 16-17, 2019:
Tech questions on MGA windscreen, U-joint in the steering column, hand crank misalignment and engine mounts, someone's stuck bonnet latch (again), and making a drawing for frame bracket for side body mount. Tech page update on the last MGA to leave the factory, some discussion on MGB overdrive pressure valves and gearbox lubrication.
Friday January 18, 2019:
Back to Tech Central in Bonita Springs, Florida today. The TR250 is new to the group, first time today, and we think he will be a regular. The yellow MGB with dual carbs is still looking for a new home.
The TR6 hasn't moved much in weeks, some poking at the carburetors today. The MGB race car to be is progressing nicely, engine and gearbox out, engine being degreased, gearbox getting a flush and some fresh oil and some power spinning through the gears.
The Excalibur kit car has been rearranged with the new body pushed back, the shrinking Chevette donor car now more out of the way, the rear axle assembly now upside down getting cleaned up.
Late afternoon endeavor was back to the Jaguar rear suspension and brakes. Subframe right side up, suspension and brakes mostly reassembled, working on pesky parking brake calipers today. The trick is, there is an odd thin bronze fork between the parking brake pads. As the pads wear and run closer together, the bronze fork bends inward with the ends closer together, and springs back a bit when the pads return. When the pads are considerably worn, the tip ends of the fork will be bent significantly closer together. Meanwhile the pad carriers are returned by a spring between the metal shoes, while the fork is supposed to keep the two pads centered with symmetrical gap on each side of the rotor. In this car the parking brake is supposed to be self-adjusting by a mechanism between the cable and the pad carriers.
When installing new pads the bronze fork needs to be manually bent outward to match position of the new pads, and not pinch the pads against the rotor. Getting the bronze forks into workable configuration was very fiddly. Not sure what the manufacturer had in mind, but maybe supposed to buy new bronze forks whenever the pads are replaced. The parking brake pads are very small, maybe not supposed to wear out in normal use, only pinched when stationary.
Ran out of daylight and had to resort to a flashlight some, but before quitting we had new rubber mounts in the chassis and four corners of the subframe attached to the body with at least one bolt each.
Saturday January 19, 2019:
Catch up with yesterday's photos and notes. Spent a few hours making a CAD drawing for the frame bracket for body side mount. It makes for a vice "cartoon", but not enough real dimensions to finish the job (yet). Got new information about the MGA 1600-MK-II early production custom machined cylinder head, which seems to have been cast in October 1960, as much as five months before the first MK-II car was on the assembly line.
Sunday-Thursday January 20-24, 2019:
Some tech discussions about generator adjusting straps, oil pressure and relief spring, use of PCV valve on various engines, umbrella seals for intake and exhaust valves, casting numbers for various gearbox tail housings, brake caliper shims, fuel level sender unit connection stud, another stuck bonnet latch, rear main bearing scroll seal leak and repair, and a bit of preparation for a planned video conference call a few weeks hence. Also spent half a day retrieving pictures of an MGA trailer hitch from a defunct web site, and posting them on my web site.
Friday January 25, 2019:
Back to Tech Central again to see what we can do to help out. Pleased to find the kit car made some progress during the week with much of the Chevette front and rear suspension installed in the chassis.
The MGB wanna be race car was getting cleaned up some more, in the foot wells and under the bonnet.
The MGB ROstyle wheels were being cleaned up and powder coat painted, one by one tucked into the old kitchen oven in the shop behind. Someone had picked up a nice little chain-fall hoist for $8 at a flea market, getting cleaned and painted.
The Midget assembly making more progress with the right side door completed (except for weather seals), and the left door getting the window lift mechanism installed. A bit of interference solved with some shim washers.
A new friend to the group and a new acquisition 1979 MGB arrived today. This one needs to have the vacuum line connected, and the electric fan blades need to be turned around. Seems it also has a non-original belt-driven fan that could be removed. Very nice car otherwise.
The red MGB had a few electrical problems, beginning with a disconnected in-line fuse, easily fix by re-soldering an end connector. Parking lights work, only one brake light (disconnected wire, and the 4-way flashers not working (haven't figured that one out yet, but likely wire connections on the plastic rocker switch).
The Jaguar XJ6 rear suspension and brakes are back together and driving again (thinking about what might be done next to make it better on the road). The TR6 that was hanging around for weeks finally went home. The slightly rusty Alfa Romeo is now running well enough to drive under its own power and will be leaving in a couple of days.
Saturday January 26, 2019:
British Car Club of Southwest Florida had several cars at the Caloosahatchee Celtic Festival in Fort Myers, Florida today. We had a friendly invite, so we dropped in for the social, good way to kill half a day. Found an MGC GT nicely restored as original.
Lots of flea market type vendors, mostly peddling Scottish related wares. Plenty of British style food vendors, and live entertainment going on all day, plenty of fiddlers, pipers and dancers. Had some car show trophies awarded in mid afternoon.
Sunday January 27, 2019:
Raining from midnight to midnight, so we weren't in a rush to go anywhere, but caught up with photos and notes and got some tech work done.
Monday-Wednesday January 28-30, 2019:
Tech questions on interior kick panels, engine rubber rear seal and rear axle seals, torque specs for high strength head bolts, writing monthly travel report for CMGC, updating CMGC web site for new regalia and upcoming events. Sneaking up on February, so time to be heading north.
Thursday January 31, 2019:
Received today electronic copy of what may be the final tech article in Manchester XPAG Tests series, "Ethanol Blended Petrol". Interesting reading, five pages in the form of high resolution scanned images. This will require a little time to reduce and convert to PDF format.
Looking forward a bit, finding some club events in the next week, but not for a few more days. So, as long as we hadn't gone anywhere, we might as well go back to Tech Central one more time, tomorrow.
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