The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (November 1 - November 15, 2019)
Friday November 1 - Sunday November 3, 2019:
Calhoun, Georgia was a good move for Thursday night, less rain and not quit as cold as it would have been in southern Tennessee. Hanging out in Macon, GA for a few days, mostly sitting out more rain while plotting what to do next. Sunday evening headed SW to Columbus, GA.
Monday November 4, 2019:
Some things to do for a change, two appointments today. We dropped in to visit Steve Bettes in Columbus, GA for issues with his 1974 MGB. We had done a bit of tune-up on this one two years ago, so it was running okay, but now it was dribbling oil on the floor under the steering column. That was pretty obvious, as the only oil source in that area is the signal pipe going to the analog oil pressure gauge located above the steering column between the tach and speedo. Removing the tachometer from the dash for access, I found the oil pipe flare nut loose enough to unscrew with my fingers. Oops. Easy fix by tightening the nut with a 1/2-inch wrench, clean the area well, and fire up the engine for a while to assure that the leak had been banished, then reinstall the tach.
The next issue was not so easy, as the wiper motor that was working had stopped working. Harness connectors to the left of the steering column gave access to check power from the ignition switch, and connections to the wiper switch, all on the right side of the steering column. Test light said it should be working okay, so we moved on to
the wiper motor, hidden behind the glove box on right side of the dash. I found the cable connector hanging loose, but not much chance of getting it reconnected without removing the glove box. A dozen small screws later the box was out, and we got the cable plugged back into the wiper motor, but it still wasn't running. It had a new wiper motor installed recently, so there ensued a brief call to the shop that had installed it. Since the fuses were good, there was a good chance that the new motor had fizzled, so an appointment was made to get the car back to the shop in a day or two.
 Then we were off to visit Lee Henderson in Midland, GA. This guy had walked in to say hello while we were
having late breakfast, as he had spotted our car and trailer. He has an MGA being restored. The body and chassis are in a pro shop progressing nicely, sheet metal work done, very close to painting the body. Other loose parts are lying about the home garage, gearbox done and waiting.
Today we were looking at two sets of carburetors. The darker ones were from his car, slightly oily and a little stiff, but otherwise looking like low mileage. The lighter ones were a spare set, very dry but badly corroded. We may salvage a few of the smaller parts, but the pot metal parts are not worth the struggle for clean up. Having decided to clean and rebuild the originals, we made a list of needed bits and placed an order for shipping next day (Tuesday). Expect to get the parts come Thursday or Friday, so plan to come back later to do the carb rebuild.
Tuesday November 5, 2019:
Grab breakfast to go and head out of Midland for a late morning appointment with Glenn Fountaine in Peachtree City, GA. He has an 1975 MG Midget that we had worked on in February 2018. At that time we had done the minor mod to the Weber carburetor to re-enable fuel vapor recovery and anti-run-on, and to install a PCV valve (to replace the original one that was removed when the Weber carb was installed). We had also fixed a host of electrical faults, mostly for lighting issues.
Today we were here to check out non-working brakes, with prior knowledge that it was losing brake fluid. Top up the fluid and pump the brake pedal incessantly succeeded in bubbling air out the top to get good pedal action. That quickly revealed fluid running down the brake pedal, so for sure the master cylinder had an external leak at the pushrod end. A new brake master cylinder is not too expensive for the Midget, so we opted to order a new cylinder rather than risking rebuild of the old one. Got the parts on order to be shipped out before end of day, expecting them to be delivered Thursday evening. So I recon we will stick around here a couple days more to get the Midget brake master cylinder installed before heading back to Columbus.
Wednesday November 6, 2019:
Mostly a day off waiting for parts delivery.
Thursday November 7, 2019:
Tracking parts, looked like the new master cylinder is on the truck to be delivered by day's end. In mid afternoon we headed back to Glenn Fountaine's place in Peachtree City, GA to get a head start on removing the old master cylinder. Good timing, as the UPS truck came in the evening just as we got the old part removed, so we got to install the new one immediately. Aside from very tight quarters for wrenches, it came out okay in the end, new master cylinder bench bled and installed and bled in situ, brakes working, no leaks.
It was in the street long enough for a test drive, locks up the brakes easily. Had one headlight not working, soon traced to corroded female snap connector at 3-way splitter right inside the engine bay. Easy access, broke the corroded snap connector, but got the wires spliced together to have working lights anyway.
Late night headed out in light rain, ending back in Columbus, GA by 1-am.
Friday November 8, 2019:
Today's appointment fell through, no phone contact. Found out later that our friend was having a phone transplant, out of service for the day. Was a good day to catch up a backlog of WiFi work.
Saturday November 9, 2019:
Late morning appointment meeting with Gary Kundey of Midland, GA. We met him (and his wife) in a hanger at Columbus Metropolitan Airport. Task here was to tune up triple SU carburetors on his Jaguar E-type. He had the battery charged up and the engine warmed up by the time we arrived, so we hopped right up to the task at hand. All three carburetors were running very rich. Once that was corrected the idle speed was too high and had to turn that back some.
About ten minutes into the process we began to get a bit of steam escaping on right side of the engine, and noticed the electric fan was not running. Gave the thermostatic switch a minor adjustment to get the fan running, but still had steam. Closer inspection disclosed a leaky hose on the heater return pipe connection to water pump, with coolant squirting onto the distributor. Shut down, relieve pressure from radiator, and proceed to change the failed hose. Not too hard to remove the bad hose, as it was plain rubber with no fiber reinforcement, able to tear it apart with bare fingers.
Cut a new piece of 1/2" reinforced hose, then spent about half hour expanding one end to 5/8" bore. Getting that installed was a bit of a knuckle buster, but soon done, fresh coolant fill and running again. Finished the tune-up, also set the fan thermal switch to shut off at 70dC, and all was well with the E-type. Time for late lunch, and take the rest of the day off.
Sunday November 10, 2019:
Mid morning start today, off to see Lee Henderson in Midland, GA. This is the guy we saw last Monday, ordering his carburetor parts. Parts came in, so today we got to rebuild his MGA carburetors. Optimistic expectations, hour to disassemble, two hours cleaning pats, and another hour to reassemble. You should know how this goes, double the time, work in a lunch break, kill an hour looking for parts in my trailer, clean and paint air cleaner housings, chat a little, and manage to use up the whole day.
Checking to be sure he has the correct #6 needles for MGA 1600 (as the carbs seem to be 1500 type). Had to dig one upper jet bearing seal washer out of the magic trailer.
Finished about 8-pm, but it was otherwise a productive day. He has a few more parts to order now, like new fuel hoses, vent pipes, cable stops, cable return spring and bracket.
Monday November 11, 2019:
Waiting for delivery of my replacement bank card which should have arrived Friday or Saturday but didn't. Veterans Day holiday here in the States, no mail delivery today, so we get to kill another day and wait for Tuesday mail delivery (with fingers crossed).
Tuesday November 12, 2019:
Good that mail came mid morning with my replacement bank card. After lunch beat it over to Walmart for an oil change (just a little overdue). Then pointed it in the general direction of Charlotte, NC, but just north of Atlanta got stuffed in a creep and stop traffic jam for hour and a half. Didn't get out of that until they moved a vehicle that was blocking the road. 9-pm late dinner in Commerce, GA. Still planning on hitting Charlotte, NC around 1-am.
Wednesday November 13, 2019:
Stopped 40 miles short of Charlotte last night at Kings Mountain, NC, high and cold. Woke up to 24dF and heavy
frost, not a big deal for guys from Chicago. Quick breakfast before heading out, one phone call en route, and arrive as planned 10-am to visit Kirk Crawford in Charlotte, NC. He has a nice MGA 1500 and an MG TC, both mostly stock, could be show winners.
Had a nice sit down chat first, then got down to tuning the carbs on the MGA. Choke and fast idle a little out of adjustment, front carb rich and rear carb lean. Standard stuff, not long to tweak the adjustments, got it running like an MG again. Then time for a late lunch including more chat, then back to the garage for a bit more. Where has the day gone? Kirk remarked that he had missed a 4:30 appointment for a conference call. Maybe the day's entertainment was more important. Last picture is to remind myself of the rubber grommets for float bowls that came out of the magic trailer, so to remember to re-order more later.
About sun down we headed south a bit, not far to the state line, stopped just into South Carolina for WiFi and dinner, a phone call and feelers for what might be tomorrow.
Thursday November 14, 2019:
Half a day in Blythewood, SC, then half a day in Columbia, SC. Had some tentative appointments that fell through. Looked like more rain tonight, so we headed north some late night.
Friday November 15, 2019:
Day in Fletcher, NC. Had a rather involved tech question about coil springs and leaf springs and where to get replacements for special competition springs. Spent a lot of time on this one, but don't know af I was much help;
Headed a bit more north late night to duck more rain (which worked). Half hour up the road, wondering why the headlights seemed dim. Popped the digital volt meter into the cigar lighter socket to find 7.5 volts (oops).
This would be a consequence of the ignition lamp not working for the past 15 months, an early fault in the alternator. Time for a fuel stop anyway, so the timing was reasonable. Stumbled into a gas station in Waynesville, NC. Since I have learned not to trust a Lucas Chinese sourced or USA rebuilt alternator, we were prepared for this (second Lucas alternator failure in 18 months). After checking wiring and verifying the alternator was toast (not charging), we pulled the spare alternator (which we have been carrying religiously since the last failure) out of the trailer. A little chilly out, but the engine bay was warm, so we soon had the new alternator installed and working, and we were off.
Well past midnight by this time, so 15 miles on we found a North Caroline rest stop with a little residual snow in the mountains on the west end of Cherokee National Forest and pulled 'er over (about 12 miles shy of the Tennessee state line). No resting yet, though. Here we found a Lincoln Town Car with a flat tire and broken wheel. Story was he was on an entrance ramp sidled up to a semi truck, ran off the pavement and hit something hard. Near as I can find, the nearest entrance ramp was 4-miles back, and I have no idea how the car could have managed to get this far with the badly broken wheel.
He had two jacks that didn't work well, and a spare tire with some air in it, but didn't have a lug wrench that would fit inside the counterbores of the fancy alloy wheels. Well the magic trailer carries a nice floor jack and lots of tools, so it didn't take long to get the Lincoln back on the road. By that time it was 3:45-am before we got to sleep.
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