The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (August 1 - August 15, 2023)
Tuesday, August 1, 2023:
Some chat about modern replacement head bolts that break with normal assembly torque (obviously faulty parts). Expensive ARP replacement studs are an option, but just as well to use (re-use) original factory issue head studs with number "22" stamped on the top end (which can be expected to last forever if not abused).
 More discussion about bent and/or broken swivel pins for MGA front suspension. I don't know if this is more prevalent these days now that the cars are more than 60 years old, or just more chat on the internet these days. I used to beat the crap out of my MGA with autocross on race tires, TSD rally and lots of touring on lesser quality roads all through the 90's. My car has well over half a million miles on it, and never any problem with the swivel pins. Sliding into a curb is more likely to bend the part, while a clean break is more likely a result of a fatigue crack. At least recommend a dye penetrant or Magnaflux crack check any time you may be doing front suspension service.
Some chat about Redline MTL synthetic oil for the gearbox. Mostly being expensive, little or no benefit, occasional mention of worse shifting, and not many votes in favor of it. Definitely do not put that stuff in any overdrive unit.
Wednesday, August 2, 2023:
Too much time being spent trying to define how to make a Twin Cam left side engine mount bracket from a pushrod engine mount bracket. I sure hope this eventually helps someone.
Wednesday Night Car Club tonight. Start by with navigator replacing a failed shifter rubber boot (repetitive failure, and a few weeks overdue). He has seen this operation a few times, getting a handle on it single handed.
Check around to see who came in tonight. Two TR'sand a few MGB's.
And one nice Vespa scooter with a side car, something you won't see very often.
Remember Sparky's MGA running on three cylinders, no fire on #2? Now they installed a new distributor with Pertronix electronic unit and a new ignition coil. And guess what? Still misfiring on #2. I keep trying to tell them they need to remove the mouse nest from on top of the #3 intake valve, but no one listening. End of night it went home still running on 3 cylinders.
The heavy duty flatbed car hauler trailer with rusty wings was having some welds ground out to allow installation of new fenders. That was jolly good fun, leaving a pile of rusty scrap metal.
The CMGC project car was getting some spot weld drilling and cutting and chiseling to remove a few panels in the left side body sill that would interfere with replacement parts.
Tommy and friends were finishing up assembly and wiring on the MG RV8 style dash, and installing it in Tom's MGB.
Sneaking up on closing time (9-pm), I was snooping under the bonnet of the MGB with HIF carburetors, explaining what has to be done to free up stuck chokes. Yes, take them off and turn them upside down to remove the bottom cover.
Thursday, August 3, 2023:
Posted a new tech page for a special tool for resurfacing a banjo fitting to clean up the seal surfaces.
Friday, August 4, 2023:
Travel day, winding up in Le Claire, Iowa by evening.
Saturday, August 5, 2023:
Found something slightly amiss this morning. Not a flat tire, but a badly bent leaf spring on the trailer. In retrospect, we hit a deeply depressed railroad crossing last night in the dark at some speed. At the time I thought it might damage the front suspension on the car, but it looks like the trailer took the brunt of the hit. Of course such things always happen on the weekend, so we won't be able to order new springs until Monday. Meanwhile, it's still attached, bent not broken, and I can fit one finger between the tire and fender. So if we take it easy and don't drive too far, the trailer is not totally grounded.
Heartland British Auto Fest in Le Claire, Iowa today, presented by Quad City British Auto Club. I used to be a regular member of this club,and have been to this event at other locations in past years. But now several years later this will be my first time at this location, on the levy of the Mississippi River.
First up was the darling vehicle of the show, a 1968 BMC Mini tractor. Reason it looks so much like a Ferguson tractor is because it was a spin-off after buy-out of Ferguson. I have to document this one, as it is a variant of MGA with the Austin B-series 1622-cc engine.
These are mostly noted to have 948-cc A-series diesel engines, and so far I have not found any documentation on the 1622-cc model. Even the brochure near the vehicle is for a different model, a Long BMC 4/25 tractor with the A-series diesel engine.
But this one really does have the 1622cc engine, cast right on the side of the engine block. Interesting that it has two three-speed gearboxes, so it has nine speeds forward and three speeds in reverse.
When we arrived around 9-am, there were already 48 cars on display. A couple hours later I think 60.
Unfortunately they were not grouped by class, so voting would require a lot of hiking.
I really liked the MGB GT with the V6 conversion, very nicely done.
Another MGB with V8 conversion (more common these days), a real Lotus 7 next to me (after I moved my car over to give him space), and a couple more late arrival Jaguar.
After the car show, back to the WiFi spot to start hunting for replacement trailer springs.
Sunday, August 6, 2023:
Lots of time spent looking for appropriate springs for the trailer. Found a few local trailer sales shops, one in particular selling parts, but not the parts I wanted. And the local places are closed on weekends, so I kept searching. Original springs were 2-leaf with something like 550 to 600 pounds each load capacity, which is fine when the tires are rated for 590 pounds max load. The springs we got stuck with four years age were rated at 1000 pounds each (thicker leafs). I had removed the shorter bottom leaf to de-rate them some, but they were still too stiff. Wherever I look I keep finding similar springs with 1000# or more load rating.
Finally I got lucky and found more appropriate springs. 2-leaf with 500# each load rating (x2=1000 with
thinner leafs). Remember we put the fully loaded trailer on a CAT Scale last fall to find 600# on the axle, so these lighter springs should be just peachy, very similar to the originals. So I got those on order by late evening, knowing they wouldn't be shipped before Monday. And we have a new MGA friend from the car show who lives in the neighborhood, so we have a good shipping destination.
Monday, August 7, 2023:
Finally had time to compose and upload the photos and notes from the Saturday car show (above). Checking on tracking for the new trailer springs (not yet), someone on the BBS mentioned battery cut-off switch, which reminded me to order up another one to replace one that crapped out a long time ago. Hope we're getting a more durable one this time.
I noticed this old Chevy truck in the car park. It was here Saturday morning as well, so I recon it must be a local resident (but who am I to judge?). Nice resto-mod with a (fake) aging repaint.
Uh, missed the John Twist Zoom tech session tonight. Forgot to set the alarm clock, and got busy at the wrong time of the evening.
Tuesday, August 8, 2023:
Start the day posting a new Part Numbers page for BMC part number AAA5166 Wing Bolt for fixing hood to windscreen. There already was a page for the same part under part number MB22438, but the part number was change during MGA production (different numbers for the same part). Questions pop up often for this part, because it will commonly strip the thread on the bolt or in the receiving hole. A new wing bolt is readily available, but the female thread repair Heli-Coil (for 5/16-22-BSF thread) is harder to find.
Revised another web page to add a drawing with dimensions for an adjustable pushrod for the clutch slave cylinder. Note that this device should not be required if all original style parts are in good working condition.
Shipping notices say my new battery cut-off switch arrives today, and the new trailer springs should be here Thursday.
Wednesday, August 9, 2023:
Bad news today? The trailer springs ordered on Sunday, hopefully to be shipped on Monday, didn't ship until Tuesday, but were scheduled to arrive on Thursday. But now on Wednesday we got notice of an in-transit shipping delay, now scheduled to arrive on Friday. Grrrrr, one day at a time.
Thursday, August 10, 2023:
Posted a new tech page for another alternate wheel for MGA, a bolt-on alloy wheel 15x5-1/2 by Allycat Alloy Wheels. Otherwise another day to kill, because the new trailer springs were delayed during shipping.
Friday, August 11, 2023:
Mid afternoon before tracking said our package was delivered. Cross the big muddy (Mississippi River) to pick up the parts "after work" in the evening at home of our friend Scott Shnurman in Silvis, Illinois. Then a brief dinner stop in East Moline, IL for early dinner while waiting for the hot sun to go down some.
Then out to the car park to replace the trailer springs. The small cardboard box is a new battery cut-off switch, which will have to wait for another time. The new leaf springs came in stretch wrap (a chore to remove). They came from a scarce source, like the only vendor we could find to supply these light load leaf springs So it is hard to complain about something wrong, but I will anyway.
The front mounting bolt has always been 1/2" diameter. And the spring eye should be 3/4" ID. That makes it same dimensions as the MGA rear spring shackles. So for 30 years we have been using the MGA rubber shackle bushings for this application. The last time around I even installed polyurethane bushings, very good parts. But this time no-go.
The supplier's web site said the front end had 9/16" bushing. And I did purchase new bolts that are 9/16" diameter. But that would require drilling out the holes on the trailer frame from 17/32" to 19/32", and I didn't have a power drill handy, so save the new bolts for later. Chinese made parts, now all metric dimensions I suppose, so everything is a little off.
Next option might be to remove the thin wall Nylon bushing to install the rubber bushings with 1/2" bore. But removing the thin wall bushing left an open eye only a bit over 5/8" bore, actually 11/16" eye (17.5mm), (very thin bushing), so the rubber bushings still would not fit. Grrrr. Would have to grind down the OD to fit, but not tonight. So install the springs with 9/16" Nylon bushing on the original 1/2" bolts, and make a note to fix it properly later.
And there was a quick walk to the O'Reilly store next door to buy some coarse threaded hex nuts, because the trailer spring pivot bolts and U-bolts were all coarse threaded (who's idea was that?). Plain hex nuts are now $3.49 for a pack of three (who ever needs three hex nuts?), and flange nuts are now $4.59 for a pack of three. They only had two bubble packs of each, so I bought them all, along with some flat washers, and got billed for more than $30. When did 3/8" hex nuts get to be $1.16 to $1.53 each? McMaster-Carr still sells them for less than $16/100($0.16 each). </bitchmode>
The anticipated 2 hour job had turned into 3-1/2 hours, but we had it done in time for personal clean-up and late snacks by 11-pm (and the flashlight needs new batteries again). Things always feel better after finish, when all the agravation gets to be just another good story.
Saturday, August 12, 2023:
After last might's hassle with the trailer springs, I finally located and order the proper 1/2" bore bushings for the leaf springs. Shipping to home address in Sandwich, IL, should pick them up next week.
Sunday, August 13, 2023:
Updated a Universal Tech page for Rust Removal to include soaking parts in Molasses. It may be a slow process, but does have some advantages. --- Registered for the Sept 10 British Car Festival at Harper College in Palatine, IL. Seems a little odd making such commitments that far in advance (but it saves $5).
In early evening we were off for a dinner meeting with Quad City British Auto Club at Pagalo’s Pizzeria in Milan, IL. It didn't take long to figure out why the meeting was called for 4-pm, as this restaurant closes at 8-pm. So there's the trailer with its new springs sitting straight and level at correct ride height. And it seems we had the only British car present at the British auto club meeting. Nice dinner meeting with 18 friendly people, but no business discussion. Still daylight after the meeting, so we dropped into the local McDonald's to take advantage of their WiFi to bring you these photos and notes.
Monday, August 14, 2023:
Sitting in Utica, IL on a short travel day, catching up a few requests. A service shop R.P.Meier in mid Ohio just moved from Johnstown, OH to Croton, OH. Just updating the Shops list. Been there a few years back, but will need another visit to the new location soon.
Tuesday, August 15, 2023:
Someone asked an odd question, is it possible to convert a Twin Cam to wire wheels? Where there's a will there's a way, and I suppose it has been done before, at least once. When I started typing a response it soon dawned on me that this was going to be a new chapter in a book, and should turn into a new tech page on my web site. Well, there went the rest of the day.
|
