The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (December 16 - December 31, 2023)
Saturday, December 16, 2023:
This would be an interesting day, with not too much work. The car pictured below used to belong to George Lawson in Lexington, South Carolina. When I first encountered it in 2014, it had been going through restoration work for 25 years, and not yet finished. I would lend a hand with it for a day or two as we were passing through the area each fall. Eventually it was running so George did get a chance to drive it. Then he was disabled, and finally had to give up the car when it was still not quite finished. He is now deceased (last year).
 In the mean time our mutual friend Dave Daniel from Lexington, SC (guy in the red jacket) procured the car and has been pushing it through the last few steps to completion. The guy with the red TR3 is Tim Melton from Gilbert, SC. He has done a lof ot finishing work on it in the past year. Another guy Bill Hedrick installed the convertible top before I was fitting up the side curtains and helping with the tonneau cover. So it has been a community effort for finishing. Today was the day for the fully restored car to move on to join its new care taker, Jim Clayton, also in Lexington, SC. The car was out for an introductory test drive when we arrived.
Being in town purely by coincidence, I was requested to come along for the transition to help the new owner with figuring out how to erect and stow the convertible top and side curtains, how to use and stow the tonneau cover, and answer any questions he might have about the MGA. Lady in the first picture is Mrs Clayton. She will have to get used to the idea that it is really her car, and her husband is a fixture happening to be attached to it, think chauffeur and custodian. That's him in the third picture above. After proper transfer of ownership and removing the tag plates, there is the car securely nestled in its new home.
Added two workshops to the North American Shops List today. Briarcliff Classic & Imported Car Service, Ltd in Briarcliff Manor, NY, and Classic Leyland Restorations LLC in Norwalk, CT.
Sunday, December 17, 2023:
Steady rain all day, midnight to midnight. But we did borrow a shop space from Tim Melton in Gilbert, SC long enough to drain and change engine oil and filter, 367-mi after new rings (just a bit early). Fea rnot, the fuzzy stuff on the magnetic oil drain plug is not metal shavings, it is iron dust particles from normal cylinder wall wear as the honing cross hatching is worn down to smooth with break-in of the new piston rings.
Then we had a few minutes for a quick once-over of Tim's current restoration of a Triumph GT6. A whole lot farther along than when we saw it a year or two back.
Rolling chassis finished ,waiting for the main body shell, also nearly finished. This is when you see the light at end of tunnel, and the enthusiasm gets cranked way up.
We sat out the day at a truck stop until it quit raining late night, before heading 150 miles south to Hardeeville, SC, less than 20 miles from Savannah, Georgia.
Monday, December 18, 2023:
Breakfast and early lunch in Hardeeville,South Carolina. Had to delete one shop from the North American Shops List today. CG Autowood in Norwalk, Connecticut is now closed, owner recently deceased. Two hours farther south after a fuel stop in Georgia, late lunch in Jacksonville, Florida. In the evening a 2-1/2 hour on-line Zoom tech session with John Twist of University Motors, LTD chatting about old service shops and parts suppliers that no longer exist. That was fun.
Tuesday-Thursday, December 19-21, 2023:
Just a casual cruise south for a few days, timing it right to arrive in Bonita Springs, FL on Friday.
Friday, December 22, 2023:
Having been grounded for five weeks in West Virginia due to engine repairs, it's not surprising to think we are here a few weeks late, but we are very happy to be here at Jerry Wilcox's place Tech Central in Bonita Springs, Florida in time for their holiday party on the Friday before Christmas. Not much work being done today, mostly social.
First thing I notice on arrival is a brand new flat bed trailer, a nice aluminum 14-footer. There was the prior aluminum 12-footer commonly used to move some little British cars. He tried t load a Miata on it recently, and it was rubbing tire sidewalls on both sides, just a bit too narrow. Looks like he found a deal he couldn't pass up for the larger trailer, which hasn't had anything loaded on it yet. The red one is I think 18-foot steel frame with plank floor, larger and heavier, haul anything, but wanting a heavier tow vehicle. Looks like the smaller aluminum trailer might be looking for a new home after he gets used to using the new one.
There's Jerry, casually taking a business call before lunch. Time for a look around to see what's new here. They sent the MG Midget restoration project home last spring. The ATV and lawn mower were evicted from the shop to free up some work space. The green Triumph GT6 was moved from in front of the office to under the canopy.
The MGB wannabe race car in primer has been making good progress recently. Today a little work with a template cutting a new thin and light weight aluminum dash panel for it.
The Mercedes SK kit car is still under wraps in the back. An MGB fiberglass hardtop is in for sanding down and repainting, destined to be used to make an MGB roadster qualify for GT class racing.
The black TR4 dropped in a bit late, immediately attracting a crowd, something to discuss before lunch.
Saturday, December 23, 2023:
Someone asking about his home made brackets for reinforcing the bottom of the front frame extension when attaching an anti-sway bar. Almost any brackets should work, only needing to thicken the thin metal a bit to prevent local stress cracks.
Sunday, December 24, 2023:
Some discussion about MGA frame side closure panels and sealing materials. Looks like someone is about to make their own replacement panels. Luckily, all the required information and a drawing are in my tech pages.
Monday, December 25, 2023:
Merry Christmas to all. Someone was asking which came first, the chicken or the egg (sort of). the qustion was, did the MGA borrow styling cues from the Auston Healey 100, or the AH-100 borrow styling cues from UMG400? The answere is, none of the above, but it was a fun explanation.
Tuesday, December 26, 2023:
A lively discussion today about MGA seat backrest rake angle adjuster screws. There never were any such adjusters for MGA, but there were for MGB, and this looks like an interesting possible modification.
Wednesday, December 27, 2023:
Some chat about an MGA Coupe door latch that sticks shut, difficult to open. Not determined yet if it is sticking in the striker plate, or possible something in the internal latch mechanism not letting loose.
Thursday, December 28, 2023:
Someone making their own inner fender access and vent panels for MGA Twin Cam sent pictures to post a new tech page.
Friday, December 29, 2023:
Tinkering day at Tech Central. Stuck between Christmas and New Years holidays, not so many people here today, but several of the regular guys for sure. One car now uncovered that gets worked on a little, occasionally, is the Porsche 914 wannabe race car. I have pictures of this one from at least as far back as January 2020 before most of the yellow paint was sanded off in favor of primer. Some of these projects have a lot of patience, or maybe just not a lot of urgency (priorities).
This was to be opening day for a repair project on the big box race trailer. The fold-down drive-over tail gate had a soft spot half way up the left side if the ramp. There were also resident ants nesting in the internal plywood (bummer). This was going to require major disassembly just to dig out the deteriorating parts.
Oh yeah, this is serious, keep digging. Remove the perimeter trim, peel off the rubber sheet, and start pulling out all of the rotted wood. By the time they got this far it was obvious they would have to replace all of the wood, more than a full sheet of 3/4-inch plywood. Also looks like a thinner sheet of plywood backing up the outer vinyl skin. Good place to pause for a shopping trip.
The rest of this is a few different chores working on "Tina", the MGB wannabe race car. It was time to salvage a piece of sheet metal from the rear wing of a parts car, to be used to repair a rusted spot on the nose of the bonnet.
Cut out the rusted metal, sand off the paint, flange the panel edges for flush fit, and on to a bit of welding. The philosophy here is, it's just a race car, so make it look good on the outside, and no one will see underneath.
There was a little chore to install a rubber body plug behind the master cylinders. It was a stiff bit of aging rubber, but it would do in a pinch without buying a new one. Just took 10 minutes of fiddling to get if jammed into place to close the hole, and looks like will stay there okay.
The next idea is to figure the easiest way to install extra wide race tires where they have physical interference with the inner unibody structure. First thought is the need to cut away offending sheet metal, then fabricate and weld in new metal in a more recessed position. But of course that sounds like a lot of work. Maybe use a BIG punch and a sledge hammer to simply depress the existing metal? Probably not, since unibody structure is intended to be very resistant to deformation. More likely to succeed using an acetylene torch to heat it bright red and bash it back when the metal is still soft. Yeah that sounds feasible. Will be interesting to see what they finally do here.
Saturday, December 30, 2023:
This creative split seal for for MGA front suspension swivel pins has come to light again. It
has been around for many years, but is not well known, and you need to know where to find the parts. The split joint and small machine screws allows you to replace the swivel pin seals without major disassembly of the front suspension. Seemed like a good idea to post it on a new Suspension tech page to be easy to find.
One last late night hurrah to post an update to the tech page for making louvered access panels for the inner fenders of a Twin Cam. Find more pictures and an extended explanation of how it was done.
Sunday, December 31, 2023:
New Years Eve, but not gone yet. Just posted a new tech page for polished
Stainless Steel Bumpers for MGA. Could be cute, and may be price competitive, will not look like chrome, and only sold as a set (so future replacement parts might be an issue). No personal experience, so will be waiting for feed back.
Just for fun, added some photos and notes to a Regalia tech page for a vintage remote control wind-up MGA bottom of page here -- Okay, midnight, so now we can call it a year.
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