The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (April 16 - April 30, 2026)
Thursday, April 16, 2026:
Just say we took the day off to clean up loose ends, since we are about five weeks late getting out of town.
Friday, April 17, 2026:
One last Friday visit to Tech Central, looks like not much planned for the day, but there was a little chore to mount two fat-tire e-bikes onto an older rack on back of the motor home. After deleting some base adapters the fat tires fit into the rack okay, but the top clamps would not come down far enough to hold the frames. Solution was a quick trip to a local store to buy two high bars that clamp between the seat base and fork bearing tube, after which the top clamps on the carrier work fine.
The newish Chevy 3500-HD diesel work truck didn't want to start? It cranks over fine, but no go. For diesel engine, no fire has to mean no fuel. We think there are two fuel pumps, low pressure transfer pump from tank to engine, and high pressure pump for the fuel injectors. There was a trouble code they were trying to reset, but wait. It's computer controlled, right? How about a reset? Just unplug it, and reboot it. So they disconnected the battery ground cable for 30 seconds, then reconnected it, and the thing started right up, and the trouble code was gone. Just like the old Microsoft operating system joke. -- Then there was the never ending job of organizing the tools. the trick here is to teach people discipline to put tools back where they found them at the end of the day, every day. Maybe even easier, we just need to teach one person, our host.
the Jaguar was back, the one with the electric fan that keeps tuning until it runs the battery down. That should be as simple as replacing the thermostatic switch, but no new part handy. So I think they re going to wire in a toggle switch to kill the power from the cockpit whey the engine is switched off.
Finally time to get back on the road, after spending five months in one place? That's just weird. So we hit the expressway for the first time with the new crankshaft., driving 125 miles north up I-75 at 75-MPH when the traffic was flowing. Some stop and creep a few time in hot weather, just switch on the bilge blower to keep the carburetors cool while only the passengers were cooking. 2-1/2 hours on we stopped in Sun City Center , Florida for fuel and an evening break. Call the lady at Scarborough Faire to check in, and we think the Return Authorization number for the misconfigured Moss Motors radiator is finally on the way via email. -- And time to post he photos and notes for the day.
Saturday, April 18, 2026:
Short side trip to an ATM this morning, and one lame no-go WiFi spot before landing in Bushnell, Florida for breakfast. Spent a good part of the day posting new Part Numbers tech pages for MGA door rubber buffers, tapping plates and screws. MB19556; AAA5115; AHH6273; AHH6273K; AJD2245Z. Two rubber pieces in slightly different styles, one tapping plate and one screw, but at least five part numbers, only three of which appear in the factory Service Parts books. These numbers can be single parts or kits, and seem to be used interchangeably, so hard to know what you may be ordering. The worst problem is, replacement tapping plates may be aluminum , which will promote galvanic corrosion so they cannot be removed later.
Sunday, April 19, 2026:
Made it back to Gainsville, Florida, where we broke the crankshaft five months ago. Just weird. Feels like Friday the 13th. Good news is, the cruise control we installed a year ago is working well, as we cruised north to I-10 and Lake City, FL by late night.
Monday, April 20, 2026:
Drove west to Tallahassee,FL today. The morning WiFi spot was less than comfortable, so by mid afternoon we moved more west to Cottondale, FL. Seems like we crossed into Central Time Zone as we were passing Chattahoochee. Only two hours to Pensacola from here, so we may be moving faster than intended. Plans to be in Mandeville, Louisiana by Saturday morning. Heading to Austin Texas around end of month.
Tuesday, April 21, 2026:
Decent place to kill a day, so we stayed another day in Cottondale, FL
Wednesday, April 22, 2026:
One full day in Defuniak Springs FL.
Thursday, April 23, 2026:
Breakfast in Milton Florida, but the WiFi spot turned out to be an intolerable meat freezer, so we bailed out by noon. Two hours later, fuel stop and late lunch at Loves Travel Stop in Biloxi Mississippi. Got a "help me" call from Louisiana. When we get there Saturday morning, it looks like we may be there for a few days. A little more late night travel west put us at the Louisiana Welcome Center before midnight.
Friday, April 24, 2026:
A stone's throw down the road put us in Slidell, Louisiana for the day. A bit farther late night had us staged at a brand new Love's Travel Stop in Mandeville, Louisiana.
Saturday, April 25, 2026:
Strong lightening and thunder storms and heavy rain overnight, dropping to light drizzle that stopped just as we were arriving. Appointment for breakfast with the North Shore contingent of New Orleans British Car Club at Liz's Where Y'At Diner in Mandeville, LA. Been here many times before. One other MG braved the morning weather, along with two dozen local club members joining in for breakfast.
Considering the skeptical weather, and the lack of vintage cars present, there would be no club cruise today. After some casual chat with a few old friends, we were back at the Travel Stop by late morning for WiFi time.
Sunday, April 26, 2026:
After lunch we dropped in to visit Cliff Hughes in Mandeville, LA for a couple hours. Been here before, and for sure he has had the MG ZB-Magnette Varitone and the MGA 1600 for well over 10 years. Our first encounter with the Magnette was replacing a failed electric fuel pump during a club your run in late February 2015. The MGA has equally long history here. I was wondering how or why the dash fascia panel had non-standard vinyl covering and bright trim similar to later 1600-MK-II models. Been that way for decades, so hard to remember, but the bottom edge bright trim seems to be chrome plated fender welting formed to fit and riveted in place. Very nicely done, and way easier than the factory style stamped and chrome plated parts. More recently the seat back side bolsters had replacement panels
 I seem to remember repacking the MGA carburetor jet seals about ten years ago. Cliff was concerned they might be leaking. Inspection showed them to be slightly damp under the jets,but definitely not dripping. This is pretty normal for an MGA, so best to not fix something that is not broken.
There was a decent used Austin B-series camshaft lying around, could be from any pushrod engine MGA through 1964 MGB 3-main bearing engine with tachometer drive gear on the tail end. Not greased, so naturally covered with surface rust, slightly worn, almost serviceable,could be a decent candidate for regrind. My curiosity compels me to check out any used MGA or early MGB camshaft. The #1 cam lobe is notably rounded a bit on the apex, a little less worn on #2 and #3, and very little wear on the rest of them, which was exactly what I was expecting to find. With decades of such experience, I am well convinced this wear pattern is caused by dirty air intrusion from reverse flow of air through the draft pipe on the front tappet cover.
There was also a "15" cylinder head, which would be from any MGA 1500 or 1600 engine. Looks perfectly good to me, not sure why it was lying around spare. -- And there was Cliff's most recent toy, a very nice Mazda Miata, I think he said 2005 vintage. Then Cliff had another commitment, so we were off for some WiFi time.
Monday, April 27, 2026:
Early morning I was posting a new Care And Feeding tech page on "Shipping Large or Heavy Parts". -- After breakfast we were off to visit Brad Mayo in Mandeville, Louisiana. This is a 1500 square foot house with a 1500 square foot attached garage and workshop, so this guy has his priorities in order. He used to have a Harley Davidson dealership for many years, now retired from that business, but he still has an assortment of motorcycles.
He has a late model MGB, rubber bumpers originally single carb, that has been converted to dual carbs. It has a neat little air blower, about 2-1/2" diameter, set up to blow cool air on the carburetors. Similar to my MGA with 3" bilge blower, his is only switched on when standing still or creeping in hot weather.
Brad also has this nice MGA 1600, recently restored with new sheet metal in the body sills. I think he bought it that way, as he likely would have done a better job of restoration if he had done it himself. He currently has HS4 carburetors for this car, but wants to change them to HIF4 carbs, same as he has on the rubber bumper MGB, just a matter of personal preference.
There is another rubber bumper MGB converted to a BOP V8 with 4-BBL carburetor. That is, Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, light weight aluminum V8 engine from the early 60's, before GM sold the engine line to Rover. And there is a very nice Austin Healey 3000, spit shined and polished in show car condition. We know that British car guys and Harley guys have a lot in common, and this guy is both. -- Now just for grins, he has some interesting heat shield material that looks and feels like soft felt, but must be some kind of foam ceramic material. The flame source is a charcoal grill lighter torch, like a large cigarette lighter on a stick. Cliff had his hand underneath, and swears it doesn't even feel warm.
In the evening we had a Zoom tech session with John Twist, chatting about MG emissions controls.
Tuesday, April 28, 2026:
Evening visit with Gary Bettancourt in Madisonville, Louisiana. He has what he calls "Two of the most beautiful cars in the world", which is hard to argue. The MGA is very recent procurement, which he dearly loves and likes to drive. But he has some concerns about the cooling system, as it seems to run hotter than should be reasonable.
The car has a fan shroud and an electric fan and the proper 7-psi pressure cap, but still runs too warm. Looks like the problem is a re-cored radiator with vertical tube core, which likely does not work as well as the original cell core radiator. We spent some time chatting about fan shroud, electric fan, insufficient air flow, and how a cell core radiator works as well as it does. in the end. it seems like he may bite the bullet and change to a cell core radiator. I will certainly be following this story to see how it goes.
After dark, heading west on I-12 until it merges back into I-10,then a few miles more before stopping for dinner at a Love's Travel Stop in Port Allen, Louisiana.
Wednesday, April 29, 2026:
We ambled into Port Allen, LA today. Called younger daughter in Austin, Texas, left a voice message, sent a text message, sent an email message, waiting for response.
Got an email and phone call from a friend in Panama City Beach, Florida. Some bad news first, the Bay British Car Club has become mostly inactive, no more club meetings, and the club web site is gone (domain name expired). A prior club member with a conscience continues to pay the fee to maintain the club name registration with the state, so no one else can use the club name in vain. There are now only a few people who continue to get together for tech occasionally.
The good news is, a couple of these guys still own a "hobby garage" and get together to tinker with cars occasionally. Currently, someone brought in an MGA that had been stored for 20 years, preparing to get the engine running, intending to restore it. (for about $60K). Then they also found and bought another MGA that was an older restoration, may be a decent daily driver car, might want a little touch up. We just flew past there a few days ago, and will likely not get back that way any time soon.
Late night back on I-10 heading west, stopped by a road closure and stuck standing for a while. I took this as opportunity to do a battery test with engine off, headlights off, parking lights on. Incandescent tail lights 2x6 watts, incandescent dash lamps 4x1.75 watts,incandescent license plate lamps 2x4 watts, LED's for front parking lights and all trailer lights. That may be about 2-amps total draw from a 40-amp-hour battery, so should be good for several hours. Plug in the LED digital volt meter and keep an eye on it. While we sat for 90 minutes, battery voltage went from 12.4-v to 10.9-v. A bit more of a drop than I was expecting, but it should still crank and start with anything over 10-volts. When time to go, key on, pull start switch, barely a groan, all dark, near zero voltage. Oops. Just a minute to connect the Lithium-ion battery jumper box and fire it up and run away with headlights on, no foul.Ten minutes later stop at a rest stop half past midnight, switch off system voltage over 13 volts, thanks to a good alternator, but it may be time to replace the battery.
Thursday, April 30, 2026:
Breakfast in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. Checking the maintenance log, that nice Odyssey sealed AGM battery gave us 210,000 miles in the past 9-1/2 years, so I recon it doesn't owe us anything. For sure it has been abused with near full discharge more than a dozen times over the years due to failed alternators and lights left on. Project for today wil be to find the next one.
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