MGAguru is on the Prowl

MGA Guru is Gone Mobile

May day transition from sun baked southern Arizona into cooler ocean side southern California. What a change! It is still mostly desert, but there are some green things with sprinklers around the populated areas. And boy, are these areas populated. Expressway rush hour traffic around San Diego and Los Angeles would make Chicago area commuters ill. We have visited Dave Ambrose (and son) in Poway CA with a daily driver MG Midget, an MG BGT project car, and a Morris Traveller in early stages of full restoration.

Also visited Greg Bass in La Jolla CA with a factory original MGB GT V8, an early pull-handle MGB, and an MGA Twin Cam. We passed a small British car shop called Pacific International Auto in San Diego CA, closed on Sunday but otherwise apparently a going concern. California is a big state with lots of car clubs. Initial attempts at planning ran into SIX clubs all with monthly meetings on the first Tuesday of the month. Oops! Ever since we have been looking for alternate events for those clubs,

We did make it to a May 5th dinner meeting with San Diego MG Club, about 35 people and at least 10 MGs in the car park. After the meeting we followed a Prius home to Encinitas CA, home of Scott and Mary Davidson, which would be somewhat fateful for us all. Next day I R&R'd the differential on my MGA to investigate backlash and funny noises. Nothing serious there, but I did find a problem with the tail bushing in the gearbox, apparently stuck on the propshaft spigot and rotating in the aluminum housing. So much for two months service on the rebuilt gearbox. I also R&R'd the radiator to install a new plastic fan that I have been wanting to try out. Then we went after the lethargic wiper drive in Scott's MGA, a chore just to extract the parts from the car. We found and fixed a kink on one of the drive pipes, cleaned and greased and reassembled the motor gearbox and wheel boxes (enough for one day). After one day off we were rebuilding the steering rack on Scott's MGA removing play in the inner ball joints, tightening up splines on the steering U-joint, and installing a new felt bushing in the steering column.

On Saturday May 9 we were in Anaheim CA for Safety Inspection Day for the Vintage MG Club of Southern California. Seven T-types were on and of the lift, finding a few minor faults, but nothing to keep the cars off the road. Follow that with lunch with some of the club members. Next day a visit with Adam Lombard in Encino CA who has a very nice MG YB saloon, and MGB GT. He also had some friends over for lunch, including another MGA; by evening we were farther west (up the coast) to Camarillo to visit Rob Zucca (curator of the Ronald Regan Library) who has a nice MGA 1600 (which would benefit from a few carburetor tweaks and timing adjustment). Following morning scrub an appointment with Moss Motors (Kelvin Dodd on vacation). By midafternoon we turned south fighting rush hour traffic through Los Angeles for 2-hr 45 min to do a 90-min trip to Santa Ana CA to make a dinner meeting with Vintage MG Club of Southern California. After dinner another change of plans, going south again back

(Continued on page 8)