The Steering Column
Left Hand Drive from our President

Jana and I have missed so many driving events this summer that we are feeling pains every time we go into our garage, as our B seems to be crying out to be driven more, so we hope to finish in a flurry. There are still some great drives on the schedule that we hope to make. Just check them out here in our October Driveline or on our Club web site. Of course we still drive our B around when we can, but it likes to go in a crowd with other MGs.

I want to thank Steve Skegg for his hosting the Tech Session on car storage, long and short term at our September meeting. His talks are always informative and interesting. There were lots of good questions and informative tips offered by those in attendance. It was also very nice to see Oscar and Dianna Gonzalez looking to be in good health at the meeting. They brought along two nice pictures of MGs to include as an additional prize in the 50/50 raffle winnings.

Our October meeting should be very lively as we celebrate our club's 38th Birthday with Cake and Champagne. Also we will have a presentation on lubrication by Ralph Arata. He is bringing show and tell items as part of his talk; it should be a good one. We also start the nomination process for our club officers for 2015. As I have mentioned in the past, this is my second year as your president and I will not be running for reelection for next year. Ralph has also said that he will not be running for Treasurer next year. If you are interested in serving in an officer position, please let us know.

For our November meeting, we will finish our nomination process and also have a presentation by Bob Simon of a recent trip he made to the UK and the car events that he attended along with some pictures of great cars. For December we have our Christmas party instead of our regular meeting. So there are lots of reasons to set aside time in your schedules to attend our upcoming Club meetings in addition to the Christmas party. Also, Jana our B, and I hope to see you soon on the road in your MG.

Happy motoring and Safety Fast!

-- George Phariss

	The Steering Column
	Right Hand Drive from our Vice-President

Well I did it. After months of relocating to a new location, my garage is finally taking shape.

Let me start at the beginning. After my move to Crystal Lake in June, I had visions of never having to store my cars over the winter under a tarp in the driveway. I would have a garage that not only would provide protection during the cold winter months but also provide a location to work on the cars over the non-driving season in comfort. The 800 sq ft garage with a 200 sq ft loft was going to provide me with ample space to store the cars and set up a shop. The gas-fired polebarn heater will provide the comfort.

The only problem was that since we moved into a much smaller house and we didn’t throw away nearly enough stuff, all the overflow landed in the vast storage space in the backyard—my garage.

It took two months to consolidate (give away, throw away) the 184 boxes into the back 400 sq ft of the garage. The front half was going to be the garage and shop area. Fortunately the garage was wired with a 60 amp subpanel and some wiring had been routed. I’ll need to add a few more outlets and I might increase the amperage feed into the garage. I haven’t decided yet if it will be necessary.

The past week and weekend weather conditions were perfect to address the garage floor. I spent two days prepping the floor—degreasing, etching—for the Polycuramine floor coating to be applied. Polycuramine is 20 times stronger than epoxy. With its resistance to salt, oil, gas and other harsh chemicals, this is one of the toughest floor coatings on the planet. The end result was fabulous.

My next step is to determine the position of my shop cabinets and shelving so I can decide where I need additional power outlets. Then it is just the task of running the conduit and installing the outlets. With the cabinets in place, I will be able to unpack the 30 or so boxes that contain all my shop tools and hardware further reducing the boxes stored in the back half of the garage.

The end is in sight.

-- ~~ Victor L’Heureux