The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (August 1 - August 15, 2018)
Wednesday August 1, 2018:
After late night chat in Grand Bend, we managed to sleep in a little, followed by more late morning chat. Then just enough time for lunch before we had to high tail it back east.
 2-1/4 hours later we were rolling into a driveway in rural Amaranth, ON (closer to Orangeville).
We were at the home of Pat and Peter Simpson for a tire kicking social and pot luck barbecue and monthly club meeting with Headwaters British Car Club. We were first to arrive, but not long before more British cars were rolling in, and we soon had 40 people with friendly smiles and warm hands to chat about common interests. At least a dozen British cars (and a few more that weren't). Nice club meeting until in the cool of the evening it was time to toddle off to find a WiFI spot.
Still tired from short sleep the night before, I didn't get much done on WiFi other than a little email. Zzzzz....
Thursday August 2, 2018:
Up and at 'em, fully refreshed (I hope), still in Orangeville. The car engine has been getting harder to start each morning, running rough or missing one cinder at low speed until warmed up. With distances we drive things can deteriorate quickly, and it has been deteriorating by the day. Last night it was running on three cylinders at low speed, would only run well above 2000 rpm. First guess was maybe the points not opening enough to fire the coil, and a little wobble in the well used distributor shaft making one cylinder a tad worse then others. So while the car was still cool in the morning, have a look at the points, and sure enough almost no movement of the points. A few minutes to use my thumb nail to re-gap the points, and the engine was back to purring like a kitten.
Caught up with photos and notes, email, and a late breakfast. No one else in southern Ontario asking for help, so time to look ahead. Next shop visit would be in Kingston, ON, 3-1/4 hours to the east, and it was almost 1-pm, and we might have just enough time to make it before 5-pm closing time, so off we went. Horrible delays on the 401 killed nearly an hour, we needed a fuel stop, and by the time traffic had cleared well east of Toronto, might be almost 5:30 before we could get there, keep it rolling. An hour later navigator said maybe 5:15 arrival time,
well maybe, so keep it rolling.
As we were pulling off the expressway, navigator said it looks like 5:05 ETA, so cross fingers and keep it rolling. Sure enough 5:05 arrival at Classic Automotive Repair in Kingston, ON. Two cars in the parking lot, one running one waiting, and someone just locking up the shop. Luckily he was in a good mood, and the MGA works pretty well as a welcome card, so in a minute the shop was open for our visit.
Very quick trip through the shop, Midget, Alpine, TR3, MGB, might be a TR6 under wraps, Mini, E-type, three more MGB and a Spitfire. Business is reported to be a little slow just today, as there are commonly 3 or 4 more cars in the shop, and everyone wants them back today. Out back a really nice transport trailer, and Austin Princess in for some final trimming, and several parts cars being efficiently stripped, soon to be cleared out.
The shop owner Steve Hayes is a nice old Brit, maybe soon to retire. The bloke escorting me around may be taking over the business soon. Very good to a see thriving business continuing into the known future.
Addendum November 1, 2023:
Classic Automotive Repair in Kingston, ON is now taken over by Matthew Tucker, and the staff has been downsized to one, just Mathew running the place now.
Friday August 3, 2018:
As we are about to leave Ontario, I should report on some clubs and groups that we did not get to visit. British Saloon Car Club of Canada, North group did not reply to an email message, so we could not contact them. British Saloon Car Club of Canada, South Central in Milton does exist, but they do not hold regularly scheduled meetings. They get together on an ad hoc basis when the mood may strike one of the members to contact the others to get together for some specific purpose. Similarly, Grey Brits in Owen Sound also exists but only get together on an ad hoc basis, and it was not convenient for them for us to visit during the time we were in Ontario.
There are a number of clubs in Ontario that all have monthly meetings on the second Wednesday of the month, so we could not get there due to schedule conflicts (maybe next time through). The ones we didn't get to visit (yet) are Ontario MG 'T' Register north group in Newmarket, Boot 'N Bonnet Car Club in Kingston, and British Sports Car Club of London in London.
British Saloon Car Club of Canada, Bruce Grey Counties group in Williamsford also had a schedule conflict (when we were at the Canadian Transportation Museum with Windsor-Detroit MG Club). We may get back in this area in September after our planned run to Newfoundland.
Moving into Quebec today we began a crash course in French by reading road signs which gave us some clue what the words meant. We had plenty of advance notice that people generally spoke French in Quebec, and it came home immediately when we had a little trouble ordering well known breakfast items in Tim Horton's. At least we knew what to point to on the screen menues.
We had two appointments to get us started. First up in early afternoon was a visit to
Christian Hollum Imports in Dorval. Yup, that's him come out to greet us. To keep it simple, we recon over 6000 square feet of service parts for vintage British cars, most of the common models, but not for Jaguar (his personal choice I guess). There was a new Triplex windscreen glass for my MGA, no time for this today, but maybe later. Also a vintage Rolls Royce that was reported to be fleeing France immediately ahead of the German invasion in WW-II, now apparently begging for restoration.
Finishing there just before closing time, then we were heading northwest, arriving Arundel, QC at 6-pm for a
visit with Barrie Graham. He has this nice MGA 1500 with an interesting history. It was at one time parked for some years with two other MGA near a creek that would sometimes flood in the spring. By the time the car was recovered it had been submerged, maybe more than once, and it was full of sand, and most of the sheet metal was full of holes. Barrie managed to make one good car out of three and somehow got this one restored, now being a nice daily driver. Three cheers. Barrie is a furniture maker, which may explain the wood dash and all wood cockpit trim rails.
Barrie is also an avid collector of vintage power sleds, this first one being an 1953 Eliason Motor Toboggan K12 manufactured by Four Wheel Drive Auto Co Ltd in Kitchner, Ontario. Not sure how how steering works, but with 8-HP Briggs and Stratton engine I suppose it wasn't very fast. The second one is a 1950 Bosak, andthere were man more of these stashed in the back of his workshop. He has a web site dedicated to vintage power sleds, ane he has been supplying parts to other enthusiasts. Sound familiar?
Remember the age of mini cars, mostly post WW-II (before the Auston Mini made them all obsolete)? Well, this mini truck is real, also tiny (and obviously slow). We had a 7-pm dinner reservation where we were joined by a friend (who is heavy into sand pits, big trucks and construction equipment). He's the bloke who sold the three flooded MGA to Barrie some years ago, and unbelievably they are still friends. It all made for entertaining conversation until they we were being ousted at 10-pm closing time.
Goodbye to all as we pointed it south on secondary roads, interesting drive on twisty roads in the dark (only whacked one racoon). We crossed the provincial line a few times from Quebec to Ontario to Quebec and back to Ontario again, landing just past midnight at a rest stop on 401, not far from where we had started in the morning. Really? Hey navvie, I thought we were supposed to be heading back to Monteal? Oh well, get some sleep, and we can deal with it in the morning.
Saturday August 4, 2018:
Just a little short on sleep, heading about 70 miles east, more side streets than expressway. First stop was a visit with a couple of friends in Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, QC. The guy on right is François Gay who two years ago donated the piece of left front wing to repair a bit of rust on my MGA. That's his white TR6. The other bloke is his friend Donald. That's his green MGB, and this place is Donald's home and very nice garage/workshop.
One step inside the door and woo-hoo, 12-foot ceiling full height two post lift. The red Midget has been a regular driver for several years, looks pretty good, but it has a body full of Bondo. The body shell on end will be donor for the restoration effort. Pity it will be changing from round wheel arch to square wheel arch in the process.
Under wraps in the back room is a nice MGB about to receive a replacement 5-main engine and early 3-synchro overdrive gearbox. Some of this was a mismatched mystery with 18GB short block (1964-1967), "L" head (1972-1974), large flywheel (1968 or later) and late model engine backplate that will not work with the early gearbox. Solution will be to procure an engine backplate and flywheel from 1965-1967 MGB, and the works should then bolt right in.
Then we cruised over to François' place to check out his MGA 1500. It was disabled temporarily for replacement of a leaky shock absorber. Otherwise a good road going car.
This one has an 1800 engine with SU HIF4 carburetors and overdrive gearbox. François accepted good advice and installed a removable frame cross member for the gearbox mount so it may be serviced without ripping out the interior and tunnel. Notice the little bilge blower fan in the air duct. Also the carburetors with the low-level venturi vacuum connections to pull vent air through the crankcase. So far so good. But then there was the valve cover vent with a hose dropped down beside the engine. That's bad, because it will suck up road dirt to be passed through the crankcase. Solution here may be to ditch the hose and install a small intake filter on the valve cover.
The radiator had been recored with a modern vertical tube core, which is not so great (but you might learn to live with it). The original cell core radiator is still here, having been repaired a few times, a bit shabby, but it may be good to have it rebuilt with a new original type cell core for better cooling. Also recommend replacing the straight hoses on the radiator connections with original type convoluted hoses to allow more flexibility to reduce mechanical stresses on the radiator.
The six inch wide alloy wheels are nice, but have a little bit too much offset. 205-70-15 tires rub on the leaf springs, so there are wheel spacers for the rear wheels. The better solution here will be to replace the 205 tires with 195's, and ditch the spacers, giving more clearance for the tires inside the wings all around, lighter steering, less unsprung weight and less rotational inertia to overcome on acceleration.
Going on 1-pm, we dropped into a local bistro for lunch with François and Donald. Good time for more car chat, but time flies, and it was soon time haul out and look for a good WiFi spot to catch up some web site work (which killed the rest of the day).
Sunday August 5, 2018:
A few days back someone told us there was a Baie-D'Urfe Car Show 2018 today at Fritz Farm in Baie-D'urfe, QC. If you can pronounce these names or know the places, you're doing better than I. Okay, it's just west of Montreal. We were told there is a contingent of English speaking folk in the SW corner of Quebec, and they may like English cars, so there may be a appreciable number of them at the car show. Sure enough, the Montreal MG Car Club came in force with at least a dozen MGs and a fist full of other vintage British cars in tow, maybe 30 British in all.
The Ferrari Dino GT parked with the Cobra didn't exactly look British. He went away and came back once or
 twice, maybe couldn't find a suitable group. There were several rows of American cars on the field, and it was pleasant to notice not the horde of modern muscle cars and hot rods that you would see at a cruise night, because this show was limited to pre-1993, or 25 year old minimum. The Citroën 2CV was cute (deux chevaux-vapeur = "two stem horses" or "two tax horsepower"). I think this one was somewhere between 1968 and 1976, because it had some emissions controls (PCV valve), but still has round headlights. A bit more modern than I'm used to seeing with fully upholstered seats and headrests.
The Alfa Romeo was a treat along with a few military vehicles and a good group of 1950's vintage American cars (contemporary with my MGA).
Push the clock back another decade, an I was particularly attracted to the 1947 Plymouth.
Quite hot today (87dF, 31dC and full sun), so after snatching an ice cream I went back to sit under a canopy and chat for an hour with the Montreal MG club. When the party was breaking up around 4-pm we high tailed it out to find an air conditioned WiFi spot. Around 11-pm I happened to see the Facebook page fo Fritz Farm, and they already had pictures from today's car show on line, including one picture of some of the British cars present.
Monday August 6, 2018:
Real short report today. After a quick email check in the morning, I spent the rest of the day converting and uploading the CMGC August newsletter onto the club website.
Tuesday August 7, 2018:
Slept in bit, late breakfast, but email and tech questions done by mid day. Found a cub meeting for tomorrow evening. Rest of the day was spent listing all of the shops we intend to visit in Quebec in the next two or three days, and finding reasonable route to get to all of them. Also whatever rare club events we could find, and about five friends on the Planning list we should also visit. Ready to hit the road again tomorrow.
Wednesday August 8, 2018:
Up early for breakfast, one phone call, and the routing list was ready to roll by 10-am. Today we would be shop hopping all around the Montreal metropolitan area (as much as I hate driving in big cities). We skipped the first shop because he was out of town for a service call, will catch him later.
 First stop was Mecanique General Auto-Power in Vaudreuil-Dorion, QC. Customer door on the side,
garage entrance in back, big truck in the way, so walk through. Door locked, thought we were out of luck, try a phone call but no answer, about to head out for the next destination. As we were turning around to leave there was a rather loud honk or two, and the shop owner had returned from a short errand, so we were in luck. Meet Joseph Sfeir, that's his MGB with a Rover V8 engine with 4-bbl carburetor, 5-speed, and a Chrysler 3.38:1 differential (a tricky retrofit).
Once inside, wow, my kinda place with three MGA. The white one is (or was) Joseph's daily driver car, 1800 5-speed with 3.91:1 differential, but now he likes driving the MGB V8, so may be about to sell the MGA 1800. On the rack a grey MGA 1600-MK-II, and then the black 1500 in restoration. Put back an MGB wondering what's next, a TR7, a Mini, and a passel of Land Rovers. All good stuff, as he works only on vintage British cars.
Next up was Evolution Yachting Inc in Pointe Claire, QC. Say what? Okay, we're not really into boats, and that's mostly what goes on here. But meet the owner Alexandre Nemet, because he will do some work on vintage
British cars for modification of tops and tonneau covers, like adding headrest pockets to a tonneau cover for instance. Here he is modifying the back of a convertible top to use as a side curtain (don't recall what car it's for). As we were about to leave, a customer dropped in with something interesting, a tonneau cover with a flexible solar panel used to passively charge the vehicle battery with a float charger controller for long periods of idle time. I suppose that requires leaving the vehicle parked outside much of the time.
Then we made a quick stop at Christian Hollum Imports in Dorval, where we had already visited last Friday. This
shop was right on our way, and we needed a set of brake shoes that were not from Moss Motors. We found them here, County brand made in England. No time to install them at the moment, so toss them into the trailer and move on.
Then we were off to visit Britauto Ltd in Lachine. Not sure what the "OK Pneus" signs are doing here, but I think Britauto is a tire dealer, They seem to occupy the entire lower floor of the building (and maybe more). They
specialize in vintage British cars here, and especially MGs. The red MGB race car (background center below) belongs to the owner of the company, was handed down from father to son and is being restored. Another building a few blocks away is labeled "Camo Tuning" that is not what it appears, but is in fact used as additional storage space for Britauto.
Another short hop to visit Brittanicar, also in Lachine. It took a little while to find the customer door, sort of camouflaged in the blue wall on the left side (when all else fails read the signs). Say hello to Len Bell. This place is bigger than it first appears. Once inside we found space for about 40 cars, not that many here today, but definitely all British. Mechanical and electrical to full restoration service available here.
The bits on the table are parts for a rack and pinion steering conversion for an Austin Healey. Len makes these parts, and can make similar rack conversion parts for the TR2/3, and maybe Morgans. Neat parts. The red MGB carries a newer issue Toyota twin cam engine with electronic fuel injection, lots of power and 35-mpg fuel economy. These engines are cheap from a bone yard, complete with all electronics, and take the 5-speed gearbox as well. Good to see creative people keeping these cars alive.
As we cruised on we found this MGB parked on the street, a driver car. While I was taking the picture the driver fired it up and drove off in the other direction. Smiles all around.
Then we were off to visit Garage Pit Stop in Griffintown, Montreal. Say hello to the owner Zavern Darakjian who has been servicing cars in this location since 1971. There is a story here you may not believe.
Developers wanted to buy up the whole city block, tear it down, and build a new Griffintown, but this property was not for sale. So the developers procured and razed everything around it and proceeded to construct the new
center surrounding the old building. In the process of driving pilings for the new foundation they damaged the floors and walls of the old building. They would eventually repair it, but in the meantime the city condemned the building and the car repair business was temporarily relocated to another site a few blocks away. The relocation and repairs were supposed to be for a few months, but dragged on for four years. Then the building at the temporary quarters was removed (now completely gone), and the car repair business is currently awaiting approval of an occupancy permit to get back into their original premises. This is expected to take a few more months, during which the business office is what you see in the photos above. It is set up in the entrance drive to the old building that is now completely contained within the new complex. Notice the original yellow and blue door at the end of the entrance hall.
Then we headed south, and east over a bridge when it suddenly began to rain. Just off the bridge we were driving in blinding rain and eight inches of water in the streets (which is a couple inches up on the MGA body sills). While plowing though water at walking speed, hoping not to flood the engine, a car behind had the gall to blow his horn like we were blocking traffic (so naturally I slowed down a bit). Then heading south again, we shortly arrived at Les Pièces d'Autos Anglaises Mario Boies (Mario Boies English Auto Parts) in Brossard, QC. This appears to be a Jaguar specialist, but the sign says Triumph, Jaguar, MG, and there were a few other cars sitting atound, like the a TR6 with a stock number sign on it, and some MG floor mats hanging on the wall. They seemed to be too busy to chat, so we were soon rolling again.
Then we were looking for Atelier Mecanique Coventry Inc in Saint-Léonard, QC. When we got there it turned
out to be a garage door company for the past two years, and they have no idea who was there before, as the place was vacant when they moved in. We have no phone number, and web search is coming up blank. Will do a little more research later.
Out of time, needing to get to a club dinner meeting 16 miles away in Terrebonne, QC. Thought we had plenty of time, but got caught in nasty traffic, then were misdirected a mile off by the GPS, made a couple of calls, finally found the place 20 minutes late, but at least everyone was expecting us by then. First we needed to diagnose a fluid leak from an MGC V6. Yeah, go ahead and scratch your head. It's a nice General Motors engine, lighter weight with lots of power, so don't knock it.
The problem turned out to be a leaky heater valve, about two years old (sound familiar?). I had put my last spare one on my own car three weeks earlier, and hadn't restocked the magic trailer yet. Grrrrr, need more spares, put
them on the shopping list. But the owner said he lived close and wouldn't have any problem getting home, so move on in for dinner.
Meet the folks from Le Rendez-Vous de Anglaises car club, loosely translated, "rendezvous of the English" (people or cars?). This is the club our friend François Gay belongs to, although he wasn't here tonight. We were busy chatting and forget to take a picture until half the people had left, but caught the rest before they could get away. Been a long day.
Thursday August 9, 2018:
Destined to be an easier day today, I hope. First stop was a visit to Auto Clinic Paint Shop in Laval, QC. They will do sheet metal work, rust restoration and collision repair, not maintenance or chassis work. The Cobra is a recent example of a color change repaint done to show standards. They will do body and paint work on just about anything, and vintage British cars are no problem.
Second stop today was at Robert Pieces d'Auto Anglaises in Laval, QC. Nice family business with daughter
handling the front desk. They are a Moss parts distributor, so I took the opportunity to pick up two heater valves (remembering the one I didn't have last night). Rest of the day off to (nearly) catch up with photos and notes from the day before.
Friday August 10, 2018:
Mid morning appointment with Gord Clark in Rockburn, QC, kind of end of the world 45
miles from the nearest hotel in a little town of maybe 250 people. He has a survivor MG TF, at first glance looking tatty, but it soaks in after a while, and please do not restore it. The wire wheel car under wraps is a 1935 MG PA. Also an MGB and a bug eye Sprite up front.
Nice vintage church and a wonderful country pub ("road house" to the Brits?). Aside from a social visit and nice lunch, this turned into an MGA maintenance day. The important project here was to install new brake shoes in the rear (bit of emergency situation), move the mildly worn rear shoes to the front (replacing 75% worn front shoes). The BIG problem here is "faulty" replacement part brake shoes that are too small, such that you can run the adjuster up to full limit of travel and the shoes still do not touch the drums (in the rear brakes with a single adjuster). Third photo shows new shoe on top and slightly worn shoe on bottom. I didn't measure with a caliper, but best estimate is about 10% wear on the lining. That is enough to run the parking brake lever within the rear wheel cylinder to end of travel which will totally defeat function of the parking brake. Hand lever full hard up, and the car will still roll away freely.
That much pre-travel of the rear shoes also makes for very long pedal travel, so the front brake shoes have to be adjusted right up to snuff to have any functional brakes. Front brakes have two adjusters and are more tolerant of this fault, so they can use more like 60 to 75% of the friction lining before getting too far out of adjustment and having to be replaced, which is why I was moving the 10% worn rear shoes to the front. Now new shoes on the back, but they still run up 18 notches to end of adjustment without touching the drums. Front shoes were about 60% worn but could still adjust properly on the 17th or 18th notch of the adjusters, but it was good time to replace them so we don't have to do it later (when it may be less convenient).
Here I was doing a reference measurement on the height of one of the "faulty" brake shoes. With the adjuster and adjuster mask in place, the measurement is 4-1/8 inches. With the adjuster and adjuster mask removed, the measurement is 4-1/16 inches. These measurements want to be about 1/8 inch more, which would require adding a 1/4 inch thick spacer block under the adjuster mask (to be tack welded in place). I could perhaps do this, but it against my morals, as I refuse to bastardize perfectly good original parts to accommodate faulty replacement parts. Until I can find correct size brake shoes, I will continue to bitch about the bad ones.
Getting it back together I rotated tires back to font, putting the better Gremax tires up front and the crappy Nankang tires on the rear. It was immediately apparent that it tracks in a straight line much better with the Gremax tires up front. If I figured right all of the tires may wear out together when it's time for new tires again.
Saturday August 11, 2018:
Had a little fun in the morning. I'm no good at Photoshop, but if I parked the car in the right place this worked out fairly well. If we were thoroughly modern we might be driving Smart car towing the trailer.
We have been trying to connect with a guy folks call "MG guru" in Saint-Lazarre, QC who works on cars for some of the local club folks. He is supposed to keep normal business hours weekdays. We missed him when he was in Ontario Wednesday working on a Jaguar, said he should be home in the evening (exept we had other commitments then). Stopped in Friday AM to find no one home, made a call, and got an appointment for Saturday. Dropped in again on Saturday mid day, but no go. No one home again, made a phone call to hear his son had dropped into town and they went golfing. Looks like we will have to miss this one for now, and not sure when we might get back this way again.
We had a 2-pm appointment in Vaudreuil-sur-le-Lac, QC, for a barbecue hosted by Duncan & Nathalie Taylor. Lots of friends were invited, including a large number of people from Montreal MG Car Club (maybe the whole club). This was a farewell party as Duncan was moving to British Columbia to be closer to his job. Duncan was very active in the club, including being their webmaster, and he will be dearly missed. We were among the first to arrive and backed the rig up to a fence, out of the way as best we could. Once everyone had arrived I counted 16 MGs parked in the yard. It was a rousting good party.
Some people took the opportunity to bring their pets to play, and there was one cat (resident I think) and 4 or 5 dogs rousting around having a good time (at least one of them liked to swim). It was dusk before the party broke up. Another friend invited us home for the night, so we graciously accepted and followed them along, not knowing quite where we were going, dark by then. Get some sleep, and we will have more time to chat in the morning.
Sunday August 12, 2018:
Ah, say good morning to Philip Habib and Diana Lee. And there's the MGA 1600-MK-II that we followed home last night. Uh, we're Where? Oh, Hudson, QC. Okay, after breakfast and a little social we were off again to find another WiFi spot and catch up some grunt work.
By mid afternoon we had caught up a couple of days backlog, not quite everything, but had made a few phone calls and now had another appointment. Haul ass west for two hours to visit Andrew & Susan McCue in Chelsea, QC. After some chat and a little respite from the heat we had a brief visit to the man cave. Nice two and a half and another half garage with 12-1/2 foot ceiling for full height two-poster lift and lots of power tools. I commented that he must be the most popular guy in the local car club, to which he had to agree. We had a quick reunion with the red MGB which we had rescued from side of the road with an ignition problem in Stow, Vermont two years earlier. Time for dinner on the patio, very nice with warm, dry and breezy air, followed by more chat until later night. Favorite topics are faulty replacement parts and what's wrong with car clubs.
Monday August 13, 2018:
After a few long days with short sleep we got to sleep in a bit. A peek out the upper window had the MGA waiting patiently below. After a late breakfast we would take advantage of the hoist for a little more maintenance work on the MGA, mostly trivial stuff, starting with a lube job (which had not been done with the last oil change). Also used a post lift to unload the front suspension joints so we would shake, shake, shake it looking for anything that might be loose or worn.
Good news everything is still tight in the trunnions and swivel links, likely good for another 100,000 miles. Propshaft U-joints still tight, and the brake cable greased well and happy.
We got lucky and managed to force grease into one stubborn Zerk that wouldn't take it last time around. Must give credit to a LockLube chuck on Andrew's large grease gun. Marvelous gadget that works like an air line coupler. Squeeze the lever to retract the outer collar, slip the chuck onto the Zerk fitting, release the lever, and the chuck is gripped securely onto the Zerk fitting to withstand any pressure that cane applied. Works like a charm. Then I found the new "more expensive" grease coupling I had bought months earlier, and installed that on my smaller traveling hand gun to replace a broken coupling.
Time to re-do bolts in the font license plate, again, what there is left of it. Then I dug out that $7 bottle of nail polish to paint the timing marks on the crankshaft pulley, and we finally got the ignition timing set properly (having been too advanced since last resetting the points gap). Wait now to see if it gets any better gas mileage. Tightened a bolt in the center exhaust hanger. Removed second (redundant) ignition coil and put it back in the traile as a spare part. Finished with the car shuffle to get the home team back in the garage, and it was time for clean-up and a little more chat. Well okay, a lot more chat, like late night.
Tuesday August 14, 2018:
Found a hand up today, so hard on, 2-1/2 hours back east to visit François Saine in Mt Royal, QC (north edge of Montreal). He has a nice 1957 MGA which he bought when he was 15 (early 1970's). It was his daily driver for 10 years, then secondary for a while, repainted some years ago, still looking decent. The car now has a 1967 MGB engine, and he is in process of collecting enough parts to install the PCV valve. We had considerable discussion about crankcase ventilation, and adjusted the carbs (which had been running very lean).
Also did a slight tweak to steering column mounting to reduce stiffness in the steering. Got a tight shot of the new Moss steering rack that may be expected to be a little stiff when new.
As a final touch we did a little shuck and jive with front parking light lenses and trim rings. He had nice lenses but no trim rings. I had badly frosted lenses with decent rim rings, and a new set of lamps not yet installed. So we took the duff lenses and decent trim rings off my car, and installed the lenses and trim rings from my new lamps (temporary, as I hope to install the new lamps later).
Then we removed the decent trim rings from my duff lenses and installed them on his nice lenses. Bingo! Winners all around. Had time for a nice dinner and more chat before we had to split, then off to catch up some WiFi work.
Wednesday August 15, 2018:
Two steps forward, one step back. We were nearly leaving town this morning when it dawned on me that we had missed a few shops in the area. These may have been new to our list, referred by friends and club members we have been visiting. So turn around and head back into the Montreal area once more.
First stop was Garage Desranleau in Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, QC. Looks like a going concern, but locked up when we arrived in early afternoon. Hand written sign on the window said "Vacances Ferme du 6 Aout au 14 aout". Google translate says "Farm Holidays, August 6 through August 24". Okay, so he's on vacation, check back later. But we were told that he does work on vintage British cars. And for sure the shop is still here.
Next up was Garage Lindsay in St-Hubert, QC. Say hello to the owner, Lindsay Masson. No speak French? We had to find and interpreter next door for this one. The business card helps. Sorry, I missed the good picture, there was a very nice Triumph TR8 in the shop today. He definitely does work on vintage British cars. He will very soon be moving a few blocks down the street to a larger quarters.
The third and last stop of the day was Classique Auto Restaurations in Saint-Jérôme, QC. He was woking on Mercedes 350 SL when we arrived, installing a new fan onto the air conditioning (finished before we left). Inside we found a 1964 Jaguar E-type Coupe in restoration. I needed a lot of work, but was coming along nicely now.
Also an E-type V12 (very nice) and a Triumph TR8. I think they both belong to the same guy with the 350 SL. Occupying the WHOLE paint booth was a 1959 "Hot Rod" Lincoln Premier Convertible, 430-cu.in. V-8, think 2.5-tons of iron doing 0-60 in 8.7 seconds. Okay, enough play for one day, back to work.
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