The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (December 1 - December 15, 2018)
Saturday December 1, 2018:
Shuffled south just a little bit, landing in Adairsville, Georgia for a day, petty much killing another day. We had in mind to visit a couple of friends just north of Atlanta, but both were out of town, so no go there. At least we had half a day of sun and slightly lower humidity, so a few things had a chance to dry out some. Late night we blew past Atlanta and kept driving, landing in Columbus City, GA in the small hours of the morning.
Sunday December 2, 2018:
Columbus City, GA most of the day, thinking we still have a few friends around here we haven't seen yet. Nothing worked out, so we just killed another day and moved on in the evening. By late night we were in Albany, GA, staged for tomorrow's appontment(s).
Monday December 3, 2018:
Something useful to do today. We dropped in to visit Bill Waller in Albany, GA. We have been here multiple times in the past two years to get two MGB running and back on the road. Search prior trip log for those visits. As fate would have it, a recent hurricane dropped part of a tree on his rubber bumper MGB smashing the windscreen and denting two font fenders and the boot lid. If this was an insuance job it might be a write-off, but as is, it appears like a few replacement body parts may get it back in service. The fiberglas hardtop suvived, while the windscreen was smashed, and two fornt wings and the boot lid were dented. The boot lid has already been replaced, while the front wings may be repairable. And of couse it will need new front glass. So far so good.
The issue we had today was the car would crank over but would not start. Plenty of battery and fuel, but no spark when cranking. On last visit we found part of the wiring harness sheared off, and after digging out a nest of leaves and evicting a squirrel the wires were spliced back together for everything to work.
Well, today in the same location we had to dig out a nest of grass, and we think the issue is mice this time (as lots of mice have been found in the garage). Now several inches of the harness in the same location is just gone, while a number of wire fragments and butt splice connectors came out with the grass. At least we know what the problem is and how to fix it.
 Now the interesting tidbit is that the other MGB which is driven occasonally has been sitting out in the back yard barely 100 feet away, and that one has not been touched by the rodents. Go figure. Seems like there are some bird feeders in the front yard and bags of bird feed in the garage. I suppose the moral of this story is, if you don't want the pests around, maybe stop feeding them. That issue and the final solution to it will be left to bill and his wife to decide.
Then we were off to visit Shane Knight at Tomcat Garage LLC in Albany, GA. That's Shane on the right, and his wife (I think) on the left. A few minutes earlier we found her outside cleaning battery cable terminals on the Jeep to get it running, so she certainly knows what tools are for.
We found a few British cars outside, apparently daily drivers, so we were off to a good start.
Inside the place is huge. I suppose it could accommodate at least 30 cars with room to walk around them for service. Not quite sure what he has in mind for all the space, but pretty sure the car service part of this business will be growing. They are certainly familiar with vintage cars. The Alfa Romeo, the Triumph Spitfire, and a third car (a TR6 or maybe an MG Midget) are apparently for sale cheap, like maybe $2000 for the three of them. But the huge car service space is only half of the buiding.
On the other side they have a fabication shop making scraper buckets and claws for excavators and logging equiptment (among other things).
They have a CNC water jet cutter slicing parts out of 1-1/2-inch thick steel plate with precision of a couple thousandths of an inch. There is also a CNC plasma cutter that is faster but not quite as clean, here slicing washers out of thick steel plate. If you need structural brackets, like for your air conditioning compressor or engine mounts for instance, this place may be helpful.
One more stop to make while we were in town, Heldenbergs Advanced Automotive in Albany, GA.
While they service lots of modern cars, they are also veterans with vintage British cars. The TR3 is resident here, while the MGB may be looking for a new home. The Mini is a picture of a picture of a car previously restored here. Its claim to fame is that it is a Mini Beach Car, one of maybe six sold in North America. It has open top, no doors, and wicker seats as factory original configuration.
Tuesday December 4, 2018:
We had a day to kill with no appointments, and timing was good. Spent most of the day posting the December newsletter for CMGC on the club web site (and not quite finished). Going nowhere, as we have another appointment in Albany for tomorrow.
Wednesday December 5, 2018:
Finished the newsletter upload, then had an appointment with Tom and Kelly Seegmueller in Albany, Georgia. We were last here a year ago in November to get their MG Midget running and back on the road. A lot has happened since then, like a hurricane that downed a tree that in turn crunched the front part of their house, missed the VW Thing in the side yard, and straddled the Midget parked in the front yard without touching it (believe in miracles).
The Midget is a nice little car. It was driven for a while, but then parked due to failing ignition system that nearly left them stranded a couple of times. Not run for six months, today it wouldn't crank over. Fuel was siphoned out and fresh fuel filled, and a new battery was installed when the old one was determined to be quite dead. After that it fired right up and was easy to fine tune, only needing idle speed adjustment. While sitting there idling for a while the engine quit suddenly, and the electric fan stopped at the same time (with ignition switch still on). Turn the key and it would fire right up, but then repeat the failure a few minutes later. Hot wiring the ignition coil would keep it running even when the rest of the electrical system would fail, so I figured there was an electrical disconnect upstream closer to the ignition switch.
A little poke around under the dash revealed a plastic connector (ignition switch cable) that was hot to the touch, implying a failing connector. Turned out a white wire ignition power terminal was dislodged in the connector, barley touching at the ends of the mating terminal pins. It took some fiddling to get the errant pin pushed back into position to mate properly, but when done the car ran like a champ. Kelly was then once again hot rodding it around the neighborhood with a big grin on her face, and all was right with the world.
After late evening WiFi session we decided there was no more reason to hang around Georgia, so we headed south about 100 miles, landing in Tallahasse, Florida in the small hours of the morning.
Thursday December 6, 2018:
Sometimes things look a little clearer by the light of day. As we had been pretty busy recently, I was a week behind (like since Nov 29) on the trip log, so spend most of the day updating photos and notes so you can enjoy all the goodies on this page. Records show our car needs an oil change again, so that may be something to do tomorrow. Car tires are getting long in the tooth as well, LF with a slow leak needing air every few days, and RF down to the wear bars since the fronts were taking a beating for a while with a loose tie rod end. Good to have a day off to catch up and relax a bit after months of rushing around eastern Canada and northeast USA trying to beat the late fall weather. We haven't been dry for more than two months, so kind of looking forward to better weather in Florida (fingers crossed).
Friday December 7, 2018:
Had in mind to get the oil changed today. Dropped into a local Walmart, but the place did not have an auto service shop. Had some other things to catch up, so killed the rest of the day without getting the car serviced.
Saturday December 8, 2018:
Tried a different Walmart with success. Got the oil change in the morning, kind of slow, one hour wait in line and 45 minutes mucking about for a simple oil and filter change, but it was done. While there I inquired about tires, and as it turned out they could get my favored Nexen tires delivered the same day. Even though the tires on the car were not critical yet, it seemed like a good time to get them changed while we had time and were not preoccupied with anything else, so I ordered up a set, and returned at 2-pm to have them installed. Another long wait, two hours in line and another hour and a half to install four tires, ending up pretty much killing the whole day. Impression was too many chiefs and not enough braves, as there were more people standing around chatting with customers than there were working on the cars.
The nice Canadian sourced Gremax tires I had on the front (for better handling) had suffered some from misalignment due to a worn tie rod end (since replaced), had done 44,000 miles. The not so great Nankang tires on the rear that were sourced under duress in Anchorage, AK last year had done 49,000 miles, had more even wear but were close to the wear bars (and never very good for traction), actually glad to be rid of those things. Good to be back on better tires that I have more confidence in. Now I think I should check the toe-in again.
Sunday December 9, 2018:
After a whirlwind summer in Canada, and more in northeast USA in less than desirable weather, we just felt like taking another day off. Need to figure out what to do for the next several weeks anyway. May be open to suggestions (before we go looking for trouble).
Monday-Tuesday December 10-11, 2018:
Spent much of two days working in CAD drawings for conversion of MGA front wheel ball bearings to tapered roller bearings. Got off on the wrong foot with some advice, using a bearing I didn't like, but ultimately found on that should work better.
Wednesday December 12, 2018:
Couple of tech questions and some email enquiries about what might be happening in Florida these days.
Thursday December 13, 2018:
Not a lot going on in northern Florida, but we know where there is something happening, so it was time to head south. By late night we were 100 miles east and 300 miles south, hovering around Fort Meyers.
Friday December 14, 2018:
We checked into Tech Central in Bonita Springs, FL today. Also no more frost, being T-shirt weather here by mid morning. Always a good bet there will be something interesting going on here on a Friday. First up was a "new to the clan" MGB that has been stored for about five years outdoors, and recently flooded, total interior shot, mechanicly unknown, but donated and intended to become a race car. Rear brakes frozen, removing brake drums so the car can roll, and that's enough for its first day.
There was a vintage Mercury Commet with a modern Mustang 5.0 engine, had an aluminum radiator repaced, just topped up, fired up and running. This one should go away immediately to free up space. Also an Alfa Romeo that has been stuck here for five years, it runs, sort of, squeeky fan belt, drive it away. This is being relegated to the back pasture to free up more space (until someone may decide what to do with it). There was a "modern" Buick that was occupying the hoist waiting for an oil pan replacement, and had to get out to free up the hoist (push, push, push).
There was an MG Midget in the paint booth, nearly finished, needing a respray of the boot lid after someone might sand out somr runs in the clear coat, but not today. Get that one out of the booth (push, push). The Toyota Corolla we recognized as the one that was getting new front struts and brakes last spring, turning into a race car, and time to put that one into the paint booth (push, push). There was the GT6+ race car, runs okay so fire it up, heading for the lift, no push for this one (just plug your ears).
There was the Sunbeam Alpine in restoration, making slow progress, mostly just sitting there with a lot of wishful thinking. The MG Midget under the canopy was getting new floor pans last sping, pretty good pogress, now being moved into the paint booth (push, push). After so much pushing and shoving to rearrange the cars, it was lunch time. Around end of lunch break the lady who donated the MGB to become a race car showed up, destined to become a new club member.
Headley Wilson dropped in with his MGB, just caught the end of the BBQ and stayed for a little chat. His MGA we dropped the engine into last year was still sitting there untouched since then. After the party broke up we had a little time for some maintenance on the MGA. Begin with gearbox oil change, and a new RH rubber boot on the steering rack and fresh oil there, and a lube job that required R&R of a stubborn Zerk fitting on the lower LH trunnion when it refused to take grease. By that time we ran out of daylight and had to poke a few wires in the dark when headlights were giving a problem (might be a burned out low beam on right side). Also replaced a dash lamp in the speedometer while learning to curse at the screw-in LEDs that fail when the scew base simply falls off of the plastic upper when the light press fit between metal and plastic doesn't hold. These will fail in the pocess of scewing them into the socket when new, because there is no mechanical keying to take the torque required to screw it into the socket. Definitely not worth the premium price, as we have seen at least four of these fail in this manner, and not a keeper in the bunch. Going back to using incandescent bulbs.
Saturday December 15, 2018:
No one else showing up at Tech Central today, just me and Jerry Wilcox, so I had a chance to fix my headlight wiring. No right side low beam was due to a broken wire just below back of the lamp, easy to fix, not a burned our bulb. Intermittent high beams was due to a corroded twin tube snap connector. Trying to disassemble it resulted in pulling the bullet off of one wire, so I bit the bullet (so to speak) and spliced the wires with a gas tight crimp connector.
For the low beams, after due dilligence installing a new snap connector with silicone grease inside for environmental protection, I then had an intermittent left side low beam light and a hot snap connector (bad contact). So I bit the bullet again, cut the bullets off of three wires, and spliced it together with another gas tight crimp connector, and all the lights work again. At this point I'm thinking I may not have any more bullet connectors left in this car (works for me).
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