The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (May 16 - May 31, 2019)
Thursday May 16, 2019:
Awake before 8-am, no rain or wind, and a better view of the remaining snow banks, sitting just over 7000 feet on the state line. We rolled it down hill in 2nd gear for a gentle start, and we were on our way. The first grade was 38 miles down through the switchbacks, could have coasted all the way, but had the engine running for the heater to work some. Following a river or creek on one side or the other much of the time, we were dodging rocks in the road and some burned trees that had slid or washed down the hills into the road. Some trees had been sawed or blasted to clear the road. An hour on we did a quick stop for breakfast pick up. Another hour on a fuel stop. then we hung a right onto ID-75 for 55 miles, and another turn onto ID-21 for another 125 miles
Up and down the mountains like a Yo-yo. It was common to have 6% down grade for 7 miles, dropping 2000 feet in 10 minutes, and then climbing up a similar grade, cresting a few summits above 6000 feet.
The final kicker was a sign reading, "Avalanche area next 11 miles. No stopping or parking. Nov 15th thru May 15th Travel prohibited when closed". Hey, yesterday and last night were May 15th. I suppose we lucked out if the road was just being opened after a winter shut down.
 288-miles and 6-hours today we finally arrived in Boise, Idaho, a day earlier than originally planned (because we didn't go to Billings). Now we have time for the WiFi work to bring you these photos and notes (among other things).
Friday May 17, 2019:
One appointment today turned into two stops. We were looking for Loma's Import Auto Repair in Boise, Idaho. The given address turned out to be a victim of urban renewal with a whole block flattened and under construction for new buildings. So we made the call and got lucky with the phone number still working. The shop was still in business, relocated about a mile away. Good luck getting there though, as a few of the streets around the area were under construction, torn up in a big way. Bully for the GPS after re-routing two or three times we did finally get there.
Found a very generous three bay shop plus office and storage space. The man uses a vintage Jaguar as his daily driver. Also finding signs of vintage British heritage, like two late model MGB gearboxes.
There was a Ford 2-liter engine being repaired after catastrophic failure, and a late model Spitfire getting close to the road after resurrection from long term storage. One interesting upgrade was a 1-3/4-inch Z-S carburetor.
The man is not big on internet, but I did find a few pictures of things he as worked on in recent years. He is slowing down some, considering retirement, sometime, but still working on vintage British cars, maybe three a month, mostly for existing clients. He was very enthused about my MGA being a regular daily driver.
Sometime today navigator noticed another crack in the windscreen. Curses, just when I thought we might only have one crack for a long time, we now have the impression of being infested with the things. No idea what's causing the cracks, but since this is the second glass suffering these issues, I'm thinking there must be something wrong with the metal frame alignment, maybe a twist or bend in the bottom rail. Just going to leave it alone for now. Back to WiFi to post these notes.
Saturday May 18, 2019:
Start the day at "morning coffee" with Idaho British Car Club at Eddie's Restaurant in Boise, ID, which is really breakfast with 16 people (the early risers).
The we all drove a couple miles to Deathproof Coffee in Boise for a club meeting (with the same club), this time with a large assortment of British cars out front.
This place turned out to be the largest coffee house I have ever seen, maybe not completely finished yet, a small dining area in front, a huge unfinished banquet hall size room on the side, and an auditorium in the back with a performance stage and projectors (which is the space they get to use for the club meeting).
We had about 50 people here, all on their own because no one knew we were coming. I got to do 10 or 15 minutes on the MGAguru.com web site and our 5-year tour (and no one walked out). There were a few other guests and new members, and some video that I can't remember several hours later (probably a past car show). I also managed to collect the names and addresses of two more car shops to add to our list, both local where we can visit them today.
Back outside after the meeting for some tire kicking, we found an MGB with some interesting custom touches, and a TR8 with a suspension problem.
Now say hello to Brian Storey. We drove a few miles to check out his shop his shop Storey's Garage in Meridian, ID (really part of Boise). Couldn't resist a picture of the Studebaker Lark in a car port across the street (not his place) before we headed into his workshop.
Busy place here, booked up some months in advance for restoration work (maybe years even), but apparently the locals can get their cars serviced on short notice when needed.
The TR8 from the morning club meeting showed up for inspection, quickly determining it had a frozen McPherson strut on right front, so that one was scheduled in for a Monday service call. On the way out we were checking out a very nice TR6 in a trailer.
Then we were off to visit IDART Enterprises in Garden City, ID (also Boise). Being Saturday we made the call first, and good we did, because the shop owner Andy Williams was out for a bit (and we had the wrong address by a couple of blocks). I am told the IDART is an acronym for "Idaho Drinking And Racing Team" (but hey, it's just a business name). The sign says Specialty Parts And Repairs. Andy likes Range Rover (yes it's a V8), but also works on other vintage British cars.
We found a Triumph Stag in the shop today. Nice example, mostly original.
Then I spotted some interesting parts in the corner. On the left a 1275 engine with torque converter
configured for transverse mount. The two gearboxes for Austin
America (I know because used to own one). Then two small displacement 2-cylinder air cooled transverse engines on gearboxes, not motorcycle, but for a front drive car. Now I don't remember what car, but something small and cheap with not much
current market value. On the right a Bowser. Yes, a real Bowser gas pump from the days before glass jars on top. Rack and pinion gear allow the crank to lift the large pump piston. Mechanical stops are preset for 1-pint, 1-quart, 1/2-gallon, and full stroke makes 1-gallon and trips the counter arm up top. Jolly good fun.
Then off to find a WiFi spot and make another phone call. Still looking for the guy from northern Idaho who moved to the Boise area, but this is the second time he didn't return a phone call, so we will have to move on.
Sunday May 19, 2019:
Lots of WiFi work, and it was midnight before we headed out of Boise, so I can call this Sunday. We rolled on 80 miles southeast to Bliss Rest Area on I-84, misty and cool. On arrival we found a Mitsubishi in distress, which drove in, stopped, and would not restart. Lady had called her son (30 something I suppose) who arrived with a new starter and alternator (not knowing what was wrong), and he was fiddling with it when we arrived, a scissors jack in hand and some tools on the ground, kind of lost I think. Key on, things light up, including headlights. Turn key to "Start" and nothing happens, not even a little click. Starter underneath in front, pre-engage gear-reduction type, needed testing. So I lent him our floor jack and jack stands, and a few more tools. Soon up on stands, jumper wire in hand, apply battery power to the trigger terminal on the starter motor to see if it will crank. It pulled a little current but didn't crank. Pretty quick diagnostic, dead solenoid on the starter, so it had to come out for replacement.
That's when the not-so-fun stated with traditional skinned knuckles (not mine this time), frozen bolts, broken socket adapter, big Vice-Grip, etc. He seemed to be pretty determined, so at 3-am I went to get a little sleep (but set the alarm clock). At 7-am the report was the starter was out, but the replacement starter was the wrong part. Bummer. There would be a slight delay. So we packed up our tools and headed for breakfast while son and mom took their other car to the nearest O'Reilly Auto Parts to exchange the new starter for correct part. Confident the new one will go in easier than the old came out, so we recon it will get back on the road okay.
Rather misty and cool at morning light, and WiFi spots are few and far between in southern Idaho and northern Utah, but three hours, 180 miles on we landed in Tremonton, UT for late breakfast (not far from Ogden and Salt Lake City). No shop hopping on Sunday, but we had another friend to call, and made an appointment for 3-pm.
Another 50 miles on we stopped to visit Rick Busche in Layton, UT. He has a 1967 MGB (currently in a storage locker, and a 1973 Midget (didn't see that one either). He was passing a couple of chrome plated Harley Davidson mufflers to another friend as we were arriving. Then we got to sit and chat for a few hours, time flies, and around 7-pm we were off to find another WiFi spot and dinner.
Monday May 20, 2019:
Shop hopping today, and somehow we managed to do a planned two days work in one day. As navigator was adding a few shops and shuffling the order slightly during the day, he was tagging the stops in numerical order. By end of day there was a "20" with a circle around it, which I think means we just set a record for the greatest number of shops visited in one day.
First up was AAA Top Shop in West Haven, Utah. Run by a moderately young crew, destined to be here for years to come. Yes, they do all sorts of fabric work on vintage British cars (among other things).
Next up was Ogden Chrome in Odgen, UT. Fifty years in service, another younger generation crew, sat hello to Jose. This is a shop noted for top notch decorative automotive chrome. That's Corvette show chrome on the table, including luggage rack parts.
Then we were looking for two shops, Derr Otto Works and Bob Lohoff (mechanical) next door to each other in Ogden, UT, unfortunately both
gone now. Current tenant of one building (mymechanic.com), offered that Deer Otto Works has been gone 4 years (since 2015), and was actually in the other building that was closed. Bob Lohoff had a phone number that was active enough to leave a voice message, but so far no call back. Pretty sure he is out of business as well.
But we did get a tip on another (new) shop that might work on vintage British cars, and a half hour later were hauled up in front of RSR Motorsports in Layton, UT. Say hello to the owner Mark Russle. Lots of German cars in the shop today, but in fact they do work on vintage British cars as well, whenever they may happen along.
There were some pictures of a Jag E-Type they had restored, and we found a couple of interesting things out front. Well, one VW Thing and a modern Mini.
Then we had an interesting chase, as we had a long standing note saying we should visit Maaco in Layton, UT,
and to contact Paco, but we had no street address or phone number. Navigator found it using the Garmin GPS, as it turned out to be the only Maaco in Layton. The current owner Justin Mann bought the shop from Paco in 2015, so we can forget Paco, but they do paint almost anything that rolls, including vintage British cars. We had a short discussion about how they would handle an MGA without painting over the fender piping (depending on what the customer wants to pay for). Nice folks to deal with I think, as I watched them doing a few estimates, and they seemed to be genuinely concerned about the desires of the customers, what they want and what they don't need.
We were looking for Henstrom Generator in Ogden, but had a bogus address. Made the phone call to get the correct address, which we did. This shop has been bought by Snap Rebuilders (in 2018), and is still providing the same outstanding service rebuilding generators, alternators and starters.
We stopped to visit Quality Plating in Salt Lake City, but they do not do any automotive decorative chrome plating (don't bother asking). But they did refer us to a couple other plating shops nearby.
So we dashed over to Crown Plating in Salt Lake City. They will do automotive chrome, and they may have the best prices available, but they tell you up front that it is not intended to be show quality. I saw a nice looking chrome plated alloy valve cover a customer just picked up. It had a very nice bright chrome finish, but there was little prep work done, so it still had the as-cast wavy surface, some light sanding scratches, and a few burrs around the edges.
After being stuffed by a stopped train for 15 minutes, we finally found another way around and headed off to visit Salt Lake Chrome in Salt Lake City. Yes the do automotive chrome, been here a long time.
We had a listing for Willis Imports as a mechanical shop in Salt Lake City with a phone number but no street address. That turned out to be a non-working number, and there is no information for this shop on the internet, so we had to conclude that it has been gone for a long time.
We then found Schneider Auto Karosserie, Inc in Salt Lake City. That's a mouth full, but karosserie is German for "bodywork". They specialize in German cars, but can and do service almost anything "interesting" that may come along, including vintage British cars. The Shelby GT500 out front was resurrected from a rusting hulk.
We stopped to visit Crankshaft Grinders in Salt Lake City, UT. My kind of shop, specialty with precision, crankshafts all over the place by the hundreds. They also do complete engine machining for blocks and cylinder heads, and they resurface flywheels. Sign on the door also says "Engine Rebuild Kits Available". That figures. If they rebuild engines they certainly know where to get the parts.
Looking for Morgan Sportscar Service in Salt Lake City, UT. This turned out to be a boarded up building and non-working phone number. Inquiry next door reports the business has been gone for 20 years (since about 1999). The building has been condemned by the city, so must be a candidate for future urban renewal.
We had a quick stop at Russ Alignment in Salt Lake City, UT. Not only wheel alignment but also mechanical work for anything under the car. They are happy to work on vintage cars, as long as the parts are available.
The next one was fun, and turned into a two-fer. Casey s Machine Shop in West Valley City, UT is hiding in the back of what looks like a strip mall from the front, so we had to make a phone call to find it. Casey has narrowed his scope of business, and only does crankshaft grinding these days, but don't stop reading. He certainly has an interest in vintage British cars, as that's a 1975 MG Midget that he restored (I think it was for his daughter).
The rest of his engine business is now handled by a couple of his prior employees, situated in the next bay over. They are all connected with the same phone number, and like to refer to the second shop as "Casey's Machine Head and Block". It may be just machine work, so you may have to ask if they assemble engines.
We wandered over to Pyle Wheel & Brake in Salt Lake City, UT. This place can service just about anything mechanical or electrical bumper to bumper. They may work on vintage cars, but not wire wheels (sorry).
Then looking for Bailey's Auto Service in Murray, UT, apparently we had the wrong address and missed the location by 1/2 block. We made the call, got an answering machine and left a voice message, but never got a call back. We don't know if they moved, or if we just had the wrong address, but it seems the business is still in business. We hope we have the correct address now, but got too far away to return before we figured it out. Maybe some other time.
We were beginning to feel lost in time and space when we were looking for Cherry Automotive & Exhaust
in Murray, UT. We found this nice picture of the place on the internet, even figured out it should Suite #41, but no way we could actually find the business in the location specified. We made the phone call. got an answering machine, left a voice message, but never got a call back (again). This seems to be endemic with answering machines, might as well not bother leaving a message. For any chance of contact, maybe just keep calling back hoping someone might eventually pick up the phone. No joy here. We think the place is still in business (with good reviews), but had to give up today.
Just adding insult to injury, we would have been looking for Metal Master also in Murray, UT, but at the time of searching we had no address or phone number, so gave up quickly. Looking it up on the net later, we found address and phone number and another nice picture. And guess what, it has the same address at Cherry Automotive, except Suite #16. Go figure. Does this mean we have to come back to Salt Lake City later?
We had one more stop to finish our chores in the Salt Lake City area (so we wouldn't have to hang around in town over night). It was a pleasant surprise when we stopped in at American & Foreign Garage in Midvale, UT, and there were vintage British cars all over the place. Say hello to the owner Butch VanCleaf.
I have to give special attention to one of his pet projects. It is a 1275 MG Midget with throttle body fuel injection. The intake manifold is same as for a Weber 2-bbl downdraft carburetor installation. There is a mass air flow sensor in the throttle body, and an oxygen sensor in the exhaust manifold. With switch on there was a small geyser of fuel out the top (cold start priming I suppose). Then it cranked right up with fast idle, and settled down to a very nice slow idle in a few seconds. It had very good throttle response and sounded great where it sat. Sorry, but no more info about the controls or how it drives. If interested, call Butch.
Finally we were off to a very late lunch and some WiFi time, but no way to post all these photos and notes until late the next day.
Tuesday May 21, 2019:
Just a couple stops today, beginning with Brent s Custom Upholstery in Heber City, UT. Turns out he moved a couple units over in the strip mall to have larger quarters, but we were alert enough to find the new location. He
does do fabric work for vintage cars, tops, tonneau covers and interiors. He also does furniture. He does these on different days of the week, or different weeks in the month, so he does not have cars and furniture in the shop at the same time. As such, you need to schedule an appointment before you drop your car off for service, and I suppose you also need to pick it up promptly when it is finished.
Next stop was Mountain Auto Repair & Muffler, Inc, also in Heber City, UT. They do pretty much any
mechanical work on any car (including vintage cars), but specialize in exhaust work. Then can easily bend up header pipes for custom engine installations, and any exhaust system you might like underneath. Always good to have shops on out of the way places.
Half hour later we were cruising farther east through lots of mountains, looking for a decent WiFi spot as we rolled. Finally found one in Spanish Fork, UT and took the rest of the day to post photos and notes from yesterday, finishing that around closing time. Still not done with today's notes, but that can wait. Then we ran another hour east before stopping for a snooze at midnight.
Wednesday May 22, 2019:
Another hour east through the mountains this morning, stopping for breakfast in Price, UT. No particular rush now, as I think we are a day ahead of planning, so we sat until noon to finish posting photos and notes from yesterday. Need to make a phone call or two before heading into Colorado, still pushing pins around in the map. Then headed south another 70 miles, and east on I-70. We have a friend farther south in Durango, Colorado
whom we have missed a couple of times in the past few years, but haven't verified him being home yet. Ugly looking storm and occasional small hail may have had something to do with the next decision. We decided to turn south on US-191 and head 33 miles into Moab, UT for another WiFi stop, not too far out of our way if the next appointment didn't pan out. After several text messages we finally had a confirmed appointment in Durango for tomorrow evening, so no rush. Late night found a rest stop 15 miles farther south.
Thursday May 23, 2019:
Woke up to dribbling rain in the shadow of a nice mountain, then headed another 100 miles south into Cortez for late breakfast. Still passing text messages when we were alerted to a shop right here in Cortez (pretty close to town). This shop was not on our list, but there was a single mention of it in one of my tech pages related to a custom modified rear axle. Gotta check this place out before we leave town.
We ran about 10 miles north and west of Cortez, CO to find FAB-TEK Willow Hill Ltd down some side roads in the mountains (after a few miles of gravel, potholes and puddles). There was a white pick up truck following us, and it turned out he lives here. Say hello to the owner Dave Headley. We walked into and through the machining end of his shop where he was just beginning assembly on a new MGB race engine (his specialty).
We were introduced to his MGB Special with 5-speed and Oldsmobile Quad Four electronic fuel injected engine (think 200 HP). In case you may be interested, there's another one sitting in the corner looking for a new home.
There was another 5-speed kit waiting for the next customer's car (or maybe that could go with the next Quad Four). His wife Barb wouldn't let us leave without checking out her MGB. Day was going away, so we headed south again.
Hour and a half later we stopped to visit Hans Ryser in Durango, CO. We have been after him for four years, missed him twice on the fly in 2015 and 2017. This time all we had to do was hold off for one extra day until he returned from a business trip. He has a nicely restored MGA that had some knocking problem with the rebuilt engine a few years ago. Sorry I wasn't there at the time to help diagnose it. The ultimate solution was an MGB 1800 engine with some minor improvements, like high compression pistons for the high altitude here.
There are some advantages to living on a mountain top, like the herd of deer in the back yard. The driveway was a bit of a challenge, which we hit near full throttle in 1st gear on the way up (glad it was paved not gravel). The photo on the way down is not quite as impressive as the view from below looking up, including a couple of tight hair pin turns. In the evening we ambled into Durango for dinner in the town with heritage as a smelting town from the gold rush with steam trains in the late 1800's. Today they are running one of the original steam trains daily as a tourist service.
As is common, plenty of late night chat until holly cow, it was midnight, and I needed an hour to post the photos and notes for the day.
Friday May 24, 2019:
A little short on sleep, but woke up at normal time anyway. After email check and answering a couple of tech questions, we had a shot at tuning Hans' MGA 1800 with H4 carburetors. Not too bad at first glance, but after little poking around we found it running particularly rich on the rear carburetor. I wound the rear mixture nut up two full turns, and the idle speed picked up a couple hundred RPM and smoothed out the idle. Lifting the air floats slightly then indicated spot-on fuel mixture. Then checked ignition timing with a set-back timing light (vacuum disconnected) to find 12d BTDC at idle, and 25d TDC at road speed. I gave the distributor a little twist to set timing to 32d BTDC at road speed, resulting in 19d BTDC at idle, and a slightly faster idle speed. After setting idle speed back to normal it was nice and smooth. We don't care much about idle speed timing, except that mechanical advance from 19 to 32 is only is only 6-1/2 degrees in the mechanical advance weights (which seems a bit on the low end of normal). Having advanced the timing by 7 degrees, the car may be a little perkier (and should get slightly better fuel economy), but still needs a test run to validate the results.
Then we stuck the timing light on my car to find it a few degrees over zealous, so set it back to 32d BTDC at road speed (vacuum disconnected). That resulted in 25d BTDC at idle, which means only 3-1/2d mechanical advance in the distributor (way too low). I know my ancient Lucas distributor has a lot of miles on it, but this may be the blow that gets me to buy a new one rather than more fiddling with the old one.
Next was attending to a bit of slightly over due maintenance, jacking up the back end long enough to drain and refill gear oil in the differential (a little early), jacking up the right side long enough to drain and refill gearbox oil (a little late), and give it a lube job (long overdue), so now all of those are synchronized again.
Then I had time to autopsy the heater valve that had failed a few weeks ago. Easy enough, grab a hand grinder, grind off a rivet head, punch out the rivet, rotate the valve head a bit for release, pull off the top and extract the failed rubber diaphragm. This is the one that failed in 10 months, after the previous one failed in 14 months, two failures in two years is not good. This is the result of soaking the rubber part in ethylene-glycol and water which is what it is supposed to do in real life, but this one turned to chewing gum in less than a year. In years past these things used to last about 10 years. Need to send the report and pictures to Moss Motors.
Saturday May 25, 2019:
Off and running early today, headed east and north from Durango on US-160. Stopped early for fuel, an hour
later a brief stop for breakfast. Enjoying a wonderful drive through the mountains, plenty of 6% grades in 3rd gear, one summit cresting above 10,000 feet, a few more over 8000 feet. Four hours on, about 1-pm, we stopped for lunch and a WiFi break in Salida, CO. Made a call to verify an appointment, then another hour and a half in traffic.
We stopped to visit Ed Coyle in Canyon City, CO. Been chasing him for four years, missed twice in
Wisconsin, and then he moved to Colorado where we finally caught up with him. Got a peek at one of his two
MG Midgets, a late model rubber bumper car with a Weber carburetor conversion. Had a little chat and an evening BBQ, then a lot more chat running past midnight. Once everyone was retiring for the night I got to work to bring you these photos and notes. Also took time to post a note to Moss Motors about the failed heater valve(s). Time flies when you're having fun. Slept in an extra hour, but still ended up with 4 hours sleep.
Sunday May 26, 2019:
Having decided this was going to be a maintenance day, I took the easy job first to change out the dysfunctional fuel gauge. It has recently been intermittent, working about 20% of the time and getting worse by the day. When it did work it wouldn't register more then half tank when full, has been doing that ever since it smoked a few months earlier. Been carrying a replacement unit for three weeks, so it was time to install it. I was going to swap the chrome ring and face plate, so opened up the old one out of curiosity. It has endured a lot of humidity in the past five years, so I wasn't surprised to see some rust inside. Connecting the new one verified that it worked, so I installed the better looking face plate and chrome ring, installed it in the dash, and verified it still worked when finished.
Then it was time to go after the wiper motor which had gotten so weak that it wouldn't move the wiper arms any more. I was guessing it had worn brushes, and I had procured new ones, but then a friend from Apache Junction, AZ gave us another wiper motor six weeks ago. I figured it should be easier to get that one working first, then just swap it into the car. It had a broken wire on the parking switch, so we proceeded to disassemble it for cleaning and to replace the broken wire.
It didn't take long to fish out the frayed brown wire and splice in a new red wire to replace it.
Discovering a lot of end float in the armature shaft (missing thrust washers), I fished some 1/4-inch copper washers out of the magic trailer. Had to grind down the OD a bit, and it needed two of those to eliminate the end float. We polished the commutator added a few drops of oil in the bushings, and had it back together and working in short order.
Then came the unenvious chore of R&R the wiper motor in a left hand drive MGA. This starts by removing the master cylinder pushrods and the pedal excluder, then remove the pivot bolt to drop the brake and clutch pedals on the floor, all that just to allow the wiper motor to be pulled out of the dark and obstructed corner. Then disconnect three wires, uncoupled the drive pipe flare nut, remove a front bolt and rear nut to release the wiper motor mounting bracket, remove wiper arms to allow the spindles to rotate, and pull the drive cable out of the pipes while extracting the wiper motor. We pulled it half way out leaving most of the cable in place, then removed the gearbox covers while swapping motors, reassembled the crank drive parts and cover, and shoved the motor assembly back in place. After connecting wires and verifying that it worked, I pulled a new pedal excluder out of the trailer, and we put it all back together. Feels good to have that chore out of the way.
It took quite some time to mop up the mechanic after the wiper motor exchange, but we can usually clean up pretty well. This ran into dinner time, a little BBS browsing, a short email check, followed by late chat, and it was small hours of the morning again. Six hours sleep I think.
Monday May 27, 2019:
We had a little time today to look at Ed's Midget with the Weber carburetor. It can be a little hard starting, and it takes a while to warm up, but ultimately runs fairly well. We were looking for source of wet spot on top of the intake manifold, thinking it might be dripping fuel. But it wasn't dripping, and when the manifold was fairly hot the wet spot was still there. Eventually we found a loose hose clamp on the coolant catch tank, fixed that, and we think the dribble is fixed.
Ed was then spearheading an effort to mop off gobs of dirt and oil and greazy hand prints from the MGA. I was also scrubbing grease off the trailer hitch, and finally washing down the whole rig. Gotta admit that came out fairly well. Seems to be a tradition that the car gets washed at least once a year, whether it needs it or not.
In the process we found a crack in a headlight (dead lamp). Guessing that may have happened about the same time we hit a very nasty pot hole on Saturday while we were driving from Durango to Canon City. Don't think we did any night driving with the blown headlamp. I've been waiting patiently for a headlight to burn out, since last installation on March 6, 2015. Hard to believe they lasted 158,000 miles with all the night driving we do. Now we got to pull out of the trailer the new Cibie lamps we have been carting around since September 28, 2016 when we picked them up at Custom Spares Ltd in Brewster, NY.
I was a little surprised at the metal standoff brackets, but those seem to be necessary where the bulb edge is thinner than standard sealed beam bulbs. They fit well, and in short order we had two new Cibie headlamps installed and working.
I paused a bit for a look at the boot latch on Ed's Midget as I have been considering possibly using these parts to improve the security of my trailer lid, to be replacing the makeshift toggle latches I installed in a rush in 1997.
Getting on to evening, we headed out for late lunch, or as it turned out early dinner. We mostly pigged out on pizza and malts. On the way back Ed took some side streets, and we blundered into the community trophy albino deer. Apparently they now have a legal city ordinance banning any molestation of this particular animal. Back to the house for email check and a little BBS time, then got carried away with late night chat, and the day was gone. A little better on sleep this time, like 7 hours, sneaking up on back to normal.
Tuesday May 28, 2019:
We had in mind to be shop hopping today, but that didn't happen. Way behind on photos and notes (and more), so spent most of the day on grunt work. Then spent rest of the day past midnight finally writing our monthly trip report for CMGC. Crash and snooze, 6 hours again, but at least caught up with the grunt work (after killing a couple days we hadn't planned).
Wednesday May 29, 2019:
Off and running again, maybe an hour later than intended, but back on the road. Planning sheet has a dozen more stops in Colorado before a couple in Wyoming. Heading north 50 miles (nearly hour and a half), we stopped to check out Concours Cars of Co. Ltd in Colorado Springs, CO. They provide sales, service, restoration, and storage for classic European cars. After a walk around the shop they had to admit there was a preponderance of vintage British cars here. A peek under the bonnet of the TD reveals a nice supercharger, installed to allow the car to keep up with MGB's on tours and road rallies.
Most of the rolling stock was indoors, but we did find a nice Morris Minor 1000 out back, ready to go home after recent service. We walked across the street to another building where there was leased storage space for several more cars, again mostly British.
The parent business here is Greg Gear Head, classic European cars and parts. They are buy/sell and parts, not primarily British cars, and not interested in working on British cars, so I won't put them on my Shops list. But they did have some interesting cars on hand, like Jaguar and Lotus in a few different colors. And there was the Land Rover Defender with the Corvette engine, just for kicks.
Less than a mile away, still in Colorado Springs, we stopped to visit Jim Goodwin. He runs a little business with a web site called MG Rescue. One of the listed services is Restoration Services, but not what you might think. This is not a public service shop, but
he would be happy to help with emergency breakdown service if needed. We had a bit of chat time while he put a shout out to a friend to come hustle over.
His primary activity is in the business name, rescue and adoption of MGs that have been stagnant or abandoned or needing to find a new home. He will commonly pick up a neglected or disassembled car, do whatever is required to get it back on the road, and then try diligently to find a new home for it. From what I could see he has far more cars in hand than he has space for, so the adoption process may be lagging behind a bit, while some of the cars have to sit outside. He has more cars in rental space sprinkled around the city, so don't be afraid to ask what he might have available for adoption.
We started with a very nice MG TC low mileage survivor car that has won a few awards including at least one Best Of Show. The MGA is an older restoration, very nicely done, with very little mileage since.
Then there is the concours quality MGB that had obscene amounts of money thrown into a perfect restoration before the owner decided to move our of state and sell the car. This one has to find a new home, because Jim is not going to drive it, and he needs the space back.
For the wonderful MG TD, I spotted two of the tiniest paint flaws you could imagine, otherwise a very good concours car. That one is also not driven much and has to go to free up the space.
By this time the friend dropped in with his precious MGA. This one has a few tricks including MGB 1800 engine with HS6 carburetors. Aside from a bit of bling, my picture is trying to hide the aluminum radiator with electric fan.
Time flies when we're having fun, and it was suddenly late enough that we were not going to get to our next shop appointment before closing time, so we blundered along a half hour to find a useful WiFi spot in Monument, CO.
Thursday May 30, 2019:
Good start this morning, but more than an hour to our first stop, Kats British Car in Englewood, Colorado. That would be Doug Mariniello, one of the partners. We had a delightful walk through time in the shop.
I was particularly taken by the TR4A roadster with the 3-piece removable top. It has a bolt-on 3-window rear section, and a removable hard roof panel (which has no carry space in the car), and a soft top panel to replace the hard panel. It also has a stow-away convertible top, but that has not been installed in recent years. There was also a TR6, 3 E-Types, and at least 2 MGB in the shop today. Stuff cycles around regularly, so expect something different almost daily.
We tied to visit British Car Works in Englewood, CO, but no luck. Found a contractor doing drywall work in the shop out back, reporting that the place has new owners, and the shop has been gone for at least a few years.
Then we were off to visit Rally Coach Works in Englewood, CO. Say hello to Jonathan Lane.
Nice big shop with a bit of British content mixed with a lot of newer stuff. The primered panel left and center is the supercharger cover for an MG K3 Magnette, plus a fender and a few more body parts waiting for paint. There was a Porsche 356 Coupe in back, also about ready for paint.
Curiosity got the best of me, looking at the AMG Brabus 700 (as in 700-HP) 4x4 Final Edition, an upgraded version of the Mercedes-AMG G63. Two feet of ground clearance (maybe), and only 10 built. But I hear it was followed by a Brabus 850 4x4 Final Edition (with 838 HP) only 5 built. Got half a million to spare?
We stopped to visit Ax And Allies in Denver, CO (used to be Auto Wizards). The shop changed hands in 2012, now run by one of the former employees. Good size shop here, although they fondly call it their hole in the wall (thinking they need more space). Not sure why some customer is sinking money into a Jensen Healey, but there it is. Nice MGA and a couple of TRs, and a Mini under the tarp..
The ringer here was the Triumph Dolomite 1500, possibly the only one in the country.
We made a quick stop at Denver Spring & Suspension, Inc in Denver. They do lots of suspension work, and they can re-arch and rebuild your leaf springs.
Hauling up north of Denver we paid a visit to The Motorway, Ltd in Fort Collins, CO. Brace yourself for lots of pictures, as there was a lot going on here.
I spent some time inspecting the MGB V6 conversion, because I think it makes a lot more sense for a car this size than cramming in a V8. Also because I may have an interest in slipping one of these into my MGA some day. I needed a good look at space used around the exhaust manifolds.
There was a nice MGA in the reassembly stage of full restoration, going well. One of the biggest smiles came from restoration with a new wood body buck in the wood shop and the new metal nose for a car model I can't remember, but it was something rare and expensive.
I think the next one is a one-off special with a racing heritage, something from the 1930's. Sorry I can't remember days later, may have to call them back to ask again.
This would be a Ferrari rear engine V12 with the flywheel, clutch and gearbox up front, output shaft down the side, and rear drive differential at the back. I dig this exotic technical stuff. The white board is scheduling and tracking of the jobs in the shop, busy place. Last picture is driver cars outside, good to be used.
Then we were looking for British Sports Werks in Greeley, CO. Found no one home, and no business sign. Made the call and left a voice message. No call back, but did later find out that the business had moved last year, so we got another shot at it next day.
Last stop for the day (after business hours) was a friend Sherman Kaplan in Windsor, CO. We had been calling his number several times, but kept getting "all circuits are busy", so we just dropped in and rang the bell. Good move, as he was home, apparently not picking up the phone for an unknown number on caller ID. We wandered out to his little 3-1/2 car garage in back and began counting cars. First two doors had two single post lifts with two up and three down, and a sixth car in the next bay. Up top an MGA and MGB GT.
Underneath, MGB, MG TD, TR6, and on the far right a Lotus Europa. Hope I didn't miss any, but that looks like six cars with plenty of workshop space left to rattle around. Nice garage. No rush in the evening, so we had a nice chat for at least half an hour, until navigator began rumbling about food. So it was time to haul out to go find a friendly WiFi spot in Fort Collins and order up a late lunch.
Friday May 31, 2019:
Time to catch that shop that moved. We were backtracking 50 miles, a little south and a lot west through the mountains, 20 miles up hill following a creek through a twisty canyon on US-34.
We finally arrived at British Sports Werks in Estes Park, CO, hello Kevin Spooner. He moved the shop here from Greeley, CO in 2018, and he is quite happy with the new location, and fully busy by word of mouth, no advertising required. There were several cars outside, mostly project cars or parts cars, not fully organized yet since the move. First step inside finds the Jaguar on the rack for some chassis work and new tires.
Close at hand was a TR6 chassis building up as full restoration proceeds. There was a Morris Minor 1000 getting a make over, currently with engine out, and a completely rebuilt MG TD engine on a run-in test stand. We had a nice chat for a half hour, all jolly good fun, but Kevin needed to get back to work while we needed to haul tail back out of the canyon road.
From Estes Park, CO. we had a 2+ hour run east and north looking for Collins Automotive, Inc in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Nice try, but not there, gone for at least 10 years. The current resident (Mr B's Heating & Cooling)
referred us to an auto shop next door (affordable Automotive, LLC), but that was a generic auto shop. They could do some breakdown work or mechanical stuff, but not into vintage British cars, so we won't put that on on out Shops list.
We placed a call to a friend in the area whom we had visited previously, just to say hello and see what he was up to, but he was busy, so scratch that idea. Scouting around for a decent WiFi spot we found none in the area, so we headed back south and ended up in Wellington, CO, not far from tomorrow's morning appointment.
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