The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (December 16 - December 31, 2019)
Monday December 16, 2019:
Back to Joel Theard in Orlando, FL. Four days since his "new" MGA arrived from Missouri, and we are still trying to get it running well enough to get to the DMV for title and registration. We think the carburetors are fairly well adjusted, except the rear choke is sticking on. The car made it once around the block, but with not much torque, so today we moved to the ignition side of the engine. Points working as prescribed, and we think the condensed may be okay, but timing was severely retarded. Spent some time to R&R the distributor and re-orient the drive gear to get the rotor pointing the right direction. Then we relocated some HT wires to reach the correct spark plugs.
 Noticing this is a very strange side entry distributor cap. With correct orientation of the distributor body and vacuum unit, the HT wires come out the left side of the cap rather than extending upward (and the HT wires don't reach the plugs). So R&R the drive gear to rotate it one tooth (40 degrees) clockwise, and reinstall the distributor also 40 degrees clockwise, allowing HT wires to emerge around 11-oclock direction, after which the HT wires will reach the plugs.
With ignition timing finally correct, it still ran like crap. Compression test shows good compression pressure for all cylinders, so on to checking integrity of the HT wires. I was expecting to find carbon core resistance wires, possibly with some disconnect. Three of the four plug wires tested with no connection (infinite resistance), while the one wire was showing zero resistance (solid core, not a resistor wire). Quaint. We ended up disconnecting both ends of all HT wires for inspection, finding at least four cases of the solid copper core wire being burned back with a large spark gap. Never seen that before with copper wires. Must have been running a long time with these disconnects to have the copper wires burned that far back. Simple fix though, just clip the damaged ends off the HT wires to have solid copper wire exposed, reinstall the plug connectors, and reinstall the wires in the distributor cap, checking to assure continuity connection of all five HT wires. Then the engine fired right up and purred like a kitten.
Took it for another run around the neighborhood, and it ran quite well. Going up the ramp in the parking garage, I thought it ran out of fuel just s we turned into the parking space. But then it fires up and drove the last few feet okay, so maybe not out of fuel. Still having to use the battery jumper box to crank the engine for starting, so we decided to call it a day and leave the battery on a trickle charger over night. Maybe get the car to the DMV tomorrow.
Tuesday December 17, 2019:
Joel arranged an appointment with the DMV in the morning to have the car inspected (just to check the VIN number) prior to issuing the new title. A minor technical glitch in signatures on the title reassignment would require a letter from the seller to verify his intent and signature. One phone call got this letter on its way via Fax or email attachment, but ran out of business hours before arrival time, so no joy with the DMV today.
Wednesday December 18, 2019:
Hot to trot off to the DMV again, but no start, definitely a very dead battery that would not hold a charge long enough to re-start on its own. Nice clean looking NAPA battery, date stamp is June 2018, so only 18 months old. This one may be going back for warranty exchange (but not today). So Joel was off to buy a new battery while we were heading back to his place
to help with the battery installation. We had a couple minor issues here, like the new battery being slightly wider at the top so the hold-down bolts would not go into the holes in the clamp bar. A few minutes with a rat tail file elongated one of the holes to fix that issue, but then the clamp bar was a bit too wide to fit between the rectangular plastic filler caps on the new battery. Another five minutes with a flat file fixed that problem, and we soon had the new battery installed.
Then it turned out I was right about the car running out gas the last time we drove back into the parking garage, no go, not a drop of gas left in the tank. We got a bottle and ran a quart and a half of gas out of my car to put in his to get running and headed off for the nearest gas station. On a street that was heretofore always clear of traffic we ran into a stop and creep traffic jam, delaying us for a 15 or 20 minute run to go one mile. Of course we ran out of fuel, but choked the crap out of it to keep it running just enough to coast into the gas station (too close for comfort), and put 12.4 gallons into the specified 12 gallon tank.
Get a picture of the incorrect MGB fuel gauge as Joel was adding an MGA fuel gauge to his shopping list, and the upside-down MGA fuel sender unit that would need to be reoriented once the correct gauge was installed.
Another hour before the DMV would close for the day, so we dialed up for another appointment for inspection, and soon headed back to the DMV. Longer than expected wait, but we were inside before closing, and they would finish processing the customers who were there before 5-pm. In the end we did get the paperwork done, the car was checked for the matching VIN number, all taxes and fees paid, and new license plates issued on the spot (new title to be mailed later). Yee-Haw! Back to the garage to install the new plates, all legal and insured, I recon Joel is about to have a good time for a while. Time for a light dinner and long chat, we may or may not get back to the wiring problem on the LF turn signal.
Thursday December 19, 2019:
Catching up photos and notes, email, BBS. Joel needs to order some parts for his MGA, so maybe we will return later. Tonight we headed southwest to burn off a tank of fuel in 4-hours and camp out near Fort Myers, FL.
Friday December 20, 2019:
Bound to have some fun today as we dropped in to visit our old friends at Tech Central Racing in Bonita Springs, FL. Say hello to Jerry Wilcox, he owns the place. These guys get together mostly on Fridays to tinker with their cars. Lots of smiles and welcomes when we arrived, feels good to be home (so to speak). As cars kept rolling in they eventually had six MGB parked on the apron. Don't recall seeing the bonnet up on any of them today, but it made a nice car show.
Most of the work was under the canopy with two MG Midget. The first one has been in process two years now, having previously received new floor pans and some other welding, and a nice repaint, wood panel dash, and by now most of the wiring. Don't let the rats nest of seemingly random wiring bother you. This was a new wiring harness before it was opened up for some custom modifications. It will be nicely dressed later.
We reconnected a few wires on the tachometer to get that to work. Investigating a non-working newly purchased analog temperature gauge, the pressure pipe finally pulled out of the back of the gauge where it was supposed to be hermetically solder in place. Screw that, going back to the vendor for refund or replacement. The second Midget was getting some attention to rebuilding the rear brakes.
There was a modern Mini with an intermittent misfire getting some attention to ignition coils and spark plug connectors. Not my area of expertise, but after chasing a couple of trouble codes I thing they got it straightened out. I recon we had a dozen people for lunch and chat, after which the party was breaking up. Had a nice long chat with Jerry late in the day as we were making some plans for tomorrow.
Saturday December 21, 2019:
Back at Tech Central today. We didn't expect anyone else to show up, and no one did. Had in mind to weld up a crack or two in the right rear fender on my MGA, but a couple other issues turned up higher priority. Since I tend to use the steering wheel as a crutch to get in and out of the car, the steering column upper mounting bracket takes a lot of abuse, and had finally cracked at one of the mounting ears. So first business today was to remove the bracket for welding and repaint, and back in the car after paint was sufficiently dry.
Mucking about in the general area, was a good incentive to R&R the steering wheel and inner steering column shaft to replace the loose (worn) felt bushing at top end of the tube. Good that Moss Motors finally got the dimensions right for the felt bushings, as this one slipped right in with pretty much zero clearance. Always put oil on/in the felt, preferably graphite oil like Lock-Ease for instance.
Then it was time for a little hand with Jerry's VW Scirocco race car. Report was running out of torque at high engine speed, so it was time to install a better exhaust header. The transverse brace on lower suspension that Jerry has his hand on was in the way, so that had to come off.
There was some fiddling to save the threaded studs when the prevailing torque lock nuts were seized. Eventually the old header was out and the new one in, but the job was interrupted by a phone call for a water sample (day job gets in the way sometimes).
Then back to item #3 on my MGA. A couple days earlier while cruising on the highway at night, there was a rather loud clunk like we may have hit something in the road, but I didn't see anything, and it didn't seem to affect the car. Late last night we drove slowly through a gutter dip getting into a parking lot, and that resulted in a nasty noise from the suspension, kind of a loud crunch sound. Poking around the front end today I notice it looks like the right front is sitting too low, so jack it up for inspection. Waddaya know, a coil spring broken in two places, center coil and bottom coil. It's only 62 years old with a mere 611,000 miles on it. Well we did replace a broken rear leaf spring a few years ago, so it looks like time for new front coil springs. Thinking we may find some good used ones locally. Otherwise it would be Monday before ordering new ones. Stay tuned.
Sunday December 22, 2019:
Rain, rain, rain 36 hours straight, Saturday late night through Monday morning. Good time to be sitting in Naples, FL doing very little, except looking for coil springs. Moss US used to offer incorrect parts for the MGA, now just listed as "NA". Moss UK stull has them listed as In Stock, but not keen on waiting for delivery. Dropped another voice message on the guy who might have used parts, still no call back.
Monday December 23, 2019:
Today is the day to find the replacement coil springs. Perusing the list of shops in Florida, Glenn's MG Service in St Petersburg comes to mind, just a couple hours away, so I made the call. Good luck here, as they had recently disassembled an MGA parts car, and had a pair of coil springs from a 1962 MGA. Okay, point it North, fight some heavy traffic, and a few hours later we were checking into Glenn's shop. First we got the nickle tour.
Been a few years since we were last here. Pretty much the same shop inside, always busy. I think the Fiat 600 was here on our last visit. Outside, first picture below has a load of MGB engines and gearboxes. Ground in front of the white wall in that picture was until recently the location of the blue trailer on the next line. The trailer was moved, and 40 cars there were disassembled for the parts and scrapped. This is all to make space for a new building that will house 40 cars inside.
The blue trailer is now intended to hold tons of sheet metal spares. Lots of trees have been trimmed, and a few removed, all in an effort to make the place look less like a junk yard. There has been a large insulated awning installed outside of the body shop, allowing some shop cars to be parked outside, effectively doubling working space of the body shop (and to keep the shop cooler in hot weather). There were once four Z-type Magnettes here offered for sale for $500 for the lot. No takers, so three of them were split for parts, only one remaining. Also two remaining Austin Princess R-models (Rolls Royce 6-cylinder engines).
Okay, back to business. We did of course pick up the MGA coil springs we came for, and also in the same picture a mounting stem for the left side wing mirror that was broken some weeks ago. I was asking about an MGA fuel gauge, because Joel Theard in Orlando needed one. We did find a nice used one, and it tested out good. I made a call to Joel, left a voice message, and asked Glenn to keep the fuel gauge handy in case Joel still needed one. With rest of the day off it was Navigator's choice, leading us 30 miles west on I-4 for late lunch (or early dinner) in Dover FL.
Tuesday December 24, 2019:
Nice way to start a new day, with a few new vintage friends, International, Chevrolet and Ford. Otherwise just killing a day in the holiday season in Ellenton, FL.
Wednesday-Thursday December 25-26, 2019:
Couple of days off, not to bother anyone on the holidays.
Friday December 27, 2019:
Okay, back to work at Tech Central in Bonita Springs, FL. There was this MGB running really bad, barely made it in this morning. Points not opening. Once that was adjusted it ran well enough to drive. Also quite lean fuel mixture, but the owner didn't want to fiddle with more than one thing at a time, so we left it running lean for now.
Primary objective today is to clean and paint the pair of coil springs I picked up on St Petersburg on Monday.
The sand blast cabinet was fussy and slow, nearly impossible to see inside for the first hour, until I had a closer look. There was a thin plastic shield sheet taped over the inside of the viewing window on two edges only, and it was accumulating blasting abrasive between the glass and plastic sheet to obstruct vision. Removing the plastic sheet helped a lot, after which I could periodically wipe both inside and outside of the glass window. A bright light was barely visible through a lot of dust inside. Could have used a shop vac on the air outlet pipe, but didn't have one. In the end it took three hours to blast two coil springs, a royal PITA, but feeling much better once it was done. Washed the springs in the parts cleaner, then a good rinse with lacquer thinner and set aside to dry.
The red MGB headed home early afternoon, got a couple miles and died, so we mounted a rescue mission. Tachometer and turn signals acting up at same time as lack of spark (or maybe fuel), so thinking loose connection in the ignition switch (or the Green wire fuse). Check points first, okay there. Check connection of White/Black wires on the coil, looked okay there as well, and it blinked a test light while cranking. Reinstalled distributor cap, and it fired right up. Coil was hot enough to burn your hand, so suspect failing coil. We followed the car home just to be sure, but it ran well the whole way, so no known cure today, other than the possibility of simple loose wires. If it happens again, check the ignition switch, and maybe carry a spare ignition coil.
Back at the shop, gave the springs a coat of Satin Black. I'm beginning to warm up to this Krylon
ColorMaster "Paint + Primer" stuff. I used it on the steering column upper bracket last week, and now it seems to be just the ticket for one coat on the coil springs. It seems to have as many bad reviews as good, but I wasn't particular for these slightly pitted springs, so will have to wait for a few years to see how it holds up in service.
Late afternoon by this time, so leave the springs to dry and head out for a late lunch.
Saturday December 28, 2019:
Back at Tech Central again. If I don't do anything else done today I will get the new coil springs installed. Bit of trouble getting the floor jack under the front end, try it on the higher side, and soon the car had two jack stands under the frame with nose high and front wheels off. Attack the right side with the broken spring first. Jack under the spring pan, directly under the coil spring, lift to get the upper shock arm clear of the rubber frame bumper. Remove the lower A-arm outer trunnion bolt, and lower the A-arm to remove the spring. Had to disconnect the sway bar link to allow the spring pan to drop far enough, but in short order the broken spring was out.
On to the left side to repeat the same motions, and soon the unbroken spring was also removed. I set the old full height spring beside the replacement spring for comparison, and good news is they are all the same height (free length). So either they have not sagged in 60 years (or maybe they have all sagged the same amount). In either case it will soon be back in character. Dig out new seals for the lower trunnions (nice touch). Records show these joints have not been apart in 20 years, good report for regular driving and frequent lube jobs.
Also did some careful measurement of length of the bearing spacer tube, as I knew it was too long, allowing end float of the lower trunnion on outer A-arm pivot. Result there was a frequent "clunk" when braking, especially while reversing direction. Solution was to grind the tube a bit shorter to be only a few thou longer than the trunnion. Same on both sides, now expecting to have banished the odd clunking noises.
Good timing, working between morning rain and afternoon rain, eventually back together. Three cheers for three fingers space between top of tire and wing arch on both sides. The astute observer may also notice the replacement left side wing mirror, not too difficult while it was jacked up. And another opportunity for a little tweak on the brake adjusters while the wheels were off.
Sunday-Monday December 29-30, 2019:
Couple of days off to catch up email and BBS messages and update a few tech pages. CMGC January newsletter came in Monday evening, so I knew what I would be doing next day. Got my regestration and reservation in for the BMTA convention next month.
Tuesday December 31, 2019:
Hanging out in Arcadia, FL. Pretty much the whole day spent converting and uploading the CMGC January newsletter. Late night heading north and east to land in Arcadia, FL after midnight.
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