The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (December 1 - December 15, 2020)
Tuesday, December 1, 2020:
Some tech questions on cooling fan color for various vintage of MGA, and how to erect the convertible top (single handed in the rain). Some update on parts suppliers for Twin Cam unique parts. Some comments on broken crankshafts. Some minor updates on the D N Stevenson Twin Cam YM1/1701 project Car (4-place coupe body on a Twin Cam chassis) and magazine articles from 1960. Another update on factory conversion of two Twin Cams to 1600 pushrod engine and instructions to dealers circa 1960.
Wedesday, December 2, 2020:
Been getting seasons greetings from some friends. Some new information about one of the factory Twin Cam to pushrod engine conversions having been sent to Australia, and more recently converted back to Twin Cam engine. Message from a friend in Winter Park, Florida to discuss issues with a half finished MGA restoration project. We may get to visit him in a few weeks. Questions on failing electric tachometer and a differential 3.700:1 ring and pinion retrofit.
Thursday, December 3, 2020:
Added a new web page for conversion of the MGA dash panel from left hand drive to right hand drive.
Also had a nice update on the web page for an MGA variant, the IH Metro Mite. Someone is currently in the process of restoring one.
Friday, December 4, 2020:
Another nice update on another MGA "variant" (or one-off custom), when one of the people involved in creation of the car sent information about how it came about. Three variants updates in 4 days? Weird things happen if you wait long enough.
Saturday, December 5, 2020:
More discussion about the slightly wonky gearbox on the IH Metro Mite, which turned out to be a 4-speed (plus reverse) side shifter with only two side levers (nice trick once you figure it out).
Sunday, December 6, 2020:
Interesting tech question today about an MGA with intermittent failure of all electrical circuits except horn and starter. My best guess is loose connection on the power input terminal of an aftermatkt ignition switch (with Lucar push-on terminals).
 Had a nice social evening out with a couple friends at The Publick House in Columbia, SC. Yes, we were still talking mostly car stuff, and that led to a Tuesday appointment.
Monday, December 7, 2020:
Slept in, then went foraging. Turn signals and 4-way flashers quit working yesterday, and had to be fixed. Always do the diagnostic work first, but also pick the low hanging fruit first. That means try or check the easy stuff first as a matter of expediency.
I had installed a plug-in socket for the flasher unit some time back, so the quickest and easiest thing was to swap in a new flasher unit in less than a minute. But I had to go buy one first. Walmart didn't have them, but Autozone did. The new flasher unit didn't make any difference, but $7 for the heavy duty flasher unit was pretty cheap for a quick diagnostic tool, and the new flasher goes into the magic trailer for a spare. After another minute of poking at green wires, a no-connect in the fuse clip for the horn turned out to be the culprit. I might have gotten there quicker if I had remembered that I previously moved that one green wire from top fuse to bottom fuse, so the 4-ways would worn with ignition off. I could have punched the horn button, and no sound would have been a big clue. Wiggle the fuse to clean the clip, and in two minutes total it was working again (not to count the 10-minutes to buy the spare flasher unit).
Got an afternoon phone call for help, and we have another appointment for Wednesday. Then spent a few hours replaying a 17-minute video and making notes on someone's new (old) project car. For that we may have another appointment a week from now and a few hours away.
Tuesday, December 8, 2020:
Weather was a little crisp this morning for outdoor work, so appointment was delayed until noon. Then I was off to visit Richard Moss in Columbia, South Carolina. He wanted a little inspection and diagnostic work (more of an opinion) on his 1991 Miata. Been 2-1/2 years since I last touched this car in April 2018 to diagnose a resonate vibration at 2800 rpm, which turned out to be a loose heat shield on the center muffler. This time we needed to jack the car up, and his driveway is badly sloped, so we met in a public parking lot.
A while back someone was doing some brake work on his car and spotted something else (or a few things) in the rear that was recommended to be fixed. Richard wanted my opinion on what might actually need fixing before he went too far and may pay too much for some things that may or may not need to be fixed. My closest qualification for working on this car would be my 27 year ownership of a 1987 Mazda RX7 with independent rear suspension, but at least I could have a look to see how this one work. So I jacked up the rear, put it on stands, and crawled underneath to have a look.
Inspect and take some pictures, push this and shake that to see if anything might be loose, but most of it seemed to be in good working order. I was surprised how clean and rust free it was for a 29 year old car with a few hundred thousand miles. Somewhat better than my older RX7 was when it was 27 years old with 200,000 miles. I recon newer cars are built better than older ones. Photos above show lower control arm and MacPherson strut. We then put the jack under the lower arm next to the wheel and lift to unload the upper control arm. Then shake the tire/wheel with vigor in all directions, and nothing moved, both sides the same, all nice and tight, nothing loose. Take some more photos.
Above left, inboard pivots and bushings on the upper control arm, all in good shape. Above center and right, outboard bushing on upper control arm, right side. This is where I spotted a small deviation. The upright holding the rubber bushing (which has a steel sleeve inside) seemed to be a little off center from the control arm, so the moving upright was touching the control arm on one side. That rubbed the coating off of the control arm enough to promote a little rust on the control arm, so it has been like that for a while, and not going to fall apart any time soon. The same bushing on the left side was in good condition (below left). Knowing what the problem was, we set it back down and took it for a short test drive.
Driving on throttle, off throttle, hands off the steering wheel, it always tracks in a straight line, no side pull. Braking forward and backward, and running over bumps and divots, made no suspension noise at all. So everything seems good and safe to drive for the moment. Richard only drives a few hundred miles per month, so it is likely this could last a lot longer. Now it is up to him to decide when to get the rubber bushing replaced. He already bought two of the bushings, so maybe it will be sooner than later. Good deed for the day finished, back to the hotel.
Received a phone call to delay Wednesday appointment to Thursday for a little warmer weather (to start earlier in the day). Made lots of inquires where to find Hylomar gasket sealer locally, not in the auto parts stores, but we think Grainger has it in stock. Got another call from Vice President of CMGC (back in Chicago area) to chat about some possible format changes to the club web site, and he is sending an email with proposed details, so I may have something to read tomorrow.
Wednesday, December 9, 2020:
Received the Publisher copy of the CMGC December newsletter, and got that chore completed and uploaded to the club web site.
I sent back replies to a few email messages (and one phone call) about "upgrading" the 23-year old CMGC web site. They want to modernize/refresh the appearance of the home page and install a pull-down menu (among other things).
Frankly, I am kind of fond of the vintage appearance of the web site for vintage cars. It brings home the point that the web site has been in active service for more than 20 years (and it has a very good reputation and public following to show for it).
Problem is, there are thousands of pages in that web site, many of which have more than one form of menu on a page (sometimes as many as 3 or 4 different ways of navigation). Some of that came from multiple prior mods to add a new menu style, without revising every page to delete the old menu(s). Now someone wants to do it again, and who knows how long before another manager may want to change it again to suite his or her personal taste. My opinion is, if it ain't broke, don't fix it (unless there is a very compelling reason to do so). You know how some of our cars come out when you do too many modifications multiple times over?
There is also a neat Site Map (if you click on it) that is an outstanding GUI
and full web site menu in itself, which can be printed on one sheet of paper. That bit of art was very well received when I first created it, published in the club newsletter a couple times (and I'm usually not that creative), but I don't think that many visitors ever see it or use it. They like to put a copy of it in the Welcome Package for new members. It is essntilly a giant Table Of Contents for the entire web site in one glance. It may be good for framing to hang on the wall near your computer, just as a reminder of how much stuff is contained in that web site, but it takes up too much space on the screen for a simple menu. The black bar consistently at the bottom of every page is the bit they want to change to a top of screen pull down menu that would potentially contain everything that is on the Site Map (which it already does). Unfortunately that black bar is not a Frame in a Frameset, and not dynamically driven. It is a small set of HTML code that is included in every web page, which would want to be deleted from thousands of pages.
I don't know that a pull-down menu would improve function of the web site at all. It may be just one or two elected officers' personal opinion about what whistles and bells might look neat. It might be a shame to spend a lot of time and effort on something cute that doesn't help the visitors or improve the information content or navigation of the site. I never wanted my MGA to look like a Miata or a Tesla (although I might like to slip one of those engines inside).
When they got the estimate from some IT guy of the cost to do the initial work that was requested, the sticker shock was stunning, and they don't want to deplete the treasury that much. The good news is, somebody is actually talking to me now, like they might finally be willing to listen to my opinion and advice. That and they are probably having a hard time trying to find a new webmaster amongst 200 old fogies in the club who are more inclined to retire rather than taking on a new career. The last younger fella (new member) they thought they had roped into the job has moved out of state. When a major club function relies on a single individual, it's probably not a good situation for the club. That's how we lost our eBay used parts sales function a few years back. One guy doing it quit, and no one else would volunteer, so that club function died.
Thursday, December 10, 2020:
10-am appointment today, cool morning turning warm in the full sun in Lexington, SC. This was time to fix a niggly little leak at the fuel tank drain plug on Dave Daniel's MG TF, left over from Nov 15 when Moss had supplied the wrong seal. It was a very narrow fiber washer originally used on the carburetor fuel feed banjo connectors, but not suitable for the large tank drain plug. We still couldn't get the correct fiber washer, so were determined to make this one work. Crawl under, pull the drain plug, catch fuel in a drain pan, and transfer two gallons into fuel cans. Good to see that after draining it twice there was very little sediment left in the tank.
Dry everything, and screw the plug full in to assure clean seating surfaces and no thread binding or burrs. Then we used Permatex Motoseal fuel resistant gasket maker which I thought would have the consistency of tooth past but turned out to be more like thick paint. Start by putting a smear of sealer on the flat bottom flange of the tank drain, and more sealer under the plug hex bolt head to completely fill the undercut behind the thread. Then drop the thin fiber washer into place, pressed into the sealer, and apply another dose of sealer over that. Screw the plug into the tank, pulling it up snug with a short wrench while being very careful to keep the sealing washer centered. Wipe off any excess sealer, and get a picture for confidence that the fiber washer was still centered. Yes it was as fiddly and time consuming as it sounds.
The sealant had four instructions on the tube. 1. Clean and dry. 2. Continuous bead both surfaces. 3. Smooth with small brush, and set one minute. 4. Assemble mating surfaces, normal torque spec's. So far so good. Thinking we were finished, about to put fuel back in the tank, I was reading the back of the card from the bubble pack. This had the same four instructions, plus, ... 5. Allow 24 hours of cure time to ensure a proper seal. Oops. Hold the fuel. That will wait until tomorrow, just to be safe.
Since the TF was about to head for Los Angeles, CA with son Jay, the shelves were searched for mating accessories. Hubcaps were put in there respective places, and the side curtains were neatly stashed in the compartment behind the seats.
Having a few minutes to spare while tools were being gathered and stowed, we took a quick look at Daniel's MGA. The rag top was not properly stowed, because the spare tire was not properly stashed, so have at it. Right away Dave smacked his head on the boot lid latch striker, but we can do something about that. Two minutes in the Magic Trailer produced a very short 5/16" bolt and nut and a few flat washers for adjustment. A few minutes later the boot lid prop rod had a new nest to sit in.
Ah, that's better, stroll right into the boot. With team effort we raised the spare tire cover, shoved the tire through the bulkhead, lifted the side curtain stowage bag to pull the folded top forward, pushed the spare tire fully home, dropped the cover, and stashed the folded rag top back on top of the spare tire.
Then the top frame legs would push back where they belong, and we could snap the stowage bag in place at the sides.
Final move was to push the TF out onto the driveway to free up the space for lady of the house to park her car, and we could call it a day and be done before dark. Dave gave Jay a ride home, and will have to go retrieve him tomorrow to fuel and drive the TF away.
Friday, December 11, 2020:
Someone asking about construction and installation of the horn push button. More discussion about balancing connecting rods. A question about why side curtains don't fit properly should be restated as, what's wrong with installation of the new convertible top"? Multiple non-standard and dysfunctional slave cylinders for Twin Cam clutch may need a new web page for clarification. Beginning discussion about relief valves in shock absorbers, may also spawn a new web page.
Saturday, December 12, 2020:
Someone trying to pull the rear wheel bearing hub on a Twin Cam to change the oil seal doesn't get the explanation, so emails continue to fly for three days already. Spent 20 hours, including an all-nighter re-arranging the CMGC web site home page to prototype a pull-down menu, just because a few managers have a personal whim about "modernizing" the appearance of the 23-year old web site (with no implication that it would have any other benefit).
Sunday, December 13, 2020:
Following the killer all-nighter, I slept from afternoon to late night. Then catching up email and BBS, and one eye on the clock while preparing to haul out of town tomorrow.
Monday, December 14, 2020:
Our 2-month contract on the motel room in Columbia, SC has expired, so we are back on the road again, heading south with hopes that the world may have loosened up a bit by now. Late lunch break sitting in McDonald's, had a couple people ask about the MGA. Kind of nice, as that hasn't happened in months when we were cooped up. Late night we drove through Georgia, only stopping for fuel once near the southern state line. Found the Florida state Welcome Center about 1-am. Zzzzzzz.
Tuesday, December 15, 2020:
Must have been really tired last night, because we slept late this morning, in spite of traffic noise. Nice day though. Spittin' distance down the road we stopped for brunch and WiFi, and spent most of the day catching up and getting more organized. Three tentative appointments put off for next week or next month. Late afternoon spent nearly two hours on the phone chatting with the friend we will see tomorrow. By late tonight we should be somewhere close to Mims, FL.
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