The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (November 1- November 15, 2021)
Monday, November 1, 2021:
Some morning discussion about MGA body restoration, Swiss cheese rust in the pillars and sills and inner wings behind the B-posts, and how to get new parts properly aligned. As the cars get older and rustier, and the better ones are all gone so folks are now restoring the worse ones, we have to get more creative with time. I recon it's called "experience", and I am continually amazed at how many people are now pulling it off with cars so bad that we would not have touched them 20 years ago.
 Sitting in a McDonald's at a Love's truck stop at lunch time, when five large buses rolled in with more than 100 US Army soldiers, on their way to North Carolina. They packed the truck stop store, and Chester's Chicken, and McDonald's. It would have been a good time to haul out and go get the dead alternator tested, but navigator was in the middle of a huge data download that had been running more than an hour, and likely still a half hour to go. I was actually surprised how fast the soldiers were served, some of them finishing lunch and leaving while others were still waiting for their food, and at least 25 at a time in line at the convenience store register paying for grab and go food. Maybe 45 minutes, and they were all finished and gone, those soldiers know how to move fast.
Didn't get rolling until after noon, but first stop was O'Reilly Auto Parts to get the defunct alternator tested,
and boy did it fail with flying colors, all three tests. Lamp off, 0-volts. Lamp on, 2.76 volts. This is the terminal for the ignition warning lamp that should go to 13 volts minimum when running (which is what makes the dash lamp go out). Ripple=0, which is supposed to be normal, but might also mean open circuit somewhere. B-Voltage=11.44, which should be 14.0 volts, or a minimum of 13.6 to get the thing to charge the battery (which is 12.6 open circuit voltage fully charged. That's what we needed to document to return it for warranty exchange.
While at the parts store we picked up a few more items, like a tap and die set (old ones stolen), a new 12-volt tire inflator pump (old one defunct), new wire stripper/crimper tool (old one worn out), couple battery terminals (spare parts), coupe screw drivers (always loosing a few tools), a SPST-NO push button switch (for one touch one wipe screen wipers), some nuts and bolts. Also enough terminal clips and wire to make up a set of 10-gauge 8-foot mini jumper cables that will fit in a sandwich bag. No good for a quick jump start, but good for about 60 amps fast charge vehicle to vehicle, so the jump start might work in about 5-minutes.
Nice weather, sitting in the shade at the parts store, so we took the time to sort and store a lot of small spare parts recently received, install another new MGA cowl vent grille to replace the banana shape one from Moss, install a new side-entry distributor cap with nice brass terminals which should last a good long time.
On return for dinner hour I called Moss (mid afternoon in California) to report the failed alternator and make arrangements for a replacement (which I now desperately need for spare). And start putting together another parts order to call in tomorrow morning, including new front brake drums and a couple more hydraulic hoses.
Tuesday, November 2, 2021:
E-mail questions got to be many and challenging, BBS was active, and the Twin Cam Group was even more chatty than normal, all good tech stuff today. And time to renew my NAMGAR membership for another year.
But the important business today was to place a new parts order with Moss (after 8-am PST (11-am EST) when I could chat with a tech rep; including the replacement alternator (under warranty), bad one to be returned later. Kind of late in the day (in California) by the time it was approved, but it did get shipped out late might. Got the shipping notice and tracking number a few minutes after midnight, to be delivered Thursday.
Wednesday, November 3, 2021:
Early morning verification email, parts shipped yesterday, to arrive tomorrow. Some on -line discussion bout generator to alternator conversion, so of course I had to offer my recent experience and best advice on modern Lucas alternators, 5 failures in 3-1/2 years, so maybe consider something else.
On the flip side, I had to send a message to Scarborough Faire to thank them for their front coil springs for
MGA, absolutely perfect in every way, correct wire size (0,540"), number of active coils (7.2), closed and ground ends, and correct free length at 9", within 1/8" of the spec (8.88"). They fit perfectly and hold the car at exactly correct ride height. Great to be able to drive it like a real MG again, and park it with tires against a parking curb without damaging the valance panel and license plate and bumper overriders. Also getting used to feel of the new Classic Gold solid wood rim steering wheel. Not the same as padded leather, but I hope it will be more durable, and it looks nice near the MG crested wood shift knob.
Thursday, November 4, 2021:
Good start in the morning, posting up a few new pictures on a tech page for the MGA Competition Windscreen. Then another new tech page for installation of 3-point seat belt shoulder harness with a bridge retainer on top of the seat back, and a steel carabiner clip to release the strap end for raising or lowering the convertible top.
Parts were delivered this afternoon, now just a matter of arranging a little garage time. This evening we had just
enough time to drill out threads to install a Heli-Coil to change the irregular metric thread to UNF, and swap the fan and pulley from junk alternator to the new one (going to be the spare), Tomorrow we can ship the dead one back to Moss Motors, as they want to investigate why these things are failing so often.
Friday, November 5, 2021:
The UPS Store opened at 8-am, and I was the first customer at 8:05, so the defunct alternator is on its way back to Moss Motors. I also sent the return email with tracking number, and all of the test data on why the thing failed all the tests. I sure hope they can figure out the frequent failures and get the maker to do some improvements to the product.
Got a bunch of questions today about mounting configuration for master cylinder brackets and pedals, and then configuration of screen wiper parts. Lined up an morning appointment for a little more garage time.
Saturday, November 6, 2021:
Back into Dave Daniel's garage this morning to install two new brake drums up front, change oil in the gearbox
and differential (a few thousand miles overdue this time, shame on me), and do a chassis lube. Having just installed new shoes in front, the new brake drums made another good improvement, Now the brake adjusters go 5 clicks rather than 15 or 16, so the new drums alone knocked 10 clicks off of the adjusters (more than half of the 18 total range available). And, while I was updating maintenance records, I looked up when the gearbox was last rebuilt with (finally) a properly hardened layshaft. Just over 80,000 miles in 3-1/2 years (Yeehaa!), and same time for all the clutch parts. That feels good all over.
Wind changed directions with a phone call. We're heading 90 miles northwest tomorrow to Roebuck, SC.
Sunday, November 7, 2021:
Today we drove 90 miles north to visit Don Turner in Roebuck, South Carolina. We were here once before, March 12, 2020, to check out his 1932 Ford Cabriolet with flat head V8 engine. Last time it was a running chassis (that had quit running), with the body set aside, and we were investigating failing starter circuits. This time it is a complete car that was running (now again not running), and we were here to check out the Mallory Dual Points distributor (hot rod part). Having had some problems with this unit, it was sent out to a pro shop to be rebuilt. When it returned (4 months later), it was reinstalled in the engine, but has never been able to start. So grab a test light and poke it to see what it does, or in this case, what it didn't do.
The test light dead, not blinking, meaning the points were permanently grounded, first oops. Pull the cap and rotor to poke around inside. Condenser is on outside, with the wires connected to the condenser and two contact points sets, so it was time to disconnect things to see what was shorting to ground. The leading points are on top in these pictures, trailing points on bottom. The shaft and cam turns clockwise, and you can see the points are 8-degrees out of phase, so the top ones open and close first, while bottom ones open and close last.
Disconnected leading points first, and found those permanently grounded, while the trailing points were open, not grounded. Okay, leave the leading points disconnected, and see if it will run on the trailing points. Rotor and cap back on, test light connected, give it a crank, and the light stayed on this time, no blink. Huh? Cap and rotor off again, poking around the trailing points to see why there was no ground connection. The points were adjusted properly with 0.015" clearance when on top of the cam lobe, but the contacts were not closing all the way with cam in the valley. Pinch the contacts with your fingers and they would close to make ground, but poke it open and it would not close again. Bummer. Leading points were grounded, and the trailing points were not making any connection. Two different faults with the points.
Now it was clear that the "professional" who "overhauled" this distributor did not electrically test continuity of points to ground (opening and closing) after it was assembled. And that "pro" is now winding down his business about to retire. So now there was one phone call to a more local distributor guy who is quoting half the price to fix it, and apparently has loads of old stock Mallory parts in stock. So maybe there will be good points installed next time around rather than the "cheap Chinese junk" installed by the last guy.
Don had an evening appointment, and we still had time to spare, so we headed back to Lexington for dinner and evening WiFi work.
Monday, November 8, 2021:
Day off, or not. After morning email and BBS, I got to watch Space-X and NASA Crew 2 depart from the International Space Station, take a one hour lap around it to take pictures, then head home for a late night splash down in the Gulf Of Mexico near Tallahassee, Florida. After 8-pm the incoming Publisher copy of the CMGC November newsletter arrived, which I get to transcribe to post on the club web site. Got just a few pages into that. Then it dawned on me that I had missed the John Twist UML Zoom tech session. Dang, forgot to set the alarm. Tough to do three things at once anyway. Wasn't this supposed to be a day off?
Tuesday, November 9, 2021:
Most of the day spent transposing the CMGC newsletter for the web site, and didn't finish. This one was a bear, with extra pages (okay), lots of pictures (okay), and lots of Unicode characters that cannot be typed on the keyboard (need to have a chat with editor on that issue).
Wednesday, November 10, 2021:
Change of pace momentarily as I whipped up a new tech page for tips on
R&R of the Twin Cam engine. Tough enough when you know what you're doing, but a rookie can use all the help he can get.
Then back at the CMGC monthly newsletter chore (boring), which I finished about 7-pm. Cool. Time to watch the lunch of Space-X Crew 3 to the International Space Station. Right on time, off the pad at 9:03 pm EST. Give them about 22 hours to arrive and dock tomorrow evening.
Thursday, November 11, 2021:
The busy work today was to whip up a new tech page for Heater Conversion, Standard to Twin Cam style. Although somewhat time consuming, much of the thought work was done a few days earlier as an answer to an email inquiry, so a lot of the text was cut and paste today. But I did spend more time finding some appropriate pictures.
Looking like we are about to run out of decent weather in central South Carolina, so got busy shuffling possible upcoming appointments. Pretty much done in SC, so dump bunch of addresses in Georgia into the mapping program. Push and shove to figure out the most direct route. And late night change of plans, and let's head west. Crossed the state line ending up in the Georgia Welcome Center on I-20 at 2-am.
Friday, November 12, 2021:
Up early and head west again stopping for breakfast in Augusta, GA. Made some phone calls and headed out again. Dang they got some nasty traffic around the Atlanta, GA area, but we managed to arrive 3-pm for a visit with Carl McKinney in Woodstock, GA.
I was here because Carl had installed a trailer hitch on his MGB, and I wanted to see how he did it with a unibody car. The hitch receiver is welded to an angle iron base, 2-inches wide and 3-inches tall. This angle is curved by expanding the short leg slightly until the curvature matches the rear surface of the MGB body shell. inside the boot is a steel strap running across the car just above the structural box section of the shell. And there are multiple bolts through the strap and shell and angle to secure it all together and spread the load over a wide area of the body shell. I haven't done the mathematical analysis, and I'm pretty sure this is not a full Class-I tow hitch (at 2000 Lb towing capacity), but I'm also pretty sure it will serve quite well for the purpose of towing a small luggage trailer.
Since I was here anyway, I might as well have a look at the working end of the car. 1967 MGB, 1800 5-main bearing engine with a clean-up bore, slightly higher than stock compression ratio, and a fast street cam (mild upgrade cam). Behind this is a late model 4-synchro gearbox with overdrive, bit of a squeeze but it fits. Sharing the garage was Carl's next project, restoration of an MGB GT (with a long way to go on that one).
The trailer he tows is a medium size motorcycle trailer, about 12-cubic feet or so, with a little more space below the floor for spare tire and a couple small stowage bins. I didn't get the manufacturer or model name, but he thinks it is out of production now so you can't buy one anyway.
Then we were off again looking for E Radatz Motorsports in Kennesaw, GA. We were here before, but the place was locked up with lots of vintage cars inside the fence on last visit in 2018. Not sure what to expect, as the
phone number is out of service, but we always go there to check anyway. Supposed to be Servicing Datsun Z-cars and some vintage British cars. It definitely said "Motorsports" on the building, but not the same business any more. It is now L&M Motorsports, servicing off-road trucks and high performance cars, but unfortunately nothing to do with vintage British cars, so we have to mark E Radatz Motorsports out of business (as of 2017).
Looking for a functional WiFi spot for late lunch, found multiple closed dining rooms in the Atlanta, GA area. We kept heading south, finally finding a friendly Love's truck stop in Hogansville, GA at 7-pm (late lunch, yeah). Getting out of there by 11-pm, another hour to go planning on hitting Columbus, GA by midnight.
Saturday, November 13, 2021:
Up early for breakfast and reality check. Then off to visit Phillip Clark in Columbus, GA, not at the shop but at his home garage this time. that's Phil by the car, and Jim Walton up front. The problem child here is the 1972 MGB that cranks but does not start. It was running last time he drove it about 2 months earlier. Now the fuel pump clicks, CLACKS LOUDLY and does not stop ticking. Diagnostics first. Pull fuel hose off carburetors, no fuel flow. Pull hose off pump outlet, no fuel flow. Pull hose off pump inlet, finger over port, run pump, no suction. Put longer hose on the fuel filter outlet, blow back into tank, bubble, gurgle, no obstruction there. Okay, it has to be a failed fuel pump.
Since it runs but does not pump, my money says failed diaphragm, so open it up for look inside. Not only failed, but not even a rubber diaphragm. The part that is supposed to be flexible was molded with some kind of plastic, maybe Delrin (don't know)? But what should you expect when you put a thin piece of plastic in modern gasoline and let it soak for a few years? If you pinch this plastic part with your fingers it cracks and crumbles like a soda cracker. Boo, hiss, and shoot the designer who came up with that idea. I would be really PO'd if that thing failed without notice and left me stranded on the side of the road. I will have to post a new Faulty Parts web page, and tell the world not to buy the Hardi 13312 fuel pump. Will also have to notify the source retailer, and hopefully the manufacturer as well, to see if there is any way to get these crap parts out of the market, and make a fuel pump with a more durable diaphragm.
Meanwhile, Phil already has a new original style SU fuel pump ready to go ($$$), but will need to order all of the mounting and connection parts before it can be installed.
We had one more immediate appointment about 15 minutes away. Off to see Larry Stephens, "Way Down Yonder on the Chattahoochee" in Columbus, GA. He has (among other things) a very nice 1962 MGA 1600-MK-II that is very original and low mileage with no rust. It would be a champion "survivor car", except that it has been repainted once (from white to red). The first complaint was idling too fast, like 1500 rpm. That was a one minute fix, and the carburetors were otherwise in perfect tune (from the last time I touched it).
The other "niggly little problem" was the bonnet that would pop up 1/2-inch and stick when it was released, then needing two people to jiggle it to and fro to get it to let loose. The latch parts were correctly assembled, and seemed to be fairly well aligned. Seems like the top guide plate was catching the latch pin at the rear edge. Rather than chip up the paint to loosen the screws for re-adjustment, It only needed a little wanking around with a fat screwdriver to push the pack edge of the hole back a bit, and all was well with the world, latching and releasing as it should.
We had in mind to drive 30 miles back north to LaGrange, GA, but phone calls did not jive, and the day ran out. And yes we ran out of nice weather, looking at frost warnings tonight, so we think heading south, and are likely to be in Tallahassee, Florida by midnight.
Sunday, November 14, 2021:
Sure enough, Tallahassee. Florida by midnight, and slept in a bit this morning. The first potential WiFi spot we checked was a "dry hole" with dining room locked, but the second one was okay. Barely in for breakfast before 10:30 am, then got after posting a new tech page for the failed HARDI fuel pump. Now we can notify the supplier(s) to see if we can get that part either improved or withdrawn from the market.
Much of the day spent working on a list of friends in Florida we should contact and visit. Amazing how many more have raised a hand in the last couple years. Also putting Florida car clubs back on the Planning list, as our last visit to most clubs was 4 to 7 years ago. I got all the pins in the map, now need to start making contacts and appointments.
Monday, November 15, 2021:
Start the day adding more notes on the new tech page for removing/reinstalling the Twin Cam engine. Also someone confused about the MGA wiper motor assembly and brackets, sucking up a lot of email time.
What was left of the day was spent working an the Planning list of friends and car clubs, putting all the pins in the map in some half way sensible sequence, (subject to change multiple times as we go). About 40 lines on the spread sheet in Florida (so far). Now to check to see if the clubs are doing anything, and when, and then re-routing according to the club event schedules.
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