The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (June 16 - June 30, 2022)
Thursday, June 16, 2022:
Got lucky late last night finding a personal contact in Salt Lake City for a shipping point, so this morning we placed the parts order with Moss Motors. Figuring nothing was urgent enough to pay for next day delivery, we plan on parts arrival late Monday (or maybe Tuesday).
 With the plan in hand it was time around mid day to roll it west. Of course you know things don't always go according to plan, so the next couple days get a little strange. No immediate rush, so we intended to stop short in Park City, Utah and stay in the hills around 6900 feet to stay cool, before dropping nearly 2500 feet lower into SLC. Well 160 miles on, our intended WiFi spot in Lake City, Utah didn't have a power outlet to charge our toys, and it would close at 8-pm as well (who ever heard of that?), so we just kept going.
After a couple more downshift hills it was time to pretty much roll it down the big hill, so another 27 miles on we were sitting in a truck stop on the north side of Salt Lake City, now looking at 97dF instead of 85dF for the daytime high. Now we were early with another day to kill.
Friday, June 17, 2022:
Get out of the city, 20 miles west to Lake Point, UT, and we thought we were fixed for the day. Then there was a power outage about lunch time, and we had to leave. Local traffic lights were out, so a bit of struggle to get onto I-80 going back east, and we immediately ran into stop and creep traffic thanks to a grass fire in the mountains, likely the cause of the local power outage. After a while the combination of stop and creep and loose fan belt finally pegged the temperature gauge, so it seemed prudent to pull over and shut it off. Unfortunately smoke all around and fire licking at the roadside near ahead. We got a break when a fire worker truck stopped to inquire, and after a bit we got an escort up the shoulder of the road for the last 3/4-mile to the next exit ramp.
Hot carburetors and nearly full choke to keep it running, while moving forward with light throttle at higher engine speed, the temperature gauge started to drop a little, which was very encouraging. We did get off the expressway, and a few miles more put us into another serviceable WiFi spot good for lunch time. This is not the first time to be caught in or delayed or detoured by a forest fire.
That place was closing at 9, and we weren't done yet, so before it got dark we moved back to the truck stop where we landed last night, and that worked out okay. I think the MG needs a little more water after that "dance" with the fire delay, but it idles okay, so hopefully we didn't damage the engine). Heck of a way to kill a spare day.
Saturday, June 18, 2022:
Early morning stop to pick up a jug of antifreeze, and a drive-through pass for a bag of breakfast, then off to British Field Day at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City, UT, hosted by British Motor Club of Utah. Kind of hot day, but pretty good shade trees if you stand in the right place. Didn't get an official count (yet), but maybe 100 British cars there. A few old friends, mostly a bunch of new acquaintances who seem to know me and wanted to say hello. There was a nice little gymkhana through a veritable sea of closely packed orange cones. Most of the cars never got out of first gear, while some of the larger vehicles found the need to back up at least once in a tight turn. Click to view the Supplemental Photos and notes page for the British Field Day with more than 100 additional pictures.
Picked up business card for a new or previously unknown) shop on Provo, UT, which we will likely check out on Monday. After the car show we had an offer for possible contribution of brackets for the alternator.
Then we were off to visit our new friend Don Kent with the recently restored MGA 1600 (and Vanden Plas hardtop). He thought he might have some spare generator brackets that might help us out for a few days. We dropped in to his rented work space at a marina boat yard. Space was 12x40 feet, and he has a low-rise floor lift and plenty of tools and bench space in the back. The BIG box is, believe ir or not, another Vanden Plas aluminum hardtop. just a slightly tattered bare shell this time, begging for restoration.
What else he has is an original pair of Weathershields alloy side curtains which the factory supplied specifically for use with the Vanden Plas aluminum hardtop. An interesting feature here is a slight outward curvature of the top and bottom frame rails to exactly match the curve in the rubber weather seal in the hardtop.
Don was still searching for generator brackets, and was even offering to remove the brackets from his car for us to use for a few days. But just at that moment we got a phone call from our other friend Rob Foye to let us know that our Moss parts order had arrived, on Saturday afternoon no less. Hey, don't look good fortune in the face, so we hustled right over to pick up the package. Sure enough the new alternator brackets were here to replace the broken ones. We took enough time to sort and collate and stow a dozen new parts to be organized in the trailer where we could find the stuff when it may be needed later. Then off for late lunch and evening WiFi session.
About half past 10-pm I casually asked navigator where our morning Cars And Coffee appointment was supposed to be, and he said, 27 miles (and 2500 feet more elevation) back up the hill in Park City where we passed through on Thursday. If we were going to have to run up that hill, we better install the alternator brackets first, so we did.
In the process I noticed the new rear bracket was formed with a zero radius inside corner, a definite stress riser point (and we had two of them). Then of course the damned alternator was defunct (again), so we installede the spare out of the trailer. Then we ran it back up the hill after midnight.
Sunday, June 19, 2022:
Good morning. It took a while to sink in that Park City Welcome Center is actually in Kimball Junction, Utah, while Park City is just a stone's throw around the corner of the mountain. This place was location for the 2002 Winter Olympics. We arrived about half hour early, and not obvious yet where the cars should be parked, so we went to Hugo Coffee for breakfast (actually inside of the welcome center). Then someone said the cars were parked half a block down the hill, so I rolled the car down that direction and found a place to park it in the crowd (while navigator was hanging out at the welcome center with their wonderful WiFi). Just a few pictures here, but you can click to see a larger collection of pictures on a supplemental photos and notes page.
My dirty MGA with the trailer and travel stickers got a lot of attention this time. The only picture I got showing the MGA was the second one here with a bit of the car showing at top center of the picture. I spotted at least one Lotus, but must have been one or two more.
Bit of a hodgepodge parking, but some of the similar models like to park together. I would too, if there were any similar, but not much today. Mostly newer (modern) cars, but there were a few vintage cars, if you look hard enough. These days it depends on what you call "vintage". While I think pre-1981 analog cars with carburetors, other folks might think anything before turn of the century is now vintage. I found a 1964 Pontiac GTO 6-pack. The owner said it had a '65 rally dash when he bought it, and had to change it back to the proper '64 dash. But then hey, there was another GTO, a hardtop this time. It peaked my interest because I knew someone who bought one of these new while I was still in high school.
Here's an expensive one. A 2005 Nobel M12 GTO 3R, mid engine rear wheel drive twin turbo 24-valve V6, 360-HP, under 2500 pounds. How fast can you say "stupid fast"? We like things that we don't see very often. -- And there was the Thing. The guys were chatting about how to install a front tow hitch, but needing some rust repairs to the front subframe first.
As the show was breaking up I got to chat with a fellow who has a Datsun 510 "Bluebird" as they were known in Japan. This one actually had the Bluebird emblem on the side, which I had never seen before. The car was for sale, but I'm not buying. We did get to chat for a while about the heritage relationship between Datsun and MG (Austin) cars. This one has a 1500 engine with overhead cam, 96-HP at 5600 RPM, not bad.
After the crowd left I went back to the welcome center to use their wonderful WiFi in a quiet environment. When the place closed at 6-pm we rolled the MG back down the hill (with about a pint of fuel), 27 miles back to the truck stop we have been frequenting every day since Thursday evening arrival in Slat Lake City. With diligence I managed to finish posting the Saturday car show photos and notes a bit after midnight. As we were leaving we found this 1982-1984 Chevrolet El Camino parked next to the MGA.
Monday, June 20, 2022:
Moved a little south, sitting in Lehi, Utah this morning. Added a tech page for adding five holes to the MGA frame front suspension crossmember for easier wrench access to the front bolts in the engine oil sump.
Trying to track down an elusive shop in Murray, Utah, Cherry Automotive & Exhaust. We were in the neighborhood searching for this place in May 2019, but couldn't find it, and didn't get any reply from a voice message. I just called again, and someone answered, assuring me that they really do exist and have never moved. No matter how hard I try, I still can't find the place with Bing Maps. The street address seems ro exist, but the business does not show up in the street view. I don't think I'm going to drive 50 miles to go back there just to run around the same block again and still not find the place. Been there, done that, and they were not answering the phone last time I tried it. But if anyone is still interested, the place is primarily an exhaust and muffler shop, and yes they will do exhasst systems both stock and custom on vintage British cars.
I made one more call trying to find another shop, Bailey's Auto Service also in Murray, UT. That was also a no-go three years ago, and this time the phone number is disconnected, so this shop will be presumed to be extinct (unless proven otherwise).
By noonish we had to get moving again, heading to an auto parts store to buy an oil filter and to get the most recently failed alternator tested (before we could return it for warranty exchange). Fail, fail, fail, this one was the worst of any in the past five years. It lasted 11-months, 17,290-miles.
Then we were off to the nearest Walmart Superstore to get the oil and filter changed in the MGA (right on schedule this time). we also jacked it up right there in the Walmart car park to give it a lube job, as that hadn't been done since second oil change back, more than 8000 miles (kick me). Found a missing grease nipple on the parking brake cable (unscrewed and fell out I guess), so didn't get to grease it this time, but make a note to install another Zerk fitting before doing it again. Oh yeah, also time to change oil in the gearbox and differential over 12,000 miles now, so need to do that at earliest convenience.
Then we went to visit a new shop (new to our Shops List), Import Auto Center in Provo, Utah. This one has been here for about 40 years, but it missed our radar because he never does any advertising with any of the car clubs. Apparently work of mouth is enough to keep him busy.
Wide assortment of vintage European cars here (including some British cars). Not sure what the Delorean needs, but the TF is getting an engine rebuild. Couple Land Rovers out back along with the big Jaguar, which Ii think is gradually being restored.
The Mercedes Super Light with pagoda roof needs new fuel injectors, but the currently available parts are "oriental" and are not calibrated for correct fuel flow, so that one is just sitting (indefinitely). The next two pictures are a Land Rover diesel engine, just about ready to reinstall.
Lots of engines in process, looking like a specialty of this shop.
Being an engineer, my favorite picture is the vintage air compressor that may be older than anything else in the shop, maybe even older than the shop owner, but it is still running and in regular service here. Nice slow running belt drive 2-stage compressor capable of at least 15-CFM at 175-PSI. Good for sand blasting, if it was ever needed for that, and it runs the car hoist(s).
Then we were of to find a suitable WiFi spot, but nothing serviceable in the neighborhood. So we headed north back to the now traditional truck stop in SLC, but the Arby's sit-down there was closed for lack of labor. Rats. So we headed west 20 miles on I-80 and stopped at the McD's in Lake point that had the power outage on Thursday (before we got caught in the road fire). That was good until they closed the dining room at 9-pm, which was okay, because we needed to be heading farther west anyway.
Tuesday, June 21, 2022:
This was hard to see last night in the dark, but this morning we have a blur of salt on the right side and water on the left side. Think ankle deep water, and when it evaporates it leaves the salt, to remind us where we are. Apparently some 4-wheelers like to test this stuff driving off the road. Sometimes they make a short crescent of ruts and get immediately back on the road. Sometimes they make a half crescent of ruts, get stuck and have to be towed out. That must be an embarrassing misjudgement. The important sign is, Exit 4 Bonneville Speedway, west edge of Utah off of I-80. We are passing it by this morning, but may come back later. Certainly too early in the year for racing (rainy season), have to wait for the salt to dry out.
Wendover, Utah wasn't much to see. Just across the state line, sitting in West Wendover, Nevada (notorious for gambling cassinos which are not allowed in Utah). I guess we had to get out of Utah to find a quiet place to work. I am sorely tempted to backtrack a few miles to go visit the Bonneville Salt Flats land speed records racing area (but we'll see about that later, maybe).
Since people ask the same question many times, I just posted a new Part Number tech page to describe the little screw that holds the bat handle on the turn signal switch for MGA (and some other British cars). The short answer is 5BAx1/2 Cheese Head bright nickle plated.
Then I got busy with the overdue grunt work and finished the web page for the Sunday Cars And Coffee in Lake City, and these photos and notes for today's follies including the shop visit in Provo. Now after 8-pm, but our current WiFi spot is comfy enough and claimed to be open 24 hours.
Considering where to crash for the night so we can go back a few miles tomorrow to visit the Bonneville Speed Museum. Promises since at least 2011 to have it open in 5 or 6 years, but I suspect it has not been built yet. At least Bonneville Salt Flats is RIGHT HERE. We are not tourists, but this place has great significance for MG cars and world land speed records, so it would be a crime to skip it.
Wednesday, June 22, 2022:
We stayed in Wendover, UT last night, away from the casinos. Took a very short drive this morning very close to the state line to find the current status of the Bonneville Speedway Museum. Yeah, well, that's it, the boarded over billboard with few pieces missing. The building is currently an auto parts store. Checking the net, it seems the has-been museum closed about 2005. Owner of the parts store has been petitioning the city of Wendover to reopen the Museum since at least 2011. They also seem to be running a funds drive (more than ten years now?) but not getting it reopened yet. Thought we would take a little sniff at the local salt before breakfast. Don't get serious yet, it's just the far end of a parking loy on the edge of town.
Nice start to the day, posting a new tech page for covering the MGA dash panel in leather. Nice trick.
Got another report of an oil pressure signal hose for MG with incorrect threads, no fit. This was reported to Moss Motors USA in October 2021, and they usually notify Moss UK, but this one just shipped form Moss UK 8 months later). now Moss UK has been notified (by the customer), and we wait to hear the response.
Early afternoon, we were going to be heading roughly northeast, and wanted the sun to be over shoulder for best visibility. Back east on I-80, exit 1 to exit 4. Then north 1.5 miles, welcome to public lands, and east about 2.5 miles on Bonneville Speedway Road (sure, what else should they call it?).
The slightly rutted and rough salt is on the north side of the road (both sides actually), as vehicles must play there sometimes, and it never gets graded. At end of the road, the official Salt Flats marker. Closed due to wet conditions? Not too wet today, at least not nearby, as there were a few vehicles playing in the salt.
There is a small parking area at end of road, maybe more like a launching platform a foot above the salt. I suppose the idea it that when it floods the roadway drains first to so not to leave much salt on the road when it dries (just a guess). For sure when there are hundreds of vehicles here during Speed Week, they ain't parked on the pavement.
First picture looking northeast, bit of a zoom-in close up, as that car is about a quarter mile away. Notice the rocky knoll (mountain) in the upper right, we are going to pan that way. With a truck coming in we are looking straight at that mountain. Then we took the car out there, and pan a little more to the right, now looking to the right of the mountain (more like east by north-east). In that direction we are looking straight down the Bonneville Speedway track. Imagine 16 miles of straight and flat where you can see the curvature of the earth on a clear day. We took more pictures, but they all look pretty much the same. Until they paint the black guide line on the surface, you will likely be snow blind and lost out there (and it must be worse returning into the afternoon sun).
It is impressive, but not much else to see or do out there. We didn't go very fast or very far, soon heading back down the local road back to Wendover. We drove past the Car Quest garage, and it was open this time with several people working on cars. We asked about prospects of the museum, and were directed next door to "city
hall". Inquiring there, the lack of optimism was overwhelming. Looks like resurrection of the museum is on the back burner, likely several years more, or more, if ever. Looking around this small town, you can imagine all of the hotels filling to capacity during Speed Week.
Did a quick drive-by of the Wendover Army Air field, and Museum, and the main directory for the whole town.
There was some redeeming social value, but trust me, there is a shocking contrast when you cross the state line into West Wendover, Nevada, where that town exists to service the casinos and their customers.
At 10-pm we saddled up the horse, filled the tank, and headed west on I-80, goodbye to the salt flats and heading into the hills. Up hill several miles, then down hill several miles, then up again, pretty normal for the mountains of northern Nevada. Crossing another time zone, going from Mountain Time to Pacific Time right on top of a mountain pass (set the clock back another hour). About 40 miles on we had a programmed stop on top of a moderate mountain, pulling hard up a hill and then parking the car, which was accompanied by a small head of steam escaping. It looked like a leaky bottom radiator hose, so we tightened the bottom clamp, and check back in the morning.
Thursday, June 23, 2022:
Up early, top up the cooling system, and get out the pressure tester. Tightening the hose clamp may have done the
trick, because it seemed to be holding fluid okay, so off we went. Programmed breakfast stop was in Wells, NV where I had enough time to add two service shops to my North American Shops List in New Hampshire (10 days overdue, but took that long to verify the information). Welcome to the list Automasters LLC in Hollis, NH and British Body and Coachworks in Fitzwilliam, NH. Both of these new shops are owned and run by veteran technicians of old shops that were closing, so there is good experience resident in the new shops.
We did a short stop and fueled up again, as this would do to get us to Friday's planned breakfast stop, and off we went heading west again. Mountain hills are more fun in the daylight, but also more traffic. You see a mountain and wonder how long it will take to get there, and 30 miles later you ain't there yet. And then suddenly we're in 3rd gear about 4000 RPM trying to hold 50-55 MPH on the upgrades. only once we were in a one-lane construction zone with half a dozen cars behind us, but they didn't have much choice except to be patient on the upgrades.
The next planned late lunch stop was at Battle Mountain, NV (about 120 miles on), but that turned out to be a small place with inadequate facilities. So we pushed on another 60 miles to a truck stop town of Winnemucca, NV, which not coincidentally is about half way from Wendover to Reno. Now navigator thinks we are here 18 hours early at 4-pm, not intending to get here until Friday morning, which would explain why we need fuel again. But at least this is a comfy WiFi spot so I can get some work done (and the step up in schedule suits me just fine).
Friday, June 24, 2022:
Heading into Reno, NV area today, calling ahead for appointments, checking on a shop called Sierra Classic Services with a PO Box number and two phone numbers. First number was a private cell phone, wrong number. Second number was out of service. Same result we had in 2019. Email address also bounced. Haven't been able to connect with this shop for several years, so conclude that it is now gone (if it ever existed in the first place).
Running west from Winnemucca, NV, navigator may want to shoot me for this, as he wanted to stop for the day at a truck stop about 30 miles short of Reno. But I figured if we push on we can visit a shop or two in the Reno area during normal business hours before stopping for a late lunch. So our next stop was a quick visit to Summit Racing in Sparks, NV on the east edge of Reno just for a few pictures. Not specific to out type of car, but they do have some things sometimes useful for vintage British cars, and a very good web site for on-line shopping. Think common generic service parts, and sway bars, and my MG carries nice Odyssey sealed AGM battery from Summit. It has become a bit of a habit to stop and say "Hi" at each Summit Racing store around the country as we pass.
No call back yet from a friend in Carson City, NV, so it was time to stop for that late lunch in or around Reno. And this is where navigator began to get more irritated. About five stops in a row we threw snake eyes at prospective WiFi spots having no wall outlet to plug in the computer chargers. Not a lot of friendly spots in the big cities.
Heading out of Reno south toward Carson City, the temperature gauge suddenly went off scale for no apparent reason, so luckily off the exit to park under a shade tree (very fortunately located). Bonnet up, cool down to add some water, cursing the circumstances because we haven't been able to find antifreeze (glycol concentrate) in any Walmart in the past few weeks. As such, we have been running plain water for coolant recently, having to be careful to keep running temperature under 220dF. And we noticed that new alternator rear bracket we installed just 5 days ago (less than 700 miles) is broken again. Bummer. So much for the stress riser sharp corner.
Waiting for cool down I finally got the call from friend in Carson City, just pulling out of Sacramento, due home in early evening, will call again when he gets back.
Okay, topped up and heading south again, we stopped at a NAPA Auto Parts store in Carson City on
recommendation from our friend, as it is reported to be big well stocked store. Took the opportunity to pull the most recently failed alternator out of the trailer to have it tested (again), giving me two test failure reports in hand when I will return the unit for warranty exchange. They did have the antifreeze we needed. Also bought more 5/16-inch fuel hose we could use to replace decomposed thin rubber hose connecting the radiator overflow pipe to coolant recovery bottle. We drained the plain water out of the radiator, dumped in a full gallon of glycol antifreeze, and filled it up with water, so that should be slightly more than 50% mix (good for any temperature we want to run before having carburetor overheating problems).
Three more WiFi stops later, still no wall outlet, but we stopped for late lunch anyway, well past 7-pm by this time. Then our friend called, just got home, and subsequently drove in to visit us. Say hello to Tom Yearnshaw in Carson City, NV. He has an MGA bought in 1973, was doing seats in 2020, been wanting to see us for years. We say and chat until the place closed at 10-pm, then bade goodbye and drove another 12 miles south to Minden, NV,
Saturday, June 25, 2022:
Up early, finally found a "friendly" WiFi spot for breakfast, and stayed for lunch before heading out again after 1-pm. Going to be a challenging drive today, supposed to do 83 miles that should take 2 hours, winding our way down and up and over Ebbett's Pass in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in NE California. Very steep and winding roads with lots of tight switchbacks, makes Tail of the Dragon look like child's play. Much of it is very narrow asphalt with two white lines, no center line, because it isn't wide enough for two lanes. And the bicycle club was out in force (damn). Meet an oncoming car when you come up on a bicycle, and you're just screwed. Time it right, and maybe we can maintain 5-mph up a very steep hill in 1st gear to pass a bike. Been this way before, but not with so many bikes in the road. Engine was running rich, and with low compression, and wanted to foul a spark plug (or two) at low speed, so try to keep it over 2500 rpm with throttle on when possible.
We finally crested the ridge at 8746 feet, people at the bicycle checkpoint up top were cheering us on with thumbs up. thought we were doing pretty well. Then came a few miles of steep downgrade running some 3rd
gear, mostly 2nd gear, using brakes a fair amount. Unfortunately engine braking was fouling the plugs a LOT, so keep pedaling the throttle to clear it out. Then we turned a very tight switchback to go back uphill, bad news. Fouled plugs had us running on 2-cylinders, and as it slowed down on a steep upgrade the torque disappeared, and we were definitely not going to make it.
Found small space to get off the road, and killed the engine. Grab some tools, pull the spark plugs, and do a compression test. Low compression, but not terminally low, should be good enough to run. Sit on a rock and clean the fouled spark plugs with lacquer thinner and a stiff brass bristle brush. Spin the engine over to assure no excess fuel or oil in the cylinders, and reinstall the plugs. Adjust both carburetors full lean (should have done that this morning). Pack away the toys and button up the car, it was do or die time. Pictures are the hill we came up, where we had to stop for maintenance, and the hill ahead of us we had to climb out.
Fire it up running on all 4 cylinders, hold the throttle to the floor, slip the clutch a lot, and get it creeping up hill and back onto the
pavement. About 100 feet on it was fast enough to let the clutch up, and fortunately the clutch survived. Kept in 1st gear with good engine speed until we crested the next rise, and then we were going again. At least another 20 miles, almost all downhill, coasting most of the way. We finally pulled into our target motel/lodge in Arnold, CA, 12 miles short of Murphys, CA where we intend to stay to recuperate for two nights. One side trip a few tenths of a mile to a store to stock the mini-fridge.
Sunday, June 26, 2022:
Day off, sleep in, didn't even open the door or pull the shades back, just catching up on email, BBS, trip log. Hope you liked the story.
Monday, June 27, 2022:
Still descending from Ebbetts Pass, left the lodge and rolled us down the hill another 7 miles, mostly in neutral with engine idling using some brakes to keep coasting speed down. Destination was a visit with our old friend Stuart Mast at Brice Station Winery north of Murphys, CA. We knew what was coming, a very steep and fairly long upgrade driveway, so we hit it flat to the floor in 1st gear, but it was fouling out and running in 2 cylinders, so we didn't make it up. It's okay, I can take a little embarrassment while getting towed up the hill to the workshop. We were in good company. The MGA and MG TF are long term residents here (regular driver cars). Didn't take long to get my MGA tucked into the shop and cooling down.
And there is another one inside half way through restoration.
Not long to drain the coolant and get the head off, and then we could get after diagnostics, like trying to figure out why it had low compression. Fair amount of carbon in there, not surprising considering that it has been clogging up spark plugs recently. The head gasket was perfect, no problem there. The cylinder walls were mirror finish, so it looks like the new rings installed two months ago have seated well this time. I poured a couple ounces of mineral spirits in each cylinder. After half an hour nothing seemed to have drained down in cylinders 1, 2, 4, but #3 had lost about one fluid ounce. That didn't seem like fast enough leak rate to account for the low compression on all four cylinders.
I set the head upside down and level, and filled the combustion chambers with water, and wait. After half an hour there was no leakage at all from any of the exhaust valves (which had been my experience in the past). No. 3 intake valve was leaking little, a steady drip into the port. I was expecting most of the intake valves to leak like that, but the rest of them didn't leak, which surprised me some. So now I'm confused. If the rings don't leak and the valves don't leak, why does it have low compression? Uh, time to test the compression tester gauge, maybe?
Stu's big valve spring compressor works very well, so not long to remove all of the valve hardware (and do keep the valves in the right order). All of the intake valves are still slightly proud of the chamber ceiling surface, and the seat lands are not excessively wide, so I think a little touch-up of the seats and and lapping of the intake valves will be enough there. However, all of the exhaust valves are recessed below flush, and the seating surfaces in the head are almost as wide as the seat surfaces on the valve heads (way too wide on the seats). I recon this is beyond doing a 3-angle touch-up on the exhaust seats, so maybe time to replace the hardened steel valve seats (again). Just checking when this head was reconditioned, and the records say 5-years and 167,000 miles. Considering how hard this engine works, that's probably reasonable.
All of the guides have a little wiggle, not criminally bad, maybe about 0.005 diametrical clearance. Guides are easy enough to replace anyway, so that's not a big worry. Now that we know the condition, time to scratch head and think on what to do with it (hopefully not taking too many pages off the calendar).
Tuesday, June 28, 2022:
Cute side note to start the day. Received a message from a guy in Oklahoma who is going to sell his 1957 MGA. By coincidence, it is three serial numbers behind mine, same color combination, same options, same day out of the factory in August 1957. All original survivor car, low mileage, second owner, parked in 1966. Not running but engine does turn. May soon have a bunch or pictures on Dropbox.
Back to the shop to decide what to do about my engine. Review this picture from day before. Just because mineral spirits did not drain down (much) from piston top past the rings,
doesn't mean all is well. Put fingers on top of #2 or #3 piston, and it can be moved laterally in the bore some obvious amount, making a clicking noise in the process (not quite so bad for #1 and #4). That is, worn cylinder bore and possible piston slap when running, most likely the cause of excessive oil consumption (and carbon fouling). So bite the bullet and admit that it needs a rebore, or sleeves and rebore. Hard to complain after 230,000 miles on this HARD working engine since last rebore in August 2014. So the head and block need to spend some quality time in a machine shop. So what to do in the meantime?
As so happens, Stuart has a spare 1600 engine, since he is in process of installing an 1800 in his current MGA project car. Story on this 1600 is it was rebuilt some time ago (many years past), and has not much miles on it, but has been sitting unused for many years. Looked at the cylinder head first, all valves sitting slightly proud of the combustion chamber ceiling, but a couple of them leaking slightly, which should be easy enough to fix.
Pistons tops cleaned up easily with a Scotch-Brite abrasive wheel. Pistons and bores are 0.030-in oversize, clean, no ridge, no lateral wiggle for the pistons, so that looks good to go as is. All cam lobes smooth and shiny, no visible damage, but I want to measure cam lift for all eight lobes just to be sure. Can't find the pushrods and tappets, so need to order those parts new, and hope they will arrive in two or three days while we do the engine transplant. Not keen on the aluminum water pump (notorious for breaking the ear), but I have a spare iron body water pump in the Magic Trailer.
Decision made, we have a temporary loaner engine (in process). Strip the ancillary parts off the old engine, put cylinder head back on with two bolts, reinstall the rocker shaft assembly, and prepare to lift out of the car.
Thar she blows. We set it on a heavy duty roller table and removed the clutch, flywheel and low-starter engine back plate to be transferred to the loaner 1600 engine (previously high-starter). Good news, the clutch friction disc survived the harsh treatment of the past few days, good for continued service.
Good place to stop for the evening, time for dinner on the patio before dark. Now it's late night while I post these photos and notes. Get some sleep and hunt parts in the morning.
Wednesday, June 29, 2022:
Up early hunting parts. Got lucky. While pushrod and tappet sets were back ordered at Moss Motors, they did have pushrods and tappets available separately. So by mid day those parts were on order along with tappet cover gaskets, bolts, bolt seal washers, and a few other bits, to be shipped today, most likely delivery on Friday. Yea. Then off to the shop to see what could be done today, while waiting for parts. It soon dawned on me that I had neglected to put an engine back plate gasket on the parts order, but thought I had that one in the trailer, so banish the thought for now.
First order of business was to pack away the loose valves from the engine just removed from my car (call it the old engine), so I spent some time with the wire wheel on the bench grinder polishing up the valves before stowing them away (all nicely tagged for correct position in the head). -- Then Stuart was rummaging around and pulled out a couple used heads for inspection. The first one had a valve seat insert that had come loose, and some shop had already told him it was not repairable (maybe). The second head had significant wear in the valve seats, but looked like an excellent core for installation of hardened steel valve seats.
I had been wondering why my car was sitting outside this morning. Well, Stu was trying out his new pressure washer, and washed all the dirt and grease out the engine bay. Nice. -- Now that the work bench was clear I got busy disassembling the "new" engine head (because it had a couple leaky intake valves). Pop off all the valve springs and mating hardware to remove the valves, and give it equal billing by cleaning up te valves with the wire wheel.
Meanwhile Stu was dismounting the gearbox from the "new" engine, revealing remains of a mouse nest in the bellhousing. Also remove the clutch pressure plate assembly and clutch disc and flywheel, and remove the high starter rear plate.
This was going well, so now we could install the low starter rear plate, but about that gasket I forgot to order? Well, we made it work out anyway, instead of waiting two days for delivery we just used a sheet of 1/8-inch thick cork I had been carrying around since last July. Cut a 4-inch hole to clear the crankshaft flange, hold the cork in place long enough to punch holes around two alignment dowels, and install two bolts to hold it in place. Gouge out the cork in each of the rear plate clearance holes using a thin bade screwdriver, install the rest of the bolts and tighten it up, followed by trim off excess cork on the front side of the plate. That was relatively painless, and it saved two days waiting for a parts shipment, so maybe the new engine can be back in the car by the time the new tappets arrive.
Time for a break, grab a beverage, chat about dysfunctional speedometer drive in Stu's MGA, Jaeger instruments and a few other pints of interest in his restoration work. Then there was a light dinner and some chat about the Brice Station Winery, and wine tastings and weddings, and music concerts in the park, and other things that go on around here in the summer time. And then it was dark, and good time to knock off for the day, and a good feeling to be able to work leisurely on the car and get it done right. Back to WiFi to catch up the daily drama on BBS and email tech questions, and to bring you these photos and notes, and tomorrow's going to be another day (as we crash at 2-am).
Thursday, June 30, 2022:
Time to get serious about the cylinder head for the "new engine". Pack away all the valves and valve spring hardware from the old engine in a big zip-lock bag to clear the work bench. Pop all the springs off the valves on the new head, and make note the bottom spring cups were missing. That means the inner springs had too-low perch height. But I can fix that, just grab the spring cups from the old head. Then get busy and wire wheel all of the valves to clean them up (along with the combustion chambers). Time laps a few hours while I was lapping the valves by spinning the valves with valve grinding compound (with a power drill). This cleans up the valve head to seat interface for good seal, to eliminate the small leakage from a couple of valves detected yesterday. Then pop the valves back into the head for a photo-op.
For reassembly I grabbed the spring cups from the old engine (left side of the third picture above). Notice this valve set still has the original valve guide splash shields (center of same picture). I am going to put this one back together with all original hardware, not to use any modern umbrella seals on the valve guides. So start with installation of the spring cups, followed by outer and inner springs with the splash shield, then spring cap and tiny O-ring seal on the valve stem, and the twin split lock cotters with the hair pin clip. All assembled, set the head upside down on a couple of boards, and fill the combustion chambers with water, up to and including a meniscus of water sightly above the gasket surface. I let it set there for an hour, and nothing leaked out through the ports, so score one for the good guy, we have no leaky valves.
Time to get the head back on the new engine. Remove the block water drain valve, and put in a plug (borrowed for opposite side of the engine because that one has a short thread). Give this original drain cock to Stu, because I don't think he has ever seen one that actually works. Then move the (longer) oil drain plug to opposite side of engine to replace the one I just borrowed. To finish I want to install a magnetic oil drain plug. The Magic Trailer just contributed three copper sealing washers, a head gasket, valve cover gasket, new valve cover mounting hardware (grommets, cup washers, spacer washers, cap nuts), 11 each thick steel washers and tall hex nuts for the cylinder head bolts. Also a lock plate for the rear rocker pedestal set screw, and two of the four rocker studs (had to borrow two from another engine temporarily).
We spent a lot of time cleaning the engine before paint, upright, laying on left side then right side. Swabbed it sown with petrol to remove dirt and oil, then rinsed with lacquer thinner to remove dirty petrol (and flash dry). Painted 80% of the oil sump while lying on one side, then the rest of the sump when upright, and then on to the rest of the engine. Before you ask, the color is Rustoleum Cranberry. Yes it does look a bit purple and pink when wet, but it appeared to be fading darker as it dries, so maybe it's not too far off from the original dark red. Will have another look at it by daylight tomorrow.
Now I get that warm fuzzy feeling for having made the right progress in the right direction today. Then I spent several hours on photos and notes and catching up inventory changes and next parts order list, running into the small hours of the morning.
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