The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (May 1 - May 15, 2023)
Monday, May 1, 2023:
We wandered over to Tuscaloosa, Alabama for a meeting this evening with West Alabama British Car Club. Been here once, seven years ago, so may be time for another visit. Count 18 people in attendance. We were stuck behind the dining table where I couldn't get a good picture, but it was a rousing good business meeting. Back out to the car park for some tire kicking after the meeting. Finished early, still daylight, so we headed south (south-east).
Fill the fuel tank, then a parts store stop to pick up another flasher unit ($28 this time?) to get turn signals working again. Nothing else happening, so we kept cruising into Montgomery, AL by 11-pm where we have another club meeting tomorrow evening.
Tuesday, May 2, 2023:
Meeting tonight with British Motoring Club, Montgomery, Alabama. Been here for a lunch run in 2015, another tour and lunch in 2016, and a club meeting in 2017, so six years since our last visit.
I suppose most of the 20 people in attendance still remember us, and several are smiling and thanking me for web site. Picked up another club sticker for the left wing.
Wednesday, May 3, 2023:
Couple phone calls and pictures from Vincent Anderson and Ray Graham in in Boonville, Indiana, still trying to track down a rather loud knock at front end of his MGA 1622 engine when the engine is idling (but no knock at higher speed). We were looking at this a month ago on April 3rd. A stethoscope says the noise is loudest at the timing cover. The chain tensioner found inside was an odd style with no anti-return latch, only a spring inside, and also no pilot spigot where the tensioner should engage the engine front plate. A new timing chain and tensioner were installed and the knock is still there. Drive you nuts kind of problem.
Thursday, May 4, 2023:
Spent as few hours after breakfast on a new tech page for ignition HT wire clips for the MGA Twin Cam. These parts were produced by Twin Cam Group member Jim Hambleton in Canada.
Friday, May 5, 2023:
Looking forward to southern Alabama and the Gulf coast area, I spent some time on the phone this evening chatting with a bloke who owns an Elva Courier (a few of them), and we may get a close up and personal look at them soon. I have at least a passing interest in these cars, because I "accidentally" assembled a bone stock MGA 1500 engine that went into an Elva about 25 years ago.
Saturday, May 6, 2023:
Sitting in Mobile, Alabama today with a couple days to kill. Still looking for a replacement compact digital camera, which I have not been able to find in any brick and mortar store since early December. I thought it may have been a Christmas season buying rush that left the shelves empty, but now we're months into the new year and apparently no re-stocking happening. One store clerk thought there was no more demand for them since everyone has a camera in their cell phone, implying that they never would be available again. I suspect they just got so price competitive that there is no profit margin, so the stores don't want to bother handling this product line any more. Or wild guess, maybe something to do with some recent shipping embargo or import tariff. Go shop on line, maybe, find some residual inventory.
Sunday, May 7, 2023:
Really needing a camera, something, anything better than my ratty dumb phone, and wanting it for something significant tomorrow. So giving another location Best Buy one last try before we panic and abandon window shopping. Nothing that we were normally used to seeing on the shelves, but what I did find was a Polaroid IS048 for $50-USD, which borders on being a children's toy, hanging in blister pack like a computer mouse, not even in the locked display case.
 Claimed to be waterproof to 10 foot depth (don't care). We have seen this before, but always passed on it. No mechanical zoom, but digital zoom, which seems to mean just crop the sensor panel to smaller physical size, or lower resolution. That's not a problem (just less convenient to use), because we commonly use the lowest resolution available and reduce and/or crop the image size down from there for web site use (final images small enough to fit on a laptop screen pixel for pixel, like 800x600 or 960x540.
It uses a micro SD card, not included, but we had one of those spare from an old defunct GPS. Not rechargeable (say WHAT?), which is the primary reason I never bought it before, it uses two AAA batteries (not included), which would be 4 or 5 times the cost per watt-hour as would AA batteries (normally $0.50 each for alkaline in bulk packs). Bought a 4-pack of AAA batteries at the convenience store for $6 (ouch), put 2 in the camera, 2 for spares. I swear when the second pair of AAA's goes dead this camera will go in the dust bin (kind of expensive for a disposable camera).
The only way to get picture files out of the camera is to unlatch and open the bottom corner door (waterproof I guess), which is difficult to do, and then the batteries fall out before you can plug in the USB cable for data transfer. Okay, learned to do all that, took a few test pictures, downloaded the image data files, picked them up with an image editor, and okay it works (just a PITA to use). And no macro function, so no close up pictures of anything small (no finger prints or circuit boards). And we killed half a days for this.
Monday, May 8, 2023:
Big day today, and get to give the new camera a good test run. At 10:00am we dropped in for a visit with Bob Renke in Elberta, AL (Gulf Shores area just west of the Florida panhandle). Our interest here is his 1958 Elva Courier, which we may view as a variant of MGA, because it has an MGA 1500 style Austin B-series engine and gearbox, followed by an Austin A-series rear axle (Morris Minor or MG Midget), and MGA style front drum brakes and swivel pin uprights.
Bob has owned this one for several years, and has done pretty much all of the restoration work. Starting as an
amateur, he has done only this one restoration. The end result is a car very near exactly as it emerged from the factory, think concours originality, except it is a regular driver car. When his experience information appears on the internet, fellow Elva owners see him as an authority on the subject, because he has finished the restoration, so he must by now know everything about it. Actually it doesn't take much to appear as the leading authority, if you just know a little more about it than almost everyone else. It appears like this information competition field is not very serious.
It idles a little rough with carburetors mostly in order, and runs on after ignition switch off. Compression test shows 195-psi when cranking, so I say wow, until he mentioned crowned pistons. Then smile and tell him to use the best premium grade pump fuel he can find, preferably with no alcohol, if he wants to avoid expensive racing fuel for street use. And yes,it does go like scat when you punch the loud pedal with 1500 pounds, high compression, and neither of us know what kind of cam it has (definitely not stock)
Then there is his "other" Elva Courier, a 1960 Mk-II with 1600 engine and front disc brakes. Some parts missing, some assembly required, some fiberglass work needed, and some rust in the under chassis. That is, restoration will be a rather difficult project. With so many missing parts, this one will never be "factory original", so it is destined to be a bit of a restomod. It is likely to end up with a supercharged 1800 engine and 5-speed gearbox, may have a narrowed heavier rear axle, wider wheels and tires, a bit of under body modification to accommodate the wider spats, and/or even more radical mods.
And, .... Bob is also in process of purchasing the production body mold(s) for this model. He plans on reproducing at least a few bodies, one as a spare for himself, one for a complete new car construction (like a completed kit car for sales showroom), maybe a few more if there is a demand (at the right price), and likely a multitude of body repair panels in various sizes and configurations. That should be jolly good fun. I may have to check back into this project again later.
Tuesday, May 9, 2023:
There was a club we haven't been able to connect with for 9 years, so we bit the bullet and did a solid 6 hour drive today from the Gulf coast up to Florence, Alabama to attend a club meeting with Shoals British Car Club. Their web site home page clearly stated club meetings on the 2nd Tuesday each month at the Golden Corral in Florence, dinner at 6, meeting at 7. We arrived a bit early, and being hungry we sat down and had dinner, but no one else showed up (not terribly unusual).
After dinner we ambled along 12 miles to a Love's Travel Stop in Tuscumbia, AL (which we had passed on the way in) for a WiFi connection. Final fact check on the club web site to assure we had it right, followed with a phone call to president of the club. Yes they did have their monthly meeting tonight, but had changed the location, maybe 2 years ago. Really? The web site appears to be current, but apparently looks can be deceiving.
Old place, Golden Corral --- New place, Mama Jeans
The new meeting location is Mama Jean's Restaurant in Tuscumbia, AL, by shear coincidence less than half a mile from where we were sitting. By that time the meeting was over and everyone was back home. Bummer. We think we are now making arrangements to get some of the club members together for a private meeting, likely on Thursday. And I think their web site is being updated while we were still on the phone.
Wednesday, May 10, 2023:
Finally a day off to catch up photos and notes in he trip log, a few days in arrears. But first I was posting a new tech page for Rebuilding the MGA Windscreen, additional notes to make it easier (three days late in response to a tech question). Photos and notes from Sunday to Wednesday were finished today, mostly up to date, right on midnight by now.
Thursday, May 11, 2023:
Finally got hooked up with some folks from Shoals British Car Club, meeting for a late lunch at Cracker Barrel in Florence, Al. We arrived 15 minutes early to hang around for a bit outside, not knowing any of the people we were supposed to meet. After 5 minutes ir dawned on me that the gent sitting in the chair was wearing an MG hat, so say hello, and of course he didn't know us either. After a while another couple showed up, and we were all waiting, until someone thought it was past due and made a phone call. Turned out a few more were already inside before we arrived, so we moseyed inside for a chat, and lunch. Kind of nice having good conversation without a noisy business meeting, and a good time was had by all.
After lunch, nothing else pressing important, so we headed south to skirt around an incoming storm front, and a few hours later we landed in Clanton, AL, 50 miles south of Birmingham at 7-pm for a WiFi stop.
Friday, May 12, 2023:
Updated a tech page with assembly instructions for an aftermarket Front Sway Bar for MGA, and an active on the road video. --- Updated a tech page with new pictures for an aftermarket GBG DETATOP aluminum hardtop for MGA, as we actually found one in the wild. --- Compose and upload a new trech page for installing clutch and brake pedals in the car.
Saturday, May 13, 2023:
Had a 11-am picnic appointment today with South Alabama British Car Club at Oscar Johnson Memorial Park in Silverhill, Alabama. We were a bit early, but there were a few cars there already, doing set-up work I suppose. Then they were rolling in faster than I could take pictures. Good to have a shade covered pavilion and a big fan, as it was pretty hot in the sun.
The pavilion ultimately filled up with 50 people, and I got busy eating and chatting and didn't get the pictures. And there were at least a dozen little British cars within eye sight.
After the picnic we were off to find a WiFi spot. In the process of downloading pictures from the new digital camera, a battery contact terminal was bent and broken, so the camera is disabled, never to work again,and was soon relegated to the dust bin. I figured this thing was poison when the hard waterproof case had to be opened to plug in the data cable to download the pictures, and the batteries would fall out. Total working life of the camera was 6 days, 3 events, 38 pictures taken, so those were some of the most expensive pictures ever.
Sunday, May 14, 2023:
Started the morning installing a weather seal strip under the font bow of the convertible top, deferred since mid September, finally got tired of getting wet when it rains. Then sitting in Prichard, AL, catching up BBS and email (some of the incoming email deferred for a month). Looks like we have found a replacement digital camera, just arranging for a delivery point. -- The MGA clutch is slipping a bit under power shift, which might be a side effect of having been contaminated by oil when the oil cooler hoses were failing and spewing oil all over the right side of the engine bay. This merits more consideration and testing, maybe some attempt at cleaning before pulling the engine again to clean or install a new clutch disc.
Monday, May 15, 2023:
.
First thing today was to check out why the signal flasher unit recently installed was not flashing the indicator lamp on the dash (not ever since it was installed). Peel back some tape to expose the wire terminals on the flasher unit, and get busy with the test light. Well, y'know that new electronic flasher I just paid a record $28 for? No output on the "P" pilot terminal. Go figure, faulty right out of the package. So stop at the NAPA store in Pensacola, Florida for another one. NAPA being notorious for high prices, only $16 for an electronic 3-pin flasher, and just $6 for a heavy duty 3-pin thermal flasher. Plug in both for testing before we left the store this time. Both work, so install the electronic one and keep the thermal flasher for spare.
In the evening we were off to a dinner meeting with Panhandle British Car Association at The Hangar American Grill in Milton, FL. This is a new meeting place as of a couple months ago, and looks to be permanent for monthly meetings. Two dozen people present, and I was asked to present a little trip update near and of the business meeting. Good fun, but I didn't get the pictures. Did get a few pictures outside with a little tire kicking going on, but the dumb phone camera does not do well in low light.
After the meeting, off to find a WiFi spot, and didn't get to crash until 1-am.
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