The MGA With An Attitude
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MGAguru.com |
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (March 1 - March 15, 2025)
Saturday - March 1, 2025:
Ordering more parts, this time from Amazon. Found a different part number for the turn signal electronic flasher with adjustable timing. Also ordered 1157 dual filament bulbs, 1157 dual white LEDs, 1157 dual amber LEDs, and some good quality ignition wrenches, inch and mm, 20-pc set (all in a pocket size roll-up pouch). They should arrive by mid week. -- Found out another tire shop in Lombard, Illinois (that knows how to work on wire wheels) has the owner retired, and the building closed for demolition and redevelopment. The business has been sold to the prior shop manager, who intends to reopen it as soon as he can find a new location. All this required updates on a few Links pages for North American British Car Shops.
Sunday - March 2, 2025:
Not much happening, waiting for parts, keeping an eye on recent rocket launches and moon landings, answering tech questions.
Monday - March 3, 2025:
Updated a Dash & Instruments tech page on Rotary drive cables for speedometer and tachometer on various models of MGA. Looks like this is going to spawn several new part numbers tech pages (whenever I find the time). -- Knock off in the evening to watch the intended launch of SpaceX IFT-8 super heavy Starship, which was scrubbed in the final seconds of count down. 24-hour minimum turn around, maybe try again in a day or three. --
Updated a Top & Tonneau & Side Curtains tech page for Recovering MGA 1600 type vinyl covered side curtains, more photo and notes.
Tuesday - March 4, 2025:
One week since ordering from Scarborough Faire. Not unusual to hear nothing until the package is delivered, but it shouldn't take a week. Called for a tracking number, found it hasn't been shipped yet. Bummer, what else can I say? Plan on delaying our departure from Florida for another 5 days (or more).
Wednesday - March 5, 2025:
Got a start on Part Numbers pages for speedometer and tachometer cable assemblies, cable jackets, cable cores, for various models of MGA, and there are a lot of them just to rearrange the list into alphanumerical order for the part numbers. -- I missed the President Trump's address to congress (State of the Union Address) last night, but took the time to watch a re-run today. Like a good movie, kind of long but good entertainment, recommended viewing; I will not discuss politics in pubic forum.
Thursday - March 6, 2025:
Did they really launch the super heavy booster and Starship ITF-8 today? Yes, well sort of. The booster was perfect (gain), doing its job,and returning to launch site to land in the chopsticks. Ship-34 blew up, again, nearly a copy of Ship 33 failure. Oh well., maybe next time. -- At least five boxes of parts arrived so far, so we may have few things to do this week end. Looks like the Scarborough Fair order is still not shipped.
Friday - March 7, 2025:
Good morning, Tech Central. Just a hand full of the regular guys today, not a big crowd. The Wanna-B race car was painted last week,but the bonnet needs more work, now in primer, to be finished and repainted red again later in the day.
Feels like Christmas, five new packages to unwrap. New K&N air filters from Summit Racing, a new steel oil pipe from a friend in Arizona, two small boxes from McMaster-Carr with fasteners, and a box from Amazon with new turn signal flasher units, incandescent bulbs, white LEDs, Amber LEDs, and a 20-piece set of forged ignition wrenches in imperial and metric sizes. So nice to have good quality tools, and this in a nice small and durable canvas tool roll. More pictures of that toy later. ---Now get to work on the new air filters. These conical filters mount with a simple 4-inch hose clamp. They will be attaching to slightly modified alloy filter adapter plates from MGB 1962-1974. No other MGB parts, just the alloy base plates. Clamp the plates in a vice and have at them with an angle grinder with sanding flap wheel to remove the thin 4-1/2-inch diameter outer flange, getting down to the 4-inch pilot diameter.
Remove the original (PITA) Volks air cleaners from the MGA for the last time ever, I hope. Get some longer bolts with lock washers and hex nuts to attach the new filter adapter plates to the carburetors (with new paper gaskets). Install the new air filters with band clamps that were included. It's that easy. And now the air cleaners can be removed or re-installed in about ten seconds. I am absolutely ecstatic about this improvement. Posting more pictures.
Now considering buying band clamps with a thumb screw, no tools required. Or even better, maybe a band clamp with a toggle latch to cut the ten second job to five seconds (although those clamps might still have a thumb screw for initial adjustment). -- Notice the one adapter plate that still has partially beveled edge where air filter will attach. That was a surprise to me when first received, and both plates having the same casting number. Currently waiting for delivery of another backplate with the better cylindrical pilot diameter. -- Also pay attention to the bolts with loose nuts and lock washers. NEVER risk the chance of fasteners within the air cleaner rattling loose and falling into the air intake. These fasteners should be secured with thread-lock adhesive, or at the very least, prevailing torque locknuts (Aerotight or Nyloc nuts). If there will be a captive nut bracket behind the ears on the air cleaner, then the bolts in front definitely need threadlock adhesive.
I cheated on the last pictures above. The vent hose from the rocker cover is now hanging with an open end in free air. There is no way to connect it to the front air cleaner. So there are now two open vents from the crankcase, resulting in stagnant gasses inside the engine, no crankcase ventilation, very bad. The best solution for this would be to add a PCV valve to the intake manifold connecting to the front tappet cover to assure Positive Crankcase Ventilation, and also create low level vacuum in the crankcase to reduce or eliminate oil leaking. That's the next modification on the wish list.
Then we anxiously opened the Amazon box to grab a new flasher unit to get the signals and 4-ways working again. This was another of those 30 second chores that was destined to turn into a three hour job. This flasher unit was supposed to be "Led Flasher Relay CF-13, 3 Pins Adjustable Turn Signal Relay CF13 EP34 - Flasher Relay for Led Lights Hyper Blink Flash Resolve Rapid Quick Flash Issue " In short, the cure for all of your worldly woes. Yeah, sure. NOT. Problem is, the pin-out is different. Instead of Battery, Load and Pilot, it has Battery, Earth and Load (additional ground, no dash lamp output). Power and Load on different terminals, not a direct plug-in. -- So grab another spare headlamp connector and some wire to make some jumpers. Connect new Battery to old Battery. Connect new Load to old Load. Ground the new Earth wire. When it still didn't work,and nothing else to lose,we tried swapping the power and ground connections, and then it worked. We can do without a Pilot lamp for now.
 Sometime later it dawned on me that we could connect the Pilot lamp wire to one of the front turn signal terminals on the 1500 type T/S relay, which would verify operation when turning in one direction only. If we could find a pair of diodes we could have pilot lamp for both directions. At least we haven't disturbed the original 3-pin socket. Tape up the new modification mini harness, and get back on the road before dark.
While sitting on WiFi in late evening, my computer charger crapped out and nearly left me with a dead battery, quickly diagnosed as a broken wire. Curses for everyone, because in the year and a half since buying this computer we have never been able to find a spare charger (due to a proprietary connector). Now crisis time, we fiddled some withe wire to make momentary connection,and positioned it to stay connected While searching the internet for a replacement charger. By 3-am we had a source, and 50% charge in the battery when we could knock off to get some sleep.
Saturday - March 8, 2025:
I tried calling Scarborough Faire to inquire about shipment, maybe ask for a tracking number, but no one answering the phone. I left a voice message, please call me back, but no response. I need to know how long I'm going to be stuck in Florida waiting for this delivery, because were supposed to be in South Carolina on the 10th. -- Meanwhile,
 we we dropped in to Tech Central in the AM. Not much happening here, at least nothing that needs our attention. They were set up to do an oil change,but the car didn't show up. We got our gracious host Jerry Wilcox to get on line to order up the new computer charger from Amazon with next day delivery via his Amazon Prime account. That done, we set out to try repairing he broken wire on he existing charger. Cut, strip, inspect, and cut some more before splicing. There was single 26-gauge PVC insulted wire in the center, followed by very find stranded shielding wrap that serves as the ground return, then covered with more PVC insulation, the whole thing only 1/8-inch diameter, very delicate.
find the solder and some shrink tubing, extra small and downright tiny sizes. Slip the larger shrink tube over the outer jacket, and the smaller shrink tube over the center wire. Solder the tiny center wire,slip the tiny tube over the solder joint and heat shrink it. Pull the twisted braid shielding wire from both directions to overlap two inches and twist them together, then heat shrink over the outside. Cross fingers, plug it in, and, .... it didn't work. Well, it was fun trying. Set that aside and think about what we might be able to do with the remaining 15% charge level in the computer, but shut it down for now.
Crack open two small packages from McMaster-Carr containing some #10-32x5/8 Socket Head Cap Screws, and plastic knurled thumb screw knobs, 50 of each. Put a screw and a knob together and pinch it with the bench vice. End Result is a #10-32-UNF x 5/8 " thumb screw that we like to use to attach the MGA bonnet and boot lid for easy quick change. Half hour later we have a package of 50 thumb screws, enough to attach eight panels (6 screws each). Being a small package, toss it into the Magic Trailer for future reference. We like to give these to friends who have two boot lids, with and without luggage rack.
Jerry has been mounting new race tires, two steps forward and one step back. Must remember to install TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) sensors into the hidden end of valve stem before installing the tire on the rim. He has a good quality static balancer, watch the birdie while pushing two small weights around the rim to center the bubble before knocking the weights onto the rim.
The fiberglass duck-tail spoiler is finish fitted to the boot lid for the Wanna-B race car, so that panel got its final coat of paint.
Down to only 1/2 hour of computer battery, on the way out we decided to give Walmart one last desperate try for a replacement charger, and we got blind lucky.
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The generic power pack that had 6 adapter plugs 18 months back, then 8 adapter pugs last year, now has 10 adapter plugs, and one of the newest plugs does fit my computer. How's that for customer demand driving supply? So tonight I'm back in business recharging the battery as I post this message.
Sunday - March 9, 2025:
Good morning. Looks like I have been charged for the parts order from Scarborough Faire, probably charged late Friday or early Saturday. Still no one answering the phone on the weekend, so I can only hope the package was shipped. If not, then our forced delay situation could get a lot worse, mostly for lack of communication (no tracking number). -- Settle down, please. we spent most of the day catching up photos and notes (see above). By evening we got a message that our Amazon order for the new computer charger has arrived. Nice, but now no longer an emergency, so we will pick it up whenever we get back to Tech Central again. -- Late evening I got a call from younger daughter with catch-up news. The latest is,by August I should be a great-grandfather. Woo-hoo!
Monday - March 10, 2025:
Try calling Scarborough Faire again, still no answer, left a voice message again. definitely not going to make our appointment in South Carolina today, so call our friend to apologize and make a less definite future appointment with contingencies. Then call Jerry to inform him we will (most likely) not be coming back to Tech today. -- Got a phone call from someone who recently bought an MGA, with no title, from the legal heirs of an estate. He has a Bill Of Sale. My best initial advice is to contact the heirs to get a copy of the probate court judgement to show that they did legally own the car, so the Bill Of Sale could be legally assumed to be valid. Those two documents together might be enough for the DMV to issue copy of the original title (if it is still on record). Otherwise if the sellers are not willing to cooperate, he might try for a hearing with the probate court judge to ask for a court order for the DMV to issue a title for the car. This would have been a lot easier for the heirs to ask for that process immediately with the probate judgement, before they would sell the car. That is, it should be "legally simpler" for the heirs to procure a replacement title. But as things go, maybe the heirs didn't care what it was worth and we're just selling it as a parts car, and of course the buyer knew that it didn't have a title and was just buying it as a parts car, or assuming the responsibility on himself for the consequences. This all about trying to clean up this mess in the properly prescribed legal fashion, rather than circumventing the system through "trying to buy a title" (which of course is illegal) or having to buy another car that does have a legal title. Never easy trying to make a silk purse out of a pig's ear.
Tuesday - March 11, 2025:
Someone sent better drawings for cutting templates for restoring fabric covered side curtains, so was working those up to post on a tech page. -- Got call from someone in Virginia with a reminder that Union Jack Ltd shop is closed, with the owner John Eldredge deceased in December 2024 (already widely known). The caller was saying her 1978 MG Midget was there for service, now parked outside the shop with the keys locked inside the shop. No problem with proving legal ownership of the car, just asking for advice on how to get access to the the keys (or call a locksmith to make new keys). -- Calling Scarborough Fair multiple times daily now, leaving voice messages begging for a tracking number, but no calls back. Cecelia finally answered the phone, went to look up the tracking number, and said the package was delivered today. So much for ten days of frustration and inconvenience for lack of communication, and being stuck in Florida for a week longer than necessary, and already missing a couple of appointments in South Carolina. At least the pressure is off, and we can work on the car tomorrow to get back on the road.
Wednesday - March 12, 2025:
A little late getting started today, because we did a little side trip to a Napa store to pick up a couple of oil filters for the new hanging spin-on adapter. On arrival at Tech Central there was a box of parts from Scarborough Fair waiting for us (a full week late), and the power charger for my computer from Amazon, which actually arrived on Sunday via one day delivery). We can put the computer charger to work immediately (because I like the style), The charger we found at Walmart in emergency, being used since Saturday night, will be re-packed and stowed in the Magic Trailer for future spare part.
First thing out of the new parts onto the car was a pair of large P-clips holding the heater water return pipe on top of the intake
manifold, as the old clips were 38 years old, mangled and badly corroded. Then a new vacuum pipe assembly from rear carburetor to distributor, replacing a broken pipe that has been somewhat abused for the past seven years. For this we had to move the cable bracket and throttle return spring for barely enough working space to get fingers in there, but in the end were able to finish the pipe installation without removing carburetors or distributor. Thank goodness the little copper pipe was easy enough to bend without breaking, and we got all new clips and clamps in the deal. Now hoping that functional vacuum advance will result in better fuel economy.
We have been driving the new MGB engine since mid December with an MGA water pump, because we didn't have the MGB pulley required to make the swap. Well the MGB pulley came in yesterday, so grab that and clean/paint it quick, as we want to install it in an hour or two. How many water pumps do we have in the trailer? One A on the right, one B on the left, not counting the A pump currently on the engine. Drain the radiator and remove it from the car.
Remove fan and pulley, disconnect pump supply hose, and remove the MGA water pump and expose the slightly larger aperture in the MGB block. You might recall the JB-Weld patch/plug at bottom of the cavity that was needed in early December to make the A pump work in the B block. At the time one dowel pin was pulled out and one was cut off flush when it couldn't be pulled. Now I can reinstall the one dowel pin at bottom of the aperture before installing the B pump.
Grab a new B gasket from the trailer, assure it will fit the new B pump, stick the four bolts in the pump, and ... oops. Two short bolts are okay, but two long bolts are not long enough. Seems like the B pump is slightly thicker at the longer bolts. Don't know if
that is as original, or may be an irregularity of the modern replacement water pump. Not too long to find longer bolts, and the B pump was installed in short order along with the supply hose, freshly painted pulley and the nice plastic fan. Before reinstalling the radiator it was a good opportunity to reinstall the fan belt and snug up the alternator.
Then on to the next project. Rip out the oil cooler and hoses and inverted pin-on oil filter adapter. Really? Yeah. I dunno how many people would delete an oil cooler, but that's what we're doing. After a little clean up we installed the new hanging spin-on oil filter adapter along with a new steel pipe from rear corner of the block to the filter mounting adapter. Got lucky this time, with all the oil system and cooling system parts back in place, fluids topped up, and it doesn't leak. Yes! This effort has cleaned up a lot of space in the engine bay with better service access to distributor and alternator. Glad to be rid of the oil hoses.
Thursday - March 13, 2025:
This little chore has been in process for some time. I just finished uploading a new full scale drawing in printable format for cutting templates and instructions for recovering MGA 1600 type fabric covered side curtains.
Then we were back to Tech Central for a little while doing clean-up work, packing things away, stowing new inventory parts in the Magic Trailer, recycling packing materials,basically making nice the work space. The long neck coolant recovery pressure caps finally came in, and now the coolant recovery system is working again. There are a few more trivial things on the to-do list, but it can wait. One more tech day tomorrow before we head north again.
Friday - March 14, 2025:
Since this will be our last chance to hang with the guys at Tech Central, we conceded to stay one more day before leaving town. Wouldn't you know, that TR6 that hs been getting so much attention lately has another problem, but it looks oddly familiar. The car has a coolant recovery bottle, but it loses coolant anyway. It didn't take me long to find the incorrect type pf pressure cap, and a very corroded cap to boot. This one has no rubber seal at the top flange, so it could not draw a vacuum to pull fluid back into the radiator from the recovery bottle. Just yesterday I received some recovery type pressure caps for the MGA, but they are long neck variety so will not work for the short neck TR6 radiator. Fortunately the short neck recovery caps are very common, pick one up at any local parts store.
The guys are making more progress on Tina, the Wanna-B race car. Having a nice new red coat seems to be good motivation.
Making good progress with installing a racing spec roll bar.
Got the neat duck-tail spoiler installed, some dummy headlights and head light rock guards (your guess is as good as mine), now working on a front air dam. Since we are not likely to be back for another 8 or 9 months, this thing may actually be on the track before we see it again. I may have to stop calling it Wanna-B race car.
One last hurrah, Jerry has a new tool, a Milwaukee battery powered impact wrench. You wouldn't believe the specs for this little thing, 600 lb-ft torque for tightening, and 1000 lb-ft torque for loosening stubborn fasteners. I think he might have in mind to use this on the motor home wheels. Oh, the battery for this thing is barely larger tan a D-cell, fits in the butt end of the handle.
Okay, break up the party and we're outta here. Tank it up first, then make it over onto I-95 north, and haul ass with the honkin Florida traffic. A planned 190 mile 3 hour run turned out to be 5 hours after several stop and crawl traffic jam sessions. With patience we finally made it to an appointment with Simon Matthews in Dade City FL, north of Tampa. We first met Simon in California in 2015. Seems like he has been around the world,now resident in Florida. His MGA looks a bit forlorn, but is apparently a good running car (when it's running). After some catch-up chat and a nice dinner, some more chat before I was trying to catch up some MGAguru business. Late night finally got some sleep.
Saturday - March 15, 2025:
Slept in some, had a late breakfast and social chat, hit the road early afternoon. 70 miles on, a quick fuel stop in Ocala, FL, then another 220 miles up I-95 to a Loves travel stop in Richmond Hill Georgia (yeah, we're movin). Good place to cool down and have dinner, catch up WiFi, and plan for tomorrow. Except we hit the road again11-pm, crossed the state line, skipped the South Carolina Welcome Center, stopping at Hendersonville Rest Area near Yemassee, South Carolina after Midnight.
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manifold, as the old clips were 38 years old, mangled and badly corroded. Then a new vacuum pipe assembly from rear carburetor to distributor, replacing a broken pipe that has been somewhat abused for the past seven years. For this we had to move the cable bracket and throttle return spring for barely enough working space to get fingers in there, but in the end were able to finish the pipe installation without removing carburetors or distributor. Thank goodness the little copper pipe was easy enough to bend without breaking, and we got all new clips and clamps in the deal. Now hoping that functional vacuum advance will result in better fuel economy. 
that is as original, or may be an irregularity of the modern replacement water pump. Not too long to find longer bolts, and the B pump was installed in short order along with the supply hose, freshly painted pulley and the nice plastic fan. Before reinstalling the radiator it was a good opportunity to reinstall the fan belt and snug up the alternator. 
One last hurrah, Jerry has a new tool, a Milwaukee battery powered impact wrench. You wouldn't believe the specs for this little thing, 600 lb-ft torque for tightening, and 1000 lb-ft torque for loosening stubborn fasteners. I think he might have in mind to use this on the motor home wheels. Oh, the battery for this thing is barely larger tan a D-cell, fits in the butt end of the handle. 
