The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (September 16 - September 30, 2025)
Tuesday, September 16, 2025:
Last night's WiFi spot at the truck stop in Brookville, PA was ice cold (bothersome), so not doing that again. Quick pit stop and head out early morning, another 75 miles before a fuel stop in Reedsville, PA, just a splash and dash. Then having more Cruise Control problems with abnormal cut-outs. Navigator noticed the plug-in volt meter dropping to 0-volts, blinking off and back on again every tine the C/C glitched out. ,and sometimes the alternator was charging or not charging. Hint. Look for loose wire on the alternator. Stopped at a McD in Milesburg, Pennsylvania for late breakfast, but it didn't happen. Check the alternator first. Sure enough, broken wires from the alternator (again). Speculating on why we have alternator wiring problems every time we go through Pennsylvania. Of course I know why. Some of these wires are from a 1987 vintage wiring harness. A few wires were added with the swap from generator to Mitsubishi alternator. in January 2007. More slight wiring changes in March 2018 with conversion to Lucas alternator. And at least one case of wire extensions more recently.
 Yes, I immediately found one broken wire where it was doubled back with a tie wrap. Also the two large wires immediately pulled out of the Lucar connectors, so one of those may have had bad connection as well. So splice the one broken wire, and install all new Lucar terminals. Plug it in, fire it up not charging. Unplug the wires, use test light to verify both fat wires are indeed connected to the battery cable (not broken). Plug it back in , check again, still not charging. Rats! Must be a dead alternator (again). Bite the bullet, and pull the spare alternator out of he trailer, and install it. Still not charging? And the ignition lamp does not come on with ignition switch. Unplug lamp wire from the alternator. Switch on. Ground the lamp wire, and the lamp still does not light up. Curses all around. Unplug the ignition lamp from rear of tachometer to find silver coated bulb, burned out. That figures. By now everyone should know the Lucas alternator will not charge if the warning lamp is burned out. Install a new bulb, plug it back into the tach, plug the wire back onto the alternator, fire it up,and it was charging again.
Navigator thinks, no way. So for his benefit, I removed the warning lamp bulb, and it quit charging. Put the bulb back in and it does charge. Repeat a couple more times to drive the message home. The lamp that should tell you if the alternator is charging or not is guaranteed to kill the alternator output if the bulb burns out, in which case there will be no indication that the alternator has failed until the battery is dead on side of the road. That's Lucas.
Seems like we may have changed the alternator when it wasn't needed, but not sure. Note to self, get the used alternator tested to see if it had failed or not. If failed order another for spare. -- Continuing on for appointment in York, Pennsylvania this evening. No time to spare, arriving 5:30-pm, right on schedule. Darrell Lutz came out carrying his cane, so the legs are getting better. Half a dozen guys showed up, in addition to Navigator and I. Great homecoming after nearly a year away. Good chat for a few hours until party was breaking up around 8:30-pm. Then off for some WiFi time until we crash at 22-pm.
Wednesday, September 17, 2025:
Up early for a touch of breakfast and WiFi. heading out 10-am for an appointment in Norristown, PA at noon. We were here to visit Bill Allen. He has a nicely restored MGB, a half through restoration MGA Coupe, Another complete never disassembled MGA Coupe good for restoration, and an MGA roadster frame and body, disassembled in process. Bill is about done with such restoration business and is wanting to sell this stuff. There are friends on the net interested in buying some of it. We were here to take lot of pictures to post on my web site for folks to see what is available, which we did. Say hello to Bill Allen in Norristown, PA. He has been working with vintage British cars for decades. His most recent completed full restoration is the beautiful red MGB. Since then he has been restoring an MGA Coupe with frame and bodywork mostly completed, all of the original parts still there to put it back together. There is also a complete MGA Coupe with some typical rust in the doglegs and body sills, never disassembled, a very good candidate for a restoration project. And there is an MGA roadster with body off, much frame and bodywork done, and should be all parts there for the whole car. There may be some dimensional problem with this frame that makes it unusable as is, or may require more work to correct the issues before it could be used. As such, he may be willing to sell the roadster body separate from the rest. Contact Bill for such discussion.
Click on this link to see the supplemental page with 65 photos and notes showing his collection of cars and parts now available.
Last minute distraction as Bill Allen offered me a part that I couldn't pass up. We picked up a good used front tappet cover for MGB 18GA engine that will allow us to install a PCV valve (later) on the 18G engine now in our MGA. It was a week later before I had time to get these pictures, and it dawns on me that the cover is an empty box with no oil separator inside. Pretty sure there is a later model cover used with the18V engines with a better oil separator on the inboard side. This one will work, but I should keep looking for the better later model cover.
Then a late lunch break. Heading out again at 5:00-pm to drive 5-hours through northeast Pennsylvania and northwest New Jersey and into New York via lots of hills and twisties while avoiding tollways. Stopped for late dinner in Canaan,New York. Need to catch up with photos and notes later.
Thursday, September 18, 2025:
lots of time spent to download 70 pictures, reduce them twice and upload them to the server, and begin adding notes to go with. Drove one hour more late night to land in the Vermont Welcome Center at Bennington, VT.
Friday, September 19, 2025:
Breakfast in Bennington, VT. Opened an email that I maybe should have deferred. Spent a few hours reviewing one of my Electrical Tech pages dealing with the relay set-up to operate MGB two speed windscreen wipers using one MGA headlight switch. Turned out to be nothing wrong with that tech page, but it may lead to a revision update later.
Then heading north through Vermont for an 5-pm appointment to check into The British Invasion car show in Stowe, Vermont, Turned off of VT-108 onto I-89 north, and promptly blew a head gasket while winding the engine up for the long uphill entrance ramp. Bummer, we don't have time for this right now. Cursory inspection revealed combustion gas blowing directly tout the back of the head gasket at the rear head bolt location. Hadn't seen failure at that location before. Oil pressure and water temperature okay, doesn't look to serious, so we opted to remove #4 spark plug to kill combustion and drop the pressure, and drive on running on three cylinders. Sounds like a Briggs and Stratton single cylinder with a bad muffler, but it runs pretty good on three cylinders. We cruised into the car show registration at the Stowe fairgrounds right on schedule at 5:30-pm.
First incident for the week end was a dent in the LR fender of a Triumph, lightly grazed by a big Jaguar sedan. We picked up the registration packet, grabbed a beer and sat to chat with a few folks.
When they headed into town for evening celebration (and maybe a live band), we headed 10 miles farther north to find a decent WiFi spot in Morrisville, VT. This one was open late, so I managed to finish the photos and notes page for the three MGA in Norristown, PA., and also motes for the past few days.
Saturday, September 20, 2025:
Breakfast in Morrisville, VT, then 10-miles south back to Stowe, VT for the car show. We had registration number 202, filed a month ago, so maybe 300 or so British cars present today (not counting a couple hundred visitor cars parked in the next field). After getting parked in the right line, next business was to walk around nearly two hours taking pictures of the show cars, mostly in small groups. Click here for the Supplementary photos and notes page for the 2025 British Invasion car show.
After getting pictures of the show cars, our MGA had cooled down enough by noonish to get on with changing the blown head gasket. Lots of sidewalk supervisors poking noses in to ask questions, to naturally the two hour job turned into 3 hours plus, By that time they were handing out car show awards, so we only fired up the engine for half a minute to be sure it ran well and wasn't puking fluids. New head gasket installed with engine running and idling smooth and quiet again, we could relax while the car show awards were being announced.
I already knew exactly what we were going to find, and why it was my own damn fault, so kick me in the ass right now. Not long ago we were installing a new vacuum signal pipe from rear carburetor to distributor, and there is a large P-clip to hold the pipe on the rear head stud. Since the factory did not see fit to install a longer stud in that location, there is not enough thread to add a second nut. So the rear head stud nut has to be removed to R&R the big P-clip. And wouldn't you know, I forgot to re-torque that rear head nut after installing the new vacuum pipe. In fact I just removed that rear head nut with my fingers, without touching it with a wrench. So naturally the head gasket blew out the back right next to that stud.Bummer. Dammit. Kick me. But once you figure out what the problem is, it always turns out to be something simple. At least we can be confident that the new head gasket will be a proper fix and should hold up okay, assuming it gets properly torqued down of course.
Then we ambled over to the Stoweflake Hotel for an evening banquet, for which we and a lot of other people were an hour early. Empty hallway, closed doors, and the bar was not yet open, so just sit and relax/recover some more. The bar was opening about quarter to seven, so grab a drink and crash the boor to the banquet room, still not entirely ready. 7:30-pm before ceremonies began, 7:45-pm before we could attack the buffet table. Somewhat disorganized, someone speaking while we were eating, desert table available as soon as we could get there. Not much more ceremony, as the car show awards were presented at the car show. Sorry, no pictures from the banquet, which was little more than a dinner meeting. The banquet party was breaking up by 9:30, so we drove 10 miles north to Morrisville, VT again to our known good WiFi spot where I could work on the web until near midnight.
Sunday, September 21, 2025:
Breakfast in Morrisville before heading back to Stowe the second day of the car show, traditionally called the "Color Show, or Show Of Colors". With some time to spare while the show cars were rolling back in for the color show, it was a good opportunity to check out a very nicely restored MGA 1500 Coupe for sale in theCar Coral. It has only been driven a few thousand miles in the past 7 years, and has been well cared for, so it still shows nicely today. -- In case someone wants to do the expedient thing, and buy one that has already been restored, this is your chance. See lots more pictures and details of this Coupe first thing Sunday morning in the car show picture page.
There were some commercial vendors, some food service, and a few swap meet vendors to visit. This time the show cars were parked generally with other cars of similar colors, so there was voting and awards for Best Red Car, Best White Car, etc. There were also awards for Best Period Correct vintage clothes and car decorations. And there was a Tail Gate Party going on with awards for Best Presentation, Best food, Best Theme, and I don't recall what else, but the fried chicken and pumpkin pie were good. I think there were four Tail Gate set-ups, and for sure they all got a ribbon for something of a noble cause, all jolly good fun. Click here for the Supplementary photos and notes page for the 2025 British Invasion car show, and details of the awards..
Once the fun was done, photos taken, and awards distributed, the place was clearing out by mid afternoon. We tanked up the fuel and headed a bit south to stop for late lunch and WiFi at Burlington VT where I could get a little work done downloading pictures and catching up email. Bailing out of there at 9:30-pm, we headed another two hours south to cross into New York, stopping for the night at the New York Welcome Center.
Monday, September 22, 2025:
Fifteen minutes drive south this morning to the next WiFi spot in Saratoga Springs New York. High priority to place a parts order for more head gaskets and front parking lights (among othert hings). ITYhen we will spend most of the day here for a good start on processing nearly 200 photos from the car show. But still need to make more tracks this evening in the direction of our next appointment more than 350 miles away in Pennsylvania come Tomorrow evening.
Off again in the evening intending to lay down a couple hours of driving before midnight. It didn't happen. About an hour later while cruising down I-88 we came across a disabled trailer and tow truck on the right shoulder. Flipped on the left turn signal and started to pull left, but there were headlights in my side mirror, and I didn't want to side swipe or cut someone off, so I settled for driving with two wheel on the lane line and slowing down a bit. That cleared half a lane on the right near the trailer, so we got past okay. Just got back in the right lane when we got pulled over by one of New York's finest. We had the cruise control on,, so I figured it wasn't for speeding. The cop said I had driven over the white line on the right side. Sounded strange, because I usually avoid the shoulder like the plague when driving in the dark, and we certainly didn't get over far enough to touch the rumble strips. I'm guessing it was just a curious cop who wanted to look at the car, it happens occasionally. License, car registration, insurance card, and trailer registration please, and there would be a 5-minunte delay. "Let you off with a warning", and we were on our way again. After that little fiasco we said screw it and took the next rest stop for the night near Binghamton, NY.
Tuesday, September 23, 2025:
Being a little off schedule, we drove two hours in the morning, crossing into Pennsylvania to stop at Hazel Township, PA for late breakfast. Trying to catch up email and some BBS, but time to roll again around 2-pm. Pulled into Camp Hill, PA at 4:30-pm with a 45 minute window for fuel stop and late lunch. Then heading south in rain on I-83 into York, PA. Made it on schedule without incident, arriving at Darrell's garage for the Tuesday evening garage tech and BS session with several friends. It was raining cats and dogs when I got out of the car and stepped in a poodle, nearly drowned while running into the garage.
We had driven over 1000 miles in the past week, blown head gasket and the repair during the three day car show in Stowe, Vermont. The crowning achievement for the evening was one of the guys groveling around in the attic to find a good used PCV valve for our new 18G engine with the MGA manifolds and carbs). Then off to Sheetz for WiFi and late dinner, because they are open 24-7. Good to crash at midnight, zzzzz.
Wednesday, September 24, 2025:
Up early to find a good WiFi spot for breakfast, then continuing with processing photos and notes from the week end car show (which will still take most of the day to finish).
Scratching head, thinking about why the car engine does not want to run higher than 4000 rpm under load. Been there, done that, betting I forgot to reposition and clamp down the throttle shaft coupling between the carburetors after the head gasket replacement job. Go look under the bonnet, and sure enough the forward accordion clamp was loose with one nut and washer missing. the engine was properly tuned and ran well at idle and low speed, but for higher throttle settings it was running on the rear carburetor only. Easy fix, pull a spare 4BA nut and washer out of the magic trailer, reposition and tighten the clamp, and it was ready to go again.
Our morning WiFi spot on the south side of York, PA was intolerably cold, too much A/C, so we moved north. Along the way we finally found
time during business hours to get the "old" alternator tested at a parts store in Etters PA. Good news, it passed all tests, so record accumulated time and mileage, and put it back in the trailer for back-up spare. We also picked up more wire terminal ends for spare, but still looking for the wide Lucar female terminals to connect to the alternator. Spent the rest of he day at a more comfortable WiFi spot in Etters with more work on the photos page from the car show in Stowe, VT.
Thursday, September 25, 2025:
Woke up to heavy rain in New Cumberland, PA. Good day to stay inside and work on the web site. Now four days after the British Invasion show in Stowe, Vermont was done, I finally got all of the photos and notes processed and uploaded. Enjoy.
Friday, September 26, 2025:
Mostly sitting in Etters, PA most of the day. Shuffled off to downtown York, PA in the evening.
Saturday, September 27, 2025:
Met the Darrell's garage gang for breakfast in York, PA at 7-am. Ten cars in a caravan from 8 to 9-am traveling side roads to Street, Maryland to attend MGs On The Rocks car show.
First picture below is cars in the "Premier Class", meaning they were First in Class last year, or Best of the Best, Gotta love these cars if you are a concours enthusiast. There were scads of the more common vintage British cars,but one jumped out to be the surprise of t3h show. This was a 1953 MG TD Airline coupe. Just when I didn't think there ever was one, there it was. It is a custom rebodied MG TD with coach built graphite fiber body shell, hand built to create the car that Abingdon never made.
At least eight MGA were present, but only one MG ZB Magnette Varitone.
As crowning jewel for the day, I was given the President's Award. Unfortuntely they had misplaced it for a while,so there was no public presentation, but they did mail it to me later. It is an engraved acrylic plate that happened to be photographed sitting in a blue box. I may get a better picture later. I recon it will ultimately be stashed in the thophy room at Darrell's Garage.
We found our own way back to York, PA in the evening to get started on downloading and processing pictures.
Sunday, September 28, 2025:
Spent the day in New Cumberland, PA, crunching pictures from the rocks car show.
Monday, September 29, 2025:
Doing some shopping in York, tracking down some Heli-Coils and some 3/8" wide push-on Lucar Disconnect Terminals to mate large wires to the alternator. Also picking up some engine oil and a 1/2-inch hose barb with pipe thread to install the PCV valve on top of the MGA intake manifold.Got to spend a few hours chatting with Darrell Lutz as he is a bit home-bound for a while. Getting cranked up for tomorrow's garage tech session, we picked up the parts package that arrived a bit earlier, stashed it in the garage for a day or two while putting a coat of paint on the MGB tappet covers.
Tuesday, September 30, 2025:
We made a point of arriving at Darrell's a bit early at 5-pm for the garage tech session. Crappy weather, raining, missed the intended parking space, continued to end of the alley, tried to make a U-turn in tight space and scraped a curb on right side of the car. Curses, bad mood, back out of the tight space and go aound the block to park where intended. I ran through rain to the garage while navigator stayed in the car for a while to wait out the rain, and we kind of forgot about the right side curb scrape.
Once the rain let up some, nvigator tore into the parts package to inventory the parts and stow most of it in the Magic Trailer. -- Tuesday night tech session at Darrel's garage is always a popular meet after the Rocks car show, Fifteen friends gathering, if I counted noses right. First question and answer for the night was to show someone where and how to place the rubber body grommet on an MGB fuel filler pipe.
Then someone walked in with a grab box full of spare parts, help yourself, and what do you suppose we found there? A pair of tappet covers from an MGB with PCV connector on the front cove, and some kind of oil separator inside. This is the one we have been looking for with the fully enclosed and ventilated inboard plate. I thought this was the later improved model, but keep getting conflicting opinions about which is early and which is later issue, or which is better or not At least we now have both models, and can decide later which one to use.
Then a few more people arrived, including the fellow with the red shirt and another award ribbon from the Saturday car show, MGs At The Rocks, and his wife and daughter. A great time was had by all, until some folks had to be leaving after 8-pm. Before anyone left, we took a pole to decide that we may be meeting a bit earlier in the evening for future tech dates.
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