The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (April 1 - April 15, 2019)
Monday April 1, 2019:
This was the day we could finally pick up our large parts order at the UPS depot in Lenexa, Kansas. Had a couple of small surprises there. We knew it hadn't been shipped until Wednesday, so could not arrive on Friday, and we sort of got past that issue. The bulk of the order had been shipped from Petersburg, Virginia via UPS. A few items had been shipped from Goleta, California via USPS (even though we have always been specific never to do that). The confusing bit here was a USPS package with a USPS tracking number showing up at a UPS facility without a UPS tracking number. They didn't know what to do with it, and were about to return it to USPS just as we were trying to claim it. Luckily someone remembered the errant package and managed to find it, followed by some nasty words about not accepting a USPS delivery for a third party when it had nothing to do with UPS, but at least we did get the package before they bounced it back.
 Then we made the phone call to Moss to find out why the shipment was handled this way. Normally a shipment to Kansas City KS should be shipped from the California warehouse. However, the Moss computer system has the origin point based on the customer's home address, regardless of the "ship to" specification. That means if we were in California, specifying shipment to California, it would have been shipped from Virginia anyway (because my
"official" home address is in Illinois). That is something for Moss to look into, hopefully basing the origin warehouse on the shipping destination rather than on the customer home address. Also maybe another loop in the program to avoid using USPS to ship to a UPS pickup counter address.
All that aside, when we finally got the packages it was time to open the large box and unpack the contents, transferring most of it into a large tote box in the trailer (and dispose of the shipping box). One item in particular would not pack well, that being the large and somewhat fragile 4-inch air hose for MGA heater inlet, so we took a few minutes to install that in the car rather than packing it for carry.
Then it was back to WiFi to continue work on the inventory spread sheet, this time adding most of the parts items we had previously counted in the trailer prior to placing the recent parts order. That was a somewhat longer list (including a bunch of tools we wanted to list), so that kept us busy until near midnight again.
Tuesday April 2, 2019:
Back to work on the inventory spread sheet, one more day. Now adding in some trailer chassis parts and lots of the larger tools. Still don't have a complete inventory of what's in a couple of large tool boxes, and that may not happen for some time (if ever), but at least I think we now have an accurate list of all the car parts, meaning I believe we have restored the magic to the "magic trailer" (although we still need to restore a lot of small tools).
In the evening we had an dinner appointment with All British Car Club of Lawrence at Conroy’s Pub in Lawrence. We figured we were in the right place when we saw the first nice MGB out front. We were soon in the company of 20 friends enjoying good food and the business end of the club meeting. There was introduction of a few new members, and us as guests of course. Back outside at dusk we found more British cars in the car park, at least three MGBs and two or three modern Minis.
Not entirely out of day yet, we ran a half hour south before stopping for more WiFi work in Ottawa, KS, and there you have the photos and notes all caught up in real time (almost). Then another half hour south after midnight.
Wednesday April 3, 2019:
Weather warming up, and we got to sleep in a bit today, then drove on a bit more before stopping for a late breakfast in Emporia KS. But we had one shop visit on our agenda today, so drove on, heading west now.
By mid afternoon we stopped to visit SUcarbs.Com in Wichita, KS. Say hello to Dana Britton, and stop to chat
for a few minutes. Getting late in the day, he was heading out to "the barn", meaning going to UPS to ship a package, this one containing a pair of rebuilt carburetors (for an MGB I think). So it was time to go find another WiFi spot and do some route planning and time estimating.
We will be heading south into Oklahoma tonight, hoping to visit as many as five shops tomorrow.
Thursday April 4, 2019:
Drove 3-1/2 hours last night, mostly in the rain. Woke up this morning in Tulsa, Oklahoma (still raining). Had one quick run past a long gone shop named Interwest Restorations in Tulsa, which used to be somewhere in that building there, one of the units A through I. Word is the business has been gone for 10-15 years, the owner still around somewhere, has had a few more shops in the interim, but don't know where he is now.
(ADDENDUM July 2019: Recieved a message from Michael Jones, the prior owner of Interwest Restorations. He is now "Michael Jones Restoration", still in Oklahoma.)
We had scheduled a visit to Bob Johnson at JT's Carburetors in Claremore, OK, but he was out of the country at this time, so we had to skip this one for now. Will keep him on the list for possible later visit.
Then across town to visit Ben McCarty also in Tulsa, OK. He has two businesses under the name Automotive Interior Designs & Restorations. The car interior business has been rousted out of its prior digs and is currently looking for a new shop space. The restoration business (different location) is still doing well. The yellow MGS is Ben's daily driver (when it's not raining). The early 60's Econoline truck tickles a fond spot in my heart, as I used to own a '63 Ford Falcon window van (1972-1974).
The red and black MGB's are customer cars. The red one in particular has a few personal touches, including a lot of bling under the bonnet. The cars ouside are mostly waiting restoration, likely not parts cars.
After a couple hours hustle to the west we stopped to visit Glass Auto Works and Restoration in Oklahoma City, OK. Say hello to Mike Glass who runs this service and restoration business, with help from his wife Ronda (and no, they do not do auto glass). A substantial size facility once you step inside and start to rattle around. Nice cars here. Someone has spent a lot of money on that Midget. Since Mike was waiting on a parts delivery (which didn't show up), we spent some time chatting about sourcing and shipping issues (of which I have some recent experience).
Just a short distance down the same street we were looking for British Motor Ltd in Oklahoma City, OK, but no joy here. This one has been a victim of urban renewal where two square blocks of the city was erased and rebuilt as a new office center. One block of the street was also erased and turned into a walk through between the new buildings. About half of the construction here is still unfinished, so not sure how long the car shop has been gone, but the phone number is disconnected, and no trace of the prior shop to be found on the internet.
We ran a little south to get out of the big city before a mid afternoon lunch break and WiFi stop (to finish these photos and notes). Just decided for sure we are going through Texas for one more shop visit before New Mexico. We expect to be slightly south of Fort Worth, TX late tonight.
Friday April 5, 2019:
Four hours driving last night, another 3-1/2 hours today, and by early afternoon we were in Boerne, Texas
(north side of San Antonio). All the way down here to visit one shop that was not on our list last time we were cruising around Texas two years ago. This is Alamo Powersports, and the handsome fellow there is Kermit O'Neal, President, who seems to manage the place from an office in front of the service shop. The bulk of the business is apparently racing BMW motorcycles, and a showroom full of parts and accessories. On the other end of the building is Alamo Sports Cars where they do mechanical and electrical service on vintage cars (no body or paint work).
I don't know who owns the Jaguar outside but it was a good place to start. First car on the rack inside was the TR6, a very nice example with some special goodies, fresh interior and tri-pack of SU carburetors, a very nice performance set-up.
A little farther back on the raised rack was a Jaguar, XK140 OTC I believe. Sitting beside it (actually underneath) was a vintage Crosley race car, popular in the 50's all the way through the 70's. Out in front there was an interesting MGA 1600 which is destined to become a retro-mod car with some serious modifications on the way to a show car finish. Lots of trophies in the cases and pictures on the walls depicting a long history of competition race cars. If you happen to be in southwestern Texas and need some work done on your vintage British car, maybe keep this place in mind.
Kind of warm and sticky here today, so we were off to find a cool WiFi spot for a while, stopped in Comfort, TX. Sometime after sundown we headed another hour or so west. Long way to go, but no particular rush, just aiming for a shop in Las Cruces, New Mexico for a Monday visit, not quite 600 miles up I-10.
Saturday April 6, 2019:
Started the day with a good deed, jump starting a sport ute with a dead battery. Between late last night and mid morning today we burned off a tank of gas and a bit more. Lots of not much out here in western Texas, so being careful to monitor fuel stops so we don't run dry. By late morning we landed in Fort Stockton, TX. Decent place to sit and get some work done while we wait for sundown, so we don't have to drive into the afternoon sun going west. Caught up just about everything, then ran only another half hour west after dark.
Sunday April 7, 2019:
More sprinting west on I-10 today. Fuel mileage is not so good in Texas where the speed limit is 80-mph and lots
of traffic is going 85. Trying to be reasonable and hold it down to 75 most of the time, just because we're not in a big rush to burn excess fuel. Found a 50 mile stretch that was nearly all up hill, mostly full throttle in 4th gear, pulling most of the hills at 65 or so, at least not having to downshift. But it did suck up enough extra fuel to make us stop for one gallon at an expensive place about 20 miles sooner than planned. Our planned morning WiFi spot was under construction, so we toddled along another hour and a half to land in Fabens, TX, only a half hour shy of El Paso.
Spent the whole day on WiFi work. Late evening we toddled along westward, having a bit of a chore getting past El Paso when a section of I-10 was closed. The prescribed detour was a road we had done before, running over a mountain on the north side of the city (jolly good fun in the dark). Finally out of Texas and into New Mexico before stopping for the night.
Monday April 8, 2019:
We had only one programmed stop today to visit Aguirre Auto Service in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Not a lot of demand here, but they do mechanical work on vintage British cars when needed.
Being rather warm in the southern sun, we had in mind to take most of the rest of the day in an air conditioned WiFi spot, specifically needing to post the CMGC April newsletter on the club web site. But first we would make a couple of phone calls to check on some upcoming personal appointments. This led to a quick change of plans, and we headed west again in late morning. One fuel stop and a little lead foot later we had moved from La Cruces, New Mexico to Tucson, Arizona where we would meet David Sirota at a nifty truck top for a late lunch. We have been chasing this guy for years, having missed him in 2015, and missed him again in 2017. This time I guess he was determined not to miss again, so he made the arrangement for the lunch meeting. He has a 1959 MGA Twin Cam, some other old British cars and old airplanes. Today he was still kind of busy, but at least we got to chat for a while.
Then sitting comfortably back in A/C again, we made another follow-up phone call, deciding to at least sit out the worst of the afternoon heat rather than driving into the evening sun. But as soon as that big orange disc kissed the horizon we were off again. Two hours later we were checking in with Randy Brown in Queen Creek, AZ, having somehow gotten here almost one full day ahead of schedule. When he invited us to do a community tech session in his new airplane hanger workshop, I don't think he was anticipating that we would take him up on it quite so soon. The hanger doesn't have all the lights installed yet, so we were prowling around in the dark until he flipped on a few lights that were working in the office space. We may be helping him install lights later in the week, a day or so before the scheduled tech session.
We did finally get a look around the hanger, space enough to make any vintage car enthusiast drool. His latest MGA Coupe project car was still sitting on the the trailer. Then we moved to the house, which of course does have lights. A short bit later we were checking out the rolling stock in the home garage. The black 1600-MK-II is a very nice car, show quality if you dust it off a bit. The red 1500 is somewhat more notorious, as you open the bonnet to find the Mazda rotary engine tucked into the smallest of spaces. For now, time to get some sleep.
Tuesday April 9, 2019:
It was time to make amends for getting here a day early. I still had in mind to get the club newsletter on line, but that still didn't happen (again). We received a message from a friend in southwest California asking if we had time to drop in, but we hadn't planned on touching much of California on this pass. While trying to see what that side trip might do to our travel plans, or how to fit it in, I spent most of the day listing most of the shops that we have not visited yet (beyond Arizona). Throwing them on a map to plan a tentative route and timing, we were looking at 150 more shops in 13 states, in the next four months or so. Okay, I think we can do that, so I sent off a message to make the appointment in southern California. That email bounced, so we will be trying other methods to make that connection. Where has the day gone?
Wednesday April 10, 2019:
Today was the programmed day to get seriously onto shop hopping around the Phoenix metro area. Navigator's computer crashed last night, giving us some concern. He managed to get it recovered and working again before morning (don't know how much sleep he lost over that issue). He also downloaded an update for the GPS software, hoping to get better information on recent road reconfigurations (among other things). It looked like that was working until one minute after we hit the road this morning, when it became apparent that the GPS was not accepting new routing destinations. Bummer. Re-route to the nearest WiFi spot for another software update, and an hour later we were back under way. I don't want to know how he did it, well enough that it's working again.
First shop visit was to LambFab Inc in Gilbert, AZ. They are metal fabricators and restoration specialists. There was a Cobra hiding in the corner behind the Caddy,and the E-type was only waiting for a few interior trim bits before being put up for sale. They do a very nice job on these things.
Next up was Serck Radiator in Mesa, AZ, a vintage shop with some experienced hands, and yes they do know their way around a cell core radiator. One reason this place is still in business is because they do a lot of business with large trucks an some industrial customer, not relying entirely on the automotive business.
Next up was VIP European Auto Interiors in Tempe, AZ. They will install what you provide, or fabricate what you need. They like vintage cars, and if it's fabric they do it.
Ten minutes later we were at SportsCar Service Center in Tempe, AZ. Say hello to Tony Ritz, owner and general manager. Nothing British in the shop today, but there was a bit of British waiting its turn outside.
We got two referrals from Tony, both good to add to out Shops list. Just a mile away on a side street we found
"The MG Shop" (yes, a real company name). Everywhere we looked there were more MGs. Well, not all MGs, there was the occasional Triumph or Austin in the mix. This guy has been here for something like 41 years, and the experience pays dividends. Turns out we were here before, four years earlier, which is why he wasn't on out visit list today.
The other new shop for out list was Sports & Collector Car Center in Tempe, AZ. Not strictly British, but lots of it, and there were a couple of E-types in the shop today.
Another 10 minutes away was Total Auto Pros in Phoenix, AZ. For us the important service here was wire wheels, and they get a lot of work referrals from the vintage car shops in the area. They also do accessories, mostly electrical and electronic stuff like stereo radios, alarms, back-up cameras and the like. Big shop, and quite busy.
A little longer drive this time to visit Commercial Radiator Service Inc in Phoenix, AZ. We have been encountering a reoccurring theme today, "George Bean probably sent you". Yup. Must be a reason why he is President of The Arizona MG Club. Imagine this, at least two radiator shops left in the Phoenix area.
Then we were off to visit Dave’s Import Service in Phoenix, AZ. "George Bean sent you, didn't he"?
Well, yes. They do work on vintage British cars some, apparently more than they like. They are pretty busy with other things, and they are kind of discouraging the vintage cars stuff, but they will still do it if the need arises.
Then we had a go at Diversified Metals Inc in Phoenix, AZ. This is an electroplating shop, so we may have been a little skeptical, as these paces are falling like flies thee days (along with radiator shops). It was quiet up front, with a sign on the door, "Out for deliveries, please call". But they had just returned, so I got to chat for a bit anyway. Continuing in the plating business is not the problem here, but the report is that it is getting hard to find help, like people just don't want to work. But at least for now we still have chrome plating service in Phoenix.
Running out of business hours, but trying to catch a few more shops before closing time. We were looking for
Glendale Powder Coating in Glendale, AZ when we ran into a different business at the specified address. A quick inquiry revealed that they had moved a few blocks away, so off we went again. Sure enough we found the place at the new address, but it was locked up. (Wow, knock off the glare). It was right on 4:30-pm, so maybe they had closed for the day, and no one was answering the phone. I think we will check with this one again tomorrow.
The next place had us baffled for a few minutes. We were looking for Morrison Auto Machine in Glendale, AZ when we stopped in front of a vacant CarQuest auto parts store. But we made the call, and it turned out the machine shop was behind the parts store, just drive down the alley on the side. Sure enough, still there (and they have been there for decades). "George Bean sent you I suppose"? Dang, it's contagious. Story here is that they like to do machine work on the vintage engines, but they do not do assembly work. So feel free to bring your machine work jobs here, but be prepared to reassemble it yourself.
Hoping to be lucky, we made one last stop at Sal’s Auto Works in Peoria, AZ. Open door, but no one at the front counter. I walked through the shop front to back, no one inside, but found the folks out back. Sal wasn't there today, so had a chat with a couple of the techs. This place is a body shop doing collision repair work on newer cars, and the word is they do not work on older cars. Will have a chat with George Bean later to see if this was some of his doing.
That's it, closing time, so we were off to find a cool WiFi spot and order up a late lunch. For the record, we just hit 13 shops in one day, including two new ones for our list. Oddly, none of them were closed (out of business). And we have now passed 900 shops visited, but looking at about 150 more to go (as the list keeps growing).
Thursday April 11, 2019:
Since we did so well yesterday, we had only three shops left to visit today. First up was "The Body Shop" in Phoenix, AZ. Doesn't look like much from the front, just one office space in a strip mall. But once you walk through the office the rear shop space takes up most of the back of the building behind all the other front offices. They do collision repair here plus body and paint work, including rust repair and sheet metal replacement, and they dearly love vintage cars.
Next was Vintage Auto Repair in Phoenix, AZ. Again it looks like a single office front in a strip mall, but in back
it occupies the entire length of the building, very impressive. They do full restorations on vintage cars, but on further inquiry they say they do not work on foreign cars. Not sure how how this one got on our list, but maybe they did something for one of the local club members in the past.
The third and last shop for the day was a visit to British Automotive Repair in Scottsdale, AZ. A bit confused at first, as 14550A looked like a single conference room with table and chairs, no one there, and a sign on the door saying "Not an entrance. Employees only". It was otherwise obvious we were in the right place. It also didn't escape me that there were Ferrari and Maserati signs on the gate along with all of the British car models. Eventually I found the real customer entrance on the other front corner of the same long building with the same 14550A building number.
After introducing myself I enjoyed a walk around the outside of the building to snap some pictures. Hang onto your seat. British cars were lining the entire perimeter of the lot. The XK150 FHC backed out of a service bay, then popped and died, needing a little carburetor adjustment before continuing on a test run.
Ten large double depth service bays covered the length of the building, this place is huge. They do any minor or major service work. It is also one-stop shopping for a full restoration, as they farm out body and paint work and interiors to nearby cooperative shops. Notice the Jaguar DHC body shell in fresh paint.
Time for an early lunch for a change, and I thought we would take the rest of the day off to get caught up with some grunt work. --- Okay, forget that idea. Got the morning photos and notes posted, then made a phone call to check with Glendale Powder Coating, made the connection, and decided to hustle back over there before they would close at 4-pm.
On the way out I had a brief delay to help a Jeep with a dead starter. No click when the key was turned to Start position, although other electrical stuff seemed to work. The idea was to use a jumper wire with alligator clips to apply battery power to the trigger terminal on the starter motor to get it cranking. Unfortunately the guy would have to remove the skid plate for access to the starter, and I didn't have time to hang around, so I left him a long jumper wire, and we were off and running.
It was a 30 mile drive through rush hour traffic with plenty of delay, but we managed to arrive at Glendale Powder Coating (in Glendale) at 3:50 pm, squeaky close to closing time. But we were expected, and the owner was understanding and happy to give me the 5-minute tour. Front lobby samples and some wheels.
Plenty of eye candy in 17 different shades of black, and some other colors. The discs would be wheel centers for air cooled VWs. Like no one wants to process these parts because those guys are picky, picky, picky.
Some parts are larger than others. Much of their backlog is temporarily placed on the cement slab out back, as they are about to pour more cement where you see the grass, and put up another building for more warehouse space, and to have a larger paint booth. They have been at the current location for a year and a half, enjoying the extra space, and growing, not going away any time soon. And yes we were out of there in five minutes.
Then we had another appointment, 15 minutes farther west, on a request to visit George Bean at his new digs in Peoria, AZ. The white car is his beautiful MGA 1600-MK-II that normally stays indoors for preservation. The blue car on left inside is his MGA 1500 with the Chevy V6 engine (drool a little more later) and some special body mods. The blue car on the right belongs to a friend and is wanting a little attention today.
The engine had a nasty knocking noise when idling, which would mostly go away around 2000-rpm or higher engine speed. Their first impression might be a loose valve seat, but I don't think so. We had a good listen here, there, and everywhere with a stethoscope, and the head was quiet enough all around all cylinders to know that the valves and spark and combustion were all doing well. Rocker pedestals were also mostly quiet, but the rocker shaft was radiating lots of noise. Rocker arms seemed significantly loose on the rocker shaft, so we found another rocker shaft assembly in particularly good condition and installed that one, but the noise persisted.
Story is that the freshly rebuilt engine has a special Isky reground cam, which from the spec sheet looks like a fast street cam with a fair amount of extra lift, and rocker clearance spec of 0.018-0.019 inch clearance. For a quick test we reduced rocker clearance to 0.012 all around, but still had the knocking noise. Then we put it up to 0.015 all around (factory spec), and began inserting a feeler gauge in the rockers while it was idling. Finally the noise mostly went away with the feeler stuck in the number 4 intake rocker (no difference anywhere else). Running out of time for the day, we tried a different pushrod in that position with no change. We finally had to conclude that there was something amiss with the no.4 intake cam lobe, so the cam was going to have to come out for inspection, a job for another day. At day's end George's MGB came out as a loaner for friend to drive home, as the MGA wasn't going anywhere until the cam problem was resolved.
Now they were going out for dinner while navigator and I had to get back to the grunt work, so we were off to find a good WiFi spot for duration of the evening, and presto, you get these photos and notes posted. We also made a call back to Randy Brown to see if his lights had arrived. They had, but some were damaged in shipment. Most were probably okay, so it looks like we will be helping hang lights in the hanger tomorrow. Late night we headed an hour back east to Mesa, AZ for the night.
Friday April 12, 2019:
Up early (for us), breakfast and a little WiFI work, another half hour drive, and we popped back into Randy Brown's place in Queen Creek, AZ. About to get a little more intimate with his new hanger.
The new LED lights came in yesterday, so today we got busy installing them. With a little team work, I was prewiring them on the bench while Randy was up the scaffolding hanging them in the rafters. In due time we had 14 out of 15 new lamps installed and working, only one had a dim glow and would have to be returned for exchange. We also fished a nice air compressor out of the storage locker and hauled that into the shop (to be installed later).
Then time for a break while we waited patiently for night fall before we could see how the new lights would work. Time for a little chat, and then pizza for dinner, and then back to the shop. The lights are wired on two separate 3-way switch circuits, so you can turn on half of the lights or all of them at once. Half of the lights would be the prescribed brightness for normal illumination, and it was indeed good lighting for a hanger or a garage where you park things. But switch on all of the lights together, and ah, what a nice work space. It took a little while to get used to the brighter lights, after which I can say they were really great for a work shop.
Then we played musical chairs with the cars for a few minutes, moving the Coupe on trailer to the far end, pulling my MGA with the trailer in next, and then the MK-II. What you don't see is the Harley motorcycle in the far end, and the remaining space in the near end, and of course the cars don't take up half of the depth of the hanger. Look the other direction, and notice we pushed the rotary engine MGA into the workspace with the hoist, as we were about to repack the master cylinder that had an internal leak.
It felt good to be putting the shop to good use the same day that lighting was installed to make it useful work space. By coincidence, this was also the first time the magic trailer had supplied the required parts since the magic was restored. We got the master cylinder back together with fluid in it about 10-pm, time to knock off for the night, so bleeding the hydraulics can wait for tomorrow. And tomorrow will also be tech day for anyone who wants to show up.
Saturday April 13, 2019:
Tech day at the hanger turned out to be a bit of a bust as no additional British cars showed up. In early afternoon a
couple of friends showed up in a Tesla. The guy in the white shirt is Bear Holms from Apache Junction, AZ. We were at his place two years ago in April 2017. The Tesla belongs to his fiend. Bear had come to drop off a good used screenwiper motor for my car, in case I might need it (as mine has been giving us problems). They wanted to check out the new hanger, otherwise didn't stay long.
We also had an unexpected walk-in, two women requesting to see the MGA guru. Really? Linda March (and a friend) from Mesa, AZ has an MGA that was in a service shop for two years, was disassembled and had some sheet metal replacement and repairs, was in primer, ready for repaint and reasembly. The shop then decided they didn't have time to finish it (or something like that), and the disassembled car was returned to the owner. She is now looking for someone to paint the car and reassemble it. Not my profession, but I will have to check back later to see how this evolves.
By then we had gotten down to work in Randy's rotary engine MGA, determined to get it running. Might as well install the seats, as that didn't take long. Having repacked the master cylinder, we got the brakes to bleed out okay but were having a fiddle with bleeding the clutch. The Mazda clutch has a 3/4-inch bore slave cylinder, which in itself is not the problem. But this required a shorter throw for the output end of the clutch pedal, which was accomplished by drilling a second hole lower down and making an offset clevis to match. Cute, and odd, but it works. We finally used a rubber bung form a compression tester as an adapter to use an air pressure hose on the master cylinder fill port. That got the clutch to bleed out okay.
Then we were after the battery and the fuel system. The battery was duff, so get the truck and jumper cables. Put some gas in the tank, switch on, but no sound from the fuel pump. This was a high performance rotary pump with a pressure regulator before the carburetor. It would gently hum and get warm, but was not pumping fuel. Pump out and disassemble revealed the pump motor was seized, but that was freed up with a little twisting on the motor shaft. The pump head was also full of aluminum shavings, apparently left from drilling and tapping the custom aluminum fuel tank some years ago so clean that crap out. Back together and installed, good whirring sound but still not pumping. Swap the two wires on the pump to make it run the right way, and it was working. Fuel hoses up front needed changing, and the pressure regulator was removed at the same time (possibly a mistake).
There was a brief fiddle with the ignition system, having two ballast resistors to go with two ballasted ignition coils, but no bypass wires for the resistors. That made for low voltage while cranking, until we used jumper wires to bypass the resistors, and then it was running, for the first time in five years. Big grins all around.
It's alive! Get out of the way! Time for a hot lap down the taxiway, and in a few minutes it was back. Hesitant on acceleration, possibly too much fuel, will try reinstalling the pressure regulator, later, along with getting a new battery. For now time to call it a day, clean up the shop and pack away the tools and materials.
Sunday April 14, 2019:
Spittin' distance down the road, breakfast in Goodyear, AZ, just out of town west of Phoenix. Catch up day. After a whirlwind week we get to sit for a day to re-organize and plan for future travels. I sat with the Shops list and found several states where we had not visited all of the shops yet. Laid those out in sort of a loop, then listed the shops in each state, put them on map, pushed them around for an efficient short-path route, and did the same for the rest of the remaining states. I recon that makes for about 150 shops left to visit, and the states in order would be CA, NV, OR, WA, MT, ID, UT, WY, CO, NB, SD, IA, MI, OH. So maybe we have to fly over IL and IN, but we endeavor to complete this Shops list by August or so.
Going to need long legs this year. We bailed out of Goodyear, AZ about 10-pm heading west, and pulled up two hours later just short of the CA border around midnight.
Monday April 15, 2019:
Begin the day by topping it off with relatively cheap ($3 per gallon) gas in Arizona before we begin paying the hiked up California fuel prices (generally a bit over $4 per gallon). BTDT, knew this was coming. The proposed breakfast spot in Blythe, CA was closed for remodeling, so we cruised on almost two hours more to Coachella, CA for late breakfast and email check and a few phone calls.
We then stopped to see a friend just 15 minutes away, Joe Rojas in La Quinta, CA. He has a long-owned MGA that got a replacement gearbox recently. I think we talked him into rebuilding the old one to keep as a spare. Nice T-bird too. We had almost an hour for a cool drink and a little chat, then had to high-tail it out for points west (and south).
We were heading west and south to Santee, CA, on the northeast corner of San Diego, CA. The GPS thought the quickest way was an 80 mile shortcut through the mountains to Temecula, CA, tentatively 2-hr 10-mn. I have to admit that the mountain roads were nice (in spite of heavy traffic), but then we got slammed with an hour
delay for a one-lane pass at a bridge construction zone. Had we known that it would have been a lot quicker to take an extra 47 miles around the expressways. Trying to get to our destination around 4-pm, we arrived with crossed fingers at 4:47 and got lucky when the shop was still open.
Say hello to Armando Moran at Armando's Auto Upholstery in Santee, CA. He and one other older gentleman assistant are kept quite busy, but Armondo may be retiring in a few years, and it is likely the shop would be closed with no one else available to take it over. And yes, he does like old cars, and he went on for some time about working on MG TDs back in the day.
As it turned out, we were here before, two years earlier, so we didn't actually need to run down here today, but somehow had forgotten about the prior visit. Ah, such things happen occasionally, just one tank of gas and half a day off the calendar.
We took a few minutes to call old friends in Encinitas, CA, just to say "Hi" and let them know we were thinking about them on the way through, nice phone chat. Navigator was then dictating a quick stop at Walmart to pick up engine oil, then a couple of stops to find a "friendly" WiFi spot (meaning one with electrical outlet to charge the computers). We sit on the north fringes of San Diego, CA enjoying a very late lunch and reprieve from the desert heat earlier in the day. Sometime around 10-pm I recon we need to move a couple hours farther north to be near tomorrows planned start.
|
