The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (October 1 - October 15, 2020)
Thursday, October 1, 2020:
After a month of crunching part numbers daily, today turned out to be trailer maintenance day. The weather was fairly decent with mild temperatures, partial sun and not much prospect of rain, so I didn't bother to pull the rig into the shop. What was supposed to be a straight forward tire change, quickly turned into a lot more work. I didn't even have the tires off the trailer when I knew the wheel bearings were shot, loose and noisy, but we opted to change the tires first.
We had a bead breaker, and removing the old 2-ply load range-B tires was just the normal sort of grunt work. The tire with the ugly bevel on the tread was a result of a bad wheel bearing immediately after those tires were installed, so I was kind of surprised they actually did 16,000 miles.
Mounting the new tires turned out to be a royal PITA. While I have had Load Range-C tires on the trailer before, this is the first time I have ever tried manually mounting the things. I have no idea about the carcass construction, but the sidewalls are a little stiffer, and the tire beads seem to be extremely stiff. We had a heck of a time trying to get the bead to stretch out of round enough to go over the rim. We finally used a C-clamp to secure the rim on top of the bench vice, then two guys prying with two extra large tire irons, and another large C-clamp to help pull the tire and rim together radially. Persistence ultimately paid off, but note to self, get a tire shop to do it next time, if I ever get Load Range-C trailer tires again.
 While we were fighting the new tires, we got a little rain, which for a few minutes included some small hail. A bit surprising, since it was 55dF at ground level, so it must have been one heck of an inversion with the cold weather upstairs.
Then the new wheel bearings were also a bit more hassle than anticipated, but at least this time the fight was in the shop with a bench and proper tools. With a catastrophic failure of right side bearings at the end of the eastern Canada trip in late 2018, both the bearing hub and the stub axle were damaged in a few different ways. We managed to piece it back together at the time, but more troubles continue to gnaw at us, so I suppose I will be replacing the whole axle in the not to distant future.
In the end, all new wheel bearings and new tires at the same time. The new tires have a brand name I never heard before, Destone. Give them credit for being cheap, just over $18 each with free delivery. I have noticed on occasion that it is often same price for Load Range-B and Load Range-C. The significant difference with these tires is a notably narrow tread and bulging sidewalls, like generally round cross section. Time will tell, but I have a feeling they are not going to run up any high mileage record.
Friday, October 2, 2020:
Not quite sure why I feel good about today. More than just residuals from finishing some tough maintenance yesterday (and this afternoon is WiFi day). The Part Numbers Index seems to be slightly behind schedule, not finished by month's end, but that may have been a bit of wishful thinking. It doesn't really have a fixed schedule, just important that it keeps progressing regularly so it will be finished (eventually). Got another half dozen pages done in the past two days, now finished through Twin Cam SPL page R.47. Another 10 pages to go in Section R, and then the Tool Kit and Paints in Section S, which is just a couple of pages. Must be what feels good, that light at the end of the tunnel getting bigger every day.
Saturday-Sunday, October 3-4, 2020:
Surprised myself. I was really cranking on the MGA Part Numbers index list Friday evening, all day Saturday, and into the small hours of the morning Sunday. The list is finished, and uploaded to the web site today, something like 193 folders matching the part number prefixes, and more than 14,000 line items. Now it should be interesting to see what new uses people may find for this new data set. Eventually the part numbers may have links to new web pages to provide more information about the individual parts (which could keep me busy for years to come).
I'm rather pleased at how well this has progressed, since the section skeleton and first part page was posted on June 15th. Finished the MGA 1500 SPL on July 24 (7 weeks), finished the
MGA 1600 SPL on September 7 (6 weeks), and the Twin Cam SPL on October 2 (4 weeks), less than four months start to finish. About time to get rolling again. We plan to leave brother's place Friday morning, and will be in the Indianapolis, IN area this week end.
And a quick trip to Tractor Supply to pick up a piece of 5/8" diameter steel bar stock for a little fabrication project, and a short stop at O'Reilly Auto Parts to order a pair of air cleaners.
Monday, October 5, 2020:
Did little clean-up work on the part numbers list, formatting and page link checking. With a bit of time to spare, I was "coerced" into making new web page for "generic" AJD-xxxx part numbers. Seems like there was an internal information page that escaped the factory, which defines ranges of AJD numbers to be assigned to standard hardware items. This was done (most likely in 1952) shortly after the merger of Austin and Morris to form British Motors Corporation (BMC). The idea was to consolidate part numbers from the two prior companies for standard hardware. Since this page pre-dates production of MGA cars, it is only of passing interest to MGA, but it does give an idea of how several thousand AJD part numbers came to be organized.
Tuesday, October 6, 2020:
Back to O'Reilly to pick up the Wix 42032 air cleaners. A few people claim these should fit into the original filter shells. We'll see. -- Uploaded the slightly cleaned up version of the MGA Parts List, and the one additional page for generic AJD part numbers -- Received the Publisher copy of the CMGC October newsletter to be installed on the club web site. Never did get the September issue, and don't know if it was even published. If that comes in, then I will have two issues of the club newsletter to upload.
Wednesday, October 7, 2020:
Between late last night and early today, I got the CMGC October newsletter formatted for the club web site. Not on WiFi today, so the upload will have to wait for tomorrow.
Installed the new Wix air filters today. They are slightly thicker than the original filters with felt washer
seals, so leave out the felt seals, but the bolts tighten up well. They are slightly smaller Outside Diameter than the original filters, so the outer screen may be left a little loose (will wait to see if it may rattle). They are significantly smaller Inside Diameter, and there is light wire mesh inside screen that needs to be trimmed back some to clear the air vent tube in the front air cleaner. Also gave the car chassis an overdue lube job.
I finally gave in and taped over the hole in my "new" leather seats. Well, they were brand new complete
seats two years ago in April, and haven't been used much this year. The hole was there a year ago after only 50,000 miles. It so somewhere between difficult and unreasonable to take the covers to an upholstery shop once a year to have this panel replaced. This is my third set of seat covers since original restoration in late 1986, and I have replaced that panel two additional times (once for each prior set), so now worn through five times, and more than half of the mileage has accumulated with tape over the open holes. I am going to have to find some thicker and more durable leather, somewhere, sometime. Otherwise hard to think about changing to vinyl covers to be more durable? Once we discount the thickness of the cloth backing, the actual leather surface seems to be paper thin. I can't believe I'm the only person with this problem.
While I was working on the car, brother was busy in the shop making a hand full of replacement studs for
the rebound straps. These parts do not have a public part number from the factory, because they were originally part of the rear axle housing weldment, or part of the chassis frame weldment. They still need to have a narrow washer welded on part way down the shank for a backstop. A couple of these are reserved. A couple may be available. There is no way we are going into production to make enough of these parts to replace every broken stud on any MGA. But I will post a drawing on the web site so people can make their own.
Thursday, October 8, 2020:
Last day on WiFi in the area before we move on. Uploaded the October issue of the CMGC newsletter to the club web site. Have begun adding new pages to the MGA Part Numbers List, so far several pages for some factory accessoriies, just because it was at the begining of the alpha list. Open to suggestions on what
MGA parts may need some detail information. Making plans for the next 1000 miles. Heading to Indianapolis Friday morning to visit a couple of friends and do a little car tinkering. Then maybe back to Columbus, Ohio for a bit before York Pennsylvania, and New Milford, Connecticut for friends with a hand up. Have a few more lines on the Planning sheet, but plenty open to suggestis for new destinations.
Friday, October 9, 2020:
A casual 2-hour drive south today to visit our old friend Eric Nelson in Zionsville, Indiana. He has been systematically removing floorboards on his MGA 1600-MK-II to repair slightly rusted mounting rails and frame
walls, and I recon he has a pretty good handle on those issues. But there was a pesky oil spot under the front end of the differential. To me the fix is S.O.P., but to Eric it seemed a little intimidating. Since it was up on stands, and half the floor was out, it seemed easiest to get after this thing from inside the car. Out with the side curtains, flip the bag up out of the way, and remove the battery cover. A pair of 1/2-inch end wrenches soon had the propshaft disconnected. And a 1-1/8-inch socket on the impact wrench quickly had the pinion shaft nut removed. The flange splines were being stubborn, but a large hammer finally got it to slide off. He got to use his brand new seal puller to extract the old seal (which turned out to be hard as a rock).
Not long to get the new seal tapped into place, then tap the flange back in place, and impact wrench the lock-washer and big nut back together. Then it seemed like a good time to drain the old oil before refilling, and good we did, because the old oil was pretty ugly black and gooey. Ran out of time due to other commitments, but we may attack it again in the morning to drain and change the gearbox oil.
Saturday, October 10, 2020:
Okay, up early and get back to work on Eric's car. First order of business was to R&R the distributor to re-orient the drive gear to get the HT wires into their correct location on the cap. Of course you have to do this without dropping the drive gear into the crankcase, so there was that bit of fun.
So it fired up immediately, but then the starter motor kept running and wouldn't quit, even after engine shut down, having to disconnect the battery. A bit of poking around with a test light revealed the starter solenoid stuck in the "ON" condition, so that was duff, and we made a quick trip into town for a new solenoid from NAPA.
Then we cut the old solenoid open for autopsy. Yes, that is a piece of paper used for an insulator. The next picture shows the small spot where the starting current burned through the nickle plating to weld the two bits of brass together. Seen this before. Apparently that's what you get when you buy cheap. We had a nice chat to wind down, and a couple hours later we caught the snap of the mid-70's Chevy Nova, and a nice wave from the driver when he slowed to turn off.
Sunday, October 11, 2020:
Ran across another friend this morning, northbound expressway on west side of Columbus, Ohio. Found a place to kill a few hours mid day to evening. Dropped by Marc Chapman's place to drop off couple of rebound strap mounting studs. Then headed east. Landed for the night at the Pennsylvania Welcome Center with very nice weather.
Monday, October 12, 2020:
Primary mission today was to find a suitable WiFi spot and kill the day (so to speak). Quick stops at multiple McDonald's revealed multiple closed dining rooms. Did early lunch at a Sheets fuel station before continuing the search. Bumped into a guy who wanted to chat about a TR3 he is half way through restoring. Finally blundered into a McD's with open dining space in Ebensburg, PA, and the first one we have found in nearly seven month with dining space open until 11-pm (all others being closed at 7-pm). Just guessing this may be an independent franchise rather than a corporate store. But at least it bodes well for Pennsylvania. Not sure what this little town is supposed to be famous for, but maybe a truck stop on a side highway when you want to avoid the toll road interstate. We traveled a couple hours farther east late night.
Tuesday, October 13, 2020:
At 9:00 a.m. we found another McD with open dining room in Camp Hill, PA. We hung in there taking advantage of WiFi until we were asked to leave at 2:00 pm, then headed east again. Having a couple hours to spare, we spent some time checking out possible WiFi spots, but no such luck. We hit a drive-up for late lunch, then dropped in for an evening appointment with friends at Darrell's Garage in York, PA. This would be Darrell Lutz, and we have been here before (more than once). As dusk was falling, cars and people were arriving, and we surmise that Darrell had sent out the word that we were going to be here tonight.
The hardtop Morris Minor belongs to Darrell. Over the past couple of years the friends had procured this car as a very needy project and collectively massaged it back to life with very respectable appearance.
Eventually we collected a second TR3, a new Royal Enfield motorcycle, two more MGA, a modern Fiat 500 and a Lexus 300 hiding somewhere in the dark.
Eventually we had at least 15 cars, and a few more people. Nothing under process in the garage tonight, so this was mostly a social visit (and time very well spent).
Tucked into a side bay was one friend's latest project, a Lotus Elan ready to be re-awakened. Across the alley were more cars, very nice ones, mostly just in storage.
After four hours of social networking it was time to call it a night and move along. We drove another hour or two more east before stopping for the night.
Wednesday, October 14, 2020:
Today we had in mind to head into southern New Jersey to visit a shop that we missed two years ago when we got snowed out in mid November. So we did, but Christopher's NAPA Auto Care Center in Ocean City, New Jersey had been closed for six years. But the only way we know this is to drop in, take pictures, and ask questions of the current tenant or neighbors. Job done, turn round and head north again.
While driving we kept checking out fast food shops for possible WiFi spots, but all dining rooms were closed. Out of New Jersey, across the Delaware Memorial Toll Bridge, we finally found a Waffle House open in Abingdon, Maryland where we stopped for dinner (as we watched the sun go down). Then we parked next to a McD to sponge off of their WiFi while making plans. Got a call from brother in Indiana with news that several states were clamping down on the Covid lockdown again, so it was looking like public dining rooms (and WiFi spots) would be mostly closed for some significant while longer. Okay, we headed south and ended up just across the state line into Virginia.
Thursday, October 15, 2020:
Just driving today, not much reason to stop for anything. Rip across Virginia, North Carolina and half of South Carolina. Tough decision, but by evening we were checking into an Extended Stay hotel in Columbia, SC, kind of committed to another two months of sitting stationary. I hate the idea, but it looks like travel just got to be a whole lot less practical for the foreseeable future. Truth is, we checked into a "practical" WiFi spot, and the room that came with it is just incidental.
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