The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (August 1 - August 15, 2021)
Sunday, August 1, 2021:
The car has had a day for the rust converter to work, so now it's time to see about fiber glassing the hole in the
RF wing. First we have yesterday's finish picture (at right), but remove the RF corner lamp. Below.we see the obnoxious hole needing to be plugged, then some thin card stock taped snuggly on the outside, and some fiberglass cloth strips cut and ready to apply. Mix up some gooey stuff, 10 drops of hardener for each ounce of resin, and apply with a paint brush. If you get it right, you should have about 20 minutes to slap the juice on, paint the surface first, stick on the cloth, then paint the cloth until it is saturated, and hopefully leaving no bubbles. Apply multiple layers, depending on strength desired. Clean up tools (and sticky fingers) with lacquer thinner, before the resin sets up.
First picture below is the inside view of wing and cardboard, before application. Second picture is with two layers of fiberglass cloth in place. Last picture is with four layers of cloth. Properly done it is nearly clear and transparent. And then we got to wait about four hours for the resin to set up before touching it, so take a break. By this time it was raining pretty good, but we were high and dry inside. Actually this is not a bad job for a rainy day when you would be hesitant to be painting.
Back at 6-pm, this is what it looks like with the cardboard removed. The again after a little trimming around the edges and under the chin. And after two passes of fill and smooth, the lady with cosmetics hiding the blemishes.
A look behind with some primer applied, valance screw holes cleared out and chased with a tap. An hour later after sanding and priming, and half an hour to reinstall the lamp.
Another feel good day, as we fixed something that has been a problem for more than a few years. I think we will be taking a day off tomorrow to catch up with the world. If some of you have been missing our progress reports recently, that's because we have been on half WiFi late nights where we couldn't upload the photos and notes. But you should see everything up to here by Monday mid day (welcome to August).
Monday, August 2, 2021:
Needing a day off here. Someone sent more pictures of MGA British police cars, so took a short break to add those to an existing web page
 Added another tech page for ignition HT wire lengths on the Twin Cam engine (with pictures), before and after re-routing of the wire runs in production.
CMGC publisher format newsletter came in, and I got half of that transcribed to web page format.
John Twist UML MG Zoom seminar tonight, 8-pm-10-pm EST, killed most of what was left of the day.
Tuesday, August 3, 2021:
If nothing else, I finished transcribing the second half of the CMGC newsletter and uploading it to the club web site. Couple hours to spare, and I recon tonight is party night in the alley in York.
As folks began rolling in around 6-pm, Darrell and John were getting the steering column bolted back in place after installing a new ignition switch in the motor home. And a couple of guys cleaning house.
Then it was time to move a few cars, get the Lotus Elan out of the way first, then pull out the MGB that was tucked in beside it. Put the MGB on the lift for inspection underneath.
Someone is interested in a restoration project. Surprise, this one actually has floors still in place. The lower fenders and rocker panels have typical rust and need to be replaced, but lower body outer metal is easy enough to replace. We think this one is about to find new home.
By this time there were so many cars showing that we were into overflow parking in the Comcast lot across the street (after business hours).
Now grab the two-wheeler, time to put some of the toys back in the shed. The yellow MGB has been gradually contributing parts to multiple repair and restoration projects. Guys are getting tired of moving it around without all its wheels, so there may soon be a concerted effort to disassemble it and dispose of the shell for more space.
The rest of the evening turned into mostly social and car chat, and some inspection of the body work progress on our MGA. We are commonly among the last to leave, then doing late dinner and WiFi until past midnight.
Wednesday, August 4, 2021:
Grunt work day. Late breakfast, and a trip to Harbor Freight to pick up a paint spray gun (not the one I wanted, unfortunately), and some more primer in a spray can and higher grit sandpaper. Remember the last picture from
Sunday (below left). Well, there was a little more finishing work today, and we touched up another small rust-through spot on the main body near the right wing piping, and wet sanded the primer a couple of times. Took an hour break in late afternoon, and came back with that overwhelming urge to go red. Brush painting first inside the wings front only), and inside the nose and top of the air pan (just as a clean-up move). Final red spray on the outside was maybe 20 minutes, after figuring out how the new pain gun works, around 6-pm. Pretty sure it's not quite as nice as the picture makes it look, but equally sure it will do for a G-job.
Couple of friends to chat with in the evening, and putting cars to bed before 10-pm. Overnight may not be quite enough curing time, so maybe reassembly tomorrow evening. Would be happy to make it street legal with lights again by late night tomorrow, and finish the rest of the front trim maybe Friday.
Thursday, August 5, 2021:
Follow on from yesterday, the paint with hardener in it cures fairly quickly. Mid day start, three hours to bolt up the wings and install all the lights, first picture. One hour mid afternoon lunch break, then another three hours to install three new 4-inch air hoses, and the new gill (bit of a pain), and the front valance panel, fairly easy by the tenth time around in 35 years (second picture). Then a quick trick to make the front valance panel fasteners disappear, just a touch ot paint, third picture.
Our host Darrell (right) and a friend Jeff (left) were out of town for a few hours 6-9 PM checking out a late
production MGB that would start up but would not run well. That turned out to be a plugged up catalytic converter (glowing red hot), easy diagnosis, expensive part. Guys returned 9-pm, good timing, just finishing up the work on the MGA for the night, so we switched from work mode to party mode. Everything back together except the front bumper. Will likely put that off for a bit, take tomorrow off to catch up BBS and email and upload the photos and notes. Visitors get a little concerned when we don't post anything for a few days.
Friday, August 6, 2021:
Day off? So now Friday morning we are caught up with photos and notes, and checking a few days worth of email and BBS notes. Looking at weather forecast, thinking we need to get the front bumper installed ASAP, like maybe before noon tomorrow, before things get too hot again.
Saturday, August 7, 2021:
Trying for an early start, (9:30-ish), moved a couple of cars and got the MGA on the hoist by 10-ish. Only
fighting the front bumper brackets and bolts for three hours (about as expected), good enough for now.
Time for a change of oil and filter, after honing and installing new
pistons and rings (and cam and tappets) three weeks and 630 miles ago (been that long already?). Moderate amount of iron fuzz on the magnetic drain plug (which is exactly why we use one).
Should check/adjust the tappets again, but have a more pressing problem. Looks like the front tappet cover is leaking significantly, like 20 drops (drips) per minute while idling. Drats! I tried so hard to get the tappet cover gaskets right. Needing to R&R the carburetors and intake manifold for that fix, chore for another day. Going to be hot for the next few days. Clean-up time, and get a couple of cars back in the barn by 2:30.
Sunday, August 8, 2021:
Day off? Think hot.
Monday, August 9, 2021:
More heat, but we have something to do in the evening (5:30-pm). The rubber bumper MGB that was pulled out of storage last week (after 23 years asleep), and gets pushed around every time we need to use the hoist, wants to run and drive before it will head off for body and paint work. So today it got a shot of Marvel Mystery Oil in the cylinders, anticipating first rotation, before it got pushed outside again).
Then there was a bit of work on parking brake controls on an MGB. Cable lever on left side was stuck, so pull off the brake drums and do some disassembly to free up and oil the lever pivot point. Also spray penetrating oil all over the brake cable to free it up to slide easily, re-assemble, re-adjust brake shoes, and the parking brake works. Score one for the good guys. The cable is now at max stretch, and limit of adjustment, so should get a new cable soon, along with new rubber dust boots for the rear levers.
Still hot, so enough work for now. Sundown was a good time to turn work time into social time, and I recon we will be back tomorrow for the regular Tuesday night garage meeting.
Monday, August 9, 2021:
We stayed over in York, PA last night, maybe a mistake (hot night). Out of town and 20 miles north into the hills this morning to Etters, PA for one of the available WiFi spots so we can get photos and notes for the past few days uploaded. Will be back in York later this evening.
Tuesday, August 10, 2021:
Club night at Darrell's Garage, otter-n-ell, but at least 15 people came anyway. About 7-pm a storm front hit, and it rained like crazy for about 20 minutes, cooling things off a bit.
The primary project for the night was to investigate "clunk" in the rear end of and MGB GT. Someone thought it was a good idea to disconnect the rear shock absorber link to isolate the shock for a push test, but no problem there. Next was to check the wire wheels, which revealed loose worn drive splines in the wheel hubs, both sides, same issue we had with another car a couple days earlier. This can be an expensive fix. I also noticed no rubber rebound buffers on the rear of this car, but was told they are in hand just waiting to be installed.
Betwixt the heat and the rain, nothing else got done tonight, but I did notice one of my headlamp trim rings was missing. That's what I get for leaving the screws out so I could re-adjust lamp alignment after driving at night. This turned out to be no big problem, We took a trip to "Annex B" a few blocks away (another rented garage space) to grouse around through some spare parts, and indeed did turn up a spare trim ring that fit my car. Bully for the guys who throw nothing away. And do please put a screw in it this time.
Wednesday, August 11, 2021:
Some discussion about broken odometer drive gears and where to get replacements. Had some plans for this evening, but got hit with a horrendous rain storm about 5-pm, near zero visibility, and a multi-car accident closed I-83 north of York, PA. Luckily we weren't in it, just making phone call to check on the appointment. Our prospective appointment called to cancel, so now nothing happening.
Thursday, August 12, 2021:
Only honorable mention for the CMGC web site committee evening Zoom meeting (after having skipped two weeks while some were on vacation). As usual, not much progress, as the one or two committee members who might actually do something constructive only want to do their homework during class time (while others sit and watch while they play with the new toys). They have been fiddling with this stuff since last December, and I don't have any hope that they might have anything functional working before next December,
Friday-Sunday, August 13-15, 2021:
Hot weather is a good excuse to do nothing for a while, but by Sunday the weather had turned tolerable. Somehow I seem to have let navigator talk me out of working on the car on Sunday, but there are some plans for tomorrow. Since we got to the bottom of the page in mid month, I thought it was necessary to post something here, just to keep people from worrying about the long pause with nothing posted.
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