The MGA With An Attitude

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MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (May 16- May 31, 2022)

Monday, May 16, 2022:
This was to be a day of odd coincidences, and not even April fools Day. First stop was a morning WiFi spot for breakfast, but it looked like Navigator's computer power pack (charger) didn't work when mine did, a little strange, since they were both working last night. So we search out a new one on line, and off we went to the nearest Walmart which was supposed to have one (or two) in stock, back in Texas. Picked up a new power pack and headed to another WiFi spot nearby, but that one had no power outlets, so then heading west somewhat farther down the road.
Next place verified Navigators new power back was working, but then mine was intermittent for a few minutes, and then dead. Say what? Check again, and the new power pack works with both computers, but neither of the old power packs would work in either computer. So back east to the same Walmart to buy another power pack. These things do fail occasionally, like maybe two year average life span when used daily, but two failures at the same time? Now wanting to get an extra one for inventory, just like car parts (but no more in stock here). We already carry an extra computer mouse and ear buds.
Then on a hunch we went north back to the first WiFi spot of the day in Oklahoma, and sure enough WiFi worked when we had two new power supplies. Having killed nearly half a day on the tricks, we got down to email, BBS, future planning, and trip log photos and notes for the past two days (but didn't quite finished it).

Tuesday, May 17, 2022:
A bit farther north, sitting in Atoka, Oklahoma today. Posted an addendum to a tech page for paint color on the MGA interior dash mirror. I know it sounds trivial, but the world collectively is gradually sneaking up on more concours originality details. I did finally catch up with the photos and notes from the week end.
Had a walk-in this evening, the son of Bill Howerton in Orangeburg, South Carolina. We were there in November 2014 and again in May 2016. His son knew our car at a glance and came in to chat for a few minutes. He is going to Tulsa, OK Thursday for a training session (same day we will be in Tulsa), then heading down to Austin, TX the next day for more training (long overnight drive no less). Just graduating from college, he took a job as an engineer (in training) with an oil drilling company. Too busy to see us again though, so smile and wave goodbye.

Wednesday, May 18, 2022:
Posted a new Part Number tech page for the AEH574 Gasket, MGA Twin Cam exhaust manifold, following the common question, "Which side up"?
Updated another tech page for restoration of the MGA interior mirror with more photos and notes, and the experiences of several different people.
Added more pictures to a tech page for rear seal for mid-production MGA 1500 gearbox.

Thursday, May 19, 2022:
Spent some time posting new part numbers pages for MGA gearbox rear seals, beginning with the early production external cup type seal.
In the evening we went to a meeting with Green Country MG Register in Tulsa, Oklahoma at at El Paso Mexican Bar & Grill in "The Farm" Shopping Center. It looked promising with a few LBC out font and 30 people inside. And it looked like a cozy candle light dinner.

Unfortunately the power was off, and we ultimately had to leave without dinner. Many were just disappointed and went home, bus a few of us managed to reassemble a few blocks down the street at Rincon Mexican Grille and Cantina. Sure put a damper on the club meeting. We may have to try this one again next on next pass.


Friday, May 20, 2022:
Decided to hang in near Tulsa for another day on the chance that we may have another treat. There is an old car museum here (somewhere), and someone donated an MGA to the cause. Well, maybe it was donated to the club, and it currently resides in the museum. Some club members get together on Thursdays (club meeting not withstanding) to work on restoration of the car. Got a few calls going around, so me may get a look at it before we leave town.
Called Bob Johnson at JT's Carburetors in Claremore, OK. Last time we were here in 2019 he was out of the country. Now he has construction going on with some problems, so no go this time as well. Maybe try again on next pass. But for sure he is still in business rebuilding carburetors.
One more phone call and we were off to visit Michael Jones Restoration in Tulsa, OK. So there's Michael on the left with his protege Ian Fritz on the right, who is destined to be the new shop owner within a year or so. I believe the BRG MGB is Michael's daily driver car, while the blue one is Ian's daily driver. The shop is in the back hiding behind the Airstream trailer, and Michael's race car is in the box trailer.

Inside the left wing of the shop is a storage and work room. We were introduced to a bit of history of the owner's prior cars (and his father's cars). And we had a friend and his son drop in to chat for a while.

Michael is about to give us a couple of tech tips here. First is a set of three hoses for connecting the oil pressure gauge pipe to the engine. The one in center is an original braided hose, perfect in every way. The one on right is a new Moss Motors issue hose with the female threaded end fittings that only screw on about two turns and may strip the threads before being fully secure (rats). The one on left is a new hose put together by a local hose shop on special order, perfectly functional, not exactly original appearance, and less expensive than the faulty Moss part.
Next up is a nice set of conical air filters. They come with a spacer ring adapting them to clamp nicely onto the MGB standard issue shortie air horns. A twist of a screwdriver is all that's needed to R&R these filters, very handy. they are Spectre 8161 filters, procured from a local O-Reilly Auto Parts store (or other parts stores that can special order almost anything). They will not clear the brake booster on a late model rubber bumper MGB.

Then Michael and Ian were installing an MGB convertible top while the rest of us were chatting. I think they were finished in about an hour, making it look easy.

Nice interior finishing for the new top. The rear bow has a fabric wrap secured with spray-on adhesive. Nice set of radio speakers in the rear bulkhead (owner's choice).

After the visitors left, Ian was installing a new tonneau cover on an MGA. About 90 minutes single handed, and a sweet fit to boot. About a year from now Ian will take over this shop. He intends to move it to some different location, so stay tuned as I will be updating the North American Shops list as it happens.


Saturday, May 21, 2022:
Sitting in Okmulgee Ok. Posted a new tech page for MGA water pump rebuild parts, bearings and seals. Made couple more phone calls and emails for future travel planning. Then finally got to post the photos and notes from yesterday. Couple of extended email messages with questions from a new MGA owner getting to know his car, and what to do about inspection and immediate maintenance.

Sunday, May 22, 2022:
Sitting in Okemah OK. Someone had another good idea for layshaft bearing upgrade to replace the no longer available original full compliment needle bearings. Since I already had a CAD drawing for the layshaft bearings, I spent a few hours modifying the original 3-bearing configuration to also show an earlier 4-bearing arrangement, and now a different 3-bearing idea using off the shelf standard parts including a longer small end bearing. This is will have to generate a new tech page as well.

Monday, May 23, 2022:
Much of the day in Shawnee, OK with rain, then moved on to Guthrie, OK with more rain. A little more info for water pump rebuilding (not much). Some question about what master cylinder is best, but lots of choices, and I recon they all work, so throw a dart.
Got an email from a friend in Jacksonville, Florida wondering if we were still in Florida (not since mid March), and could I maybe drop by to help with his car? Guess that will have to be an email exchange or a phone call.

Tuesday, May 24, 2022:
Sitting in Guthrie, OK. Did I mention it was raining? Like being in the eye of a hurricane, quiet for a while in the afternoon, but crap all around, so no sense going anywhere. We thought we had a tentative appointment in or near Oklahoma City, but having a hard time with communications.
Tech questions about turn signal flasher unit, felt bushings in the steering column, and a clutch that will not release after installation of new parts.
Got a message from Mike Spring at Sports Car Services in Keene, New Hampshire. He has a car that came from another shop after installation of a rear seal in an MGB 3-main bearing engine, and they couldn't get it to stop leaking. It turned out to be leaking between the new slip ring and the crankshaft flange, which likely means it was not machined to a proper Force Interference FN2 fit. It never ceases to amaze me how many of these things are being installed based on my "rushed" emergency design work in the mid 1990's. I keep telling everyone not to bother with this retrofit, but they keep doing it anyway.

Wednesday, May 25, 2022:
Still in Guthrie, OK, and still raining. Communications finally got through (had some stupid block on the cell phone). Waiting for a call back, thinking we may have something to do later today. At least three messages in the past two days wondering if we are still alive. Sorry about that. Guess I need to update the travel log.
We finally got in contact with a friend, Ron Cleveland, who used to live in Bethany, OK. We thought we were hanging out pretty close by, but it turned out that he moved about a year ago, now in Prague, OK, about 65 miles back southeast, where we missed him by only 10 miles a few days ago. Electrical power was off at his house, so he drove up 65 miles to meet us in Guthrie (nice guy). We had a 3-hour phone chat with him in December 2019, and another 2-hour phone chat in February 2022. He has been looking for an MGA that long, hasn't bought one yet, still looking. Why? Because he used to have one long time ago in his youth, and it was time to get another one.
We had a little chat, then went the check out the small town for amenities in Guthrie. Within a few blocks downtown there were two cafe, 2 dinner, 2 pubs, a French bistro, a Chinese restaurant, and I quit counting. Katie's Diner was closed, as well as Boomerang Diner, so we ended up at Stables Cafe (advertising gourmet burgers).

It didn't look like much in front, but different story inside. All 1950's decor with gas pumps, nickle and dime Coke machines and other collectibles all over (nice find).

After chow the MGA didn't want to fire, like no spark. I poked a few wires and dried off the spark plug (with original style bare HT terminals), and it started. Said goodbye to Ron, and he left, and as we were leaving the parking lot the MGA died again, and no-go this time. The coil was hot, likely dead, so I installed a spare coil from the trailer, but still no-go. Both coils had power input, and would blink a test light on the distributor terminal, so points were switching to ground properly, but still no spark. Wanted to test coil resistance, but my DVM had a dead battery (curses on electronics). On the chance that the used spare coil may also have been bad, I hitched a ride with a local a few blocks to O'Reilly A.P. to buy a new coil. Put that one in the car, and it fired right up. Drove two miles back to the local truck stop, and it was running bad again, then died and would not restart after it as parked. Boo, hiss. And then it gets worse.
While trying to poke at wiring again, I noticed the gear reduction starter motor was wobbling around a bit with some loose screws. Likely unrelated, but that needed to be fixed anyway, so time to switch off the battery cut-off switch (Lucas original style) and R&R the starter motor. Found one loose screw and one broken screw (half of it missing). Typical Chinese merchandise with metric socket head screws, so put it back together with one tight screw and one empty hole (have to R&R it again later).
Cut-off switch back on, but now no ground connection, failed switch. Grrrr, must be 4 or 5 of those failed by now, need to find a better solution. Meanwhile, disconnect one battery cable terminal (with Chinese metric bolts), jack up the car left side (hydraulic floor hack and jack stand from the trailer), and move the battery ground cable from the failed switch to original chassis grounding bolt, and reinstall the battery cable terminal. Then it was cranking freely again, but still no start.
Did I mention it was still raining? By now after 11 pm, and we had enough for the night. Put all the toys away and duck back into the truck stop restaurant (good that this one is open 24 hours). So I recon we get to sleep in the car tonight, and will take this story up again tomorrow.

Thursday, May 26, 2022:
All right, got some sleep, and breakfast, no rain, lower humidity, and sun shine for a change. Got back to the car at 1-pm. Installed a new battery in the DVM, checked resistance on all three coils, 3 ohm. 3 ohm, 1.5 ohm (we knew that was coming), and all three around 8600 ohms in the secondary winding. Could have saved some time if I had the little battery installed yesterday, nothing wrong with any of the coils. Reinstalled the original Lucas Sport Coil back in the car, tossed the other two in the boot, and got back to basics.
Checked fuel flow to satisfy Navigator. Did a compression test for my benefit (hadn't done that since installing new piston rings in April). Test light checking power to coil, good. Test light checking wire coil to points, no blink when cranking, so no connection to ground through points. That's interesting, as I was just cleaning the points last night. Pull the distributor out again, grab a jumper wire to put power to distributor input terminal, ground test light and touch to dizzy body, give the cam a turn, watch points open and close but no light. Probe around with test light to find power on input side of points but no on the mating contact. Sheesh. Emery paper to clean the points again, then getting contact on both sides, and reinstall the distributor.
Used a new HT wire to check coil output, and got a clean spark to a head stud at least half an inch in open air. Peachy. Hold the HT wire near the rotor in the distributor while cranking, and no spark jumping, meaning the rotor is okay not leaking to ground on the shaft. Reinstall dizzy cap and all HT wires, gave it a crank, and it started right up, surprising the hell out of Navigator (and maybe me too). Kill it, put all the toys away, and get ready to rumble. Start up again, and it runs like crap with failing ignition again (or still). Bummer. Get the DVM out, pull the spark plugs, and check resistance tip to tip. Two plugs showing 6K to 8K ohms, but two showing open circuit. Damn Champion resistor plugs, RN9YC. I hate resistor plugs, and Champion may be the worst of the bunch, don't even remember why they were in there.
Okay, plot us a course back to O'Reilly AP for a new set of spark plugs. The engine ran like crap, barely got us out of the parking lot, but improved some as we drove. Five minutes later arriving at the parts store it was running almost normal. Go figure. Go in and buy a new set of plugs anyway. No non-resistor plugs in stock, which may be why we used resistor plugs last time. Getting strange when service records show new Autolite 62 solid plugs were installed in 2016 (140,000 miles back), but so far cannot find when the Champion plugs were purchased or installed. Ended up buying Autolite 63 resistor plugs, tossed them in the door pocket and hit the road heading north (sill running on the old Champion resistor plugs).
Couple hours later in the evening, "Look Toto", we were rolling into Wichita, Kansas. Still not sure why the engine went wacky without notice yesterday. Navigator noted it was 30 miles after the last fuel load, and been raining incessantly the past few days, so maybe we had some water in the mix. Maybe never know, but thinking persistence pays, and should be able to fix anything (we hope).

Friday, May 27, 2022:
Sitting in McPherson, Kansas, plotting and planning. Sorry to report that the Topeka T's MG Car Club (for vintage MGs) is apparently defunct, long gone. After several years trying to find some communication with this club, I rattled the cage at New England MGT Register, who have them listed as a local chapter. Last known contact Kenneth Paslay passed away in 2020, and NEMGTR has no other means of contact there. So I now consider this club to be officially out of business (until proven otherwise).

Saturday, May 28, 2022:
More planning. One friend will be out of the country, so no visit on this pass. Another friend is busy this week end, so put his visit off until next week. One shop visit on our list, but this is the week end. The shop is supposed to be a repair shop, towing service, car sales and motel. On a chance it might be open on a week end, about mid day I called to inquire, got a frantic voice saying, "call back in 30 minutes, we're booked up".
Nothing else scheduled today, so we drove 50 miles to Junction City, Kansas go visit the place. On arrival the whole place was locked up, including the motel office. Called the same number again and was told this is not the right place, or not the right number, even though the number is painted clearly on the present sign. So I called the number on the tow truck, "Cant get to the phone, leave a message", but the voice mailbox was full. Heck of a way to run a business. Yes, there is a service shop back there too. Looks like we will have to come back for another visit during business hours on Monday.

So off to the nearest WiFi spot to see if I could find something useful to do. Sure enough, lots of recent news about crappy replacement front suspension seals (nothing new), and at least two alternative new sources making suitable seals of slightly different design and better materials. Now I can make new Part Number tech pages for three part numbers for two different parts (one part has two factory numbers). Check back tomorrow.

Sunday, May 29, 2022:
Our ignition problem is back. Last night one or two isolated pops (misfire or backfire) while cruising with light throttle at 65-mph. This morning started out okay, but began acting silly a few miles up the road, and gradually got worse. However, the issue could be improved (or made worse) by feathering the throttle pedal. Sometimes it might run perfect with light throttle and NEVER moving the pedal. Then going up hill with a little more throttle it would revert to severe cut-out and occasional backfire. Over the hill on the downslope with lighter throttle, it ran pretty good again. Pull over and let it idle, and it was perfectly happy.
What in the ignition system is throttle sensitive? The one thing I had not checked or changed or adjusted in the past few days. The soft flexible grounding wire between the distributor points plate and the housing. This wire flexes with motion of the vacuum advance mechanism every time you modulate the throttle making the vacuum advance operate. When this wire is broken it results in intermittent ground connection for the contact breaker points, sometimes finding ground through moving mechanical parts, sometimes not. My inventory list says I have one of these in the Magic Trailer, last purchased in November 2020 two days after I was doing ignition work on someone's MGB. And it was a special small order for ignition parts only, which means I am very diligent about restocking important parts. So go pull the part out of the trailer to be sure.
Moss Motors has no part number for this piece for the MGA, but they do have a similar number for MGB. The original MGA part has "D" terminals and braided cloth cover. The available Moss part has eye terminals and bare braided wire, and it may be a little longer, but it will work. Given time for cool down, I proceeded to pull the distributor to change this little wire. Sure enough, the old wire was broken right at the moving end terminal. This is the detail that is difficult to see when the cloth braid cover is still attached to the terminal end.

Now the moving end anchor screw was so mangled that I couldn't get a purchase on it with a screwdriver. I had several different sizes, but none would get it loose. Sitting in a truck stop without a good workshop handy, the expedient thing to do was to un-bend the crimp tabs to release the broken wire end, then cut the terminal end off the new wire, and crimp the new wire in place. Need to be very careful when you might screw up something that could disable the car. Persistence pays, and in the end it's back together and running again. Hard to believe how much grief this this was causing in the past few days. It sure feels better (with some confidence) to have it finally fixed. I probably would have found this problem earlier, if I wasn't working in the rain a few nights back.

Received a note from Mike Peters today. He is the current owner of MGA PRX 14, purchased in September 2009, given some needed maintenance and returned to competition. He had it stripped and repainted again in 2017. Today he reports, "Just to keep you updated with PRX 14, still running beautifully and in regular use. I love this car"! -- Mike
I love it when people drive the cars that were built to be driven. -- Barney

More work on new Part Number pages: finished posting pages for front suspension seals. 126902, AAA1323, ACG4030.

Monday, May 30, 2022:
Tough day, engine still not running right. After a few pop-pop's last night, this morning I changed the rotor, but it didn't help. Re-testing three coils, all look good on resistance testing. Trying all three in the car, first two no-go, then the new blue 1.5-onhm Ford coil gave a hot spark (maybe just a coincidence) so spent a little time installing a ballast resistor to match. Tried one lap around the car park, then onto the expressway, only to falter again in similar manner. Damn. Then we changed the distributor cap from a new side entry cap to a used top entry cap, and installed all new solid wire HT leads at the same time. That didn't help either. Mucked around with the carb float chambers a little, just checking, but plenty off fuel flow.
Already cleaned the points, and they test good open and closed. Plenty tired of this crap, and still hopelessly puzzled over what seems to be impossible. Time to call the distributor bewitched and pull the spare Lucas distributor out of the trailer to swap the bottom end, everything below the cap. Of course it was seized tight in the mechanical advance parts, so on with the penetrating oil and tools to get it disassembled and oiled up working and reassembled. Pretty sure the vacuum advance diaphragm leaks, but can fix that later after we get the spark to be more reliable. Some fuss with the power input flex wire with this one, but eventually back together and running again. We drove 30 miles to our next appointment without incident, but still reserving judgement to see what happens next.
Being Monday (ignoring the legal holiday), we wandered back to Junction City, KS to take another shot for a visit at Homestead Auto Sales (minimal activity), and Motel (old and slow), and Tow Service (over loaded), and repair shop (maybe anything other than vintage British cars). Things looked to be closed up, but a phone call raised a friendly voice, and when I mentioned our mutual friends in Panama City, Florida had sent us, the guy popped right out to say hello (and check out the car of course).
Our first intended target was Charlie Gay, but he was in southern Illinois (vacation I think). But we did get to meet his partner Scott Nielson who happens to own a 1973 MGB. The Alaska shirt was a conversation starter. The car is not here, but is at his home, reported to be in primer under restoration for, shhhhh .... (maybe a couple of decades). I recon he had more questions than I did, so chat ran for the better part of an hour before we high tailed it off to a nearby WiFi spot, for breakfast at 4-pm (told you it was a tough day).

Assuming the MGA continues to run okay, we have a two hour drive south to Wichita, KS area tonight.

Tuesday, May 31, 2022:
Okay, we drove to Wichita late last night, and it didn't miss a beat the whole way, so I think we got past the ignition problem. Best final guess on the cause of the problems may have been contact points sticking open sometimes, but not always, and never when I was inspecting and cleaning and testing them. The final proof would be (if I ever get around to it) to reinstall the failing distributor, show that it still fails, and then install new contact points to see if that fixes it.
After breakfast, but before venturing out of town for our appointment, we stopped fuel. A friendly voice said, "Nice car". After half a minute of chat about what we were doing, he said, "Are you Barney"? .. Yes .. "Are you THAT Barney"? .. Yes .. "I gotta get a picture of your car". When he found out where we were going today, he said, "Tell Harry that Clean Dean says hello". .. Okay .. Apparently they did some touring together in Harry's red TR3.
Then we were off to visit Harry Price in Rose Hill, KS. He has (and has had) various vintage British cars, including the red TR3. He gave it to his daughter as a wedding gift. Photo is from our prior visit in 2015. A few years and two kids later she gave it back. So he sold it and gave the money to his daughter. Now he is restoring another TR3.

Then Harry introduced us to his armada of vintage cars.



Yeah, well, that last one is his daily driver Jaguar.

Then off to the workshop to check out his latest project, another TR3, I suppose a replacement for the red one. Chassis work and body work and paint finished, now in process of reassembly, so it is definitely going well. Various parts not yet in assembly are on the floor or on the shelves, some hanging on the walls, and I'm sure lots of spare and left over parts as well.

We had plenty of time to sit and chat about cars, past, present and future, travel stories, tech stuff old and new, vintage cars in movies (and watched some YouTube videos. Took his dog for long walk, and chat some more. Heck of a nice way to wind down Memorial day week end.
And just for kicks, two pictures from 2015, and one today.

About 4-pm we bade goodbye an headed off for late lunch and a good WiFi spot for the rest of the evening.