The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (October 16 - October 31, 2022)
Sunday, October 16, 2022:
The MGA Twin Cam roadster YD3.564 originally on display at the Paris Motor Show in October 1958, recently restored for BIG money, is now up for auction on Bring-A-Trailer with no reserve. I suppose the ultimate buyer is about to get a sweet deal, as it will likely not bring as much as the cost of restoration.
Monday, October 17, 2022:
Planning day with lots of email and phone calls, about to storm the lower eastern coastal states. Bunch of tech questions on jammed brake drum, gearbox stuck in neutral, leaky heater core, flywheel removal (shop manual errors), Weathershield side curtains and Twin Cam distributor drive. Heading south to North Carolina late night.
Tuesday, October 18, 2022:
Posted a new tech page for Heater Delete. Not as simple as it may sound, because the base model MGA did not have a heater, but it did have some blanking plates. So when deleting an optional heater you may need to procure some possibly missing original equipment parts that are not on the car when you start the project.
 The special MGA Make-A-Wish Trailer hand built (big expense and much labor time) specifically for sale to benefit Make-A-Wish children's charity just sold on Bring-A Trailer. I recon the buyer got a good deal, as it sold for significantly less than the out of pocket expense to build it (not to mention all the free labor time). The builder/seller paid the listing fee. The total selling price and buyer's premium was donated to the charity along with significant individual donations. As date of the sale over $4,300-USD was raised for the charity.
Wednesday, October 19, 2022:
Much discussion on originality of MG side curtains, how core plugs work, resurrecting a locked up engine, and pedal box fit and installation. More travel planning, and more cancelled appointments and missed communications, so had the day off to catch up planning and some tech stuff.
Thursday, October 20, 2022:
Dropped in to visit Kevin Jones in Graham, NC. He has a very nice mostly original low mileage 1980 MGB LE. He bought this car via an Leland auctions antique dealer sale a year ago, because he used to have the same model some years earlier, and he really wanted a nice one. A local shop talked him into removing the original Z-S carburetor and catalytic converter, and converting it to exhaust headers and a downdraft Weber carburetor. This is often a pretty good "upgrade" for a rubber bumper MGB, but not so sure about this one since it is such low mileage and very original.
We had some discussion about how they had defeated fuel vapor recovery, positive crankcase ventilation and anti-run-on functions, and what it might take to restore those functions using the Weber carburetor. He still has the Z-S carburetor, but not the manifold or cat-con. The air pump and associated parts also long gone. Pity. And now he is about to sell the car. If interested contact lebjones307@gmail.com
Friday, October 21, 2022:
Mid day cruise and the Garmin GPS took us on a shortcut through the woods (really). Narrow winding road through some hills for several miles, mostly 3rd gear, occasionally 2nd gear for some of the steeper hills. Then a landmark I recognized by structure, a bridge on the Blue Ridge Parkway. So that's where we were! A bit farther on we arrive to visit Doug Milota in Roanoke, VA.
He has a daily driver 1967 MGB GT (among other things). It seems to have a 1968 4-synchro gearbox, but still with the 1967 engine. Also a pair of high back racing bucket seats that do not really do it justice.
Somewhere in his odd parts collection he has a very rare original Lucas traveling spare bulbs and fuse kit.
Saturday, October 22, 2022:
Start the morning changing another failed brake light switch, NAPA 16271, 2-months to the day, 5613-mi (right on schedule). Replaced with Car Quest SBA2118 (purchased at Advanced Auto). -- Quick solve of someone's headlight switch wiring error. -- With a few cancelled appointments I think we got a day ahead of schedule, so get to take another day of leisure. -- The $173,000 MGA Twin Cam on BAT just sold for $80,000, so as expected the buyer gat a good deal (normal) while the seller took bath on the restoration cost. -- Late night northward run on and off of I-64, including an hour of winding roller coaster hills, much in 3rd gear and a a little in 2nd gear, landed us in Hurricane, West Virgina shortly after midnight,
Sunday, October 23, 2022:
Better weather, finally 45dF overnight,and going to be 74dF by mid afternoon, no more frost. Early enough breakfast, but nearly half a day to kill before appointment. -- On cue at 2-pm we dropped in to visit Josh Miller in Hurricane, WV. Looks are not deceiving as he is the youngest member of the local British car club.
He has a nice 1956 MGA in original Glacier Blue with the early style dash instruments.
Nearly four years into this project he is not particularly happy with prior body repairs and painting, some panels incorrect configuration and not properly aligned, missing B-pillar shut face plates, contemplating more cut and weld and some repaint to correct some of the problems. Having come a few hours out of our way to get here (and a few more hours for later return), I recon it was time and effort well spent. We had more than a few hours of discussion on originality and current issues and what might be reasonably done to correct some of it.
Upon departure, a very late lunch (8-pm) with WiFi time was to be followed by another late night run back south.
Monday, October 24, 2022:
Still in West Virginia this morning, after breakfast we headed south again. Stopped a couple times to check email and phone messages, and twice more to re-fuel.
By evening we had run through five states from West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. In late evening we may have been a hundred yards from the Georgia state line, but turned away and headed east instead. Along the way we verified one shop we might have visited was no longer in business, so no stop there. Another shop with one phone number and two locations was not returning a phone call for a few days, so no stop there either. Juggle appointments, change priorities, got a half day ahead of schedule, so opted to make a programmed Tuesday morning stop on Monday.
By 5-pm we stopped in to visit Douglas "Doug" Hansen at Triumph Restorations in rural Westminster, SC. Doug was a wee tike when his father was building this shop, Family now gone, Doug is still running the shop, and he is young enough to be around for a long time to come. Gotta appreciate this guy right off.
One of his proudest achievements is this custom built Triumph which he has titled GTR-5. It started out as a TR-4, now having grafted on the fastback roof from a TR-GT6+ and ultimately to carry the 2.5-litre 6-cylinder engine from a TR-5 (the European fuel injected version of the American market TR-250).
The TR4 bonnet has the early short bubble, which maybe makes more sense to TR people.
There is an early Spitfire in process of evolving into a Spit-6 (replacing the 4-cylinder engine with another GT6+ 6-cylinder engine). And another TR6 engine ready prepped for another future project.
Another car, possibly the only one in the country, is a Triumph Acclaim CD. This is the last model that Triumph built before closing shop. It is essentially a front wheel drive Honda with a Triumph badge attached, never sold in North America. Good story about how he latched onto this one in Europe and shipped it home.
Other fun stuff in process, including a few customer cars.
Years worth of accumulated TR parts stashed about. Several mostly complete cars out back, a few parts cars and more possible restoration candidates. Want one? Make him an offer, and he may restore it for you.
There is a mostly complete Triumph Standard Model 10 sedan begging to be restored, but considering limited demand and market value, maybe not any time soon.
Another TR4 and another Spitfire.
Below, a Toyota Land Cruiser that used to be the shop work truck before it was retired. This one may also eventually be restored for sentimental reasons.
Doug is happy to be on my Shops list, but he only works on Triumph cars for customers, because that's what he knows best, nothing wrong with being a specialist.
With a bit of daylight left, we got out a few wrenches and once again changed out the broken alternator bracket (only three bolts). You know, the brand new Moss Motors part just installed ten days ago. So we reinstall the last broken one that we had welded up, hopefully better than new. Save the broken bits to be welded up later.
Losing the sun, time to head up the road to find a serviceable WiFi spot for very late lunch and to catch up on photos and notes and a day's worth of email. Had some trouble with computer glitches, so that didn't get finished until a day later.
Tuesday, October 25, 2022:
Mid day stop to visit Hap (Happy) Waltrip in Taylors, South Carolina. We had visited his old shop in Greenville, SC in 2014, then visited his interim shop in his home garage in 2018. Now returning to check out his new shop built in his own back yard. He did exactly what I would have done, built the biggest shop that could fit in the space allowed (and very close to the maximum size allowed in a residential neighborhood). Something like 48x72 feet with lots of headroom, well insulated with heating and air conditioning. Not by coincidence, five feet from the rear lot line and very close to the back of the house, 70 foot set back from the main roadway to the rear of the building, and just enough space for a few parking spaces in the new driveway. Gotta love this place.
We found him engaged in his favorite sport (and business), porting a cylinder head and fitting bronze valve guides for another race engine.
I got good education in reamer types, what works well and what not for cutting the tough bronze guides. When we were heading out for lunch we peeked briefly into his old garage to find it full of engines and gearboxes, fuel for the trade.
After lunch a little me time to weld up the broken alternator bracket. A bit of sand blasting to clean the weld zone, buffing to remove burrs, grinding for chamfers, and line up the parts on a magnet square in the vice.
Lots of filler weld in the outside for full penetration, and more weld in the inside for a nice fillet radius. Grind it all all down smooth, spray some paint on it, and set it in the sun to dry for a while.
Then we got to chat for a while about Hap's MGB race car, and lots of neat details about what makes it super competitive. He has been racing for decades, which is why he now has career building race engines. More chat about common friends and clubs and businesses, and how many people we know in common all around the country (small world). Next thing we know it was 5:30, and we had eaten up half of his work day. Wonder how much that cost him in lost income, but man he did seem to enjoy the chat.
Bade good-bye and head off to find another WiFi spot for dinner and to post these photos and notes for your enjoyment. G'night all.
Wednesday, October 26, 2022:
We dropped in early afternoon to visit Bruce Bodenstein in York, SC. The lady in the picture is his business partner in training, also happy to see us and an MGA that is complete and running. Bruce has an early production 1956 MGA project car in process. While the chassis and body look good, they are not as far along as may appear.
When Bruce bought the car it was advertised as a rust free car with chassis and body repairs finished. It is pretty much rust free, but the chassis still has some kinks, and the body repair panels have been welded together in non-functional configuration (lots of misalignment).
We had some serious discussion about how to fix the kinks with cut and stretch and patch and weld. I think he feels better about the approach and now has more confidence to go ahead with the required work.
Front and rear of the body are not too bad, but the sills below the doors are very bad and need to be drilled out and disassembled to re-do the whole mess. Left and right sides are one higher than the other, and no way to install the outer rocker panels.
The new (expensive) fenders are a mixed blessing, never bashed of course, but not quite finished with some missing holes and fasteners. The left wing has the proper original style weld joint around the parking lamp area, just missing the holes and captive fasteners (easy to finish).
Right wing not so slick, no weld seam at all in front, not quite sure how that one was fabricated. The engine looks okay, just a bent engine mount plate on right side (matching the kinks in the frame).
Out for dimmer and more chat. Back from dinner and more chat until late evening. As usual, when the host turns in for the night I get to go to work on the MGA guru business.
Thursday, October 27, 2022:
Up for breakfast and another opportunity for more chat with the host. Looks like we need to return next year to follow up on his progress with the restoration work. By late morning we part ways, and I get down and serious with email and phone calls and upcoming appointments. By evening I'm into posting yesterday's photos and notes, and I recon it will be late night soon. Two cancelled appointments today, so no trip to Fort Mill, SC or Charlotte, NC. Willmington, NC is tentative for tomorrow, waiting for response. Otherwise we will head for Columbia, SC tonight or tomorrow.
Time in late evening to update a tech page on the Moss Motors 7-blade plastic cooling fan for MGA
(mostly good news this time).
Also posted a new Part Numbers tech page for the grease fittings with 1/16-BSPT threads, 28 threads per inch tapered pipe threads.
Friday, October 28, 2022:
No appointments, so we didn't go very far, sitting in Richburg, SC today. But I did spend a lot of time on trip planning and tech questions and revising web pages for plastic cooling fans and water pump impellor running clearance. Will be heading to Lexington, SC tonight.
Saturday, October 29, 2022:
Breakfast in Lexington, SC, where Dave Daniel dropped in for coffee about 9-am. A little after 10-am we were all off to visit Tim Melton in rural Gilbert, SC. Tim has a nice large shop building behind his house. I think he may have made a business of it in years past, but is now retired and works mostly on his own car projects. You could fit a dozen car in here, but only half a dozen today. Lots of walk-around and working space, work benches and tables, plenty of storage space, great work shop.
There is a restored MGA here (nearly finished) with a story gets a little twisted. This car used to belong to George Lawson in Lexington, SC. We have come by several times before in recent years to George's place to assist with this car (check our past travel records). When George ultimately fell into poor health recently, he sold the car to Dave Daniel. Dave and Tim have been finishing the last few details of final assembly to get the car finished and ready for resale. Check out the vintage style Port-A-Wall add-on whitewalls for the tires.
Tim has this Triumph TR6 GT6+ in mid restoration. Sheet metal repair finished, body work and external paint work done. As soon as the underbody is painted it can transition from dust to clean reassembly phase, at which time the project should pick up more enthusiasm heading toward the finish line.
Discovered treasure time. Dave and Tim picked up some stuff at a recent estate sale. Unloading from the rear of Dave's car was a rather vintage Atlas small tablet top lathe. Cover on the left end houses a 5-speed V-belt speed reducer. Forward/reverse/neutral gear drive, half nut lever shifting the lead screw for slow horizontal drive. I don't think it has enough gears to do thread cutting. Three jaw chuck, multi-position tool holder on the compound cross slide, and a hand cranked tail stock (once we turned it around the right way). Unused for a long time, it looks perfectly functional, just needing some polishing snd oiling of the guide ways. No motor but that should be an easy fix. Time to do an internet search for the Users Handbook and parts list.
There was a set of tapered pipe threading taps in a wood box that looked like overkill, but in years past there was great pride in expensive tools (much less expensive these days). Another wood box held dozens of commercial quality double ended end mills, multiple copies in each size from downright tiny to honking big cutters.
On to the primary reason we are here today. The ex-George now-Dave restored MGA includes a new set of side curtains needing to be installed. In case someone didn't know, these things always require considerable fettling to get them to fit and function properly. Since I have installed a few of these over the prior decades, this would be a prime use of my experience (talents) to show a couple more people how to do it. First move is to unpack the set and screw on the mounting brackets.
Having double slider panels in anodized frames, this is not original style parts, but it is a good quality aftermarket set. One feature to note is the outward curvature of the top and bottom frame rails matching curve of the door top and cockpit trim rails. Lots of aftermarket side curtains are just flat and straight here. While we were tinkering another friend stopped by briefly for a a little rubber necking visit. He said I have driven his car before, apparently after some tune-up work, but I don't remember when or where.
For an hour or two I was running back and forth between the car and the work bench using a large bench vice and two large adjustable wrenches to bend and fettle the front mounting brackets. Also include another hour or so very carefully marking and trimming the bottom and front rubber seals with razor knife and a good quality scissors.
The windscreen was not quite at the correct angle. too far back at top. We managed to trim the front rubber to fit on the right side, but on the left there was mechanical interference at top corner, so had to loosen bolts to realign the windscreen. Also made a couple of aluminum shims to raise the grab handle a bit. Also for the left side we had to grind and file a bit off of the bottom edge of the inner retainer for the bottom rubber seal to it wouldn't scratch paint off top of the door.
Finally it came out with acceptable fit and finish. The center picture below shows a good view of the proper curvature of the top and bottom rails. I'm jellos, because the ones on my car are just straight.
The three of us bring old retired geezers, that was enough work for one day, so pack it up and head out to find a good WiFi spot for very late lunch and the rest of the evening.
Sunday, October 30, 2022:
We met Dave Daniel at breakfast time. By noonish he was heading back to Tim's shop to be gluing in boot carpeting. They don't need me for that, so I was taking the day to post the photos and notes on this page. They are getting very close to being finished with final assembly of the full restoration of the white MGA. Some time in the next few days (whenever the rain stops), we intend to take the car to another friend's shop to get it up on a lift for full inspection of the whole car, wanting to make a long list of comments on anything that is not perfect. Then they can decide if they want to fix a few more minor details before it goes off to market. The tonneau cover still needs to be installed, but not much else.
Monday, October 31, 2022:
Put together a parts order to replenish inventory after two engine jobs in California in July & August, and new parts to install a tonneau cover on the white MGA in Gilbert, SC. Lots of clerical work, updating inventory list, on-line ordering, recording parts purchased (all kind of time consuming pain). Got to be late night, and I don't remember what I did the first half of the day.
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