The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE - (March 16 - March 31, 2024)
Saturday March 16, 2024:
After last night's condenser adventure, at least we got to sleep in a bit. Then a little farther up the expressway
to Brandon, Florida. First stop at NAPA was a strike out, no condenser for me. A mile away at Advance Auto Parts we lucked out with exactly one in stock. That'll do for now. Ten minutes to pull the distributor out, install the new condenser, and get it back in the car. Stow the wonderful test condenser back in the tool box, and we were on our way. Another 20 miles we stopped for lunch, having flat out missed breakfast. Then I could get back to WiFi, and finally get those photos and notes posted for yesterday. Turn page backward/forward.
Heading north late night, somewhere past Wesley Chapel, Florida.
Sunday March 17, 2024:
Farther north this morning, going to be doing a lot of that this week. Spent most of the day in Ocala, Florida, catching up email and tech questions. More north late night, just out of Florida into Georgia after midnight.
Monday March 18, 2024:
Breakfast in Valdosta, Georgia. We have a mid day appointment in Albany, GA, and we made that before 1-pm. Say hello to Tom and Kelly Seegmueller. Been here a few times past, doing a bit of magic with Kelly's 1978 MG
Midget. It has been running like a champ since we last touched it a year ago. Now down to replacing old dry rotted tires so it can continue soldiering on. Nice chat for an hour, then a late lunch before we all had other commitments and had to be moving on.
 Navigator's turn at the helm for 2-1/2 hours, back onto I-75 North, stopping at Jackson, GA while we made some more contacts and planning for the next few days.
Tuesday March 19, 2024:
Woke up to frost warning this morning, big change from warm Florida. Breakfast in Locust Grove, GA, still south of Atlanta. Going to be a travel day, hoping to get out of Georgia, mostly through Tennessee like north of Nashville, and possibly into Kentucky. Yup, couple of tanks of fuel later, we landed in Hanson, Kentucky for dinner before dusk. That would have been 400 miles in 5-1/2 hours, except for a slight detour around Nashville, Tennessee.
Having installed a new ignition condenser just three days ago, we had reason to think that condenser might be failing as we were running through the mountains in central Tennessee, and we didn't have a spare. So we stopped at an O'Reilly Auto Parts store south of Nashville. They didn't have one, but did redirect us to their regional warehouse in Lebanon, TN. Me, "How many do you have"? Counter guy, "We have three". Me, "I'll take three". Having spares in hand, we did not install one, but drove on intending to see how long the active one might last. It continued to sputter a bit occasionally, but got us to end of day anyway. Time will tell. Made a few phone calls, now have something to do tomorrow in southern Indiana.
Wednesday March 20, 2024:
Good morning in southern Indiana. We dropped in to visit Ray Graham at his personal toy shop warehouse in Boonville, IN. Our last visit here was in April 2022 investigating a rather loud knock in his MGA 1600-MK-II 1622cc engine. That ultimately turned out to be piston slap, a result of an engine rebuild without a rebore. All re-machined and rebuilt again, the world moves on. Mostly a social visit this time, good for some pictures and a chat, and one more friend who walked in to say hello, because the door was open. Ray shares the space here with a partner on the lease. The yellow car in the back belongs to the partner, a Lotus 7 Series 4, which could be anything from 1970 to current year production (actual model year not known). Yes this Lotus model production spans more than 50 years, so far. Ray is still working on the finishing touches of restoration of his 1962 MGA 1600-MK-II (not here at this time).
We were here in 2016 to visit Southern Indiana Region British Car Club, and stopped in at Ray's shop the day before the club meeting. At that time Ray and his partner were sanding primer on a club project car. Now the primary interest is the TR7 on the lift, which is another club project car. Seems like some club members should be here tomorrow morning to get some more work done. Lots of TR7 parts on the table, including the cylinder head. Just a little rust repair. In the engine bay some work on the battery tray, and brackets for the screenwiper motor and screenwasher bottle.
Interior work on carpet and seats and seat belts. Then a very odd vinyl rag top canopy. This part is new in box, dated 1999, never exposed to sunlight in 25 years. There is a problem with "freckled" Isinglass plastic windows. Nobody knows what the freckles are, but it is definitely in the material, not on the surface, so it cannot be buffed out. Recommend presenting this to an upholstery shop to see if the heat sealed (welded in) window panels can be replaced.
There was this wall full of tools. The larger black things on the upper level are mostly Churchill tools, originally specified by BMC to be dealer service tools. Someone collecting these things, now deceased, so these tools were donated to and now belong to the club. Lots of the tools were unknown function, so we had a jolly good time with show and tell while determining what the tools do. Now they can be club lending tools.
Thursday March 21, 2024:
Morning visit to Donnie Oxendine in Huntingburg, Indiana. Been here before, but now he's working on a different car, a 1962 MGA. This is his third MGA restoration, and likely top be the last one he may do.
This car is getting an early issue 1800 engine, quite nice. It came in boxes, but appears to be very low mileage original survivor engine. Cleaned up, lightly honed, reassembled with new rings and bearings. He was a little worried about stiffness turning the crankshaft with only the pistons and new rings, but I was able to assure him that it is perfectly normal feel for an engine with fresh honing and new rings, so all is well. We put a little diesel fuel in the cylinders to check for any leakage, and it took a few minutes before it began to do a few drips past the rings and out the bottom. Can't get much better than that.
The floor and frame are in very good condition, not even any perforation along edges of the floor boards.
On the way out, a quick look at his Jaguar, nicely restored. His only regret there is that he doesn't drive it enough.
Less than an hour later, back to Ray Graham's shop in Boonville, IN where a few more of the local club guys were in for some work on the club project car TR7. There was a little distraction with Ray's son's Toyota Land Cruiser. Side panels and roof had recently been repainted, and a little interior work, all nice.
The TR7 was getting seat belts and harness retractors installed. Some time spent searching around the parts table and boxes of stuff that came with the disassembled car. So far found one of two retractor plastic covers.
Most of the seat slide rail parts were here, except a couple pieces of the slide adjuster latch for the right side. Looks like they may just bolt the slides in fixed position for the passenger seat. They did get a bracket welded in for the wiper motor and washer bottle mounts, and the battery tray looks to be finished. Enough for one day.
Late lunch and some WiFi time. Still waiting for response from our tentative evening appointment 100 miles northwest in southern Illinois. 10-pm, no response, so skip that one. Haul ass north, stopping near Indianapolis by 1-am.
Friday March 22, 2024:
Up early, still scratching head about time zones, EDST in central Indiana. Time for breakfast and email and BBS, then a phone call. Put navigator in the driver seat and head north again, two hours plus a fuel stop and another time zone change, arriving early afternoon CDST in Hanna, IN to visit brother. And while we're here, take the opportunity to change the leaky water pump. Since I couldn't get Scarborough Faire to take a parts order last week, we will be installing another used water pump, with crossed fingers, hoping it may last a few more years.
A significant point here is that the gap between impellor and housing is commonly too large in these water
pumps. But I haven't had any cooling problems since returning to original type cell core radiator a couple years ago, so just paint the thing and install it as-is. -- Jolly good fun, drain and remove the radiator and water pump, install the new one and get it back together in about 90 minutes. Top it up, fire it up, run it 10 minutes to full temperature, and check to assure nothing is leaking. Good deal, shut it sown and get back to socials.
Saturday March 23, 2024:
Time to bail out of Indiana into Illinois. Bit of a side trip to visit oldest daughter in Sandwich, IL to pick up my trailer license renewal sticker and a new debit card. By the time we got back to Naperville/Wheaton area it was motel check in time, and somewhat late in the evening, so I skipped the traditional Swap Meet set-up rally at the DuPage County Fairgrounds in favor of getting some rest and catching up MGA guru clerical stuff, and sleep.
Sunday March 24, 2024:
What, there's a 5-am too? Dang alarm clock. At DuPage County Fairgrounds by 5:45-am to open shop and let the swap meet vendors in at 6. Visitors welcome at 8-am, but some of them have been catching on to being let in starting 7:30-ish. For lots more photos and full report check out the supplementary photo page at swap2024.htm.
Bail out on the clean-up crew, back to the hotel to check email, catch a nap and start processing these photos and notes. That kept me up well past midnight. Find the rest of the photos at swap2024.htm
Monday March 25, 2024:
Rain day. Seemed like a good time sit inside, so find something useful to do. I picked a random topic from the wish list, and created a new tech page to list all of the Shims Used in the MGA. Some of these parts already have information pages in the MGA Part Numbers tech section. -- Missed the first hour of John Twist's Zoom tech session, but caught the rest.
Tuesday March 26, 2024:
Spent the morning posting a new Suspension tech page on Replacing Leaf Spring Shackle Bushings, contents compliments of Joshua Cohen. -- Continuing work on the new Shims tech page.
Heading south for navigator's continuing driving seat time, and because it's going to freeze in northern Illinois tonight. We pointed it southwest from Naperville; destination was a familiar Love's Travel Stop in Sauget, IL, very near to East Saint Louis, IL. It looks like a 274 mile 4-hour run down I-55, but we will do it the hard way. Set the GPS to "avoid highways", meaning no travel on I-55. So we got a zigzag route on 2-lane state and county highways, running through lots of small towns along the way, lots of stop signs and traffic lights and much variable speed limits. One comfort stop, one fuel stop, 296 miles in slightly over 6 hours driving time. Final stop in Sauget, IL at 9:30-pm. Bit of a marathon for navigator driving, but with all of the stop and go stuff he was getting much better with the clutch and stick shift. By now he also knows how to keep up with traffic and merge left or right, driving between other cars and passing semis. Temperatures here 5dF higher, low temperature tonight a few degrees above freezing rather then below freezing, so we met that target.
Wednesday March 27, 2024:
Cross the Mississippi River this morning for breakfast in Arnold, Missouri. Mid afternoon departure heading south, same rules, "avoid highways". Later afternoon departure, one fuel stop. Along with rural roads and small towns, we had some nice twisty roads in the hills of the Ozarks, just keep it between the lines and have fun. Final stop was another Love's in Blytheville, Arkansas, just out of Missouri, 65 miles short of Memphis, TN (not that we were necessarily going there). Add another 5-degrees to overnight low (36dF), and tomorrow it's likely to hit 65dF, almost T-shirt weather if you stand in the sun. And the car needs an oil change. Got the oil, need a filter.
Thursday March 28, 2024:
Stop at Napa to pick up oil filters (2 please), and get a referral for where to get the oil changed. Half a block away, but not open early, so head for breakfast and WiFi first. Mid morning phone call, and head over to Tucker's Auto Alignment in Blytheville, AR. Just a good old boy with a few service bays a few helpers, and a half hour later the MG has fresh oil and filter. Then back to the WiFi spot.
I suppose we were foot dragging otherwise, mostly killing the rest of the day. Late night we backtracked a bit north back into Missouri, then east into Tennessee to stop for the night.
Friday March 29, 2024:
Breakfast in Dyersburg, TN checking email and BBS. Mid day out for some seat time for navigator. We puttered around Dyersburg for a while, just checking out a couple curious roads. For today's challenge we found an empty parking lot and let navi have an first attempt at backing up a trailer (other than just getting out of a drive-in parking space). That was interesting, because he hasn't been backing up the car by itself yet. What we needed was a bigger town with possibly larger parking lots in larger malls. So we headed 50 miles southeast to Jackson, Tennessee. Topped up fuel, stopped for late lunch, and got stuck sitting until dusk. What now?
Saturday March 30, 2024:
Okay, someone had something to do yesterday, but today we can get back to business. We were several miles away for overnight and breakfast, but then back to the same spot as yesterday in Jackson, TN, because there was a nice empty parking lot.
We unhitched the trailer and parked it on the side while spending a couple hours practicing forward and backward parking (mostly backward), backing around a corner to park near a curb, backing up some distance in a straight line, backing up in a U-turn into a parking space, just for kicks. He's getting it, putting the rear wheels and your butt between the lines. Still kind of amazing that he had his first trailer backing lesson before backing the car by itself. After an hour playing around the parking lot, we hitched up the trailer, and his first comment was, "You can feel the weight of the trailer when you pull off". No kidding, this is the first time he ever drove the MGA without the trailer attached. Time for lunch.
A day of entertainment for sure. Parked outside the window, there was a chain of people checking out the car and the stickers and taking pictures, and a few inquires. After lunch, mid afternoon we took another shot at backing up and parking practice. A few more sidewalk supervisors taking pictures of the shenanigans. Not quite ready for prime time, but he's getting better, and a bit more relaxed. I told him just make believe you took it for a joy ride when I wasn't looking.
Sunday March 31, 2024:
Upload a new Body Tech page for introduction to the MGA Front Valance and Bumper Shape, original steel panels and replacement fiberglass panels, fasteners camouflage, and front bumper alignment. Lost AC power for the computer plugs at the breakfast and WiFi spot, second time in as many days, needing to go somewhere else.
Took the opportunity for some more navigator driving practice. Back to the same empty parking lot, but we didn't unhitch the trailer this time. This was mostly trailer backing practice, pull into a parking space an back out one direction or the other. Also backing the trailer in a straight line, which is harder than backing up in a turn. Backing around in a circle, left or right. Backing out of an angle space into another opposite angle space across the aisle. The tough one was backing around a corner to park the rig next to a curb. Of course all of this trailer backing is also car backing practice, and he's getting better each day. Steering with slow motion travel does make for sore arms, which is when we may think about installing electric power steering (but probably not).
Then off to a different WiFi spot for late lunch, and take the rest of the day off to catch up email and BBS.
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