This is my first post to the British cars list.
(hope it's not too long)
We have five British cars.
1958 Jaguar 3.4 Litre Sedan (our newest)
1960 Austin-Healy Sprite (basket case)
1968 MGB (being prepped for autocross)
1976 MGB (my daily driver)
1979 MG Midget (good shape except faded paint and
hail damage to nose)
Some technical q's:
1) Anybody weld? I've got a 220V Sear's buzz-box
(35 - 230 amp) and a Century dual range wire welder
(rigged for flux-cored wire) My '68 B needs a new
floor, and an inner sill replaced. I've practiced,
and got reasonable at laying a bead on 18 gauge
sheet, but virtually no succes at lap welding the
stuff. The top piece burns away. Do I need:
1) more practice, 2) better/different equipment
(maybe MIG?). I like how the wire welder behaves,
except that it makes a lot of splatter. I hope to
be able to do more than floors and inner stuff-
the Jag and the Bug-eye both need outer sill and
fender work.
2) About two years ago I rebuilt the 76's engine.
I changed a few things :) that is I wanted a real
MGB, not the watered down version. It has earlier
pistons, so the compression is about 9.1:1 or so.
It has a 268 cam, and a 40mm 2 bbl side draft
carb. Runs **good**, but has ever since had
a vibration whilst at idle. The balance work was
done by an imppecable machinist. It runs smooth
everywhere in the RPM range (yp to 6000--that's as high
as I've had it) except idle. It's not a rough
idle, just a vibrating one.
Any vintage racers out there? I'd like
to learn more. I've fancied getting into vintage
racing after a few seasons of autocross.
I look forward to getting to know everyone,
and having so many folks to share British car
talk with!
Keith
kmwheeler@ualr.edu
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
senior, Computer Engineering Technology
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