> > It's not shipwrights ,,,,
Yeah, right, and it's not denial either. :-)
> Its amazing all the time and work it takes to put a little used assembly back
> on. That and how a part that looke pretty good on the old beastie suddenly
> looks way to shabby to put back on a body that has had all that work done
> on it and fresh paint.
I had exactly the opposite problem this last fall as I reassembled the
M.G. with the new motor in it. I used new hardware to replace most of
the 5/16-24 nuts and bolts that I'd removed. I had accidentally picked
up a box of Grade 8 nuts. Somehow, the sight of these beautiful
golden nuts being installed on a grimy, dusty, scuffed up radiator
surround just didn't look *right*.
However, I had a conscience looking over my shoulder. "If you paint the
surround, the car won't run for another month," Chris said. "You can take
it all apart and paint it later. You *need* to have this car running."
Chris, of course, was exactly right. Kim agreed with him. "For you,
the M.G. -- unlike any other car you've ever owned -- is like an hourglass.
When you drive it, the top part gets filled up with sand, and when it's
down, the sand trickles out. As your wife, let me say that you become
very difficult to live with when the sand gets really low. So please
fix the car."
So now I've got a shiny new motor and a bunch of shiny new bolts and
some gleaming cadmium-plated Grade 8 nuts in a well-used, partially
repainted engine bay on a shabby old M.G.
But what a noise it makes...
As I've always said, the best way to approach maintaining a British
car is to fix the biggest annoyance first.
--Scott "And in my family, there's no question who that is" Fisher
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