Greasings and Lubrications, All...
It's been a rather long while since I've updated the list on the
progress towards getting 'Daisy the yellow car' finished in time for British
Car Day at Chateu Elan. (May 21)
Having gainful and what looks to be permanent, at long last,
employment ensures a slow but steady parts bugdet. The good news is there is
plenty of overtime to be worked. The bad news is handing in 45 hours OT
every two weeks leaves little time or energy to fiddle with a LBC, what
with spousal unit and Scion A and Scion B all wanting attention, too. But,
when I do make it out to the garage nowdays, I come with parts in hand and
generally make pretty good progress. I continue to be amazed at how little
time it takes to bolt $500 worth of parts onto a LBC. When I finally get it
done I'm sure I won't know how to act. Just turn the key and go. Go up to
the mountains where the kudzu is in bloom. Watch the dogwood blossoms go
whizzing by at arms length. Smell the heavenly scent of the honeysuckle.
Stop and buy peanuts from an old man who has no teeth. Spend the night in
a hotel owned by the people who run it. Next morning, consult a map for the
fisrt time to get an idea how to get home. Then again, I suppose I do have
some idea how owners of LBC's that run behave. If not, I'll fake it.
Engage time travel, back to October 1992.
*********************
Miss October 92 was pleased to see that I had been promoted out of
the car wash and into the fast paced world of educational PC computing. What
a scam. $0.28 a mile in your own car. But my old ragged Chevy pick-up rose to
the 1000 mile a week challenge. And it was paid for. So the money other guy's
spent on car notes I was spending on the MG restoration.
The challenge was to determine how much work, in what sequence, could
be done with the minimum amount of funding. The body work was complete at this
point. The new/used windscreen was on, along with the bumpers, sideglass, dash,
heater, wiring, ect. All the parts than can be recycled have been, carefully
put away for later use. To get anything done now requires cash outlay.
Each month revolved around two documents. The first was my expense
account ledger. The second was a notebook with each page labeled 'task' at
the top. Underneath that was listed all materials and services needed to
comlpete a task and the projected cost. So, for a given month I could choose
a task to fit my pocketbook and not a month went by without doing something.
We were working under the car and I figured I'd start at the back
and work my way forward. New rear springs, bushings, shocks. Clean out the
differential and re-do the brakes while the axle is out on the bench.
Make a fuel pump from two plus catalog parts. Coat the new fuel tank with
tons of undercoating spray so that it *might* last longer than the original
did. Of course, putting the battery back where it goes and not on the new
trunk floor should help. That, and not abandoning the car to the squirrels
for 5 years.
Something I dreaded from the beginning was renewing all the brake
lines. The only place in North Georgia I found to get custom made lines
with the right flares was Atlanta Imported Auto Parts. (There might be one
other place but I have no clue...) They did me right. Quite happy. Advise
Brother gave me early on was to save the old lines to pattern by. Advise I
pass on is to avoid "kits" and have each line measured (take them with you to
the shop.) Brother did his brakes first and was NOT pleased with the V....B...
kit. Some lines too short, some to long. My lines were measured peice by peice
and patterned after the original before installing. I worked real slow and
bent the steel lines mostly with my fingers. They weren't the horrific pain
everyone said they'd be.
Dressed up all the undercar wiring and plumbing. Sprayed lots of
undercoating all around. Rigged up the driving lights with a relay so that
it is impossible to leave them on without the key and kill the battery.
Saved my pennies untill the big day for rebuilding the front end
came. There is a right of passage each LBC owner must endure. The Front End
Spring Compression Baptism of Don't Put it Off Anymore and Just Do It.
Further, Do It Without Getting Maimed.
By trade, I am a solver of unique and weird problems in a cheap
and efficient manner. This was obviosly a challenge. What I did was go to
the hardware store and fetch home 6 ft of chain with two little hooks that
attach to the chain with clevis pins. The chain was run between the shock
arm and the front crossmember and attached to the floor jack. The jack was
positioned under the spring pan so that raising the jack pushed the pan up
while the chain held the car down, being on stands, of course. No problem!
Unbolt the shock and the suspension folds out over the jack. Slowly, very
slowly, lower the jack. The spring almost falls right out, requiring only
a thump with a rubber hammer.
So the front end gets the same treatment as the rear. All the rubber
pieces get renewed along with new kingpins. A-arm bushes are upgraded to the
V8 style and the the anti-sway bar is replaced with a late model, heaver type.
Yes, if you use the original links to the A-arms it will fit. A close fit,
but a free upgrade for the trouble of ripping it off parts car #2. Renewed
the front shocks, even used real 'shock oil'. Finished off by overhauling the
front brakes and bleeding the system. Perfect! No leaks, everything works.
All the undercar work is done. Two major and two minor areas remain.
Rebuild the engine, install a new interior, fit a new top, redo the wheels
and tires.
Miss April 93 sees garage activity winding down. Regardless of the tack
I take on the interior, it will cost about a grand. Everything that could be
saved from the original interior fit neatly into a box that copy machine
paper comes in. So, work comes to a halt as the checking acount is fattened
for the interior. I have elected to do the engine last. Miss May 93 watched
as I sandblasted the rostyle wheels, carefully masked them off and painted
them back as new. That was the last effort during the big upholstery push.
So the May expence check comes. And the June. But the educational
computer bussiness sort of drags on in the summer and this provides a splendid
opportunity to get laid off, again. We (250 of us) were axed on the 3rd of
July so the company wouldn't have to pay us holiday pay for Independance Day.
So my upholstery nest egg goes for groceries.
But between the severance pay, my unused vacation, Sweet Wifes job,
and the indignity of unemployment checks we slide along untill October 93.
Finally, at last, a real job with a real company (part of AT&T, where not
only do we lease cars really cheap but we also make great telephones) with
real benifits.
So, we catch up our bills, have a splendid Christmas and a nice
mini-vacation. Nothing happens in the garage except low tempertures. It
occurs to me about this time that most uplostery adhiesives don't work well
when its cold. So I change my tack and tear down the engine. The major bits go
out to the machine shop. As it turns out, according to my friend Mark who
builds race cars for a living, the head was from a MGA 1500. Hmmm...well,
now what do I do? Sweet Wife said she wants an MGA of her own someday so
I decide to keep the rare MGA head. My friend Henry, who puts big US power
plants into MG's, has a couple of engines under his feet. One has the desirable
big valve (1.625") head. Since I have to have a new/different head, might as
well get the one that performs best, right?
Ordered lots of engine parts. K&N filters, road cam, Bosch coil,
bearings, rings. Gave Henry $100 for one of his engine/transmissions. Dragged
the thing home and pulled off the head. Yep...big valves. Off to the machine
shop.
So my phone rings. They guy on the phone says my head is "slap wore
plum completely out, and busted up with cracks." And, he was all out of those
spiffy calendars with the pretty girls, to boot.
The original block is rebuilt, minus head. The new/used/$100 block
sits in the corner, also minus head. I guess I'm just a guy who's trying to
get a head.
Disengage time travel.
Real-time monitor report.
**************************
The engine is on the stand. Yet another head cycles around the
machine shop circuit, with yet still one more on stand by if that one's no good.
Just this week the refurbished wheels and new tires went on. Boy...that sure
helps the eye appeal. (When you get a new suit, get new shoes). The head arives
on or about the 15th. I then have 5 weeks to complete, install, start and
tune the engine. Not to mention the exaust, (oversised, stainless steel, no
center muffler, now on the floor under the car) the interior (not ordered,
not paid for) and the top (ditto) before British Car Day, May 21.
We'll see.
Wade 'and counting...' Massengill
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