Barney and others,
If you are bored and in the Minneapolis area, Minnesota Autosports Club
(MAC for short) sanctions an autocross series.
an event schedule can be found at:
http://www.visi.com/mac/events.htm
I don't make it to a lot of events each year but, given the proper
incentive, I could arrange to drag the MGA out and either teach or, in
Barney's case, be taught the fast way around the cones.
Of course, all of this is based on the assumption that the A will pass tech
inspection. If not I may be stuck running the Integ** .
Regards
Bill Eastman
61 MGA "Cone Hound"
Received: by medtron.medtronic.COM with UUCP id AA24878
(5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for william.eastman); Tue, 4 Feb 1997 20:42:59 -0600
Received: from x17.boston.juno.com by relay7.UU.NET with ESMTP
(peer crosschecked as: x17.boston.juno.com [205.231.100.29])
id QQcbnd19585; Tue, 4 Feb 1997 21:20:13 -0500 (EST)
Received: (from barneymg@juno.com) by x17.boston.juno.com (queuemail)
id VhO10937; Tue, 04 Feb 1997 21:16:53 EST
Message-Id: <19970204.194205.8919.1.BarneyMG@juno.com>
References: <s2f742c4.037@medtronic.com>
X-Mailer: Juno 1.15
X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-3,8-9,19-20,33-34,38-39,43-44,53-54,65-66,74-75,
82-83,95-96,108-109,121-122,126-127,139-144
Date: Tue, 04 Feb 1997 20:16:53 -0600
From: Barney Gaylord <barneymg@juno.com>
To: william.eastman@medtronic.COM
Subject: Re: Steering bushes, Pedals, electric cars
Bill,
On Tue, 04 Feb 1997 14:07:44 -0600 you write:
>My MGA steering wheel moves around so I believe the felt bushings are
hosed..... have been frightened by all the talk of shim adjustements and
special fixtures to get it aligned again. Can I just pop loos the U
joint, remove the adustable stubshaft and key, and horse the steering
shaft out from the top? .....
Yes. And you likely don't even have to remove the steering wheel or
adjustable shaft. The top clamp bolt on the u-joint must be completely
removed, as there is a notch in the shaft that prevents it from coming
out with the bolt in place. Then pull on the steering wheel to remove
the center shaft. The felt bushings come as flat strips with angled ends
to be wrapped into a cylinder and placed inside the ends of the outer
tube. This may get more involved than it sounds, so you may find it more
convenient to also remove the outer tube from the vehicle (easy out &
in). The upper bushing is a different part number depending on whether
you have the adjustable or non-adjustable top end.
Ten years ago when I was doing my restoration I was ordering everything
from Moss. They're pretty good, but even they don't always get
everything right. The felt strips were a little too thick , and when
installed in the outer tube, would not allow enough space for the inner
shaft. My solution was to tack one end of the felt strip down to the
workbench and have at it gingerly with a coarse sanding disk in an
electric drill to thin down the felt strip. After getting the fit
correct, I soaked the felt strips in oil before installation, only takes
a minute because the felt soaks up oil like a sponge. When finished, the
assembly was pretty snug, hard to turn the shaft by hand, but only
needing one finger at the rim of the steering wheel. I have never oiled
it since. Ten years and 95,000 miles later it's just a little loose
again, but I never notice unless I'm looking for it, so not too bad.
>..... Paddy Hopkirk gas pedal. I know that this borders on useless ego
messaging accessories ..... Actually, this is fairly important for me
..... I was reading up on the Autocross list and I found out that this
accessory will push my car from stock to street prepared!
I hear you. I just got one as a gift also, actually more like a free
trial from the manufacturer wanting a personal assessment and testimonial
that he might use for advertising. I haven't tried it yet, but I think
he may be disappointed when I do.
I autocross a lot with SCCA. You're right that by the rules the P.H.
pedal would technically throw you out of Stock class, but at the local or
regional level you can likely get away with it for a long time, maybe
indefinitely. If anybody asks, just tell them it was a period accessory
sold and installed by the dealers on a new car prior to delivery, so
qualifies as original equipment. Technically that doesn't make it legal,
because it wasn't supplied or sold by the factory, but for the most part
nobody cares because they don't think it makes you go any faster, so a
little BS goes a long ways, and people will probably leave you alone.
Just go ahead and register in Stock class. The tech inspector will most
likely over look it or succumb to the BS bit, as they're mostly concerned
with safety items. It is not the job of the tech inspector to determine
which class you enter in unless it is something blatantly obvious, like
wide wheels or exhaust headers. As an example, you can usually get away
with installing one 12 volt battery in place of the original two 6 volt
batteries. The only real reason for doing it is that the 6 volt
batteries are hard to find, expensive, and short lived, but the same is
true for a lot of original equipment parts, so it isn't technically
legal, but nobody cares. In the end, they would rather have your money
and participation than send you away.
Once you get through tech, the only way to get disqualified is by way of
an official protest. The only people who can protest are the event
chairman (ditto comments above), or another contestant in your entry
class. The protester has to file the complaint in writing and ante up a
cash protest fee, usually equal to the event entry fee. If the protested
feature on your car would require some disassembly for inspection, the
protester also must post a cash bond for the estimated cost of the work
(including reassembly).
Assume the entire procedure is followed through to the end. If the
protester looses, he also looses his cash fee and bond, and the bond
covers the work on your car. If you loose, The protestor gets his fee
and bond back, and you pay for the work on your car. In the case that
it's something obviously illegal and you know you would loose, you would
just forfeit the case, your trophy and points, and take your car home
without allowing the disassembly.
The matter of remaining legally Stock is mostly a good sportsman and
honor thing. The club and contestants expect you to be reasonable and
fair, as you would also expect of them, the old golden rule. This also
implies that you can do anything you want so long as you don't get
caught. If you intentionally do something you know is illegal and get
caught later, the wrath of God may be bestowed upon you. You can loose
your trophy, your points for that event, and your accumulated points from
the beginning of the season. You may be disbarred from further
competition for a period of time, but usually not forever since they do
still like your money. What keeps most people in line is a mater of your
personal honor. You don't want to look like an ass in front of your
friends.
The proper way to handle this situation is to courteously present the
original equipment accessory BS line first. Most will quickly come to
the conclusion that it's not strictly legal, but that it doesn't
materially affect the performance of the vehicle, so no problem. Usually
one lone dissenter can be dissuaded by the rest of the pack, and will
then also leave you alone. If it looks like you're going to loose the
argument, just smile and remove the gadget so everyone's happy. But
above all, get the problem taken care of one way or the other right up
front, before you go racing. If you they won't allow it, and you don't
want to remove it or change class, you can ask for the return of your
entry fee and withdraw. You are after all a guest of the club and
playing by their rules.
Another line that can sometimes be used is the Fuzzy Dice argument. Any
accessory will be allowed if it is only an appearance accessory and does
not materially affect the performance of the vehicle (not telemetry).
For a time I had an electric radiator fan on my MGA (lots of trailer
towing in hot weather). When it came to tech inspection I would pull out
the relay, hand it to the inspector with a request that it be returned at
the end of the day, and remind him that the then non-operational gadget
was only fuzzy dice. The inspector, not wanting to be bothered, would
usually hand back the relay and tell me that he didn't care what I did in
the pits, so long as the fan wasn't running on the track. After that it
was up to the other competitors in my class to protest, which they
would't unless the fan was running on the track.
Don't worry about the P.H. pedal. I think it's rather inconsequential,
and the only reason to remove it is if the officials at the track tell
you have to. It will only happen once and the problem will be resolved
one way or the other.
I've been autocrossing in Stock class with SCCA regularly for more than
five years now. I'm still waiting for somebody to protest my MG crested
walnut shift knob as a non-stock part and therefore a Street Prepared
class item. If that should ever happen, I intend to make the protester
go through the entire formal procedure. If I loose, I will happily
remove the fat walnut knob and reinstall the original skinny plastic knob
with a smile. That should make the protester feel like a sniveling idiot
in front of his friends for picking over such a minor item. And when
we're all leaving at the end of the event, I'll ask him how he managed to
miss the real cheater items, like the wheel width 1/4" out of spec, the
rear sway bar, the lightweight flywheel and competition clutch, and the
big valve cylinder head. I'd love to watch his face.
Happy pedalling,
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude
|