The weather was decent for week 2 of my 3 weeks of MGA daily driving. The
top stayed down most of the time. I did put the tonneau on for parking and
it saved a wet interior at least twice as isolated thunderstorms typical of
July in Minnesota made their way through the area. Weather is supposed to
get worse again this week so time to Rain-X the windscreen again. My daily
driver should be back Thursday with all new sheetmetal on the right side
and a new bonnet. Cheaper than pulling the dents, I guess.
I now have about 850 miles on the A since the mechanical freshening. The
leak at the oil filter banjo bolt was fixed last week. I took out the old
copper washers and replaced them. A possible cause was that there are two
different copper washers used on the external oil pipe- three washers
total. I put two identical washers on the bolt but the inner washer was
supposed to be different. Looking at them I couldn't see any difference
but there are different part numbers so there. Anyway, when inspecting the
removed washers, I noticed that they were not squished much. Considering
that I had applied considerable gusto to the banjo bolt, this got me
thinking that the Moss adapter may not be tapped to a sufficient depth. I
removed the bolt and inspected the new outer washer. It showed some
evidence of deformation but nowhere near what I would have expected. I put
two copper washers under the head of the banjo bolt for extra thickness and
tightened everything again. No more leak. I still get some spotting from
the rear bearing but otherwise the oil stays inside now (remember, MGA's
don't have rear seals). The Radiator drain stopcock was dripping a bit so
I wiggled it back and forth a bit to make sure it was closed. We'll see
how this goes.
Mid last week my idle started to deteriorate especially when the engine was
hot. I figured that my aftermarket fuel pump was overpowering the needle
valves and causing a rich condition. This weekend I pulled the valve cover
to retorque the head and check the valves. The head was OK but the valves
had closed up pretty badly with the outer exhausts (the cylinders that run
the leanest and hence the hottest) closing up the most. After valve
adjustment, the idle is back to being good again. I am hoping that this
was a break in issue and not rapid valve recession. I did not install
hardened exhaust seats- no machine work was done to the head- and I have
been doing a lot of freeway driving to fastpitch softball tournaments so I
will keep an eye on it. Trevor, didn't you see some of this when you got
your B back on the road? Did it continue or was it just all of the parts
getting to know one another?
Today I went about 30 miles on the freeway at 4300-4600 rpm. By the end of
the run, water temp had snuck up to 210 F and I could smell antifreeze. I
feared the worst but once I got off the freeway the temp dropped like a
rock back down to the 180-190 range. Oil pressure had dropped about 5 psi
also so I am thinking that if I want to run the A in the fast lane I will
have to get an oil cooler. As an aside, my old heater valve leaked when it
was closed so I ran the car with the valve open and the heater core
bypassed. I had though that this might be one of the reasons that the A
ran cooler than most. When I removed the old heater valve I found that it
was completely clogged with calcium deposits so my theory was shot down. I
have not hooked up the heater core this time either although I did check it
with the MityVac and found no leaks. It gets warm enough in there without
it. Opening or closing the valve seems to have no effect on running temps
though.
A have another bonnet now for the A. It isn't perfect but the price was
right. I am going to clean it up slowly over the summer and hopefully get
it put on over the winter. It's tough driving the A in its present
condition but it is still better than not driving.
I plan on going to the 19 July MAC autocross. Anyone else going to be
there?
Regards,
Bill Eastman
61 MGA wet, muddy and bent but not beaten.
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