Hi those who care,
Went back up to Vermont today and swapped twenty-five portraits of Ben
Franklin for a '77 B, roadster of coarse. The car was advertised as having
grown up in Florida without ever having seen rust. Completely passed the
refrigerator magnet test - not a bit of bondo to be found. No rust holes in the
doglegs or at the fenders. No dents to speak of.
To test the sills/floor/rockers I plugged in an OEM jack and cranked until
the wheels were off of the ground. No crunching noises, no falling rust flakes,
no change in the angle of the jack pads. Doors unlatched and relatched with no
problems, gap at the door edges didn't change at all. Very solid! Can't say
--no rust! The hood is not in the best of shape and rain has gotten on some
occasions. There's some surface rust on the floors, but it's very shallow.
In the boot, under the spare tire (Rostyles) there is some rust. Would I be
willing to stand in the boot? Maybe.
The odometer shows 64,348 miles (had 61626 in 6/93), and I have reason to
believe that it's true. Was originally white, exterior was repainted red after
a previous owner got it in a divorce settlement. Has been de-smogged, i.e., no
air pump or other associated plumbing. No catalytic converter. The Z-S has
been replaced by a pair of SU's. Has new tires, starter, alternator, plugs,
coil.
Needs to have the wiring gone over. The tach, water temperature gauge and
fuel gauge were not working. Nor were the wipers. Oil pressure stayed up at
about 70psi until the engine was fully warmed, at which point it dropped to
about 60psi while idling. I did a compression check on Tuesday. Showed about
123 +/- 2 psi in all. Didn't give it the 'squirt some oil in the cylinder'
check. New plugs were coated with oily soot. Carburetors are running way too
rich. I suspect that the manual choke isn't set up properly. No raps, or other
nasty noises from the innards.
One other interesting point -- it was delivered with air conditioning - and
it works! The condenser is close-coupled to the front of the radiator. There
is a single electric fan between the condenser and the grill. Looks like
standard post '76 fan. However, there is also a belt driven fan on the front of
the engine. It is surrounded by some custom aluminum shroud that is pop riveted
together. The compressor is below the alternator.
I hoped to have the car here by this weekend, but once again, I have been
foiled by the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. Some of you may recall
my troubles with the '77 that is still in my garage, sans title! This time I
made certain that I received a valid title. Problem is that the the Vermont
title doesn't show the amount paid for the car. Massachusetts demands to see
this in writing so that it can extract its pound of flesh in the form of sales.
So now I need a Bill of Sale to go with the title. Hopefully, I'll have it here
by next weekend. FYI, its VIN=GHN5UH431182G.
Sorry to have been so wordy.
Bud Krueger
52TD
77MGB
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