Life is interresting because it's always a challenge, this weekend being no
exception.
Traveling from Naperville to Champaign, Illinois, and return. Went south
on Friday. 85 miles down, the MGA dropped #2 exhaust valve. Bummer, but
it's about the fourth time over the years, so getting to be old hat. Had
somewhere to be, as Elliot (10 year old son) was rallymaster for the CCSCC
Friday night rally, so we took a chance on the funny noises and decided to
drive on a little. After a couple moderate paced miles the funny noises
stopped, but it was then burpung oil out the exhaust at a significant pace.
Big deal, damage is done, drive on. Thought we might have holed a piston
and the valve head dropped into the sump, which would be good news, because
we could continue driving on three cylinders without further damage.
30 miles later we stopped in Rantoul to pick up a case of oil, then
proceeded to run some of the rally route in odd directions to check on road
signs (mostly still there), and puttered on into Champaign just in time for
the 7 PM registration, having used about 3 quarts of oil in 50 miles.
Borrowed a friends mini van to stake out the checkpoints for the rally, and
the rally went well (mostly), finished about 11 pm after trophies.
Just a little extra cranking to get the MG started again, putzing around
town fogging mosquitoes, went from west end of Champaign to east end of
Urbana, checked into Motel 6, then fogged our way on over to Jumers by
midnight to see who was still hanging out in the car park for the Brit car
fest. About 1 am back to Motel 6 to catch some z's.
9 am Saturday, remove #2 spark plug (smashed on the bottom), remove broken
tip end of valve with spring cap and keepers. Also picked up bronze valve
guide from top of head, having been ejected by impact on bottom with bent
valve head. Springs were lying sideways with the valve stem caught between
the coils, which was why the noise stopped, how fortunate. Howeveer, this
left a gaping hole through to the #2 exhaust port where the guide used to
be, so oil on the head could run directly into the exhaust port. This time
I figure it had used nearly 2 quarts of oil 20 miles. OOPS. Also remove
both pushrods for #2 (both bent), closing intake valve to prevent feedback
into intake manifold. Left out #2 spark plug to relieve back pumping on
exhaust port.
Sent Elliot to vending machine to come back with a pack of chewing gum
(yup, no BS). Munch, munch, munch, and stuff a wad of chewing gum into the
guide hole around the valve stem to stop off the oil exit port, install the
cup type valve seal upside down against the top of the head, stuff more
chewing gum into the cup of the valve seal, and install heavy gauge hairpin
clip on the stem to hold the valve up. Reinstall valve cover, clean
remaining 3 spark plugs, fire it up and drive back to Jumers, only fogging
the town a little by daylight, getting interresting looks from the Brit
crowd in making the grand entrance on 3 cylinders. No one believes I
pasted it together wirh hair pin and chewing gum.
Split the travel party, find empty seats in a MGB and a Midget for the
Saturday cruise and picnic. Back to Jumers later with Elliot wanting
McDonalds, tried to start the MGA about 6 pm, but no fire, what? Fiddle,
fiddle, fiddle, walk 3 blocks to parts store for a new spark plugs (cheap,
bought 8), installed new plugs (3), but still no fire (grrrrr).
Compression checks 135-140 on remaining 3, spark on all plugs, fuel in the
carbs, cam and spark timing still correct, even sprayed a little starting
fluid in the throats, but still no fire. Intermittent heavy rain, so
finally gave up about dark, time for socializing, then took a cab to Motel
6 about midnight.
Sunday 9am cab ride back to Jumers, check and clean the (new) plugs, pull
full choke, give it a crank, one good pop and then still no go, cranking
battery going south by this time, look for a jump to recharge. One hour at
car show, 20 minutes for pizza, back to the MGA, another short crank, still
no start, friend going for jumpers, time to check out the MGB in the next
slot that won't start. Sure, I can fix someone else's car, it's just mine
that was bewitched.
Guy with MGB had spent 2 hours fiddling with it and had it towed the night
before. Crank, pop, putz, sputter and almost running at idle with backfire
when you touch the loud pedal, having some symptoms of fuel starvation, so
advice from "friends" guessing slow fuel feed. Pull line from (Weber)
carb, get a gusher. Pull top from carb, still get a gusher from the float
valve, and normal fuel level in the carb. Remove main jet to check for
clog, but clean as a whistle, but it all back together. Crank engine and
trickle fuel down the throats, but still same symptoms, so gotta be
ignition. Guy shows up without jumpers, quick trip to parts store to buy
jumpers, back the MGA for a while, cranks over nice with fuel, spark and
pressure, but narry a pop. Guy with car with nice alternator has to leave
for a while, so back to the MGB.
MGB has pressure, spark and pressure, so check the dizzy, find timing
retarded about 30 dergees (yuk). Pull dizzy, rotate mounting plate 180 to
get clamp bolt on top where it belongs, reinstall clamp plate and dizzy,
crank timing up to the appropriate ballpark, give it a whiz, and it starts
right up. Two seconds later loud clinking noises and the dizzy is back to
30 degrees retarded again, sputter and die. Pull dizzy, give it a spin,
something deep inside hitting the housing. Remove breaker plate and top
rotor shaft with cam and advance springs. Put bob weights back where then
belong, reassemble and reinstall dizzy, MGB starts and runs fine. That
wasn't so tough, but MGA is still bewitched.
Borrow dizzy from MGB momentarily, swap it into MGA give it another try,
but still no fire. Nothing wrong with my Mallory unit, so put everything
back and get the B running again. Getting really PO'd by this time, but
another friend goes to get truck with a tow rope. Hitch the MGA behind the
truck and tow slowly around the car park in 2nd gear while fiddling then
ignition, throttle and choke, finally get it to fire up, belching out
clouds enough to smother everyone in the car park. After half a minute the
smoke stops, MGA runs pretty well on 3 lungs, send for Elliot so we can hit
the road. Five minutes for Elliot to show, and by that time the car is
smoking heavily again, so I figure it has melted the chewing gum on the hot
cylinder head. Duh.
Guy with tow rope comes to the rescue again with a small package of epoxy
plumbers putty (one more thing to put in the tool box). Pull valve cover,
spray head with carb cleaner to get it clean and dry, repeat Saturday
morning procedure of caulking the valve stem and guide hole and installing
rubber seal and hair pin, give it 10 minutes for the epoxy to set up on the
warm head, reinstall the valve cover, top off the oil, fire it up and drive
off in a small cloud of smoke. Trip home not too much problem, only used 4
quarts of oil in 130 miles and had to change #1 spark plug twice when it
got fouled up. 25 miles up I-55 just before home was run at 70 mph on
three lungs whole traveling with newly found MGC and TR6. As usual, MGA
with Attitude is back home under its own power and patiently waiting for
repairs. Just another typical weekend, huh? More picutes soon for the
Grapes of Wrath Repairs section of my web site. For the final day of brit
car week I guess we'll be spending some quality time together in the garage
on Monday.
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude
http://www.ntsource.com/~barnrymg
|