At 09:41 AM 3/29/2001 -0500, Edwin McCarroll wrote:
>.... from NW Ohio to Minn. .... The MGA's and T's are looking for a route
which obviates the Chicago area by skirting further south and heading NW.
.... viewing the prospect with some trepidation. .... evaluating the risks
of a serious problem .... There will be no back-up vehicles. .... do not
relish spending the best part of two days in primitive driving comfort.
.... Any suggestions for instilling faith in these doubting Thomas'?
Well I'm not much for car shows, but I do love a road trip, and I don't
mind at all traveling in "primitive driving comfort". If this is really so
much a problem, I could possibly provide the backup vehicle, especially for
such a short trip. Only about 4 hours from Chicago to NW Ohio, so I could
do that before breakfast. I have done a few trips in excess of 1000 miles
(small understatement here) and keeping an MGA on the road for weeks at a
time is not such a big deal once you get the hang of it.
I always carry a small tool box, which contains minimally sufficient tools
to reassemble the whole car. I know this to be true, because I changed a
crankshaft in a motel parking lot once. If you want an inventory list of
the tool kit, check here:
http://www.ntsource.com/~barneymg/mgtech/tools/toolbox1.htm
Additionally the tool box contains a throttle cable, rubber grommets for
the float chambers on the MGA, and brushes for the generator, as these are
considered consumable bits with a predictably short life (like 20,000 miles
or so). For a longer trip I may also carry the large rear hub nut socket a
piston ring compressor, adn maybe a torque wrench in case someone else
should feel the need.
For a longer trip (meaning somewhat longer that this one) I carry a few
parts as well. For a convoy of multiple vehicles I would add up the
cumulative anticipated mileage of all the vehicles to get an idea of the
probability of vehicle failure. But the best advice is to have your
vehicle well prepared before departure. One of the larger space gobblers
may be a small stock of engine oil, just because I prefer not to pay the
premium price at a convenience facility.
The box holding the parts is just long and wide enough to accept an oil pan
gasket, and only a few inches tall. My traveling parts kit contains
virtually every gasket and seal for the whole car, as well as loctabs,
gasket sealer, etc, so I could R&R virtually anything on the car without
any delay waiting for parts. Other parts carried include a small universal
fuel pump, a water pump, a radiator hose, a heater hose, a fan belt,
ignition parts, and bits to rebuilt the generator (but not a complete
unit). I also carry a small assortment of nuts and bolts, electrical
connectors, tape, hairpins, chewing gum, baleing wire, and other such
social ammenities. Those with a memory may recall that epoxy plumbers
putty may be substituted in place of the chewing gum. Truth be known, my
tools and parts geet used on other vehicles more than my own.
For those of you who believe in using innertubes, I suppose you could take
one of those along as well, just in case you were seriously suspicious of
having more than one flat tire in any given day, but for myself I think a
small tire patch kit would do just as well, and I do carry a plugging kit
for the tubless tires. I do not ever carry a cell phone, I guess because I
wouldn't like the delay involved waiting for someone else to arive. But I
usually do carry a camera to keep tabs on the fun, and on a longer trip I
sometimes take the laptop computer just to help spread the fun around as I go.
If the convoy should be particularly slow I can always find some nifty side
roads to explore while they make up some miles. Now does anyone still
seriously think you would get stranded in an MG?
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude
http://www.ntsource.com/~barneymg
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