Thanks to all who responded to my request for assistance. Several
suggested that I might have the calipers upside down, but I was
careful not to do that. It must be a pretty common mistake?! It
turns out that I just didn't know how to bleed the brake lines
effectively. My Eezibleed thingamajig and my usual technique with
the wife at the pedal just doesn't get rid of all the air. I was
finally able to get some air out right at one of the MC fittings
after pressurizing the system (a good suggestion) and then I got the
wife to really pop the pedal hard a few times while I opened each
bleed nipple. I got big bubbles out of the two back lines, and this
was after the usual bleeding was done. After that the brakes were
fine.
With the brakes done I was able to hit the road for Athens, GA to
see two days of NCAA tennis. What a great couple of days. The
car rode great, the weather was perfect, the tennis was terrific,
and a couple of kids at a mall got all excited about the car. I heard
their dad telling them that it was a nice little MG. Arrgh!
Of course there was one car problem. My Spit has a type J overdrive.
It worked fine early in the 110 mile trip, but after about 60 miles
it just wouldn't kick in. The problem started with the rpms starting
to drop when I switched the od on but then going back up after a few
seconds. It was as if there was a partial activation. I got the idea
that it might be the enabling switch that sits on top of the gear box,
so yesterday morning I disconnected the two leads from the switch and
shorted them together. Last evening, on the way home, the od was fine
until about 80 miles into the trip. Coming out of a small town it
just wouldn't kick in and never did the rest of the way. So it appears
that the problem has something to do with the gear oil heating up and
preventing the solenoid activated valve from holding the pressure needed
to keep the od activated. I don't really understand this mechanism,
but I'm wondering if I should be using a different gear oil. I know
there has been some discussion about this in recent months, but I'm
afraid I didn't pay a lot of attention to it. Did the question of od
function come up? I have been using 80-90 wt. oil.
Tim Gaines
1980 Spitfire
1974 TR6
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