Well List I have to vent and weep a little,
Last Friday I got a panicked call from a young man that has been dating my
daughter. He is 25 miles away, coming home from college and the '76 Spit we
have been working on for the past six month has quit. "Does the engine
crank?" I asked. A sad and despondent "No", is all I got back. I got my
towing strap in the truck and drove straight to him. When we tried to crank
it the starter went "clunk" but the engine went "no". Tried to turn the
engine with the pulley on the front, no joy, locked up tight. He said it was
making a clucking noise so he pressed the clutch down, the engine stopped and
would not turn afterwards. We towed the poor injured beast about fifteen
miles on the interstate, at night, through construction. Got off the
interstate and pulled it the rest of the way home. While pulling the '76 Spit
home my wife called and said the MG would not start. There goes my weekend of
working on my GT6.
Saturday morning we get the engine out of the Spit to find it rattles as we
move it around and there is a bulge just below the distributor. The bolts in
the rod backed out after the bearing spun. The rod lodge itself nicely
between the crank, the oil pump and the case. Going the spare part
department, (the parts car, '80 Spit) we begin pulling out the engine. I hear
my son coming home in his '80 Spit and hear the sound of limbs breaking. It
turns out to be the sound of my two year old chocolate lab being hit by a van.
She died upon impact. We dug a grave and laid her to rest under an oak tree
near our house.
Sunday we all found it just too depressed to work.
Monday went to work and came home with a fever and chills. For a while I
thought it might be the dreaded West Nile Virus. But a night of sweating,
rolling around and not sleeping the fever broke and I slept most of Tuesday.
I was going to get the starter for the MG back from the local
starter/alternator shop on Tuesday, but the parts house they ordered them from
will not have them here until Thursday, just in time for hurricane Lili.
Wednesday I had to tie things down round the house because we are right in the
path of hurricane Lili. I live about twenty five miles from the coast and we
are forecast to get winds up to 100 mph.
Will a LBC stay on the ground in those kinds of winds? I'll let you know in a
few days when it is over. The way my week has been going it will be just
enough to roll them over and cause them to short out that find Lucas wiring
and burn them and my house to the ground.
To top it all off we just change the windscreen in the MG at over $260.00, a
few weeks ago and I found it cracked just before I came in the house before
dark.
If it weren't for bad luck I'd have on luck at all. Keep your fingers crossed
for us in Louisiana, we will need it tonight and tomorrow.
Jeff Howard
Rayne LA
USA
'69 GT6+
'80 Spit
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