The New Crown Point Bridge & Other Curiosities

TR4 road test

TR4 on test Wednesday afternoon

Thanksgiving week is a short work week for us as we also take off the Friday after the holiday.  That fact not withstanding, we’ve gotten quite a bit done this week and although I’m not reporting out on all of it, I am reporting out on some of it.

John has pretty well turned the corner (an unintended pun) with the black TR4.  It’s a very nice car but there were a lot of odds & ends to tidy up beginning with the obliquely mounted generator (they work better when all three pulleys are operating in the same plane), a rear axle service including five new oil seals and a brake &

oblique generator drive

TR4 generator drive

well worn clutch pedal

Well worn clutch pedal

clutch master cylinder overhaul.  Here’s a picture of the generator drive alignment.  To our great amusement previous invoicing referenced a generator repair.  Part of the misalignment stemmed from the fact that the rear generator mounting wasn’t attached.  Good enough isn’t always good enough, except when you get away with it, I guess.  The fulcrum point at the end of the clutch pedal, doesn’t matter whether it’s MG, Triumph, Morgan or anything else, is always a high wear item.  Many years ago I once put a new clutch in an Austin Healey only to discover to my great consternation that I couldn’t back it out of the garage when I was done because of deterioration in the mechanical linkages !  So we weld ’em up & make a new round hole and replace the clevis pin.

Butch has put three days in, under, and around the two seater BN7 while Jag-man Steve has kept busy, too.

Crossing Lake Champlain

Crossing Lake Champlain

My own work week frequently includes Saturday and Sunday, it’s when I go fetch or return cars which are more than four hours away.

There are three ferrys that cross Lake Champlain until the Lake finally ices over, but being well south of the Lake my strategy has generally been to cross at Whitehall, New York or to take Vermont Rte. 22A which has to be one of the most wonderful rides in the northeast for a sports car.  It’s not twisty-windy, it’s an undulating road from Fair Haven up to Bridport (not a typo) through serious Vermont dairy country, broken up by just a couple of small towns.   The tractor-trailers will pass you going 70.

In Bridport we cut over to the Crown Point (Champlain) Bridge via Vt. Rte. 17.  For a while this wasn’t an option because the bridge was closed and demolished in 2009, but working at a speed almost unheard of in government, a new bridge was built and opened in 2011, and this is now once again our preferred route to Westport, N.Y. Essex and the Adirondaks where we’ve been to  Lake Placid & Saranac Lake several times recently.

The new Crown Point Bridge

The elegant New Crown Point Bridge, at dusk

This entry was posted in This week at the shop. Bookmark the permalink.