Some Snow But A Roadtest, Too

Westminster West road Wednesday morning

On the Westminster West road Wednesday morning

It snowed most of the day Wednesday which wasn’t really a disruption for us because no roadtesting was on our schedule.  On the left you can see what it looked like around 7:00 in the morning from my faithful rubber bumper MGB GT.  The highway crew had already made a pass spreading salt, which was  just starting to work it’s way down from the center crown of the road.

Back in the shop Steve has been prepping an MGB for the installation of it’s new uprated engine and John is continuing to build up a Morgan +4 while Butch has been tidying up the red MG TD, which is a nice car with just a few loose ends still.

Butch runs a TD in the yard

Butch evaluates the clutch & brake mechanisms

One of the larger loose ends was the poor state of the clutch linkage and pedal shaft.  This was referenced in last week’s report, but today was evaluation day.   The net result is a vastly more progressive clutch and a quite good brake pedal, albeit with a pronounced pull to the right which puzzles us because the brake drums & linings, wheel cylinders and brake hoses all appeared to be in entirely satisfactory condition.  More investigation will ensue.  On the plus side, Butch seems to have rectified the somewhat intermittant operation of the turn signals by stripping and cleaning the vacuum turn signal switch.

I’m not a very big fan of the vacuum switches, and in my MGA, which uses the same switch, it has been replaced with a toggle switch from a Sprite.  I’ll be the one to decide when the turn signals will cancel.

A dry stretch of pavement

A dry stretch of pavement

We are fortunate that the highway immediately adjacent to the shop dries out quickly and affords us about a half a mile of bare pavement.  It’s not our usual roadtest route but it is enough to at least get up thru four gears and back down again.  I have spent much of the week checking inventory so around 3:00 when Butch asked me for a second opinion I cast my inventory sheets aside and grabbed my gloves and away I did go.  There is nothing quite as bracing as a 40 mph blast of January fresh air, although after about 20 minutes and four or five return journeys I had had quite enough.

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