John buttons up an MGA
John can be seen here making adjustments to an MGA 1600 MK II with a long history with one Connecticut family. When we first encountered it, the engine and TX were occupying the space normally taken up by the seats ! We rectified that early on, and after we sent it out for paint, we also completely reupholstered the car. It was missing a few parts such as the pedal box, instruments, and dashboard that were attached to the car when it first went out to a New York Metro Area restoration shop, but that just meant we were able to reduce our surplus MGA used parts population.
Butch straightens a Healey throttle pedal
We’re also in the buttoning-up phase with an Austin Healey 3000 Mk II which hails from New Jersey, by way of Dusseldorf, Germany, where it was sold new, according to the British Motor Heritage Trace Certificate. Externally, it’s a little unusual in that it has the separate turn signal lights which didn’t show up here until the introduction of the phase 2 Austin Healey 3000 MkIII in late 1965 or early ’66.
We initially thought it’s performance was a bit anemic, but Butch traced this to a significantly bent accelerator pedal shaft which only allowed about half throttle when fully open.
When you mat it, mat it carefully.
Traveling Wilbury
We’ve got the aftermath of the Elva engine’s catastrophic failure cleaned up. I hadn’t paid much attention to the rest of the engine, so I missed something that’s obvious in this picture: A piece of metal which had managed to travel from the blow up in #1 cylinder all the way down to #4 cylinder where it has the intake valve wedged open. The presumption is that its path was thru the balance pipe in the intake manifold.
Win Some, Lose Some: We labored mightily on the big Jag, but the owner pronounced himself dissatisfied.
Butch & John wash up the Mk9 before delivery. The owner was still unhappy
