Alpine gets new glass
Cheaper windshields are available from the catalog merchants (believe me, you get what you pay for), but whenever they’re available we prefer to use genuine Triplex glass.
Quality trademark
In new news, we’ve now discovered replacing a windshield in an Alpine makes the same service operation on an MGB appear to have all the drama of an oil change, and I like to say that the only easy part of an MGB windshield replacement is asking for your money when you’re done. At any rate we found the correct gasket for the glass (hint: you won’t find it in Lenexa, Kansas). Butch persevered, and you can be the judge of the result.
Cleaning up an overdrive MGB TX
While Butch was struggling to keep his sanity, Patrick decided that the best approach to a baulky 1st gear synchro (a truly unintended pun) in his MGB GT winter escape car was to take out the engine & TX and replace it. I suggested ignoring it completely, after all I’ve been driving MGA’s for 40 years and I ignore the non-working 2nd gear synchromesh.
Return Trip
The teardown revealed that the synchronizer baulk ring had split, an unusual event to say the least. We had ’em on the shelf of course, with a 1992 invoice date. While the engine was out, Patrick threw in a new set of piston rings to improve oil control, it already had received something resembling a valve job.
Ready for departure
We were going to ship the gunmetal grey E-type to Ernest Hillier today, but this is Vermont, not Florida, and it was snowing. After consultation with Mike Savage we decided to scrub the mission until next week. Discretion is still the better part of valor, and anyway when we talked to Mike he was on his way up the Interstate with a car from Philadelphia bound for Green Mountain Classics in Springfield, and his home in Weston was a whole lot closer to Springfield than we are.
