Reilly & John haul out a 1500 Midget engine

Very late in the game when British Leyland realized a Federalized 1275 “A” series engine wasn’t going to have the woof to haul around an MG Midget and still meet emissions requirements, they pulled a driveline swap with the Triumph Spitfire.  Apart from some congenital weaknesses in a bottom end that started out around 1147cc, it’s a pretty willing engine, although we note with some amusement that BLMC “forgot” to put oil pressure gauges in the late Midgets.  This Midget is from Chicopee, Massachusetts and it’s in very good ‘nick, too.  Reilly, who took three weeks leave from his military obligatons, rode his Harley Davidson Sportster 8,000 miles thru 33 States, but he got back early and chose a propitious time to show up at the shop again.

Chris & Butch toss the XJ6 engine back in

Not long before I left for Chicopee, Chris, with some help from Butch reinstalled the XJ6 engine.  Over around Rupert (Vt.) somewhere, is another Midget with an engine swap, a Jaguar DOHC six cylinder.  It was on the Classic Motorsports calendar a year or two back, and that’s no fraud, I saw it at the British Invasion of Stowe at the time.  I have also seen one other Midget engine swap of note; a Ford V8-60 flathead which an older gent shoe-horned into an early roll-up window car, and turbo-charged it.

Wrong

Right

There were several responses to the question last week about what was wrong the the MG TD front brake asembly.  Tom Rymes came the closest when he said the trailing & leading brake shoes were reversed.  They were.  But, the reason they were reversed was because someone put the wheel cylinders on upside-down, which you can do on a TD (or TF) because they are not “handed”, like an MGA.  The wheel cylinders are supposed to push the shoes into the direction of wheel rotation, which creates a ‘self-servo’ effect.  This TD stopped great backing up, but not so good going forward

Wrong again

Right, finally

John snapped the picture of the correct brake assembly with his phone, but I amped the contrast.

It looks like the same genius also worked on the back brakes.  John noted a good-sized oil leak into the left rear brake assembly, which was somewhat odd, because it’s the right rear seal that usually leaks.  We don’t know why that is, it’s just what happens.   However a closer inspection revealed the cause: Instead of mounting the seal holders directly on the axle, where they also control the end float of the axle half shafts, our highly skilled repairer put the brake back plates on first with the seal holders on top of them !   A little knowledge is still a dangerous thing, so John fixed those, too.

It went back to New Jersey

A Monday storm knocked out power many places around here and also took down the bright reds & oranges.  That fact not withstanding, Wednesday we still had visitors galore, including folks from England & Sweden, but beginning with Erik Running from Howell, New Jersey, who retrieved his right hand drive MGB GT.  This is another car we pulled apart for paint, then John reassembled it.  When it came in, a lurid green valve cover sticker announced that it had been tuned by “Boop Speed”.  Well, the name apart, it does go down the road nicely,  but regrettably Erik says he has to sell it.  If you’re interested, it’s a super clean, never rusty car, get in touch and we’ll connect you.

Since last week’s notes mentioned the foliage, here’s a colorful scene just up the road

Sunday afternoon in Saxtons River, Vermont

This BN7 ran fine, except it overheated & wouldn't come out of overdrive

Butch logged 265 hours on the blue Austin Healey BN7 two seater seen here, but I did the road testing on Tuesday afternoon.  The car ran fine.  It stopped and turned well but it overheated and the freshly rebuilt (but not by us) transmission wouldn’t come out of overdrive without a sharp rap on the O/D brake ring with a hammer.  However we pronounced it ready for installation of the fenders, doors & windshield, and I returned it to the Auto Shoppe of South Burlington, Vt.  to finish those things up.

John strips a a pair of leaky TD carbs. Butch is behind him at his toolbox

We’ve been very busy this week.  Because we’ve sent the Healey back for final paneling, Butch has gotten a move on with the yellow Morgan +4 seen here, a frame up restoration beginning with a new frame.  My best guess is that it will be running about this time next week.

John can be seen here pulling down the leaking carburetors of the 2nd of three red TD’s he’s had his hands on this week, and as if that wasn’t enough, they’ve also installed two new tops since Monday.

Chris applies heat to a frozen bolt

Because we’re planning to reinstall the XJ6 engine tomorrow, Chris has been doing some undercar maintenance including selective suspension bushing replacement with upgraded urethatne bushings.  Even though this is a West Coast Jaguar, it still has the occasional corroded nut or bolt here and there.  Not many of them, but for some reason the nuts on the R/H swaybar pins didn’t want to come off.  A quick dose of heat will usually save the pin, although a new nut & washer are always a good idea, particularly once you’ve rounded off the head first, as was the case here.

What's wrong with this picture ?

It’s kind of a short report this week, even though a lot has happened.  This is mostly because of time constraints.  Here’s a picture of the other side of the MG TD that John was doing carburetor work on.  The first five people who can identify what’s wrong with this picture will get a free oil filter, post paid, for the british car of their choice.

David with Peter Money & his MG Midget

Peter Money’s well traveled MG Midget has been languishing barn-bound for the last five years.  He decided it was time to put an end to that, so after dropping off the Turquoise over White Austin Healey 3000 Mk II last week, I made tracks for Peter’s barn to pick it up.  His daughter Lily snapped the picture.

John got it running and went thru the brakes & wiring and installed four new shocks. I tweaked the carburetors this morning and put on a door mirror.  Now it’s up to Peter  to drop the top and make the fall leaves rustle along the side of the road.

John makes up brake pipes

Butch repairs a control head

Peter’s car also needed some new brake pipes on the rear axle.  Over on the left is a photo of John setting up our English vice-mount flaring tool.  Having the right tool has saved us untold hours of time and gives us the flexibility to make exactly what we need.  Meanwhile, on the right, Butch is about to make a non-working Austin Healey control head whole again.  This particular unit is an amalgamation of a nearly correct reproduction control head with the critical parts salvaged from old control heads that are no more.  Since we seem to be doing a lot more of these we keep a replacement control head wiring harness & stator tube (what the wires go thru) in stock at all times.

Last week's ditch-bound MGB

Repairs have been scheduled on the Harvest Gold MGB seen last week on these pages in a muddy ditch, where it ended up after the left front wheel came off and went under the car.  It’s a big bummer all around, having just been the recipient of new  paint and a performance engine upgrade.

This British Invasion-bound car was still eminently drivable, and in fact I gently urged the owner to do just that.  I’m completely confident it would have been the talk of the show.  But as the wise man once said, that’s what insurance is for.

Not seen at Stowe

As it happens, the hugely attended British Invasion of Stowe wasn’t the only automotive event in Northern Vermont last weekend, as the National Street Rod Association Northeast Nationals were taking place in Burlington at the same time.

I came upon this immaculately turned out Chevy Nomad two door s wagon with  Oregon plates, in the south bound Randolph rest area on my way back to Westminster.  Isn’t it just magnificent ?

Vehicle Off Road

In the parts business the term V.O.R.  is code for a critical special order.  Of course there is a more mundane meaning, as illustrated here.  It is my practice to road test every car upon completion of repairs to make sure it passes scrutiny.  Are the instrument lights working ?   How about the hand brake ?   Are there any unusual noises or vibrations ?  This MGB had the latter two.  Returning from a 20 mile run, and within a mile of the shop, I stopped to investigate the source of a vibration like a bad wheel bearing.

Left front wheel under driver's door

The unusual noise turned out to be the left front wheel starting to come loose before the car ran over it !   I did the same thing you woulda’ did and planted my right foot on the brake and steered left, but to no avail because the tire under the car precluded much steering grip from the right front wheel.  So off the road we went for a mostly soft landing in a muddy ditch, which bent up the sheetmetal on the right side pretty good.  John had run-in 12 miles on the Interstate Friday afternoon so, all things considered it could have been a lot worse.  No, we didn’t leave the wheel loose, we use a tag-out system when we have wheels off a car, but we didn’t bodyshop-paint the front suspension & brake calipers, either.  Somebody else did that.

Used pistons, new rings

Chris has been busy this week trying to turn around the series 1 XJ6 in time for the British Invasion of Stowe this weekend.  As this is being written, the cylinder head is still in the machine shop, although it may be ready later this afternoon (Thursday).  Because an exhaust valve blew thru it, we needed a replacement 8:1 C.R. long skirt piston for #2 cylinder, which we didn’t have, so we threw in a set of split skirt 9:1 pistons from an early E-type, which we did have.  As has been mentioned here before, the Brits had horrible problems with oil control when these cars were new, and a tight fitting split skirt piston (to take up the heat expansion) was one putative fix, a second oil ring on the bottom of the piston skirt being another, but we’ve discussed that here before.

Old brake fluid

New brake fluid

Saturday while I was finishing up some brake work on an MGB, I had my camera in my pocket and snapped these before and after pictures of a typical S.C.S. brake fluid change.  On the left is the grotty old brake fluid, which is on the verge of being really bad news.  When it turns black what you’re seeing is the dissolving brake seals, and that’s not good.  On the right is the same cylinder with fresh fluid.  One more time now:  Change that brake fluid every other year.

Austin Healey at Shoreham Upholstery

This has been a week of very long days.  Tuesday I ran this real smart Austin Healey up to Shoreham Upholstery in Shoreham on the banks of Lake Champlain.  It’s a beautiful ride up two lane Vermont Rte 22A, thru rolling farm country, where the truckers are moving at 65 and I pass them.  The Healey owner found Jim Ortuno, who was trimming out a Ferrari 212 Barchetta when Jeff first popped in on him.  Jim was also the Proprietor of the Shoreham Inn next door, thankfully sold-on apparently, but a great place to stay if you’re gonna have some upholstery work done.