Butch & John and a Bad Tune Up

The hood latch didn’t latch and the safety catches didn’t catch.  The carburetor tuning didn’t go well Monday on this Phase 1 BJ8, but last week we did promise you a picture.   As the wise man once said, “That’s what insurance is for”.

We traced the latch failure back to poor routing of the release rod mechanism, something not at all obvious at first blush until we realized the pivot was binding on the radiator.  The fact that neither of the safety catches did their thing reinforces our belief that Mondays are “Heck” Days.  Anyway, it runs well now.

Two Wise men: Studebaker Dave & Jonathan Bateman

Wednesday drew an unusual convergence of wise men: Studebaker Dave & Jonathan Bateman.  Dave was dropping off the Borg Warner Detroit Gear 250 automatic for our Jaguar Mark IX project.  He happened to overlap with Jonathan Bateman of the near-mythic “Liberal Arts Garage”.  My camera caught the two of them together assessing Mr. B’s handiwork on the supercharged TC race car.

Brake fluid is “hygroscopic” which means that it absorbs moisture, and that’s a

Scotch-Lock repair on the ammeter circuit

Now the other little faux pas here was the Scotch-Lock connector on the ammeter wire.  I mean come-m’on, it wasn’t even the right size.  This wire is carrying the entire charge load back to the battery.  O.K.  our bad too, because we never looked before.

Last Saturday: 2nd Lt. Warner Clark at the Westminster West Church Fair photo: Rose Shaoul

Skipper Herreshoff gave Larry this XK 140 rearview mirror

I had a hunch that the MG TC in the foreground was built up by the Liberal Arts Garage in Grovers Corners, New Hampshire. I remember them well from my time at Abingdon Spares.  Unfortunately the trail has gone cold in recent years, but a little research with a New Hampshire phone book netted a phone number for Jonathan Bateman, the former proprietor, who is still very much on the scene and is living in a garden apartment amid what he describes as “More tools than furniture”.  We should all be so lucky.  A rendezvous has been arranged for next Wednesday.

Butch sorts out carburetors for a Phase 1 BJ8 Healey

We know we’re missing some pulleys, and it’s highly probable that we’re missing other pieces which are less obvious, so the next step is to mount the ‘new’ Shorrock supercharger and see how things line up.  Ken Booth from KNB Manufacturing & Automation in Westmoreland, N.H. will be doing the fabrication work for us.  We’re counting on Automotive Technician Emeritus Bateman to tell us how it goes together.

John, Steve, Butch & some Jaguars Friday afternoon

We had an early Phase 1 Austin Healey 3000 Mk III show up Friday morning for some carburetor tuning.  O.M.G !  what a nice car, even if it is in the Arrest-Me-Red livery.  This car is a SERIOUS  restoration and although we’re very, very good at this, we’ll be working at the top of our form on our current Healey projects to outperform it.  Butch is dialing in the carburetors.  Look for a picture next week.

Loading a Morgan +4 at East Coast Collision & Restoration Friday night (M.W. photo)

Jason Marechaux at E.C.C. & R. called me earlier in the week to see if he could “borrow” an Open Two Seater E-type to measure up for a restoration which is on-going there.  After much pushing and grunting Butch, John, Steve and I dug one out for him and Friday night we did a hostage exchange of sorts and hauled this Plus 4 Morgan two seater back down to our shop to do the trim & mechanicals.

We won’t get to this until after the British Invasion of Stowe next weekend (Sept. 14-16), but it’ll be a blast to have it a fully restored going concern once again.

An MG TC in New Hampshire

Readers of these posts might recall that that we’ve been working with Larry Perry to get his second MG TC roadworthy, this second TC coming roughly 60 years after his first.

Around 1950 a precipitous drop in price resulted in Larry and his wife emptying their bank account and ordering a Shorrock supercharger from the emporium of S.A. “Wacky” Arnolt of  Chicago, Illinois, an MG dealer with his fingers in a whole lot of pies.  What had once been the cost of a replacement TC could now be had for $300.00 in Truman era dollars, and the now supercharged TC gave them a number of years of mostly trouble free service.

Larry & David discuss the finer points of TC top fasteners

About a year ago, give or take, Larry pulled the trigger and bought a very well presented but also very normally aspirated TC and had it trucked up from Virginia, and late last fall another Shorrock, this one from Novi, Michegan fell out of the sky, so to speak, and landed in his lap.

MG has a long history with what is known as ‘Low Pressure’ supercharging.  In the Pre-War era, Marshall, Arnolt, Shorrock and others were manufacturing a panoply of  forced induction systems, which with boosts of under five pounds or so did not void the MG factory warranty.  Shorrock survived into the ’60s, producing lots of units for Volkswagen owners for whom 36 horsepower just wasn’t enough, and as the evidence shows, for the british car aftermarket as well.

Supercharged & about-to-be supercharged TC's

Larry’s supercharger appears to be in good nick, although with a few parts missing, not a daunting problem really when you have the resources.  What we didn’t have were the patterns, but “one hand washes the other” as the farmers say, and Friday night I trundled up to Peterboro and “borrowed” a Shorrock blown TC needing to be ‘got running’ again.   This will work out to the mutual benefit of both parties, so stay tuned for the emerging story.   Mary White photos

John with Jag

John & Butch are nearly finished with the Jaguar Mk2 Sedan.  They’ve run it in the yard and pending the sorting of some power steering problems they’ll be running it on the road Monday or Tuesday, weather permitting.

The visual effect of the E.C.C.&R. polishing shop on the cam covers and carburetor suction chambers is on full display in this picture of John emerging from a stint under the dashboard while he was wiring up the new back mount fog lights.

Steve checks wiring for the rear seat clock

This photo is actually from last week.  It’s Steve checking the wiring in the front seat for the rear passenger compartment clock in the big Jaguar Mk IX sedan.  It seems like everywhere he’s been someone else has been there first !   And with varying degrees of competency being on display.

We’re waiting for the return of the Detroit Gear 250 Automatic from

An unusual 4 synchro gearbox

Studebaker Dave so that we can reinstall the drivetrain south of the engine, including the re-geared 3.54 rear axle which has also been converted to a Dana 44 limited slip.

We’re ramping up towards The British Invasion of Stowe, which is the 3rd weekend in September.  Hurricane Irene did her best to put a damper on the event last year, but Vermont Agency of Transportation… and the National Guard proved equal to the task and more than 600 enthusiasts made there anyway !   Registration closes September 5.  See you there.

It’s quite busy here, so sorry for the late, very brief update.

At full chat in an Austin Healey