MG Sports Cars

Jim, Here is a idea for rear radius rods on a jag rear. It is a Unique Cobra. Butch Caps does Jag rears for Unique Motorcars in Gadsen,AL. He owns Mid South Gear in Knoxville,TN and is a Guru in Jag rears and Toploader 4 speeds. Speaking of trans G force builds T-5's to handle the power of the 455. I know any Pontiac,Buick,Olds bellhousing will work, but the GS standard flywheel is pretty rare.

Thanks Jim, that's a real good shot. Radius rods to the rear would be lighter and more effective at controlling hub movement under power than just about any other structure. Unfortunately for us the gas tank is right in the way. Although it might be possible to put a link under the gas tank, it doesn't seem like a particularly simple matter as there's not a lot of ground clearance back there. But it's worth keeping in mind.

Well, as another Roadmaster Weekend draws to a close, as before over the winter there's not an awful lot to report, but what there is, is good. Best of all, the driveway is completed with fresh gravel, graded out and smooth. I'm sure Steve will appreciate the improvement, no more mud to drive through when bringing the engine parts in next month. I'm also waiting on a set of wheels which I'll loan to the project, they should be in this week sometime. All four Omni flares have come in and they look good. The mig welder has been working well, and I'm hoping time and weather will permit sheathing of the block walls so we have no more water coming in. Plus it's getting warmer.

I have a good bit of spring cleaning to do in preparation for next month, and one week will be lost to vacation but I do think everything will be in order by then. We have a lot to do this summer to get ready for the show.

Jim

Fellow Members,

I would like to buy from BADASS the wire wheel rearend and the steering rack. I installed the rack in that car, it was a used unit, but is still good. I have two cars that use the the narrow rearend, so would be nice to have a spare.
I don't want to be accused of insider trading, so what would these items be worth?
If the rack is still attached to the front cross member I could take the whole thing, if the price is right.
I will be able to pick them up the end of April when I deliver the 455 and stuff.
We will not be using them as Dan donated the Jag rearend and Arthur donated the entire front susupension.
Thanks,
Steve

Steve, I don't have any problem with you just taking your parts back. You donated them and since they aren't going to be used they are excess to the project and you should have them back. You've already shown that you will continue to lend support, I'm sure there will be something else along the way you'll be able to kick in. For those parts that were dontated and are not wanted by the donor and we won't be using then sale at a reasonable current market value to help defray expense in other areas is great and I for one will defer to Jim as the custodian as to what ever price he can get. We do need eventually to dispose of all material and money donated to the project. The last thing Jim needs is a shop full of old parts left over from the project, so even if it's sold for the scrap value and the money donated to the project it's fine with me. What ever parts such as some of the items Arthur donated which Jim has said he would buy for his personal use or any others that are not needed for the project are fair game to the highest bidder or should be returned to the donor if he so wants.

Heck, Steve has already spent more in just gasoline than what those parts are worth! Besides, as Bill mentioned, it was his car. Whatever comes off that we don't use if he wants it back, I say absolutely & at no charge.

Carl and Bill,
Thanks for the kind words, but feel I should buy them at some price- Say $100?

Steve

If you feel you must then the project and the group would be greatful. There's no doubt that pretty soon we'll be gitting into areas where there won't be any substitute for some cash in the treasury to cover some items. I'm working on an update to the original article Curtis published, trying to get a handle on where we are and what parts or components we still need and in what order. Looks like the fender flares are sorted, what do we need as far as repair panels for the body? Someone out there might have some extra sill pieces that went unused from a project that they would donate. How about seats? I have a pair of APC seats I bought several years ago for my Midget but they wouldn't fit, the upper back side hits on the edge of the cockpit. Don't know if they'd fit the GT but if they will I'll throw those in when the time comes. They look a lot like the grey ones shown.

I agree with everything above, and however you guys want to handle it is fine with me. Personally I feel like Steve is entitled to any of his donated parts that we don't use. We have to keep in mind the tax considerations, but that's easy enough.

Looks like I will be able to use one of the 300 heads that were donated, I decided not to use the one with the bad spark plug hole, so I'll need to deposit some money for the one head to the badass account. I've been watching online auctions and as near as I can tell the going price for rebuildable heads in fair condition is around 100 to 150 a pair and I was really waiting to see what Dale is going to charge me for putting them into usable shape before making the deposit. I figured that would be a fair indicator of the actual condition. I should know how much that is before Steve gets here. I can't remember if there was anything else I wanted to use, nothing comes to mind right now.

About the steering rack, we'll have to do some thinking about how to handle that the best. Arthur's crossmember and rack are not usable without modification due to the steering relocation. Steve's crossmember and rack have the modifications that are needed. I don't recall if there is another rack or not, but I'm thinking maybe not. Assuming Arthur's rack is unmodified Steve could use that but it's a new unit. Also he could use Arthur's crossmember but it's hot dip galvanized. I do however have a couple of other stock crossmembers and Steve, you are more than welcome to one of those. I know that doesn't help all that much with the rack but we can look around and see if there might be another one here, or we can agree to what Steve should give the project for Arthur's steering rack if he wants that one.

Steve, if you don't mind I'd like to inventory our parts while you're here and decide which ones to offer and which ones to keep. Maybe we can raise some cash that way. The other thing is that we do have sheet metal parts that Denny and Dan B took off the mule and maybe we can decide what else we need then. Pete has asked us to let him know what sheet metal parts we need, as he may have some of them. I'm going to keep after tires and also since it looks like the flywheel will be a hard to find item I'll see if I can get TA to donate those instead of the heads. Andy B (my other brother) is working on getting us a blower and I hope to know something on that in about a week or so. Hope you guys don't mind.

Jim

Jim,
All that sounds fine.
Gives us something to do while I'm there.
I have gotten in touch with friend who works for Custom Printwear. They embroder t-shirts and nearly anything else. I just sent him the picture of the patch. He will get me prices and so forth. They do not make patches, so we have to use womeone else. At least we will get some idea of the prices.
How many do we think we'll need?

Steve

Jim, a few folks mentioned the Roadmaster project isn't going to be using the CB pedal box. If that's true let me know what kind of shape they're in & what the project would want for them.

I have a pedal box & pedals from a CB parts car I bought a while back, but they're a bit crusty & pitted. If the one from the project isn't rusty or pitted, that'd save me some time so I'd I'll buy them. Or, if the project needs a RB pedal box &/or vacuum booster, maybe I can trade the set-up from my '76 with the project... anyway, let me know.

I'm back, well mostly anyways. Florida was a real nice change of pace and the warm weather followed us back, temporarily anyway. But then I had to tolerate a minor medical procedure, one of those things you have to put up with occasionally and it'll be a few days before I'm right and even more before I start feeling caught up.

There's good news, the wheels came in and I've got some photos to share. Let me know what you think. Also, on the patches, we need to get pricing for different quantities. I'm thinking an initial order of 100 should be manageable but we should get pricing for 50, 100, 250 and 500. Rob, I'll have to get out there and look, give me a few days and I'll try to have an answer.

First shot also has the flares, more on those in the next post

The rim width is 9-1/2" which gives good backspacing for the suspension. As long as the rim clears everything else should (except the tire)

I set up one shot to try to get a sort of visual on how it might look

The rim width puts it in contact with the inner fender on the inside and flush with the bodywork on the outside. That would be ~10-1/2" so with a 3" flare we have probably a max of 1-1/2" per side to play with.


Jim

Jim,
Glad your back and hope you get to feeling better.
The wheels look great to me. Do you still need my Jag wheels?
I have some pricing and will discuss it when I'm up there.
I will try to post a picture of the design that the company here came up with.
I am still planing to get there on the 24 th.
Dale said to get in touch with him on the Monday before I leave to see if he has the work done. Hope so.


Steve

No rush on the pedal box Jim. I had some time on Sunday so I modified the one I have to fit. I'm still interested in the one from the project -- mainly for the pedals, bushings, & hardware -- if they're in good shape. My pedal box itself wasn't as bad as I originally thought, but the pedals themselves look like they sat in a bucket of water for a while.

This in from Steve DeGroat:

Of course I like it Steve, ready to order a couple in time for July. Also would be nice to wear at a lot of our local events to stir up interest in the project.

The design in the post above is from the people at the embroidary company. Thaey midified the original a little . They claim it will be easier to read and see, AND for them to produce.
If it suits people, I will get with Jim about quantities and costs.

Steve

Is that going to be the color of the Roadmaster, or am I going to have to buy another shirt after it's painted?

It would be nice to have the correct color right off the bat.

Carl,
Good point. That is the original color of the car. Has there been any discusion of color?

Steve

Good point Steve, I don't think we've even thought about the final color yet. I picked that image from the web because it was both a clean image to work with and it was a similar color to the car we're starting with. I kind of like a dark green GT and it would give us a little more leeway on interior color.

Carl,
What's wrong with changing colors and having people buy another shirt. This is supposed to be a fund raiser.

Steve