MG Sports Cars

Jim,

The supplier for the front coil springs was a Chicago company that went out of business some time ago. I'm doing some research to see if I can track down more info. Will post my findings here when I find something.

I've been silently enjoying the progress you've been making. Great to see some fine engineering and design. And looking forward to seeing the results.

Have not touched my project since the end of April. A scuba vacation and work got in the way. As a result, I will not have my car ready for the July event.

Arthur

We'll miss seeing it Arthur, but you're still coming, right? I've been sitting here just gettin a buzz on, and it occurred to me things are getting dull around here. Am I right? Everybody is just being all nice and it just SICKENS me. Where are the OPINIONS?
"Well he's going off the deep end." you think. Hell yes! Let's stir things up a little! Somebody mentioned we got a lot done last weekend. Yes we did! We literally KICKED ASS! Did we not Steve? Coupla real BADASSES here I'm tellin ya! I'm just waiting to see anybody top it. Ain't gonna happen. Let's see what'cha got! And if that ain't good enough for ya, we made it look easy. We got out and ran around a bunch, swapping trips between Steve's GT and my Roadster and having a gooood time doing it. Plus we ate good. That BBQ was FINE! We took our time, but made our time count. It was a top performance by top people and it had all the makings of a Sunday at the shop. Gentlemen, it doesn't get a lot better than that.

Jim

Jim, sounds great. I do envy you and Steve and any others who are close enough to make it up for a Roadmaster weekend. I swear that I'll figure out some way to attend one and contribute some labor to the project. I'm looking forward to meeting you all in Wisconsin as well.

Bill, when do you expect to arrive at the host motel? Considering you're bringing seats I thought I'd just leave the old ones here, but we need to be able to let people sit in the car.

An aluminum intake was sent to me by Mike C. in Atlanta from over on the V8Buick board. It's a Poston S-Divider single plane. Cost us about $20 shipping. If nothing else it would make a good base for an EFI intake. Plus shave 24 lbs off the front end, that's got to count for something. I'll be sending out a check to Mike once I get his address.

When Steve was here we swapped the steering arms side to side to reduce bump steer caused by lowering of the steering rack (another reason we can't use 15" wheels btw, interference with the knuckles and the brake calipers.) but it was too much. In the last couple of days I have modified a spare set of arms to move the ends up 5/8" which gets us very close, probably within 1/8" of parallel and I expect that's good. Modified how? An old technique taught to me by a master fabricator/machinist and metallurgist a long time ago. People are generally fearful of attempting to modify steering arms, and with good reason. If the arm fails you're screwed. But if done correctly it is safe. The steel used in these arms is quite good quality as a rule, they are forgings and quite tough. Cast iron steering arms went out quite some time ago. But even so one should be wary of creating stress cracks and otherwise damaging the arms in the process, and proper stress relieving afterwards is an extremely good idea. But it doesn't have to be overly complicated. I simply clamped the arm to a heavy steel bench using a hand held vise, heated it cherry red, bent it the required amount, reheated it and then placed it in a bucket of clean DRY sand and covered it up and let it cool off slowly. The sand slows heat loss and relieves cooling stresses in the metal. Afterwards you want to wire brush the part and inspect it carefully for any signs of surface cracks. While very small cracks may be polished out, this is a danger sign and generally means the part should not be used, as excess bending and/or heat has damaged it. You should also be careful not to heat the part too hot as burning of the metal can occur, again creating scrap. But done correctly the process results in a part as strong as the original forging, and with the geometry that you need.

So the bump steer is corrected. Next I put the car on jackstands and set it so that I get a level indication checking at the front of the engine block. No photos yet on any of this, maybe tomorrow. A quick check of the differential indicates a downward angle of 2 to 2-1/2 degrees. I will check this more closely later as I want to see what it is with the weight of the car on it.

The timing chain came in, still in the box, we may as well install it at the meet. I cleaned up the old distributor and bolted it in place (no oil pump gears yet) bolted on the damper and fitted the water pump pulley. I think I might just tack the fender flares on before doing any more with the doors and fenders, and then it'll pretty much be ready to go on the trailer.

As for Roadmaster Weekend this month, unless someone notifies me of their intent to come I'm making other plans. Matthew may be in a championship game Saturday and I'm thinking we may just have a pool party for the team here on Sunday.

Jim

Jim, This is how I am doing my clutch slave cylinder. A Wilwood pull type.

Jim N - is connection between the fork & cylinder just a nut on the back side? Seems that might wear pretty fast?

Leonard Marshall has a similar set up. He started out using the stock MG Slave but later switched to a NNN. Similar concept -- pull slave. But, mounted flat against the tranny housing & drilled a hole through the bell housing - about where I see a circle on yours Jim N. Then the fork is cut off just inside the square hole & a simple plate is used over that hole for a dust shield. I don't have a good picture, but the slave he's using is WAGNER PN EW33721 which fits 56-70 Ford F100 pickups. Available at just about any parts store & runs about $35 if I recall. He matched that with a Wilwood 1" master (950-260-6766) w/the resovoir milled down a bit so it'd fit under the cowl flange.

[Note, ignore the "NNN" above... intended to put the PN info there... net is Leonard used the 56-70 F100 slave referenced].



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2008 10:25PM by rficalora.

Rob, That slave is in a Datsun Z. Just an idea of what I plan. I've used a rocker arm ball with a chamfered hole in the arm on a similar setup. On mine the length of the arm will be shorter. The circle is the pivot on the bellhousing on the Z. Maybe a Chevy V8?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2008 08:04PM by mgb260.

Jim, I should arrive around mid day on Saturday. I'm not sure the seats will fit the GT because of the shape of the upper back area, it hits the upper cockpit surround on a Midget and a MGA. The GT should be a bit wider, but can't tell until we try. It might be best to leave at least one seat in the car just to be sure.

Not getting many requests ofr tee-Shirts. Remember if you wnat one in XXL or XXXL you need to let me know before I order. Will be ordering on July 1, 2008.

Steve

Steve, I'll sign up for two in a XXL size. Do you need the money now or wait until we get to Wisconsin?

Bill,
You can wait to pay in WI. I do need to know what color? Rd or White?
Thanks,
Steve

How about one of each for variety. Thanks.

Bill,
I will have them in WI.

Steve

Steve,
Just confirming my intentions from an earlier post - set aside a white XL and we'll settle up in Wisconsin.

Graham,
I have you on the list. See you in WI.

Steve

Hey guys. Not much going on this weekend but I did get the car ready to load on the trailer. I probably won't be able to bring tools, jack stands or anything like that but I did load the doors and rear hatch as well as a few other parts in case some of you want to play around with it while we're at the meet. I loaded the tub of old bolts and hardware too.


Dan B suggested that we work up a list of tasks that could be done at the meet. Not a bad thought. I should have a legal pad I can bring for that. Some that come to mind are:

Install the hatch
Install hatch and hood gas charged struts (Donated by Pieces of Eight and me)
Attach doors and latch plates
Fit Bill's seats
Run the autocross course.... no wait, that would be a group effort.
Install timing gears and chain and front cover
Set pinion angle on rear suspension
Determine the position for the rear Omni flares (I'm looking for my roll of clear packing tape)
Weigh the car

Even better would be if someone wants to take the car for the next year's worth of work. I should be able to get away to come and help some.

It should be a fun time. We definitely need to have a meeting too, that'd be the 2nd semi-annual meeting of B.A.D.A.S.S. NLC, and I propose we have it in the evening after dinner one night, somebody suggest which night. Open attendance, everyone welcome, drinking encouraged. Maybe we should get Paul's input on when would be good.

Jim

Another item for the list: wash the car.

Hey, does anyone think I should bring the doors and the hatch? Does anyone think I should bring the second set of Omni flares? Is anyone interested in taking the car for the next year, six months, or even 3 months?

Jim

We could bolt the doors and hatch on for photos, but they'd be in the way later and have to be removed, so your call. I can't see any reason to bring the flares, we can't fit them there for sure. I've never considered moving the project around, but it's certainly an interesting idea. Wish I had the room in my shop for both it and the MGA, I'd take it for a time and get the sills etc sorted out. I like that type of sheet metal work. My vacation time for this year is pretty well booked, but I would like to plan on taking a week next year (anytime after the first of Jan when the vacation time rolls over) and do a long Roadmaster weekend.

Too bad KC is so far from Houston. I have the room, but not the time (as evidenced by my 2yr project approaching year 3).

I could probably be persuaded to transport the car to another shop. Most of my area of expertise is done, about all that remains would be the headers and the intake. Really as Bill mentioned the body work will take precedence in the coming year, and I don't think anyone is going to give me any awards in that area. Just about any car you care to look at has better bodywork than mine. I think it makes more sense to move the car around anyway, since that should generate more member participation, and really the car should be where the expertise is, whether it's driveline, suspension, bodywork, interior, wiring, trim or whatever else it needs.

If we do this, rest assured I will continue to do my part for the organization, will continue to help with the car, and will continue to serve as president of BADASS until I'm elected out. (Speaking of which, when should we hold elections again? We never really set a term length.)

Now one more thing. Moving the car around like this is very likely to mean it will take us longer to finish it. I think that's a fair trade off for more member participation and probably will mean a better car anyway, but it also means we could lose one or two potential sponsors, such as Weld Wheels, as our completion date may likely slip past their release date for their new wheels. But considering that we don't have a firm commitment (their support is qualified by their promo budget) it isn't exactly fair to say we'd lose them, and we might not. And, if I'm not fretting about getting the car done I should be able to devote more time to finding sponsors anyway, so I'm not convinced it's a bad thing even at that.

There's no hurry. The plan is to take the car to the meet and bring it back here. Obviously taking it somewhere else will involve some logistics but we have time to figure that out.

Jim