MG Sports Cars

Done.

JB

Spurious donated $500 to Roadmaster. It is now winging it's way to the bank. We now have over $1200 in the account.


Steve

That is good news. We are working on the logistics to bring the car back from Sioux Falls, and weather permitting, we will try our best to do that on the weekend of the 19th.

JB

Another deposit to the account today, $190 courtesy of Bill "Jail Bird" Yobi.

JB

Tomorrow is the big day. Everybody pray for good weather. This afternoon Steve DeGroat and Tom Caine will arrive and help complete construction of the wind deflector on the front of the trailer. This is as close as we'll get to an enclosed transport I'm afraid, and we've had to spend nearly $250 to build it, but it should at least keep the birds and stones from hitting the fresh paint. The nose of the car will be enclosed about 4 ft back. We will complete that this evening and make such other preparations as are necessary, then bright and early in the morning we're off to Sioux Falls. The drive takes 14 hours so if we roll out at 7 we should get there by 9. Terry has graciously invited us to overnight at his house, which will save us the cost of a motel room.

But most importantly, tomorrow evening we should get to see the car. Terry has been real secretive about how he dealt with the front spoiler, grille and bumper so I am very curious to see what he did. I will take pictures of course, but obviously won't get to post those until we get back.

JB

Can't wait to see it. I wish I was able to make the trip with you. Godspeed!

Me too! Be safe. Looking forward to updates along the way.

Safe journey to you.

Expect pictures ASAP.

Hmmm, looks like Mater's cuz. ;)

Have a great trip & check the trailer brakes.

OK....where are the pictures?!

Quote:

OK....where are the pictures?!

Patience, Grasshopper!

Does anybody know if they made it?

They're back.

Jim, Steve, & Tom are doing a photo shoot right now.

I just talked to Jim. Steve and Tom are helping him reinstall the engine. I won't say anything else, except they seem to be pleased with the result of Terry's work. I am sure we will see pictures and a detailed post from the BADASS Boss soon.

Dan B

Sooner is better than later!

I'm remembering what it was like to be a kid on Christmas eve!

Still waiting....but not so patiently......

Hi guys. Yes, we're back. And yes the body and paint job is everything we could have possibly hoped for. The car is drop dead gorgeous. I'll get a 'teaser' photo posted later today but before I post a full frontal I'd like to bolt up the carb so that the air cleaner can be properly mounted. I'm hoping that will come in today or tomorrow, I sent Cap'n More-Gone my shipping address before we left. He said Carb-n-Fiber had completed it and it was better than new. The car just doesn't look right without the air cleaner.

What a trip! Terry showed us the utmost in hospitality, inviting us into his home and feeding us, even insisting on going to a specialty shop down the street to pick up some completely outrageous deserts for us while we waited at his house. Now that right there is rolling out the red carpet, guys. I'm not sure what we did to deserve the royal treatment but I'd sure like to let everyone know it was appreciated. He lives in a nice old neighborhood just a few blocks from his dealership, amongst an interesting mix of a fair proportion of very expensive houses interspersed among more moderate homes. This seems to fit their personalities just fine. His wife Trish made us pancakes for breakfast, and their daughter and about 3 or 4 girlfriends were in from college, providing a little entertainment that went well with the down-to-the-last-second local high school championship basketball game on TV, a photo finish in which the favorites won it at the buzzer. Their house, though not ostentatious had enough space that we all had private rooms, though Steve had to use the bathroom down the hall. Rumors aside, I personally do not believe he walked to the bathroom naked, shocking and horrifying the innocent youth of the household. Somebody probably made that up just for the excitement of it. Who though, I cannot say. We had a wonderful time sitting around the table swapping stories and talking about cars. Terry is a true car guy and I have no doubt he drives Mike, his son, a little crazy with it. Turns out that like me, Terry is a "serial parent", his son and daughter being about 20 years apart. For my part, one at a time was all I could handle. Terry has retired, handing Mike the reigns of the dealership while reserving the privilege of hijacking his technicians every now and then. And let's be honest about it, what car guy wouldn't jump at the chance to work on an exotic sports car instead of ma's grocery wagon? Mike had to make some very real sacrifices to see this part of the project through and we owe him every bit as much as Terry for the beautiful results which we will all soon be admiring at Townsend. In fact my very next duty after I get this posted is to write up a suitable thank-you email to Mike.

I'd love to say that the drive up and back was uneventful. The weather was perfect and except for certain events it was, but we had oddly coincidental happenstances that we'd just as gladly done without. The first of these occurred right after fueling up near Champaign on the way up. I was half asleep as Steve drove when rudely awakened by an instantly recognizable powerful vibration and cowl shake. Deja-Vu, all over again!! How could this be? Same place, same circumstances, same problem! More bad gas? We will never know for sure, but we soldiered on same as on the last trip and carried with us a nagging reminder that disaster could strike at any moment. Somewhere in Wisconsin the intermittent cowl shake changed into a steady persistent misfire, which worsened somewhere on the first part of the trip back and we made the return trip driving a 6 cylinder instead of a V8. Apparently by the time we were an hour or so from Indy a connection somewhere had had enough of the vibration and the alternator failed, so at 10:30 pm we found a Wal-Mart, I went in and bought two new 12v batteries and that was enough to make the trip in the rest of the way. It was the best solution available. Irritating to be sure, but at least there is a known consistent problem to solve now and hopefully the fix won't be extreme.

So after a reasonable night's sleep we unloaded and decided to install the engine. Along with that we did the radiator fan, the exhaust pipes (but not headers just yet), made up a new slave bracket for the clutch and installed the driveshaft. Then I noticed an odd thing, the rear suspension is very stiff. That is something we will have to look at next time it goes on the lift. Nothing looks out of place but it is as if the car was very stiffly sprung. Mine has identical shocks and springs and is right so it is a real puzzle, but one we can easily solve by unbolting one end of the shocks so that goes on the to-do list. The other big item is installing glass, hood struts, and door latches. I will leave the struts to Rick. Steve D is ordering the rubber seals for the windshield and hatch glass. I will order a new exhaust manifold gasket for the one that tore on removal as well as a spherical rod end for the slave cylinder. We need to set up a work party to do these things, set the dashboard in place, install taillights and get the car ready for wiring. Also the IRS will have to be unbolted so that the gas tank can be fitted into place, and the fuel pump needs to be mounted.

We need to revisit the front marker lights. As there are no body openings or provisions for them the two best options are probably either in-the-headlight or surface mount.

So the car currently rests peacefully inside the lab, concealed within it's cloak of invisibility. Once the carb gets here I will unshroud it, bolt on the carb and get some proper photos and then back it will go until the next Roadmaster Weekend, to be scheduled as soon as I can take a look at it.

JB

Jim, I just saw Bill Davidson's new V6 powered GT. He put some headlights in it that had a halogen main bulb but also a LED section in the lower area which acted as a turn signal and parking lamp. Nothing else needed on the front with those. I'll find out where he got them. That would solve our problem beautifully and not have to do anything to Terry's body and paint work.

Are those headlights 7"round. I think Bill is talking about these in the link below>>

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