MG Sports Cars

I'm using a hotel computer but will be home tomorrow.
The headlights aren't really sealed and even so we don't want road water coming around the trim rings. OEM gaskets might help, but I don't think we can use anything from the OEM buckets except the flange. The opening just isn't big enough.

That's about all I have time for, but thanks for the good wishes. The car will be there, and as complete as we can make it in the time we have. Thank you for the offers of help.

JB

Back home now and trying to get caught up a little but I haven't even been out to the Lab yet. Everything looks normal from here though. Bill I'm sorry to hear about Frank. Even though I didn't know him, we all hate to see one of our own pass. Your point is well taken. The cars are nothing more than a bit of glue that helps bring us together. Still, they allow us to indulge our passion which is no mean consideration.

Carl, and Dan, I hope you guys can make it. With your help we should be able to make a most presentable showing at Townsend. But anyone else sitting on the fence about coming out to help on the last weekend of this month, we still need your help too. There are many things to be done. Almost all of the components that need to be reinstalled in the car need to be cleaned up and painted or otherwise made ready first. It'd be a crime to reinstall the same ratty old heater for instance. To do the job properly the housing should come apart, be bead blasted, painted, and reassembled before being installed. The same goes for almost everything that goes back in the car. All that stuff looked OK before the new paint job, but I know you guys are going to agree (once you actually see the car) that it just wouldn't be right to simply put it back together that way. I also know that this was not our objective originally. We never set out to build a show car, and the only thing changing that at all is the very high quality of the paint. But since we do have a high quality paint job it seems clear that we should show it off to it's fullest potential if we can. I know we are limited in what we can do. Some things just won't measure up. But with enough help we can at least put in the effort in places where effort will show to good advantage. Then with everybody getting a chance to look the car over, we can decide how far we want to go down that path. Townsend is the obvious place to decide that, and I very much look forward to seeing all of you there.

By the way, our new T-shirts for this year are going to be something special. Not to steal Steve's thunder and the details are not yet finalized, but not only will the breast logo include an actual photo of the car, the same logo will be enlarged on the back, also with the actual photo. Final color selection will be decided in accordance with recommendations from the shirt maker but we discussed tan. We also talked about putting the year in the logo. Shirt sales have declined the last year or two, and last year we just broke even. However, we were able to make use of a number of the extra shirts for promotional purposes, which turned out to be a good tactic. I bought a bunch of them myself, which helped pay for any number of miscellaneous costs. We still have a few of those left if anyone wants one, I think they run to the large sizes. It's a good color and makes a very handy shirt to just grab and go. We will have the new shirts at Townsend but neither Steve nor I especially wants to be stuck with selling shirts all weekend. That might have had a little to do with the declining sales. We can sell them during the B.A.D.A.S.S. annual meeting and the tech session but other than that unless someone else wants to help out you'll probably have to ask for them.

Finally, I'm grateful for the vacation. It gave me a chance to get a little better perspective on things and to slow back down to a more reasonable pace. I think we all need that from time to time.

JB

Jim,

If the shipping isn't too much, I have a blast cabinet. I can blast some parts, then spray bomb 'em (don't have a real spray setup), & bring 'em with me.

Thanks Carl, I'll see what I can send your way.
I measured the headlights and we need a pair of bowls around 7-3/4" ID (to also enclose the adjustment screws) or could possibly use 6-5/16" to only enclose the back of the headlight itself. Stainless would probably be the best.

JB

Do you want me to ship the MGB headlamp buckets and gaskets to Carl or to you?

Better send them to me since we'll have to modify them regardless.
I hope to have a spare bay cleared out and the lift available by the time we start work so I'm going to be pretty busy with that since to do it I have to finish repairing the truck and also finish re-fabricating the steering rack mounts on my roadster, but if I get the chance I'll do some preliminary fitting and try to get out and look for bowls. I have some old stainless bowls that came from my great uncle who was a dentist and I'm pretty sure he got them from a medical supply house somewhere. They aren't the right size and I don't have two of any one size either but they have a good shape. If we knew of a suitable supply house we might find just the right thing. If any of you could find time to look for those it'd be a big help. 7-3/4" inner diameter. I have some welding to do today and bench space to clear and straighten up, but I'll try to go through some of the things to send to Carl if I have time.

JB

What about plastic? Those metal bowls from Uncle Dorsey are probably 50-60 years old, and surely hard to find anything similar, but plastic stuff should be easy to find and cheap.

I thought about that but stainless would be more durable, about the same weight, and easier to work with I think. One more thing for me to research I guess.

How do you guys like the new t-shirt design? Any suggestions?



JB

Love the shirts, can't wait to get mine. I'm glad that this year the meet is early so that I will have the shirts to wear to all the local shows this summer. Can we get the "Project Roadmaster" area on the small version for the front of the shirt filled with color the same as for the larger version on the back?

Have you thought about vaccum forming.
It's easy and cheap. My two favorite things.
And you can make pretty much any shape needed.
I've been using it to reskin doorpanels and dashes lately.
But have also made headlight covers, consoles, stereo bezels etc.
Works like a charm.

By the way, that Tshirt will be "Badass".
You need a small disclaimer on it like the printer has.
Something like "Due to build differences your car may not be able to keep up"

Cheers
Fred



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/2011 02:10PM by DiDueColpi.

Bill, I'll pass your question along, as well as the idea of putting the year on it.

Good idea Fred, but more time than I have to put into it right now. I do have the basic machine but it's never been tested and I'd have to make the forms, frames and such. Quicker and easier to just buy a couple bowls. They'd have to be at least 4" deep and 7-3/4" ID. Might get out tomorrow and look for them if I can. This one might be a good choice, depending on measurements: [www.amazon.com]
I'm in a time crunch on my truck now, still waiting on valve seats. I've never had a vehicle fight me so hard. It's a dam*ed good thing I allowed a greatly excessive amount of time for the repair. In the meantime, the TR7 I'm driving leaks atf so badly I'm going to have to put a fire extinguisher in the trunk just in case, and I have to drive ghetto style because the seat is too high and my head hits the top. Not exactly conducive to getting out and running around, and too wet to ride the bike. E's out of town so I can't even commandeer her jeep. But hopefully the head might be done tomorrow so maybe I can look at bowls when I go to pick that up.

JB

Quote:

How do you guys like the new t-shirt design? Any suggestions?

Looks awesome!

Be real careful how they are done. If the fabric can't breathe, the t-shirt will become a sauna.

If you want a 2x or 3x large, e-mail me at sdegroat@truvista.net or pm me on this site.
I do not plan to order many of them because they cost more to make.
The order will go in the first part of May. When I return from Jim's.

steve

The headlamp buckets and new gaskets went into the mail to you today (4/22), Jim.

Thanks Rick. I'm in Milton this weekend but will ber bsck about the time it gets there. Meantime I'll try to look for bowls.

JB

Will be leaving early AM tomorrow for Roadmaster. I have southern BBQ. Looks like it will be Jim, Dan and me. Hope we get it done.
Will probably run in the rain the entire way up.
Will be driving the 4 cyl BGT as the V6 killed a big dog and is the shop being fixed.

steve

Looking forward to it Steve, stick to the high ground for sure. Got bowls, got headlight buckets, got a need to see glass in that beastie. A few errands tomorrow and rock-n-roll. Right arm, right arm, right arm, man. Boy do I wish we had enough help to make it run.

JB

Sorry, guys, but I gotta work the pharmacy this weekend.

Made a last minute plea to the WV British Car Club. I don't know how much interest there is here, but it's worth a shot.

Got some bowls that I think might work.



We have done a little work on the car:





We didn't install the expander strip in the front or rear glass seal because we don't know how to do it. Someone else will have to take care of that. If someone has whatever tools it takes and knows how to do it, the V8 meet would be a good time to install them. Also the hood struts won't be installed before then so with Rick's expert guidance maybe we can install them there. I think Carl mentioned that it would be good to have some hands-on at the meet anyway so those are a couple of things we could do. I think someone might want to bring a cordless drill and drill bits. I don't have one.

JB