MG Sports Cars

I just hit a dead end on insurance...

Good Afternoon Rob, I have tried Northeast Agencies, Tryton, and have been unable to find a Carrier for the risk.  From what I have learned it will require a specialty Insurer and I have been unable to find one.  I am sorry I could not be of help.
Chet Martinez

I did learn the husband of a friend at work is a pilot and is or was a member of a flying club. Am asking him how they insured the planes.

The Roadmaster just gets better and better. Each time I take it out the road manners get better. It no longer seems to steer itself.
I have the timing at 15 and manifold vacuum as Jeff said it should be. Runs great.
Went to Carolina Motorsports park for the British Invasion today and let Hap drive it. He will post on the Experience site his reactions to the car. I was impressed with both the car and Hap. I did not drive on the track as I thought Haps feedback would be more valueable than my feeble attempt as driving.

I will be driving the car to Jim's on 11/20. My brother comes through there on 11/21 and I can ride back with him.
Now has about 300 miles on it and the last tank was just over 12 mpg. I think It will do 15-17 on a trip.
Carb is rich. I do not play inside carbs. I turn bolts.
Jim has found ins and will get the tag next week and mail to me.
All guages seem to be working except tach and speedo. Someone else can take the dash back off to try and fix them.
Steve

It will be interesting to get Hap's input....he's not a big fan of V8 conversions.

Concerns me that you will be taking a personal risk driving the Roadmaster to Kentucky sans insurance.

It will have ins. Jim is getting that on Monday. He will send me the tag before I drive up there. Thank you for your concern.

Steve

What insurance did you find Jim?

I have it on good authority that Hap REALLY liked the Roadmaster!

I look forward to reading his comments......

Hap posted on the MG Experience today. I do believe he was impressed.

[www.mgexperience.net]

He could hardly have written a more positive report. Guess we won't be trying to mount that front swaybar if his impressions hold up. Possibly a little stagger in the tire pressures would balance things out if it is that close.

Rick, the insurance agent I've been working with was out of town today but one of his associates said Taylor accepted the policy so I should get the POI cards tomorrow. Steve will be legal.

After reading Hap's report I'm more anxious than ever to get behind the wheel. Can't wait. We are certainly off to a great start.

So, a couple of business matters. First, we spent about $550 for one year's insurance. We need to decide how we are going to continue to pay for that as well as tires and whatever other running costs we have. I think there are a couple hundred left in the treasury.

Bill Young, if you are there, I will try to call you in the next day or so to do some planning on the rotation schedule since we need to have that ready by May. Is there any time that would be more convenient?

I especially want to investigate Hap's report that the car is eager to turn in and see what I think of that, and whether I feel it is likely to raise any concerns.

This has certainly been a great day for the project and all of us who have worked to make it happen, and I'd like to thank all of you for the opportunity of representing you.

JB

Good News everyone!
The plate and proof of insurance card are on their way to Steve and are guaranteed to be there by 3:00 pm on Saturday. This one went right down to the wire in just about every way imaginable, but now we should be set for Steve's trip. His plan is to meet his brother here on Monday and catch a ride back home with him. So, the car's days of riding a trailer are officially over. We paid about $550 for one year's insurance, about $35 for tax and tags, and 18 plus change to send them south. Which probably means we have about a hundred bucks left.

Steve reports that it runs and drives better almost every time he gets in it, the parts are getting familiar with each other and he's been enjoying the car a lot. All of which is good.

I also talked to Bill today and I think we're on the same page with the rotation. He said he'll post a message to help set that up so we should be seeing that in due course.

In the meantime, I got an email that says the car was mentioned on Hagerty's facebook page, if anyone can find that could you post a link to it? Sounded like a positive sort of a thing.

JB

Steve got here about 2 this afternoon, said he'd had a pretty enjoyable drive. Got 15 mpg starting out, then 17, and on the last leg cruising with traffic on I-75 around 80 or so, about 20 mpg. Used 2 quarts of oil, did well in the light rain he hit on the last leg, and looked good when he came rolling in. We figured that since it's pretty well impossible to put a load on the engine, the oil usage was from break-in and the mileage improvement was a combination of that and hitting the "sweet spot" in the speed range at highway speeds.

We ran out to the parts store and picked up oil and a filter and I drove around the "block", probably about a 4 mile loop. Very tractable even in the wet and although I hit the gas fairly hard a couple times it never spun, just accelerated hard. Just gobs of torque and power, I doubt you could stall it out if you tried. We put it on the lift, did an oil change and looked it over. Snugged up the oil pan bolts and fittings on the oil filter housing and everything else looked fine. A little seepage at the rear transmission seal and pinion seal and the rear spindle bearings had vented excess oil. Neither of us could find any sign of rubbing in the wheel-wells. I'll drive it around for a few days to get used to it and see how it does. Oil pressure is running about 35 which is a smidgen on the low side, I'd rather see 45, so a stiffer relief spring may be in order.

It looks to me like we've done an exceptional job with this car. Naturally there are going to be some flaws but over all it is fitted out very nicely. The car now has about 800 miles on it and should be pretty near finished with break-in. I'll keep a close watch on the oil usage to confirm that. I believe it has conventional cast iron rings so we should not run into any difficulty there, just a longer break-in from not being able to load the engine.

Eric got here about 9 and they will be heading out early in the morning so we won't get the chance for any extra-curricular activities, but that may be better saved until later anyway. Although it drives very easily as a regular car under normal conditions, using that power may take some practice to get acclimatized, and I have to get comfortable with running hard without worrying about breaking things. In other words, the car is about to enter a more intense testing phase. It was never intended to be a delicate flower and now is the time to prove it. (Hopefully without breaking anything.) I DO feel that installing the rev limiter would be a good idea.

JB

OK, having had about a day to assess the car, my first impression is that is isn't finished yet, and there's quite a bit of work yet to be done. I think we need to schedule another Roadmaster Weekend to tidy up the loose ends.

I have a direct reading pressure gage that I will use to check the actual oil pressure and we can take appropriate measures. It appears to be running just shy of 30 lbs and I thought I heard a lifter tick so that is of first importance. But in addition, the speedo, tach, and radio do not work. The heater controls aren't right and we need a control knob, Mark-II style, left side. The heater fan needs to be upgraded to something that will move some air. The MSD and programmable advance boxes need to be installed so that we will have a rev limiter and perhaps that will fix the tach at the same time. This should also let us tailor the advance curve to more closely match the needs of the engine. The E-brake squeals but that may get better once the weather dries up a bit. It needs a better tune, could probably run more advance and lean out the idle. Tail pipes are black as coal. The hood needs to be fitted up better, and this is just the short list.

If anyone can be available sometime during the next couple of months to help with some of these things please let me know. I foresee a good part of the session being involved in test driving, for which I do have a G-tech meter though I haven't used it much. We also may manage to sneak off to a local abandoned road race course if we feel the car is ready.

We're pretty close guys but we're not to the point where I'd want to take the car for my turn in the rotation and I don't think any of the rest of you would either. Maybe I could do it alone, but since it is our car, we need to get it ready. Steve is right, it runs pretty good and it's very strong, but it just isn't quite there yet.

JB

This afternoon I noticed the driver's corner of the hood was popped up about a half inch, turned out it was the gas struts causing it and that particular one was hitting the brake M/C. No real way to fix that except to reverse them and pick new mounting locations. Well I never really liked the way they were attached so close to the hinges anyway so I removed them and started measuring and such. Then just for giggles I grabbed the new surge tank and tried it, and it fit right in there where it was supposed to go so I went ahead and mounted it. The new strut locations will clear it easily, here are a couple photos.





Max was afraid it would overpower the engine compartment but I think it looks just fine.

Taking all that stress off the hood rather drastically changed the way it fits the latches up front so that will need readjusted. The struts will now be pushing it forward rather than rearward and I think that overall it is going to fit better. I'll try to pick up some fittings tomorrow to properly re-plumb the surge tank.

Incidentally, Max, one of your bullets came off the wire as I was repositioning those two inline fuses. Not too well crimped I'd guess. And what is that loose wire at the front of the intake manifold? White/black with a ring terminal on it. Also, is there a wiring diagram for this thing? (with your installation changes and notes, fuse designations, component locations and such)

The fuel gage seems to be accurate, but is wildly affected by slosh as it nears empty, readily swinging between E and 1/2 after turning. And just for those of you who will want to know, to put fuel in, insert the nozzle as far as it will go, pointed 90* to the left and it will flow at max.

JB

Jim...as you know, I've always been concerned with the used of the struts on THAT particular fiberglass bonnet, as well as on the aluminum bonnet that we previously used on the Roadmaster.

I now have a strut that can be safely used on both fiberglass and aluminum bonnets. (Mike Moor has a set on his V8; Brian McCullough also has a pair in hand for evaluation.)

I will bring a set with me and exchange out the struts currently installed on the Roadmaster the next time our paths cross.

Here's a picture of the new struts installed on my aluminum bonnet on my MGC. These are the first struts that I was wiling to install on my own alloy bonnet for obvious reasons.

While I understand your comments on strut orientation, I don't believe that it is necessary in all examples.


Pieces of Eight! alloy/fiberglass bonnet strut kit

Thanks Rick, that should help. Regrettably though, the brake cylinder knocked the paint off the one strut. I was thinking about the way the strut applies leverage to the hood, and the new ones you have will probably be better for the way I am going to mount them. I will move the hood mounting point to about 2 ft away from the hinges and this will greatly lessen the force acting on the hinges and therefore the flex along the rear hood line. The hood will not open as far that way but personally I like the look better even if access is not as easy.

There is a BIG problem with the car, and that is the steering wheel. It is totally wrong. Way too big at 16-1/2" diameter, not only does it feel like you're driving a truck but there is no leg room. That in combination with the sharp corner on the later console makes the driving position extremely uncomfortable. The extremely thin rim does not help either.

Someone needs to donate a wheel. At this point I don't even care what condition it is in as long as it is smaller. 13" would be ideal. It can be all lumpy, wrapped with tape, corroded and warped. I don't care, just SEND IT!

JB

Jim, sorry, but don't have any steering wheels that would fit. As for the rotation schedule I need some input from the group about what shows and events they feel the Roadmaster should appear at and which ones they would be sure to enter if they had the Roadmaster at that time. Don't have to be in your immediate area, I think an out of town show would be an ideal place to swap drivers with minimal travel expense for those involved. As an example I could take the car to the St. Louis show and Rick or Pete could pick it up from there to take to their area. What we're looking for is the best exposure possible. Street rod events, British car events, Buick events, you think it would draw a crowd there they we should try to make it. So far I've picked out some events for 2012 from the Hemmings calendar and some other websites, but what a larger list for the entire season before we can begin to work out a rotation that gives the car the best exposure and allows those who have contributed so much some well deserved time behind the wheel. Send me your events at bkyoung@kc.rr.com

Jim, hopefully someone will have the correct wheel, but if not if you happen to have an old 3 spoke hot rod type wheel around you can make what I'm using on my MGA project pretty simply using the center of the original banjo style wheel and the rim from the Superior type wheel. I found an old rusty Superior at a flea market and cut the vinyl covering off, it peeled right off after cutting through with a utility knife. I removed the original center and ground those welds smooth then carefully measured the spokes on the MG wheel and trimmed them with a cut off wheel. A bit of fine fitting work and some small TIG welds and I was ready to go. A little Bondo or glass work around the spoke base and a leather cover and presto, a nice small wheel with a thick rim and the original MG look. Still waiting to lace on my cover to avoid any damage as the car is still under construction, but you can see the result so far.

Jim...regarding heater fan....we could look into a Fiero unit.

It would involve enlarging the hole in the MGB heater box a bit, but other than that seems to be a rather straight-forward upgrade.

Let me know, and the next trip over to the salvage yard I'll nab one of the squirrel cages from a Fiero over there.

Please do Rick. As for the wheel, I really don't want to put in the time on it to custom make one but we really have to do something about it. Time to put out a call to the Spuriites I guess. I do like the way the banjo wheel keeps the gauge area unobstructed. But I'd gladly trade that for a smaller wheel. Honestly, I don't know why we don't have a Mark-II wheel lying around somewhere, but somebody has GOT to have a usable spare.

The surge tank is in and plumbed correctly. I'll try to get some photos tomorrow. All the hoses match the barbs and vice versa, the heater return and thermostat vent are plumbed to the top and the 3/4" line to the water pump and the suction side radiator tank vent are plumbed to the bottom. This will assure proper operation. I'm aware that some feel this tank is not necessary, but we have yet to drive it in the summer time. It's very good insurance. We should try to maintain a coolant level in the tank of about half to 2/3 full when cold and 3/4 full when hot. That will add almost a gallon to coolant system capacity, plus guarantee that the system is bubble free. Before I top it up I will have a look at the heater control valve in regards to interference with the air cleaner tray. I also removed the kinked heater hose and fitted a proper formed hose to the thermostat bypass. Might as well get the details right all at the same time. I'll fit a street 90 to the radiator vent so that hose will clear the fan thermostat control that somehow got mounted right up against it. Then the hood struts can go back on, the latches get readjusted, and after that I'll have a look at the oil pressure. Funny how one thing sort of cascades isn't it?

JB

Will the steering wheel from a '76 fit the column. I have one - it's not pretty but can probably be cleaned up enough to be presentable.

Rob, it'll fit just fine. Before you send it could you check the diameter?

JB