Good Beginnings and Endings

On January 19, 2008 sixteen members of the EMC gathered at Sala’s Mexican Restaurant in Clinton for our annual kick off. I think most everyone had a day of errands planned as only Pat and Barbara drove in LBC style in their Lotus Europa. During the brief business portion of the meeting the decision was made to help out the economy a little by reversing a previous decision to increase dues. Everyone unanimously agreed that to put a little more green in everyone’s pocket, read your favorite purveyors of Brit car parts, the EMC would maintain the 2008 membership dues at the 2007 amount of $25.00.

Remember included are decals and the subscription to this fine publication along with all the fun that you and the family can get from hanging out with folks that share your interest. That’s the EMC’s donation to economic recovery so please join soon so you don’t miss a minute. We also made final changes to the 2008 EMC Events Calendar so keep an eye out for the web-site posting. We’ve also restarted our efforts on providing an English Motoring Club golf shirt for 2008. Details of color and sizes and prices should be made available shortly for early ordering so stay tuned.

Among the sixteen gatherers at Sala’s were Ronnie, Diane and Crystal Coleman (‘51 MG TD) and Asa and Lorree Tucker (‘52 MG TD) all down from Batesville for lunch. Must be a TD thing going on in Batesville MS. It was great to see new faces in the crowd and hope we’ll see more of them and everyone during 2008.

John Turbeville worked out the arrangements for the 2008 kick-off gathering and made a great choice as the hospitality and food was great. Thanks John.

I’m well into my winter MG projects and hope that you are making progress on yours. I’ve managed to get the pinion seal replaced on Ole Red and have a new gas tank ready to fill the vacancy left by the previous one. The old one was down to about an eight gallon capacity due to some shenanigans by a DPO.

Brother Clay’s beginning to get the winter blues while his B is in the shop for a new coat of paint. I ran across Barry Schmidt the last couple of days and he also looked pretty down as he’d not received his TR back from the body and paint man either.

Speaking of DPO’s, during 2007 I received the following note from Ron Stuckey and his dealings with the spells that a DPO can put on an unsuspecting owner. Here the Dr. himself tells of his feats of spell reversal:

TROUBLE SHOOTING?

(Trouble Shoot or Shoot the DPO)

By Ron Stuckey

A couple of weekends ago the weather was fine and I was feeling Froggy. The "new" Midget needed another attempt at cranking. All previous attempts resulted in running on cylinders 3 & 4 only! There was low compression on 1 & 2. I had pulled the head to inspect the cylinder walls, found nothing remarkable, and put it back with a new head gasket.

So on that fine weekend I got a can of gas, hoses, fuel pump, wire, clips and jumper cable. The pump pumped, the starter turned, the plugs arced, the motor hit and ran on 3 & 4! For the bulk of two days I adjusted both carbs from full up to full down, set floats, rechecked fuel pressure and flow, and cleaned the plugs again & again. If I turned off the fuel pump while running on the back two and the #1 & 2 plugs were clean it would briefly run on all 4 until both carbs were out of fuel. I pulled the carbs off and cleaned the bowls, gross jets and main jet tubes so that they both were flowing freely. Reinstalled and filled the dampers. Nothing changed.

At some point during the ordeal I ran out of gas… back to the store to get 2 more gallons? Seems strange. Where did it go? Considering the amount of actual run time this would equate to about 2+ gallons an hour... at a high idle! I rechecked the oil and found it quite high on the stick. Not wanting to risk any engine damage I changed the oil and filled up to the proper level. One more attempt to run and the oil level lifted about a half an inch. I’m beginning to think that there is a fuel line plumbed directly into the crankcase.

Then I got creative. I loosened the front fuel bowl and "installed" a pair of toothpicks under the lid to give it an "overflow" gap. I turned the fuel pump back on to see if the gross jet was sticking open. Not on your life. It controlled the level perfectly! Not a drop of fuel escaped out of the bowl. However there was no joy on our unfortunate condition.

Now while you sit there in your Lazy-Boy and second-guess the source of my misery let me extol the virtues of the Dreaded Previous Owner. If it were not for the DPO many of us would not be able to afford some of the equipment (in this case near junk) we so love. If it were not for the mistakes and oversights of the DPO he may not have afforded us the opportunity/pleasure of owning his incomplete project. Thank goodness for Mr. Mechanicus Inepticus! Have you figured it out yet?

Mr. M.I. Cus has left me a little surprise puzzle!

After liquid fortification I once again removed the carbies. Now I have them on the bench in good light. I totally disassembled the rear. Nothing remarkable. I totally disassembled the front. Almost immediately I found IT. You know the little "pill" with the 0.090" hole that is inserted into end of the main jet tube. Well obviously Mr. M.I. Cus did not consider it to be very important. It was g-o-n-e GONE. He had to have omitted it because it cannot escape as long as the needle is still attached to the damper!

I dug around in my scrap box and found a small piece of brass. (And my wife says, "Why don’t you throw some of that junk away?") I chucked it up in the drill press and "turned" it to a snug fit in the tube with a flat file. I then selected a drill bit that was close (3/32" - 0.09375") and center drilled it. Stuffing it into the tube I finished it off level and deburred it with a file. Thirty minutes later the carbs were back on the engine and the plugs were cleaned once again. Fuel ON. No Leaks. Crank over… and RUN! This time on all 4!!!! The Oil pressure is up to 70 psi. And she really rips up when you goose her.

Of course I know that #1 & 2 will suffer a slightly rich condition at anything above an idle. Of course I will have to install a properly sized jet. And maybe over time #1 & 2 rings will reseat and maybe I’ll have some compression. BUT what I do know for a fact is that it will run and that worse case it’s an inexpensive rebuild. Now what did I do with that bucket of Bondo?

Just a side note. If some part on a new acquisition seems to be "cleaner" than the rest it just might be that Mr. M.I. Cus has left you a shiny new PUZZLE hiding inside.

Thanks Ron for sharing the lesson learned. I’m sure there are more out there if you’ve got a story to tell, let me know so we can share the experience. That does it for now. Hope your taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather that we’re having. A great time to get out make those pre-spring repairs, adjustments.

One note in closing. Please be sure that you update your membership early to avoid interuptions in service and if your not receiving e-mails of the Off-Side Undo and other information please let me know so corrections can be made.

Happy Motoring

Gene Johnston