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1963 MGB Still Doing Well

June 12, 2011 / Roger

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I took “Reg” the 1963 MGB across the pond to a business meeting on Saturday, and the car ran great, as usual. The only real issue recently has been the carburetor dashpot plungers unscrewing themselves every 20 miles or so…once they’ve come undone, the car doesn’t accelerate very well at all. The front carb is worse than the back, but they both do it. Very odd. I’m used some blue locktite to see if that helps, so far it seems to have done the trick, but it’s only been about 60 miles.

Rover On Way to New Jersey

June 5, 2011 / Roger

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I dropped the Rover off with the gentleman who will be hauling it back to New Jersey today…sad to see it go, as it is actually a fine car. But I need the space! Hope the new owner enjoys it. In a typical Rusty Heaps turn, though, the title I mailed seems to have gone missing. Ah, well, I only had to make three visits to the Department of Licensing–which, in all fairness, has exemplary staff in their Freeland, WA outpost–last week to (finally!) transfer the title on the E-Type to my name, after twelve years of ownership (best not to rush these things, I find).

What’s another five or so trips there among friends?

A Bit Soggy

May 22, 2011 / Roger

The shot above–featuring a slightly disgusted Your Correspondent–was taken by Peter Laurence (check out his photostream for great shots of the Vancouver ABFM) as I waited for my entry packet in the pouring rain…I had only ridden four miles from the hotel to the gardens, but I was as soaked as I’ve ever been. Friday was gorgeous, and I didn’t even think about packing leathers or rain gear. I didn’t dry out from this 9AM ride until I got back home 12 hours later!
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To the Machine Shop, not Vancouver

May 16, 2011 / Roger

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After cleaning the engine and undoing a few of the external gubbons, I’m going to abandon the hasty efforts to get to Canada this week, and have the engine rebuilt, instead. The mill is fairly well silted-up, and the flywheel ring gear is pretty bad. I don’t want to put the works back in only to have to pull them out next year, so it’s now a rebuild–with a good running engine, this probably means new bearings, camshaft and oil pump and hope it doesn’t need a grind or new pistons/rings.

This will give me time to rebuild the front end, as well as pull the heater box to restore it properly, clean the speedometer innards, etc. The goal now will be to be done before the E-Type arrives in July. (I’ll take the BSA to Vancouver instead, which means I need to spruce it up a bit.)

Racing to Vancouver

May 14, 2011 / Roger

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My schedule has been so hectic that I have been reduced to trying to swap the transmission and clean up the engine bay with only a week until the Vancouver All British Field Meet. I’m not sure whether I’ll make it, frankly, but I’ll give it a shot. Seen above is the car Thursday night, just before my spanners and ham hands descended on it.

SD1 on eBay

May 5, 2011 / Roger

Looks like the Rover has attracted a bidder on eBay, so if everything goes according to Hoyle, the car should have a new owner soon. There is still a day or two left in the auction, which can be found here.

GT Not for Sale – SD1 is!

April 21, 2011 / Roger

For the time being, I’m going to finish the GT as originally planned and put it into “daily” service. However, I do need to lose a car, and the SD1 should probably go. I wanted to drive one for awhile, and can definitely see the appeal, but the GT is more my speed. The Rover has been in daily service all winter and has proven itself to be a very nice machine. (I can never get over the tight turning circle for a relatively large car…I think you could put my Ford truck on full lock and easily drive the Rover around inside the circling Ford without any danger of hitting it.)
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Daytona Back to Life

March 12, 2011 / Roger

UPDATE: The stupid thing is NOT fixed. Grrr. Next step…but back to the original post:

The Triumph 955i’s misfire has been cured with the swap in of a new coil pack. This is just a bit distressing as the bike has less than 3000 miles on it, you’d think the life span would be measured in tens of thousands of miles…but maybe just shy of a decade is the other expiration date. Trying to figure out which cylinder was misfiring was a puzzle–the ODB reader thought the bike was running just fine even when it clearly wasn’t. A friend reminded me I had an infrared thermometer, and the solution was at my fingertips.
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GT inside “Rusty Keep”

March 3, 2011 / Roger

I have the leaky stuff with wheels on back on the newly-finished side of the shop building (aka “Rusty Keep”). I’m also fixing a minor paint flaw on the roof of the GT. There must have been a bit of contamination on the metal when it was sprayed. In all, a spot about the size of a pencil eraser was affected, right near the back edge of the roof.
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E-Type Final Prep

March 2, 2011 / Roger

Mark Jones of Britsport of Seattle is almost ready to paint the E-Type and sent me these photos today. I’m going to drop by the shop to peek at it on Friday. Very exciting. I guess I should get the rest of my parts out of storage!
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RUSTY HEAPS