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First trip shakedown... little bits of advice please

To: "MG list (E-mail)" <mgs@autox.team.net>
Subject: First trip shakedown... little bits of advice please
From: "Garner, Joseph P." <JPGarner@UCDavis.Edu>
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2000 01:09:02 -0700
Hi everyone,

Being overly cautious, despite the beautiful condition of the car ('79 MGB,
white, beautiful stock condition) when i bought it, and the clean bill of
health it got from the mechnic i took it to for a check-up before i shelled
out my hard earned cash, I took my new baby in for a thorough service, and
with my AAA paid up and my DIY repairs of light faults completed, it was
time for a road trip.

I drove the 100 and something miles down to see my girlfriend. what a joy
(the drive i mean... seeing holly was a joy too... but anyway i digress). As
with my other friends her scepticism melted when she saw the car. She has a
VW which she loves called scarlet, so my MGB seems to have been named
Humphrey for better or worse. Anyhow we had fun working out how to get in
and out of an MGB in a dignified manner whilst wearing a skirt. The driving
around town and the 100 miles back were equally fun. Humphrey purrs along
very happily at freeway speeds, and i din't find the driving any more tiring
than in the other cars i have made that trip in so all the horror stories
about solid suspensions and driving fatigue can be thumbed at.

It started raining this afternoon (rain? in california?). So i have spent
most of this evening clearing all the accumalated crap in our two car garage
into one cars woth of space and humphrey is now warm and dry in his new
home... which leads me to my first question.  There are (and were) a couple
of gravel chips in the paintwork which i would like to cover up before they
can lead to any rust. There's enough overspray here and there to make me
think that the car has been resprayed. any tips on touching up these kinds
of blemishes? Also, I want to protect the top and the tonneau from sun and
rain. again any tips?

So having put enough miles on the clock to guestimate MPG, i seem to be
getting something in the (Very) low twentys... the mechanic who serviced the
car last week said that the vacuum advance had been disabled and the timing
put forward 10 degrees to compensate. other than correcting this is there
something else i should be looking for?

Also in checking the car over after the trip i noticed a loose wire behind
the dash (well to be exact behind the radio) which is right near the buzzer
and is purple/green, which makes it the line to the door warning switch. I
don't like the idea of a loose wire floating around much so i'm planning to
take the panel off this weekend and reconnect it (or tape it up). Does
anyone have any idea as to why someone might have intentionally disconnected
this wire?

Finally I noticed that the car was sitting about 1/4 to 1/2 and inch lower
on one side at the front, and got underneath to check out the front
suspension. Sure enough the side sitting low seems to have a much older
hydraulic unit than the side sitting higher. The mechanic who serviced the
car remarked on this (the guy who checked it out missed it). Is this a
serious problem?  I certainly haven't noticed any problems in handling or
braking. It would seem wise to replace both units at the same time (as one
would do with springs) but i'm not exactly rolling in cash right now.

any advice would be very much appreciated

cheers

Joe.



_________________

Dr. Joseph Garner
Department of Animal Science,
University of California,
One Shields Avenue,
Davis,
CA 95616
USA

tel: + 530 754 5291
fax: + 530 752 0175
_________________



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