Hi All!!
It took a while to get around to writing this, but......
The Austin-Healey Sports and Touring Club, Philadelphia region, had it's
springtime breakfast tour on Sunday.
Meeting place was William Penn in at 7:30am. The weather was pretty much
overcast and cool - great weather for the engines to run well, but we had to
bundle up. 3 Big Healeys, my '65 Sprite, and a Bugeye showed up. Someone's
friend also brought along his Eclipse, but he has a TR6 he's currently
working on.
Now, I had been fighting with the clutch hydraulics since the engine
rebuild. I kept adjusting the MC pushrod out because it was too long and
figured I had fixed the clutch slippage........
We started through backroads, heading north. Most of us didn't know where
we were headed, but the Hurni's lead the way in their Bugeye. Bill Hurni
planned out this trip. WOW do these guys drive fast!! This was the first
tour Holly and I were on, so we didn't know what to expect. The roads on
the trip were fun - lots of turns, blind turns, back roads, scenic roads,
dead animals, and HILLS.
About an hour into the trip, the clutch began to slip again. I figured I'd
baby it until we stopped, but the hills were getting too steep. It was time
to pull over. Paul in the car behind me went up and got the group. I
brought along tools, but not the open-end I needed for the pushrod!! And
only one person brought along a set of tools and luckily had what I needed.
Several people said it's not the hydraulics and that the stock clutch is
too weak for the engine mods. But after adjusting the pushrod ALL THE WAY
OUT, she was good as new and never slipped for the rest of the trip!!
So we wound up in Mackungie for a nice fulfilling breakfast and the headed
back home. The only real complaint about the trip is that we didn't do a
bathroom break soon after we left breakfast! I think Holly had WAY too much
coffee.
After 102 miles we were back home. That's the first trip where I've really
pushed the car, but I still didn't push the engine because it's fresh. Now
I'm starting to learn the car and I also now know what work still has to be
done.
It also proved that Sprites can run with Big Healeys. And have fun at the
same time. We're looking forward to the next tour - probably in the fall.
If there are AHSTC members lurking on the list, come on out to the meetings
and let's build up the Sprite showing!!
Jason.
| Jason Urban - Apogee Labs 215-699-2060 |
| CA Studio www.dynanet.com/~crackerarts |
| '95 Z/28 6spd '65&'67 Austin-Healey Sprites |
|