[Spridgets] Texas OSHIT Week 2 recap

Mon May 30 15:51:02 MDT 2022

CONGRATULATIONS ALL!!  Sorry I could not be there; too many projects and
trying to get the MGA back together under time constraints.  Great diary
account and great to hear the engine running.  Do not know how the dizzy
dog can be 90* out...that is an interesting dilemma and am anxious to know
the answer.  Good luck with Dad's car and enjoy driving yours!

Dave W.

'59 :{)
'59 MGA 1500

Burlington WI

"Pay It Forward"   Anyone need OEM wheels vented or slotted?

On Mon, May 30, 2022 at 10:12 AM Greg Gowins via Spridgets <
spridgets at autox.team.net> wrote:

> Hello fellow Spridgeteers,
>
> We last left off with ordering a bunch of parts last Sunday, based on what
> we discovered over the weekend.  I had to work during the day, so wasn't
> available as much as I liked Monday to Wednesday.
>
> On Monday, my Dad proceeded to finish the removal of the interior on his
> car.  He had a couple of stubborn bolts for the seat rails, both with the
> bolt in the captive nuts, as well as the two through nuts.  He was able to
> grind the heads down and got them out.  While this was going on Mark worked
> on prepping the engines for the installation of the parts we ordered.  Once
> I was done with work I joined in for a couple of hours of work that
> evening.  After much PB Blaster and continuous application of the impact
> wrench and gentle persuasion from a BFH, the crank pulley finally came off
> of my Dad's engine.
>
> Tuesday ended up being more of the same, doing prep work in anticipation
> of the parts arriving.  I painted my gas tank with truck bed liner, and we
> got it installed along with the ancillary bits.  I was missing a couple of
> items, so I borrowed (stole) them from the cache of parts my Dad had
> previously ordered for his Sprite.    That evening, Jack and Kathy Orkin
> arrived from Atlanta, and swung by to see what kind of progress we'd made,
> and what to expect over the next three days.
>
> On Wednesday, we anticipated the arrival of the parts.  I had 7 boxes of
> stuff arriving from three different carriers.   Usually UPS and FedEx
> arrive mid-morning, but today I was at the end of the delivery line.  Most
> of the stuff arrived around 3pm.  Once the parts arrived, there was a
> flurry of activity.  Mark started on getting the Vernier timing gear set
> installed on my engine.  We discovered that the coolant bypass on the
> bottom of the Pierce aluminum head was tapped differently than the bypass
> on the cast iron head.   Got a hold of Pierce, and it was tapped 1/4 NPT,
> so just had to find the right fitting at a home improvement or auto parts
> store.
>
> On Thursday, there was more work getting the parts installed.  Mark and
> Jack worked on my engine, getting the head re-installed, the new serpentine
> pulley put on the crank, the timing gear and sump gaskets in place.   I
> took off work in the early afternoon, and started on the pieces for the VW
> Rabbit radiator conversion.  I got the radiator in the general spot, and
> started to plan out where mounts needed to be fabricated to get it into
> place.   My Dad worked on fabricating the mounts for the tensioners out of
> 1 x 1.5 aluminum bar.   That was slow going with the tool we had, and the
> thickness of the material.  After a long day of work, we ate as a group at
> The Salt Lick BBQ restaurant in Driftwood.
>
> Waking up on Friday, our goal was to get my engine in place and to get it
> to fire by the end of the day.. We got the Datsun 5 speed mated to the rear
> of the engine, then spent quite a bit of time getting the serpentine
> pulleys to align.  The alternator ended up being the difficult child, and
> we spent a couple of hours grinding and filing surfaces, finally getting it
> to line up.  Got the serpentine belt installed, then got the drive train
> back into the car.   After we got the drivetrain back in, I then started
> working on plumbing the new radiator.  My setup was just enough different
> from the examples on Creative Spridgets that I had to deviate quite a bit.
> But we got it in place.  Mark double checked the torque on the head bolts,
> and we then proceeded to get oil into the transmission and engine.
> Unfortunately we discovered that the fuel pump would not come back to life,
> so we used a "Jack Tank", which was Jack Orkin holding a bottle with fuel
> and squeezing it to deliver fuel to the carb.    Here was what happened:
>
> https://wx.greggowins.com/weewx/videos/index.html
>
> The first time the engine had fired since end of 2000/beginning of 2001!
> Didn't have to do anything to the Weber carb even after it was sitting all
> that time.     We then had a celebratory beer, followed by another group
> dinner at the Hays City Store (try the onion rings).   After dinner we said
> our goodbyes to Jack and Kathy, who were heading back to Georgia the next
> morning.
>
> On Saturday, the plan was to do the work to dial in the engine and get the
> radiator fully working.  Here is where Lord Lucas reared his head.  There
> is some kind of demon that possesses the timing of my engine.  We got the
> pulley mark to TDC, and then pulled the valve cover to confirm that yes,
> the engine was at TDC.  The engine would not fire at all.  We move the
> distributor around, and get it back to a spot where the engine would start
> and run. Get the timing light down there, and the mark was nearly 90
> degrees off of where it should have been.  Rock the mark back to TDC, pull
> the valve cover, checked the valve position, and verified we had the plug
> wires connected as expected.  The engine would only run at the bizarre
> marking.  Not sure if anyone else has experienced anything like this, all
> we could figure is that there was something really strange going on with
> the dog on the distributor.   So from that point we fine tuned the timing
> and got the carbs dialed in.  The engine will fire on the first crank, and
> instantly responds to throttle input.   That evening, we took Mark to his
> first pro rugby match, and the hometown Austin team beat San Diego.
>
> Sunday morning we took Mark to the airport for his flight home, then we
> headed to a pick-a-part to find some stuff for my Dad's Sprite.  He wants
> to put Miata seats in his, as well as the Creative Spridgets rear disc
> brake conversion.  We completely struck out.  None the Miatas had seats,
> and all of the Sentras had rear drums.  I poked around to see if there was
> a SLK with an Eaton Supercharger, but none of those were to be found
> either.
>
> Thanks to Mark and Jack for coming out to help get these projects going,
> after both cars have been sitting so long.   I'm planning to get mine
> reassembled and inspected within the next couple of weeks.   It will be
> ugly, but able to be on the road.   My Dad is planning to spend quite a bit
> of time here in July getting body work done on his, and treating the rust
> that we've found.  We've buttoned his engine back up, and it will be ready
> to reinstall when we get to that point.
>
> It was an eventful 10 days!  Always great to spend time with fellow
> Spridget folks and work on these cars.   There were many mentions of Frank
> during the time we were working on these, and I have one of the stickers to
> put on the glass once the project is finished.
>
> Greg Gowins
> Driftwood, TX
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