[TR] Sleepless in Ocala

[Mark J Bradakis]

Many years ago when I was working at Bailey's, there was a fellow with 
am MG that would run almost all the time.  He had a problem getting up 
the hill to his house, though.  I fussed with it for hours, messing with 
the ignition and checking the carb setup.  It ran fine in the shop, 
revved easily, test drives around the block were fine.  The big test was 
heading up this one street towards his home in the foothills, a long 
steady incline.  It would start out just fine, but slowly lose power 
going up the hill until finally sputtering to a stop.  After a few 
minutes, it would fire right up.  After a few of these longet test runs, 
I thought I had it figured out, took the rubber bumper B up the 45th 
South test circuit.  Same thing.  I coasted to the side of the road, 
quite perplexed and frustrated.  I wasn't sure what to check next. I 
thought it does have gas in the tank, right?  Went to check.  As I 
started to remove the gas cap there was a HUGE rush of air into the 
tank.  Replaced the cap, it fired right up and I drove it back to the 
shop.  We fixed the blocked gas tank vent plumbing, and the problem 
disappeared.

mjb.