It's Been Awhile..

So I know it's been awhile since I posted last, but I've been busy. Dad's GT is coming along, although we've hit a few snags.

1. Both front fenders need work. The driver side fender is kind of messed up in the front. Apparently some front end damage happened, and was repaired via bondo. The passenger side fender needs work on the top and the bottom. so now It's time for new fenders.

2. Rocker panels. I sanded about a 1/2" of bondo off of them, and discovered that they're all caved in, as well as welded to the fenders..

and the final issue is the driver side rear quarter. apparently this car was hit at some point on this side, I'm guessing. I chiseled about an inch of bondo off of it..great..Thankfully we have access to some quarter panels, but it was a bummer to see all this damage.

Here's a couple of pics:





My last Autobody class is tonight, and we're giving the GT a rest, I'll be applying a nice thick clear coat on those Rostyles that I did last year.

Oh yeah and I'll be signing up for this class again next semister..and so will my father.

I'd really like to get this car in proper order, It's a good runner, and while she looks kind of nasty these days. I know she'll look good when it's all done. It took 5 years to get the red one completed. So I shouldn't be surprized that this one is gonna take awhile..

anyway....Well that's about it at the moment. I promise to post more MG related stuff soon!

Latah
CD

Class

So I decided with 3 MGB's in the Devine stable, Taking an auto body class might be a good idea. The red convertible has alot of newish scars that I'd like to take care of, and Let's face it, Dad's GT is a bit in the "worse for wear" column, and the blue car isn't all so much blue, as a two tone rust/blue. So I signed up for auto body at the Wakefield Vocational High School. I've found out it's basically not a "class" per se. more like you pay for the opportunity to use their shop and tools, and get pointers when you need them. Not bad, not what I expected, but I'm sure between all the TV car shows and the plethora of books, and just being around cars, the actual theory on doing this is pretty readily available.

So The teacher said, bring in a project and we'll start working on it..Great. Well I didn't want to start on the Red car (she's still on the road) and the blue one is well, problem #1 is missing a set of keys. So I asked Dad, hey can I borrow the GT and I'll start sanding it down? So I brought the car in to class, and it gets a little attention. I spent most of the night sanding down the hood. I got about 95% of it done. I need to do the sides and some more of the front where there is some copious amounts of bondo. But not bad for a first effort which was basically 3 hours of work. If I can keep this up I could possibly have the entire car sanded down by the end of the course!

The other good thing is it shows you what tools you may actually need for this. I've found DA Orbital sanders from $30-$100 not too shabby! As well as some die grinders (both Pneumatic) for pretty cheap. It helps if you have access to a good compressor (as we do).

Here's the before and after pics: (click on them for the whole image)

The New "To Do" List

Well Summer's over, well we didn't really have one here in Boston this year-but I digress, and as I'm trying to cram in as much seat time in the MGB, more projects have reared their head, and hopefully I'll reporting on them in the weeks to come. Classic motorsports recently did a great article on Garages/workshops, and I'm hoping to get mine organized to tackle some of the projects I have lined up this winter!

On the Red MGB:

Brakes-We've had the car on the road since July of 2005 and they're just now kind of feeling spongy. I think we have 25k on them or so, I think New pads (at the least) are definitely in order.

Lights-the old wiring harness has gotten cracked and brittle, and you have to do some Jiggling to get them to work right (thankfully I'm not usually on the road after dark)

Rear springs-They're probably original, and very sagging. The nose of the car is starting to point skyward. Hitting some potholes and bumps has me nervous about tearing the muffler off! I've had a few close calls this year!

Steering-There's some bushing/mount that has seemingly decayed. I hate hitting potholes.

Wheels, the red rostyles need some work. I wasn't happy with the paint when they were finished, and 4 years on the road has them looking a little worn anyway.

Passenger side exterior door pull-I think it's broken-the button protrudes a bit.

Steering wheel-I like the one we have, but due to buying an inferior one from the now defunct "proper MG" company, it's well cracked and worn. Thankfully the place we keep our car in the wintertime, was a woodshop at one point. I may just replace it, and have the other one as a spare. The 77 MGB my cousin gave me, has a VERY nice Motolita wheel, that may end up in the red car.

Fan & lighting switch-both look pretty shabby. The trim on the old Engine warning light bezel is well worn too.

Interior, one of the interior panels, due to the moisture we got this past year, came loose. hopefully an easy fix.

Roll bar cover-Something to at least make it look more presentable, repeated raising of the Top has worn it out a bit.

Some Good floor mats.

A good waxing/polishing-I really only washed the car 2x this season (mother nature however did a pretty good job) and only 2 wax jobs. Before she goes away, I'm planning on giving her the once over.

Now I'm taking a class in Auto body this fall at the local vocational high school, and Hopefully it'll help with a few of the dings and scrapes we've earned over the years too. The rear valence needs some attention, as well as the driver side door (crack of doom) and the trunk lid has some new scratches (possibly from a critter that didn't realize that wax is tough to get traction on).

Dad's 1970 MGB GT

Well she needs a paint job. more on that later

Passenger side exterior door pull-I think it's broken-the button protrudes a bit.

Speedometer/Tachometer-I bet the cable snapped.

Doors need work, a bit creaky here and there.

Seats-She needs her seats rebuilt. I'm afraid after the seats are re done, Dad will be sitting a bit higher, and we'll have to change the steering wheel, due to the wheel hitting the driver's legs. We had this problem when we re did the red car's seats.

Seatbelts-I think a lap belt like we have in the Red car would be nice.

Interior-She needs some rugs and some floor mats.

Tires and Tubes-Although I'm trying to get my Dad to convert it to bolt on wheels. I'd love to be able to find a set of the earlier pressed wheels that he likes.

Now in the parts pile:

an entire front end- from an mgb GT, I'd like to clean it up, and use it for my 77 MGB possibly.

We have 2 engines, one complete, one is missing a head.

15 individual Rostyle wheels. I foresee a repeat of last year's project, only on a larger scale.

A few sets of SU carbs, I think I have 3 spare sets of SU HIF's

Oh yeah I have a 1977 MGB rubber bumper car too, and she needs an engine and some body work (and probably alot more when I really dig into it) But the red & Green cars have priority. Besides I'm still dreaming up Ideas for it. I'm thinking of keeping it blue, and possibly re doing the striping that adorns the lower section (without the MGB lettering, or possibly a variation on it.

I think I'll have enough to keep me busy this winter! I may have a few things for sale as the work progresses, so if anyone is interested in anything (or needs something) I may be able to help you!

Nothing technical, just interesting..

Just something I found using google image search:

Forget Atkins-Carbs are good, even SU's

A couple of weeks ago, Dad & I went to MacKay's to rebuild 2 sets of SU (HIF) carbs. My cousin gave me them, and I figured, It would be a good project to tackle. Our Red MGB needed new carbs at the end of last august, and we put off dealing with them until now. The plan was to rebuild these 2 sets, on the bench (so to speak) then replace the one's we're running on the convertible and GT, with these newly rebuilt carbs. THEN (are you still following me) rebuild the old sets and either keep them as spares, or sell them. The rebuild kits are about $100 for a pair of SU's, all new gaskets, jets, needles & butterflies. I figure rebuilding 4 sets would be about $400, and if we sell 2 sets of rebuilt ones for $200 a piece, we'll still be ahead of the game, breaking even cost wise, and now having 2 new sets of rebuilt carbs on our MG's.


Tearing them down wasn't that hard. There's not alot to them, but being gentle is always a good idea. Cleaning is the next priority. We used a wire wheel to clean up alot of the hard, caked on stuff, as well as alot of brake fluid cleaner. Rebuilding is pretty easy. The hardest problem was resetting the floats. The first set was pretty easy overall. The second set however, was more interesting. Opening up the bowls, the smell was horrible, it reminded me of an old wood shop, and the insides were caked with varnish, which was a bear to get off the surfaces. We finished 1 of the second set before Mackay closed his shop on Saturday afternoon. The second set wasn't as nice as the first set, but I think they'll do. A dremel with a wire wheel would have been nice to get into some of the more intricate areas of the casting.

A few days later we installed them on the red MGB. They went on easily. In prep for our Canada trip, we did some valve adjustments, and put a new rotor in (by advance distributors). The carbs set up nicely, and within a couple of minutes, the car was running real smooth. It's idling alot lower (around 900 rpm) and alot smoother. As I'm finding out it's never just changing or adjusting one component on these cars, it's always adjusting 3 or 4 of them that really makes the difference. The car ran really well to and from Canada. They run like junk while cold, but when they get up to operating temp, they smooth out.


The Carbs that came off of the Red car seem a bit better than the second set we rebuilt. I figure we'll rebuild them, and put those on Dad's GT. The "varnished" ones, when finally completed, will probably find a home on my Blue MGB at some point in the near future.

PEI, Car shows, and what have you..

Well here's the 2009 PEI trip report, and then some.
On Thursday morning I headed over to my Dad's around 9:00 or so. I had to stop off at the bank to withdraw some money, and After hitting some traffic on 128 (suprise) I hit more traffic when I decided that back roads would be better (great minds think alike).We packed up the car, checked everything out, and hit the road. Dad had to drop off his work truck for some repairs, and after that we were off.

Pit stop #1: Brits Bits in Rye, NH. always some cool eye candy up there. It looks like they've straightened up a bit in the back area, as things don't tend to seem as strewn about, as they have in past trips up there. The bad economy is hitting them hard too, lots of things marked down, and Sam said that they were really tight, offering 10 cents on the dollar on any used part. After picking up 2 oil filters for Dad's 1970 MGB GT, we were on the road again.

Pit stop #2: Freeport, Maine. We stopped off at the LL Bean store for some possible shopping, Alas they did not have the shirts Dad likes,they're more of a Fall Item. after a quick bite, we were back on the highway. The sun came out after Freeport and we made our way up the ever exciting (sense the sarcasm?) Maine Turnpike. We really pushed it, gas wise, getting off at rt 6 to refill, when we had 280 miles on the trip odometer. From there on it was RT6 to Vanceboro. The road to Vanceboro gets really crappy about 20 miles from the border, all patched in, and small hills. If it was paved, it might be fun, but the filled in Pot holes and the cracked pavement keep that from happening. We crossed the border, and passed through Mcadam, over to the town of Harvey, New Brunswick. We were staying at Dad's friend's Trailer up at Lake Oromocto. we headed into town to get some grub, the one place in town was closing (it was 8:00 after all!) so we went to the town pub for some chow. Dad's friend, Bob, gave a less than stellar report of the Pub's food, so we decided, that how can you screw up a burger and some fries? it wasn't bad, and fairly cheap. After we ate we headed back to the trailer. the sun was starting to set, and it was now 9:00. after not being able to figure out how to hook up the trailer's power, we gave up and settled into bed. The trailer was a bit musty, and some mosquitoes snuck in, most met their demise by my hand, one leaving a dime sized splotch of blood on my t shirt. The next day we got up, brushed our teeth with some water we had in our cooler, and grabbed some breakfast in town. These trips always remind me of how a big breakfast makes a big difference. Scrambled eggs, hash browns, toast, sausage, coffee and juice really fills you up. We hit the road and made a run for the Island. New Brunswick is kind of dull (no offense, I'm sure there's lots to do, it's just rt 2 and 15 of the trans canadian highway doesn't seem to run through any of the cool stuff that would be there, or it's just out of sight of the
highway).

We crossed the bridge, and headed to Charloettetown, checking into our hotel. The Econo lodge is pretty good place. Right outside the city, gas station/store across the street, Tim Hortons near by, and on a nice easy road that goes into town. After cleaning ourselves up a bit, We headed to check out the site of the car show, and it was pretty busy with people setting up the tent and a few other things. Carl Jay gave us a call and we met up with him and his wife. we headed out of town, dealing with the busy stop and go traffic of Charloettetown's Friday evening commute. This was my 4th trip to the island, and I remember most of the roads, from the route numbers, and land marks. (an intersection with a house that has a big stone at the end of the drive way, a house with a tractor wheel on the lawn with a flower bed, you get the idea) We made it to The Bentley's farm just on my memory. OK, I missed the driveway by 10 feet, heading to another house, but I've only been here 4 times, give me a break..

We were pretty early pulling in, Carl Got excited seeing all the cars pull in. they get more cars at the Friday night meet and greet, than we do at some car shows down here! The rain really picked up by now, and as I got out of the car I stated rather loudly: "I wanted a British car show, not British weather!"

The rain didn't Dampen (pun intended) our spirits, as we chatted with some old friends and some new ones. Around 8:00 we were soaked, and we headed back to the hotel. Even in the good weather, we usually depart the meet and greet around 8:30 or so.

It rained all night, and the next morning we awoke to drizzle. The contentintal breakfast at the hotel must have been for a small contitent, as it was pretty weak. We cleaned out the inside of the car, as the great almighty gave us plenty of water to wash the PEI mud off of our tires. after grabbing a cup of real coffee, at Tim Hortons (which I have to say is my fave cup of coffee), We pulled into the show field (which was getting muddy by now), and found a slot right next to Carl. It was wet, but the weather report stated that it was supposed to get better as the day went on. It did thankfully.

This year it was no longer "British car days across the bridge", it had now changed to the "PEI international motoring festival". It encouraged cars of all shapes, sizes and marques. i'd say that the British cars held onto 90% of the attendees, and most of the other 10% were interesting enough to keep the attention of the spectators. Porsche, some old Caddy's, and a couple of well done mustangs really got some attention. we chatted all day, making several rounds and again, catching up with old friends and making some new ones along the way. The Canadian Military had a couple of vehicles there, and everyone was really willing and interested in talking shop, from tanks and jeeps to planes, and all sorts of war stories. The rain stopped around 11:00, and everyone was out with chamois, and detailing spray, a few even dropped their tops. by 2:00 the sun was coming out, and it definetely brought up everyone's spirits. the rain and overcast-ness of the early morning brought alot of foot traffic down to the park, since it was certainly not a beach day. OverallI'd say the had over 200 cars there.

We stayed for the $30 steak dinner (good but not worth $30, in my opinion) and the Beatles tribute band "Abbey Road" (they had the sound, and the look of the beatles for the most part, even without some of the really authentic touches, such as Vox amps, and Rickenbacker and Gretsch guitars. the sun was still up at 8:00 (thanks to PEI's higher Latitude) and we decided to hit some of the roads for a ride. the rain really cooled things off, and with the sun setting, it got cold fast. so we headed back to the hotel. the next day it was bright and shiny, we went over to Sherwood to check out the diner that we went to last year, only to find that it was razed for a drug store and a Tim Hortons that was being built. (PEI really needs another Tim Hortons) we checked out of the hotel, as we didn't know if we were going to stay another night on the island, or just head home.we went back to the field, and reclaimed our old spot, right next to Carl. Some new cars showed up, a rat rod, and a Cobra Kit car, among others. they began an awards ceremony, which was kind of a mess, as they wanted the winners to drive their car up to the awards area.We left around 2:00 and went for a drive up the middle of the island, through Cymbria, Rustico, and Cavendish.After heading back to Charloettetown we grabbed some chow at Hunters ale house (I highly suggest their beerbattered fish and chips) and then headed to the bridge. we did some souvineur shopping, and then crossed the bridge around 4:00 or so. I took a wrong turn, and ended up heading straight through Moncton, but it seemed to only be a small detour.The ride back was fine until 7:00 when the rain started (Again) and we hit a mess of fog and rain just outside of St. John (I declined another night at the trailer) we crossed over the bridge at St Stevens and ended upat a motel that would have made Alfred Hitchock proud. we hit the bed, and slept like babies. the next AM we grabbed some chow at a road house on RT9. Around Bangor, the sun decided to come out, so we dropped the top, and sped home.we pulled into Woburn around 4:00, and after unpacking the car, I hopped in the Honda, and drove Dad over to pick up his work truck. I was home by 5:00, and was greeted at the Door by Kelly.

overall the trip was cool, I think the weather killed alot of the enthusiam for the whole weekend. The show has the potential to be a fun event, it just needs a little tweaking. I missed the Sunday afternoon ride and Lunch. Usually that was really fun driving all over the island, and with that missing, and the weather being 50% crappy, I felt we missed out on alot of the coolness of the trip, bombing around on those roads, through the farmland.

But all in all, a good trip. Heck a bad trip is better than a good day at work!

One plus side to the PEI car show tho. If you go to a British car show down around here (Boston area) the MGA guys sometimes look down on the MGB owners. The MG people don't talk to the Triumph people, The new cars get dissed, and the old ones get praised. It's all very clique-ey, and kind of "you're not in the cool club" type thing..it's even worse when you go to a Cruise night, and we're the only British car. The hot rodders, and rat rods say "what the hell you'd bring that thing here". Up in PEI, everyone's just happy to be there..We all use the same gas, we all love our cars, and we all hate rain and rust. There are exceptions to the rude owners too, one guy that had a 46 ford, gave me a tip on how to free up a seized engine: pour brake fluid into the spark plug holes for a week or so, then drain it all out, refill it with oil, and put a bit of mystery oil into each cylinder. replace the plugs, and crank the engine over my hand, it should free up any stuck cylinders..the old hot rodders know every trick in the book.

This Sunday, Kelly & I went to The Italian Car day at Larz Anderson park. When we were first dating, we really didn't have alot of money to spare, and I suggested, hey lets go down to the car show, it'll be cheap entertainment for a lil bit, and it's a fun ride down there. We took our empty bottles and cans, cashed them in, grabbed a quick lunch at the Border cafe, and then headed to the show. We had about $5 a piece on us. I forgot that they raised the prices to $10 a piece. The guy actually let us in for the kid's price-$5 a piece. It was a fun day to just walk around in the summer weather.

we've went back this year, and it was just as fun, and kind of interesting to see some cars that you don't see every day, but seeing 20 Ferrari's lined up kind of desentised me. but the 250 Lusso was really nice..

all in all, I always have a good time at a car show, regardless of the cars. I always see something new, and it makes me think, wow how cool would it be to have one of those..

PEI 2009

Here's some pics from this year's 2009 PEI trip. I'll have an actual trip report later on this week, as I Just got home and boy are my arms tired..Overall a good trip, weather could have been better, but that's par for the course these days..Click on the pic for more!

Another new addition to the family..

Well my VERY generous cousin GAVE me his late model MGB. My Aunt asked me a month or so ago if I wanted to buy it, I said I'd love to but i have no $ for it. With my cousin Steve knee deep in 2 MGA's he says he won't have time to take care of it, and my Aunt wants it out of the driveway, so he gave it to me! It's a late 70's model with rubber bumpers and Minilite wheels. It's in rough shape, it needs rockers, doglegs, and possibly new fenders and the engine is questionable. But it's FREE. I'm hoping to get it out of his driveway next week, and into the garage to further assess the situation. It may just end up being a parts car. Ideally I'd like to get it running over this winter, and use it next summer/spring as my daily driver. THEN perhaps go nuts on it..Sebring bumper kit, V8 engine/5speed, shaved door handles/trim. My head's swimming just thinking about it!. This pic is it's best side. I'll keep you posted as to it's progress/situation!

British Car Day @ Larz Anderson Park

Other than being a bit cluttered as to the groupings of cars the show was great! The main lawn was full, and the cars spilled over to the lower lawn as the day Progressed. Dad & I got there around 10:00, and we didn't finish our first round of walking around until noon! We got to chat with tons of people, some old friends, and some new ones. I commented that when we first started attending these shows we didn't know that many people, and this year it seemed we were chatting with someone every few feet!

Steve Mackay did really well, the TR3, MGA Deluxe, and Car "the great" Thompson's Austin Healey each won best in their respective classes. Although if your familiar with his work it shouldn't be THAT big of a suprise!

One guy pulled up in his car (also a 1974 MGB) and commented on how he loved that I didn't put the chrome overriders on my car, nor the side mirrors. It was cool to see someone pick up on those little things. As the day wound down, we were shooting the crap with so many people we didn't leave the park until 3:30!

Overall a great day.

Here's some pics from the show!

Down To The Wire

My Dad's 1970 MGB GT is pretty cool. It's a fun car, solid and for some reason it runs like a bat out of hell. It's got enough torque that I think I could give the import "drifters" a run for their money with a bit of practice (Dad's been able to pitch it sideways going UP a hill). I think all that power has a downside though, It's beaten up the splines on his wire wheels.

Back in the Day my dad mentioned that he didn't like the wire wheels, and his friends that had them also had a love/hate relationship with them. They look great and very classy, but hard to keep straight and it's hard to put faith in one big nut holding a wheel, rather than a series of lug nuts.

Dad mentioned that one day he almost didn't make it home on day this past month, as one wheel hub seemed to slip all over the place. So after pulling the hub off of his GT we took it (and it's wheel) over to MacKay's Garage. The Hub was deemed ok, the wheel however, is pretty much garbage. So we replaced the hub, and used the spare wheel (remember when you got a car with a REAL spare tire?). No problems there.

However it kind of makes a point. Dad wants this as a semi daily driver, and situations like this kind of kills some reliability points. The long term solution will be to swap the wire wheel hubs with conventional ones. Kind of a bummer, as I like the wire wheels. But thankfully it's not all a loss. We have access to 8 hubs for ro style wheels, as well as a complete set of recently painted Ro style wheels! The only think he'll need to purchase new is some tires!

Oh yeah and if anyone is in the greater Boston area this Sunday June 7th, British Car Day at Larz Anderson park!

www.mot.org

See you there!

MGB GT Update..

Not alot going on this week MG wise, other than having dreams of the top down, and having traffic conditions like the beginning of "vanilla Sky". But we've done alot of work on my Dad's 1970 MGBGT as of late. Here's the rundown:

1. New Alternator.
2. New Battery
3. SERIOUS Valve Adjustments
4. Carb adjustments
5. New electric fuel pump
6. New points and condenser
7. New Plugs and Wires

overall this small list has really made the difference!

Dad Said that one day after a ride, he came home for about 10 minutes, went back out to the car, tried to start it up, and no go! I think it's the thermostat (it's one thing we haven't Replaced). However I took a ride with him this past Saturday, and I really romped on it via back roads and some highway miles. Overall it's a cool ride, albeit she's definitely looking on the rough side. Dad's debating a Maaco Paint job.

For his B-day I got Dad some battery boxes and some wiper blades and other detail items. This weekend he's off to Cape Cod, and I'm hoping to "borrow" the car and install those items!

I think we'll change the thermostat before the first show over at Larz Anderson and we'll be all set!

Out of the Garage, and on the road!

The Weather's getting better, and the weekend hours spent puttering around in the garage are slowly being replaced with time in the cockpit of the MGB. The past month is a perfect example.

April was pretty busy weekend wise. for the Patriots day weekend we decided to take that Friday off and turn it into an extra long weekend.

Friday morning I went over to Dad's and picked up the MG. Its still early in the season, so switching between the honda and the MG is a lil odd. Pedal resistance, steering, transmission is at the other end of the spectrum form what I've been used to. I dropped the top, after finding that the Tonneau cover that we picked up from Gene won't fit with the Roll bar. Bummer, anyone need a Tonneau cover? I put the old cover on to cover the convertable top, and headed home. By the time I got back. Kelly was almost ready to go, so I jumped in the shower, and after cleaning myself off, we hit the road.

We headed up to Gloucester, and had a nice drive up there. we took a spin around the island and then over to the Cape Ann Brewery, to fill up a growler with their double IPA (9%ABV) we had a couple of beers there, and some snax, and then headed home, taking the scenic route. on the way out we passed by of all things this:



We stopped to look at it, and the owner came out to chat for a bit, he then took us for a lil tour of his garages, which contained a Fiat 500 and 3 motorcyles: a Jawa, Ducati, and an all State. the really interesting thing was a rebuilt Lamborghini Diablo that he had a chevy 350 in it!!

you never know what you'll see in your MGB..

We took the long way home, heading down the coast. Wes stopped off in Salem to refill the growler we had from them with Blueberry ale.As we neared RT 1 we called in some take out from Sake. We Settled into a nice evening of beer and sushi.

Saturday AM I headed over to Dad's to trouble shoot his fuel pump problem on his MGB GT. I was able to find out the electrical connections to the fuel pump were junk and need to be replaced. I suggested to even have the fuel pump replaced. during this process, I ended up taking a bath in about 6 gallon of gas, destroying a pair of jeans in the process.

Sunday was supposed to be a crappy day, but turned out to be ok. Unfortunately Kelly & I were well past spent and needed some relax time, so after lunch at the Border Cafe we took a lil ride, and then headed home.

Monday weather wise was supposed to be nice, but turned out to be a bit chilly. I spent the AM doing some small errands, and throughout the day I picked up 2 pairs of Jeans to replace the gas soaked ones, and another pair I noticed had rips on the seams. Both pairs were at least 6 years old and pretty worn.

Friday after work I went to Dad's to pick up the MGB right after work. it felt so good to feel some warmth!

Saturday I headed over to Mackays to tackle the Fuel Pump problem with Dad's MGB GT. we fixed that and by 10:00AM I was on my way. Interestingly enough, there were 3 MGBGT's there that day, Paul's red one from Gloucester, Mackay's Purple one, and Dad's Green one.
I'm planning on "borrowing" Dad's GT this week for a bit. Taking that car into Boston isn't that bad, it's so scratched up that parking it in town isn't an issue.

Later on Kelly & I took a nice drive up to North Andover to see if the farmstand was open yet? Alas, it wasn't. Bummer, we'll have to wait a few more weeks for fresh pickles!

We left and decided to head out west. Taking back roads the entire time we went out to Littleton, and then worked our way back. It was only a few hours, but the previous week, and an afternoon out in the sun kind of wore us out a bit, and we were home by 6:00 or so.

I'm hoping to spend the next month or so getting a few things on Dad's MGB GT all set up, and dialing in some stuff on the red B.

The driving season is upon us!

2009 Calendar of events

2009 Calendar

With the good weather ALMOST upon us, the calendar is starting to fill up with all sorts of automotive gathering goodness. For those of you in the New England area, here's some of the happenings:

April 25: BAMG Drive To Riley's (rain date May 16)

June 7: British Car Day at Larz Anderson Museum, Brookline, MA
A very cool day, usually has great turnout, and a huge variety of cars from McLaren F1's to rusty MG's

June 13: Faneuil Hall Show #1
(not a show you can Drive your car to, but one anyone can attend for free, its an invite only event for the cars)

July 12: Bay State Antique Auto Club Annual Show, Endicott Estate, Dedham MA

July 18: Faneuil Hall Show #2
(not a show you can Drive your car to, but one anyone can attend for free, its an invite only event for the cars)

July 24-26: Prince Edward Island show
it's now called the PEI International Motoring Festival, it's been shortened a bit from what it used to be, but should be interesting, plus the roads in PEI are fun, ocean on one side, rolling hills on the other!

August 15: MG/Rover Day at Larz Anderson Museum, Brookline, MA
if you have a MG or rover you should attend. Last year attendance was so low, they're thinking of cancelling it or merging it with another car day. It's on a Saturday so tell your wife that you'll mow the lawn when you get home.

August 29: Faneuil Hall Show #3
(not a show you can Drive your car to, but one anyone can attend for free, its an invite only event for the cars)

September 5-6: Falmouth Dream Cruise By The Sea, Cape Cod

September 13: 28th Annual British Motorcar Gathering and Picnic, CT Triumph Register, Manchester, CT

September 18-20: British Invasion, Stowe, VT
This is supposed to be a real big bash, I'm thinking of going this year myself

October 2-4: British Legends Weekend, Cape Cod

October 10: BAMG Edaville Car Show
Usually it's the last show of the year, but it's always a blast, and a really cool location. Stuff for the kids, and usually lots of arts and crafts stuff for the wives to check out.

Cruise Nights:
The following events aren't officially sanctioned, but I have to say if you like cool cars I highly suggest stopping by one of these in your travels for a bit.

Every Sunday: Schoolhouse Ice-cream from 2pm-whenever
http://www.schoolhouseicecream.com/cruisenights.html

Every Saturday: 3 to 8 p.m. Cruise Night at Riley's Roast Beef, 911 Edgell Road, Framingham

Every Wednesday after 5:00, Cruise Night at Bill & Bob's Roast Beef, Woburn MA

If anyone in the New England area knows of one I missed (or got wrong) drop me an email!

Overdue Post - Rostyle Wheel Restoration

I know I promised a big news worthy post for ya, but I got a bit sidetracked. but here it is:

It's been a long trip but, I completed my latest project:

Restoring a set of Ro style wheels. When I was in the process of restoring my MGB a few years back, my cousin gave me a set (4) Ro style wheels. I sand blasted them and had the normally black painted inset area, painted red to match the color of our MGB.



I didn't mask them all that well, and was kind of bummed at how they came out. So when I put the newly painted rims (wrapped in Pirelli P400's) on the car, I ended up with a set of ro styles left over. They have sat in my Dad's basement in the "I'll get to this someday" pile. Well someday finally happened back at the end of October of 2008.

The basic Idea was to re condition these wheels, in the traditional Black/Silver MG style, have them done with new center caps, Wheel trim, Lug nuts, Valve Stem caps, and a set of nice tires.

I've seen kits for rostyle painting, from pre cut tape templates to clear plastic masks. I've heard the plastic masks don't work all that well. If you can find the precut tape templates, they help out a bit, Saving time, but painters tape will do the trick nicely, It'll just take a bit longer.

I picked up a sandblasting gun from Sears, and a 100 lb bag of black beauty sand. Ok a few problems:

1. Do NOT store sandblasting media in a damp place of any kind. Even though we had it under a tarp, and still it got wet from some rain that we had, and I ended up with a bag of black mud. This basically turned the first day into a loss. The place we get our media from is only open Monday-Friday 9:00Am-5:00Pm. Kind of hard for folks that want to do this work on the weekends. It makes you have to plan ahead. I had taken a personal day at work one day, and picking up a bag of this sand was on my to do list. The remaining bags My Dad bought. Thankfully his work enables him to be on the road, and picking up sand wasn't as big a deal for him as it would be for me.

2. When using a sandblasting gun. Use a hose clamp on the gun end to connect the line. I found out after a few abortive attempts that I wasn’t getting enough vacuum to suck the sand up, but when I got the gun real close to the item to be sandblasted, the hose would blow off. Hmm, So I found an old hose clamp on the floor of the garage, put it on there and it held it on enough to finally work. It took about 2 hours to get everything finally going and doing the actual work. It took about an hour to do a wheel, basically because after 20 minutes or so of sandblasting, I was covered in the black sand that gets into EVERY orifice, even if covered. I didn't have a sandblasting booth, so I was doing this outside. You have to take a small break every now and then and wipe the grit out of every place. even with goggles I had grit in my eyes. The first Saturday, We got 4 of the rims 90% done, and then ran out of black beauty. Bummer. If we had a sandblasting booth/box, it wouldn't be that bad we would have been able to recycle some of the media.

So we started with these:



So the following Saturday we tackled them again. Amazingly enough with the damp and cold fall weather the unfinished metal stayed pretty clean in between weekends. I blasted the remaining one, and I gave the remaining 4 some extra attention and blasted the finished ones again.

1 of the wheels had some gunk built up on the backside. I tried the sandblaster, but the residue was so soft and thick that the sand just got embedded in it, or just bounced off. I used the knife blade on my leatherman and was able to cut it out, it was so thick, it was like peeling an orange! Dad ended up getting a wire wheel brush, and he attached it to his drill, and was able to get the caked on goo all out.

after finishing the front of the wheels, I made sure to do the edge of the rims (inner and outer) to make sure I'll get proper seating when the tires get installed. I also blasted the inside areas that have cut outs, such as the vent holes, and the lug nut holes. it seems like if any rust would get through, it would be through those areas.

I gave them a quick blast of just clean air, and then placed them on the floor of the garage, and then started to prime them. I don't recall using a primer on the last set. It was a kit I got from some MG mail order place that isn't in business anymore, so I can't reference it. I remember using a silver/grey coat, and then running out, and using a can of rustoleum to put a coat over that, hence why the silver on my red set of rims tend to "sparkle" a bit more.



I figured I'd rather use a more "common" set of paints for this project. I've heard good things about duplicolor, so I figure I'd give them a shot. I used their Primer (DAP1690) which is self etching. 1 thing that's was kind of a bummer. It's green, I felt like I was painting Jeep parts in WWII. The primer was good, it went on real easy and dried very quickly.







The following week I was out of commission due to working my real job, so the next Saturday I headed back to the shop, armed with 2 cans of Duplicolor's flat black. I set the wheels up and put down several coats. it dries pretty quickly which is nice, and over the next couple of hours I emptied out the 2 cans completely.The flat black looks dull by itself, I'm not use to seeing the rims in that state, but it's a step better than the primer's green hue. I also hit the backside with a good coat of paint as well, just to keep anything from rusting away. It wasn't alot of work, and it was nice to be home by 2:00, and not covered in grease or black sand.
I probably could have taped up the wheels that weekend, and painted silver on them, but I figured I'd wait and let this color cure before I put on another one, to make sure there's no cracking.







The next weekend I taped up the insets of the wheels, and then began to spray the silver paint. Taping sucks, it's very detailed kind of work, and can be tough to do, the important thing is take your time. I used 2 different sizes of painters tape, 1 roll was about 1/2" wide, and another was 2" wide. I basically followed the edges with the thin tape, then used the wide tape to fill in the big gaps.





Due to the fact the day I taped up the wheels was a wet & rainy day, a few taped areas came undone a bit during the application of the silver coats of paint, I lifted up the tape (after several light coats of silver) to realize that some of the black sections had some silver overspray. Bummer. I also noticed some bad tape lines here and there, Mild Bummers. So I taped up the offending areas and re applied another coat of black. Thankfully I had a set of precut templates left over from the last set of wheels. After applying the black touch up coat, I taped them up again, and re applied a coat of silver to finish off the bad tape lines. I have to say taking this extra re-taping & painting touch up step, made a HUGE difference. an extra step, but well worth it!







After the color, and the touchups I sprayed clearcoat on all the wheels for protection & Gloss

















I have to say I was pretty impressed with the results. Not bad for a job done in a garage with some pretty basic tools and some spray cans. All in all, it was an interesting process. I do have a few suggestions though, and they could be applied to any project.

1. Prep everything ahead of time, Tools, Supplies, etc. Make sure you have at least 2x the amount of any supplies you think you'll need. You're better off having left over's, than run out.
2. Keep your work area as clean as possible.
3. Take your time. Rome wasn't built in a day! Plan on spending 2x the time you think it would take to do. Stuff comes up, there are extra runs to the store (see note #1), tools needed, etc.
4. Be prepared to re do or fix anything that you may mess up, or doesn't turn out the way you expected.

One thing I probably would have done differently, would be to get a thin pin striping type tape, and use that for my initial masking, it would be easier to apply and use as a base to go over with the larger tape.

Supplies:
Sandblasting Gun - Sears $29.95
Black Beauty Sand - $17.00 A bag (2 used, 1-useless)
Primer - $14.95 (2 cans)
Black Paint - $14.95 (2 cans)
Silver Paint- $14.95 (2 cans)
Clear coat paint - $14.95 (2 cans)
Razor Blades
Painters tape

So all in all to do 5 wheels cost about $150 total. I've seen reconditioned Rostyle wheels go for over $100 a wheel, so it's still pretty cost effective to do this.

And to complete the package, I'm planning on the following:
From Moss Motors:
MG wheel insets
chrome trim rings
Chrome MG Lugnuts
MG valve stem caps

From Tirerack.com:
Pirelli p4000 tires

Ok here's the time rundown:

Saturday #1 wet sand, lack of tools, running around, no luck. Waste of a weekend.

Saturday #2 slow start, but completed 90% of Sandblasting project. Ran out of Black beauty. I also Scored a set of SU HIF carbs (I'll report on that later)

Saturday #3 completed sandblasting, primed wheels. Sandblasted and carb manifold and air cleaners. Primed the air cleaners

Saturday #4 no dice-had to work

Saturday #5 Applied flat black paint

Saturday #6 taped up wheels-applied silver coat and over the following week applied several other coats of silver

Saturday #7 Touch up session-well worth it!

Saturday #8 clear coating, Saturday, Sunday & Monday.

I wanted to make this a weekend project, not something that would keep me busy every night after work. Now none of these days were very long, I think the longest day was 6 hours or so, with the shortest being 2. Since I had to travel about 20 minutes to the garage where I'm working on this, it took a bit longer. If I was doing this at home I'd probably would have been done in half the time.

I have access to a couple of other sets of wheels, and I think I'll be doing those as well, even if just to have a set to sell at a later date. My dad & I just completed rough semi portable sandblasting booth. I'll keep you all posted to see how it all works out.

Oh and don't worry I have plans for those red rostyle wheels!

anyway that's bout it, I promise, now with the driving season upon us, I'll have more posts (and they'll be alot more frequent)

Latah
CD