Pearl Harbor Day. Also my son Brooks' birthday -- he's 18 today.
We all worked right along today and the shop achieved a great amount of productive work!
Casey worked right along fitting the XPAG engine with a new Moss rear seal and a rebuilt gearbox to the 1952 TD.
Curt finished the Midge 1500 engine and gave it a nice coat of paint. He then changed the brake hoses on a TR3. Finally, he positioned the Sunbeam Tiger on the hoist and removed the left rear spring shackle to expose the rotted frame rail.
Lisa worked along today on estimates for dual sidedraught Webers and a special exhaust for a TR6. She also worked with Carl Heideman, Eclectic Motorworks, on some MGA mechanical estimates.
Trevor worked a bit on the 1979 MGB LE restoration, but when Andrew arrived we all pushed the Sunbeam Tiger from the barn onto Curt's hoist. Then the both of them did checkouts -- a Sunbeam Alpine and a 1957 MGA.
Tech hour elicited only one call from a local MG owner who was trying to determine the source of looseness in his steering. Earlier in the day a fellow called from South Bend enquiring about the removal and replacement of a camshaft in an XPAG engine.
I was involved in a couple of projects. First, I boxed up some parts for Moss Motors -- original, factory parts they can use as examples for remanufacturing new parts. Then, I rebushed a kingpin for Carl Heideman's MG Midget project car for Classic Motorsport magazine. Once that was finished, I rebuilt the rack and pinion for the same car -- taking lots of photographs, some of which I hope are good enough for Classic Motorsport to use in Carl's article. When that was done I disassembled and cleaned up the thoroughly fubared overdrive from the 1964 MGB. Once that was laid out I attended to an automatic choke assy which was leaking some gasoline.
So why the picture of the MG sign? These signs were part of the dealer package. Later illuminated signs had a simple "Austin" across the bottom instead of Austin-Healey. Then came the blue and white rectangular Leyland signs. Our local dealer had a sign on top of a tall pole. I drove by his place on a Monday and noticed the sign was missing. I immediately called! "Dave! Where's the old sign?" I asked. Dave, the dealer, told me the sign company took it away. I called them. "Where's that MG sign?" I pleaded. They'd taken it to the dump. So I called around to the other dealers. Ah ha! E&B in Muskegon had an octagon sign (they hadn't been so foolish as to let it go with the sign company!). I asked them what they wanted for it. $1000 he told me. This was about 1977. They might as well have said a million. About six months later they called me asking if I had a differential for a MGB. I did. What did I want for the diff, they asked. How about that sign? The deal was struck. It used to light up, but the ballasts are shot (I guess). I priced the ballasts and new bulbs -- it was something like $400 -- and that was ten years ago. So, it doesn't illuminate. The back side is plywood, painted white. It sure is a nice piece in our showroom. I've had it now for about 30 years!
