The Newsletter of the MGs of Baltimore May 1, 2015

1

The Newsletter of the MGs of Baltimore May 1, 2015

OCTAGRAM

MGs of Baltimore starts season with a Rally School

Fifteen teams from as far away as Chantilly, VA and Philadelphia, PA attended the Ral-ly School on April 19th. The school was organized by Eric Salminen, taught by Eric and Den-nis Blevins, and sanctioned by the Washington DC Region of SCCA. After three hours of classroom instruction the students ran a thirty mile “test” rally. Starting from the Joppa/Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company, Station 1 the rally route included the required “odometer calibration section”, a “closed” (or passage) checkpoint, a “do-it-yourself” checkpoint, an open control, and a short Monte-Carlo section with three checkpoints. After completing this one hour sample rally and upon returning to the Fire Company classroom the students were debriefed on what they encountered and shared their experiences with each other while the rally was scored. Prizes were awarded to the teams with the best score at the closed check-point, the DIYC checkpoint, and the open control.

In addition to the “modern” cars, a couple of MG’s and a Triumph or two were in at-

tendance. Several folks from the WDCR-SCCA Board of Directors and region staff participat-

ed as well. They will be covering the event in the next issue of their newsletter – the

“Straightpipe”. As has occurred after previous MGOB/WDCR rally schools, many of the stu-

dents expect to participate in the upcoming “Get the Dust Off” Rally

By Dennis Blevins

Randy does it again with a tech session in his garage.

Randy Kegg once again opened his garage for a hands-on tech session

aimed at helping members of the club get their MGs ready for the trip to Canada

later for MG 2015. Adjusting carbs, checking some electrical systems and

other functions were worked on to help insure a safe trouble free trip for drivers

2

Officers &

Committee Chairs

President - Richard Liddick (410) 817-6862 [email protected]

1st Vice Pres. & Regalia- Ken Olszewski

(410) 893-1661 [email protected]

2nd Vice Pres. - Mike Lutz (410) 592-8610 [email protected]

Treasurer, Tool Meister, Tech. Sessions

Randy Kegg


Secretary, Rocks Registrar - Tracy Tro-bridge


MGs On the Rocks - Jack Long

410-420-1385 [email protected]

Librarian - Barb & Larry Heaps

(410)-452-5349 [email protected]

Newsletter – Roger Marshall


Membership - Kathy McHenry


Webmaster - Richard Liddick


MGs of Baltimore Affiliations North American MGB Register North American

MGA Register, American MGB Association , MG Car Club UK , MG Owner’s Club UK

TIDBITS

Thoroughbred & Classic & cars Facts & Feats The Ultimate Guide

The first electric sunroof appeared on

Cadillacs in 1969.

NEW MEMBER/S

None reported

LAST MEETING TECH TALK

Randy gave a presentation on

Automotive brakes.

MEMBERSHIP Submit address changes or membership applications

to: Submit postal or email address changes to:

Kathy McHenry 5237 Glen Arm Rd E

Octagram is published monthly by the MGs of Balti-more Car Club. Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the Club, Club officers or the newslet-ter staff. Technical information is believed to be accurate. However, any repairs or mechanical advice is attempted at the reader’s own risk. The Club, officers, or newsletter staff will not be responsible for any misinterpreted or incor-rect technical information. If in doubt, consult with a certi-fied technician. Articles appearing herein may be used by other automo-bile clubs and organizations in their newsletters and for other informational purposes provided appropriate credit and recognition of the source is given.

Classifieds: Items for sale or wanted may be advertised by MGOB members for free.

CLUB TOOLS AVAILABLE FREE

To members of MGOB. See our web site to see what we

have available. www.mgsofbaltimore.net

Tools are available via Randy Kegg and must be returned

TO Randy, not handed off to another member.

4

The Original British Car Day (OBCD) 38th Annual Meet

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Lilypons Water Gardens - Adamstown, Maryland

The Chesapeake Chapter of the New England MG “T” Register is

proud to invite you to the 38th meet of The Original British Car Day.

This event is held for the enjoyment of all British car and motorcycle

enthusiasts. This year’s Featured Marque will be the MGA, in honor of

its 60th Anniversary!

The event is held annually from 8:00 AM until 4:00 PM at the beautiful

grounds of Lilypons Water Gardens. Come and enjoy this gathering of

all British marques in one setting and the beauty of the water gardens.

Bring your leashed pet and picnic lunch or partake of the food and

drink offered by various food vendors.

Whether you are displaying your car, or just coming to enjoy the event,

the drive is beautiful no matter which direction you come from.

Lilypons Water Gardens is located in Adamstown, Maryland on

Lilypons Road. It can be accessed easily from the North I-70 or I-270

via Route 85, or from the South via Route 28. Please visit their web

site at HYPERLINK "http://www.lilypons.com/" \t "_blank"

www.lilypons.com for directions and more information about their

establishment.

The contact person for OBCD is John M. Tokar, Chairman, who can be

reached at 410-775-0500, or by email at [email protected]

For more information please visit our website at: HYPERLINK

"http://www.chesapeakechaptermgtclub.com"

www.chesapeakechaptermgtclub.com

We look forward to seeing you on Sunday, June 7, 2015!

5

1958 ZUNNDAPP JANUS

page14image1032.png ¬

Built in Nuremberg, Germany, by the well-established motorcycle firm

during a downturn in the two-wheeler market, this push-me-pull-you was

based on a Dornier prototype and powered by a 250-cc, 14-horsepower

engine, giving it a top speed of only 50 mph, assuming you had that kind of

time. Its unique feature was the rear-facing bench seat, which meant

passengers could watch in horror as traffic threatened to rear-end this rolling

roadblock of a car. Soon it became clear — "Ach Du Lieber!" — that the

Janus was a disaster, coming or going.

A vehicle that promised to revolutionize drowning, the Amphicar was the

peacetime descendant of the Nazi Schwimmwagen (say it out loud — it's

fun!). The standard line is that the Amphicar was both a lousy car and a lousy

boat, but it certainly had its merits. It was reasonably agile on land,

considering, and fairly maneuverable on water, if painfully slow, with a top

speed of 7 mph. Its single greatest demerit — and this is a big one — was

that it wasn't particularly watertight. Its flotation was entirely dependent on

whether the bilge pump could keep up with the leakage. If not, the Amphicar

became the world's most aerodynamic anchor. Even so, a large number of the

nearly 4,000 cars built between 1961 and 1968 are still on the road/water. In

fact, during the recent floods in Britain, an Amphicar enthusiast served as a

water taxi, bringing water and groceries to a group of stranded schoolkids.

Bully!

from the eChatter

6

Another in a Series about Brakes by Doctor Ernie (Dead Lake Motors)

So moving on to just plain drum brakes, lets start with disassembly and inspection. To remove the drum, it’s not uncommon to have to back off the shoe adjustments. There are too many types of ad-justers to cover in this short tech tip, so if you’re not familiar with your type, you’ll have to research a shop manual. But once you have the drums off, close inspection and comparing side-to-side can save you considerable time and grief later. Start first by getting a drain pan to put below the brake assembly, and then use plain old warm water with dish soap to wash off most of the brake dust. NEVER use an air hose to blow this dirt off, as it’s full of asbestos and metallic particles that are extremely harmful to your lungs.

Once you have the brake parts mostly clean, get a clipboard and paper, and then draw a rough sketch of all pieces, noting locations and colors of springs. Also note length and position of the actual friction material as well as its color. Marking the shoes with a scratch awl or ice pick is a good idea. When dis-assembling I generally do only one side at a time so that I have a pattern to help remind me on reas-sembly. The danger of that practice is that you are assuming they were assembled right the time be-fore. It’s not unusual to find the right side assembled differently than the left side. If you have any doubts always consult a shop manual. The lining material density and length is different for the prima-ry shoe than it is for the secondary shoe and their positions can vary depending on how the shoes are anchored.

Now that you’ve determined exactly where each shoe and spring goes its time to inspect the wheel cylinders. If they are leaking, that’s a reasonable sign that you can at least get them apart. If the outer cylinder boot has leaked water into the cylinder, it’s sometimes almost impossible to get them apart. If you’re lucky enough to get the cylinder apart, you need to hone the cylinder bore using soapy water as a honing fluid. Don’t spend too much time trying to save pitted or corroded cylinders, because many times a repair kit is almost as expensive as a whole new cylinder. When assembling a cylinder use only brake fluid or a brake assembling gel. Never use any petroleum product to clean or assemble brake hy-draulic parts.

Next make sure the axle seals aren’t leaking. Then back off the emergency brake cable or mechanism. Unlike the front brake rotors (discs), brake drums need to be near perfectly smooth and true. Don’t forget to wash these off with soap and water when you get them back from the machine shop. If you’re restoring the whole system don’t paint the mating surfaces of the axle or hub and drum. File or grind off any rough areas where the shoes contact the brake back plate. A light dab of high temp grease should be put on these shoes to back plate contact areas, but take care not to get any grease on the shoe linings or drums. If any clips, springs, adjuster cables, or self adjusters are questionable or are a different length than its twin on the other side of the car replace them. The general order of assem-bly is: wheel cylinders, shoes and springs, drums, adjust the shoes, bleed the brakes, adjust the emer-gency brake, road test, and recheck adjustment. Ill cover master cylinders and bleeding the system in the next tech tip. SAFE MOTORING!

7

by Richard Jefferson, MGOB Of course I’ve heard this many times before and you think I’d never get tired of hearing it, but in this case described below a little less of me would have gone a long way. Now I have you attention on to the reason for this missive. It falls into the category of winter work, or what do you do with too much time on your hands. You see Carole’s be-loved 1974 ½ MGB has gone through a rolling restoration ever since she bought it some 20 years and over 150,000 miles ago. It has been a pleasure and a learning experience for the most part and the results are a “B” that we would comfortably jump in to drive to someplace like California. The car is very comfortable and I trust it to reliably get us from point A to B and back while putting a smile on our faces. Time does take its’ toll on these cars though and of all the things we fixed, modified and improved making it the car it is today there’s one area that was in desperate need of at-tention - the dash. Now, you see where the size issue comes into play. The B’s dash had always been an issue with lots of cracks, one of those covers to cover the cracks and a glove compartment door that either stuck or wouldn’t stay close; it had to go. I had heard from a few club members their experiences with the dash so I had some

idea of the Pandora’s box I was getting into. After successfully completing the task I can

say with confidence that British child labor laws were the ultimate doom for the MG. You

see without those small hands to thread the soda straw environment that exists behind

the MG dash the cars just could not be produced .

So you’ve been warned. Should you have idle times on your hands and feel that you want to waste it changing the dashboard here are some tips. Safety First! Equip yourself with a supply of Band-Aids. Everything on the backside of the dash has a sharp edge or a point to bite you. In some MGs many of these jaws have been found to be venomous. Next tackle safety for your neck, back, elbows and knees. The twisting and turning you’re going to do in a small area will give your joints a proper flex. May I suggest some yoga classes or a thorough understanding of the Kama Sutra before attempting the job. The real tips: I would not even attempt this transfer with the seats in place! Take them out and as a bonus you’ll find all that loose change and that 7-11 burrito that once went missing. Removal of the center consul, the steering wheel clamshell and the radio consul are next. I did not remove the steering wheel: it actually gave me something to pull myself out of the hole with. Next I removed all the under dash covers; take pictures and remem-ber where all the screws go. The glove compartment is next. This piece of work has sev-eral screws and lots of little bits that need to go around the latches to make it work properly. Did I mention to take lots of pictures? OK, you’re now ready for the deep dive. Just six little nuts on top and some simple screws on the bottom are all that stands be-tween you and dash removal nirvana. How long could this take? It’s longer than you think. Here’s where you won’t fit. Now these nuts have been stuck in position for a long

8

time, they have lots of threads on the bolts and you can expect each one to fight you to the end. Assemble every ¼ inch drive device you have. Small extensions in various lengths are very helpful and a universal tip is mandatory and a thumb drive worked for me too. Here’s a how to for nuts 1-6 starting from the passenger side. Nuts 1 and 2 are the easiest with one at the center of the glove compartment and one just to right edge of the dash. Nut 3 is over the center of the air vents. Here’s where it starts to get tight. You’ll probably get your first cut here. I’d quit and come back tomorrow. Nut 4 is to the upper right of the speedometer. So with the speedometer removed you get to put your hand through the hole in the dash. If you want to avoid the rabbit hole, I did have some luck with enough extensions and a universal with my back on the floor-board. The floorboard also gives you a good place to recover from a wrist cramp and to take small naps. Nut 5 located to the left of the speedometer offers no access except through the rabbit hole, sorry about that. Nut 6 is located at the end of the dash. I’ve heard that you can get to it through the brake light switch, itself a pain to remove and after removal gives scant access to the nut. I went the under the dash route and with enough tool parings, time and at least one calf cramp I got it removed. With the removal of a couple of screws on both sides of the underside of the dash you’re ready to remove the dash. It will take some pulling and flexing but it will come out. But wait, don’t pull it all the way out yet; do you know what’s behind the dash - well I’ll tell you it’s lots of wiry bits. All of these must be disconnected before the dash comes out. Care-fully label each light and connection, make diagrams and take lots of pictures. Carefully label each light and connection, make diagrams and take lots of pictures. Please reread last two sentences. OK I feel better now. Take this time to cleanup behind the dash. Pay attention to the heating ducts as ours needed repair. You can also take the gauges apart and clean them. You’ll be surprised how bright your dash lights are when you’ve cleaned decades of gunk of the inside of the glass. Now just reverse the process and SHAZAM you have a new dash along with a full ap-preciation of what’s really going on behind that dashboard curtain and a wish that child labor was still legal.

9

Brighter & Safer Brake, Parking & Turn Signals LED’s use less power, last longer and are seen better than standard tail lamps. Unlike some older type tail lamp bulb replacements, these are actually cooler and will not damage the lens. LED’s for British Classics can be purchased here: http://www.bmcautos.com/led Several videos on light replacement can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/user/BMCC75? feature=mhum#g/u MINNESOTA MG GROUP

<—- This could be a tech session

by Randy and Joe—stay tuned

10

MGOB Calendar

May

3rd MGOB Get The Dust OFF

See flier this issue

5th MGOB Meeting

7th

Original British Car Day see flier in-

side

15-17– Carlisle Import & Kit Nationals

www.CarlisleEvents.com.

June

2nd MGOB Meeting

7th Original British Car Day

See flier in this issue

Remember, many of us meet

for dinner at 6:30 at Pappa’s

Restaurant before the meeting

which is held upstairs.

Even wonder what car colors

meant on racing cars of bygone

years?

A recent tv show about cars in a museum had

an odd story, There was a row of racing cars

by year on display in Germany at the Mer-

cedes museum. One car in them middle of

the row was strikingly different. It was red

while all the other cars were white.

Well so the story goes the white cars were

Mercedes of Germany. Red cars where for

Italian cars. Fans along the route, when they

was a white care approaching, would throw

rocks and branches on the track in front of the

white cars. Someone at Mercedes finally fig-

ured out what was happening and just before

the race, he had the Mercedes car painted

red. Mercedes won the race because the fans

thought they were letting an Italian car

through.

And so the colors developed to be:

White for Germany

Red for Italian

Green for Britian

Blue for French and

Yellow for Belgium

Just one of those tidbits you learn when you

can’t sleep at night and resort to tv.

Roger

The Newsletter of the MGs of Baltimore May 1, 2015

Documents

Transcript of The Newsletter of the MGs of Baltimore May 1, 2015