July 4th drive in the Malibu Mountains
Kim and I headed out to Malibu today to join the Vintage Motoring folks for a non-sanctioned, non-organized, non-event drive in the gorgeous mountains above Malibu. I’d just put the car back together after a reasonable extensive going over, (which I need to chronicle here) and I’m pleased to report that things went pretty well. we had some issues early with a blown fuse, and then the fuel pressure regulator was restricting fuel, causing some sputtering, but once these little things were sorted, the car ran strong. It was a pretty spirited drive, up and down some VERY steep and challenging roads. Good times.
Paramount Raceway Footage -1956
My car would have been brand new, and still in Germany, at the time this footage was shot. But it was filmed not far from where I live, on a famous southern California racetrack.
From the Vimeo Description:
This footage is from the August 1956 running of the Paramount Ranch Road Races. The property is now most famous as the location for many Westerns shot by Paramount in the mid 20th Century. For sportscar fans, though, Paramount Ranch will always be remembered as one of the most dangerous and challenging racecourses in Southern California. This race shows many of the different race groups from the weekend, including such drivers as Richie Ginther, Lance Reventlow, and Jack McAfee in Porsche Spyders, Lotus 11s, Ferrari Monzas, and some well-known West Coast specials.
More vintage racing at thechicaneblog.com
I see a lot of cool cars in the video. Gullwing Mercedes, Porsche 550, Jaguars, MGs and several I can’t identify. It’d be cool to have a listing of the full field. That’s an MGA at about 1:05…Neat. Funny to think that many of the cars in the video would be hundreds or millions of dollars today, but that an MGA can still be bought, owned, and enjoyed by those of us of much more modest means! Good stuff.
My wife’s blurb about the MG
written by Kim (the understanding wife) -
Geoff and I took the MG out today for a number of errands and fun stops like lunch and the movies. I have to admit, when he asked what car we were going to take before we left the house, and suggested we take the MG since the skies were clear and blue, a small part of me thought ‘Oh no, it’s going to be too cold, windy, and sunny.’ Don’t get me wrong, I love being outside, but I pack my down jacket with me to the freezer aisle of a grocery store and I’m anything but a sunbather. I have to say though, there’s something about Geoff’s grin in the MG that’s a little contagious. Or maybe it’s the little red sportscar itself, that makes even dropping off mail at the drop box a little more fun, a little more of a journey. There seemed to be no better way to enjoy leisurely stops around town on a crisp, sunny, Southern California February day. So, with a warm winter beanie and a down jacket, the weather was just right. And in the sun, it was downright warm. We’ve taken it out before, and I’ve always enjoyed the ride, but today was perhaps one of the more numerous jaunts around town. Every time we parked it somewhere, and left it to get a haircut, or buy a snack, we’d come back and my heart would jump a little as we rounded the corner back to the curb or parking lot. “Um, where’s the MG?” we’d say to each other on more than one occasion in as calm a voice as we could muster. In the pit of my stomach, I was worried someone had walked off with it, like it was an unlocked bike that could be scooped up off the ground by two burly men and an extra U-Haul. But, no, it was really just parked behind a Corolla that looked gigantic in comparison so we couldn’t see it. “Ahh, oh there it is.” And all was well again.
Memorial Day 2011
Kim and I joined a group of vintage motoring enthusiasts for a spirited drive in the Malibu mountains. Super good times, and I was pleased with how the car ran. A very cool collection of cars, and it was good to meet many of the people I’ve interacted with on the forum vintagemotoring.net
fun roads and good driving.
Long drives and exploding parts – The fix
After getting some good advice online, I bought a new ignition coil, and determined the oil in the engine bay was from the coil (whew, one problem to fix, not 2!), not the engine. I installed, but the engine wouldn’t start, and the distributor was smoking. DAMN. i’d wired it up backwards, and fried the Petronix ignition system. order a new part, and hope it comes in.
it didn’t show up in time (and once it did, was the wrong part), bummer. I wanted to go for the Memorial Day drive, and Stewart from the vintagemotoring.net forum volunteered to come over and help me get rolling. We made a few stumbles, but ended up getting the car going by taking out the electronic ignition system and putting in points and a condenser. We set the timing, and I was rolling. Woohoo! Driving monday. I learned a lot, and a debt of gratitude to Stewart for his help.
MGA’s at Le Mans in 1955
I’ve enjoyed reading more and more about the history of the MGA, and really enjoyed this short book, wirtten by Bryan Moylan and scanned and hosted at the excellent MGAguru.com. It’s a history of the three prototype cars that raced at LeMans in 1955, to introduce the MGA to world. It’s a short, quick read, but essential reading for those interested in period racing, and especially for those interested in the MGA.
http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/books/pdf/MGAs_at_Le_Mans_1955.pdf
I’d love, if I could have a second MGA, to build it as a tribute or replica to these race cars. I love the look.
Mullin Automotive Museum
“The Mullin Automotive Museum is an homage to the art deco and the machine age – eras that produced exquisite art and magnificent automobiles. The museum is home to examples of the finest of historic French automobiles from the Bugatti to the Voisin as well as significant and representative decorative art from this same period.”
Wow. All I can say. Wow. Fantastic collection of amazing cars.
Long drives and exploding parts – Part 1
Um, well I’m glad I have included tow coverage on my insurance. Would have been an expensive day if I didn’t.The 1st 10 hours confirmed both myself and my wife on the joys of classic car touring, so it was a good day overall.
We left out place early, 6:45 and headed north on some fun roads up to the Nethercut ( a little heavy on large touring cars of the 20s/30s for my taste, but still well worth a visit. ) Really nice time. Kim was enjoying it a lot.
Saw some nice BMW’s on their way to an event at the Rose Bowl.
Stop for breakfast on the way.
(I’ll post some more pics from the museums in another thread. )
Left there and headed to thousand oaks and met up with some friends for lunch. A bit of freeway here, then we took your suggestion for the Norwegian grade section.
The car was running great, but I did notice that with that longer stretch (possibly one of the 5 longest single segments of driving I’ve done) the oil pressure seemed to be reading low. Dropping close to 10 on idle, and only get near 30-35 under load. Before, I’d typically see 40-50 under pressure. But I rarely have driven it more than 5-6 miles, so I just wasn’t sure. I also installed a new gauge this week, to fix the temperature half (which hadn’t worked since I bought the car), so I wasn’t sure if that new gauge might be calibrated differently.
Anyway, after eating lunch, I checked the oil. It looked a little high, which I still don’t understand, as I’d checked it Weds and it was just right below max, and I hadn’t added any. Anyway, the car was running great, and everything looked OK under the hood.
Headed down to Oxnard, via Potrero canyon. That’s a fun route, and a very pretty little canyon. Kim was enjoying herself.
Went to the mullin museum (wow. wow. wow.), finishing up there around 3:30.
Originally our plan was to go to Andria’s Seafood,in Ventura, but no one was hungry, so Kim and I decided to split with our friends and go to Santa Monica, via fun roads in the mountains, and get something to eat there before her dance thing, maybe walk around Malibu or something. My plan was to read car magazines at the book store while she danced, and we’d drive home late.
We headed back up Potrero, that was fun, probably the hardest I’ve pushed my MGA. She did great. Cruising back along Lynn road, looking for Decker Canyon/23 over to the coast. I must have missed that turn, and before long, realized I was getting close back to the 101. I knew I’d way overshot, and was looking for a place to turn around, when POP. I almost thought it sounded like a backfire, but not quite, and then it felt like I was running on 2-3 cylinders, the engine was still running, but not well. Damn, started to look for a parking lot. As I got close, I lost all power. Dead dead. Had Kim jump in the drivers side, and pushed in.
Opened the hood, and it was a mess. Significant oil all over the place. From the pattern, it almost looked like it was coming from somewhere near the dipstick, but it seemed to be seated properly. I’ll have to look again. I didn’t actually check to see what the oil level was.
The more obvious issue was my ignition coil. It was in pieces. It looked like it slipped backwards out of the housing (that’s bolted to the generator). The bulk of it was dangling from the wire that does to the distributor, and that was only being held together to the cap by one of the small wires in there. the other was separated completely. Doh. It felt like it was coated with a bit of oil, and there was oil inside the housing, I almost wonder if it had managed to run like this, outside the housing, for a bit? I’m thinking the oil and the ignition coil are unrelated, but if anyone has reason to believe otherwise, I’d be interested….
I almost wonder if the steep, spirited climb up potrero had caused the ignition coil to slip backwards? Not sure.
Anyway, called Hagerty’s, truck was there in 25 minutes, drove us all the way to Alhambra. Would have been a pricy tow without coverage. Got home, stuck the car in the garage, hopped in the Honda and drove Kim to her dance event. 
All in all, a good day, but i’d love to get my car sorted to where I had more confidence to drive it on trips like this.
“Lot’s of fun to drive, when it’s running”
Temperature Gauge
Since owning my car, the temperature gauge has never worked. This worried me, especially since MGA’s are known to run hot, and summer was fast approaching. I was planning on taking my gauge out and sending it to be rebuilt, but had been putting it off, since it would mean I couldn’t drive my car until I got the rebuilt gauge returned. Since I drive the car once a week or so, I didn’t really want the downtime, so when I saw a rebuilt gauge on the trader section of mgexperience.net, in working condition for less than the cost of a rebuild, I jumped. It showed up, and looked in fine shape, so I set about replacing mine.
Of course, nothing on the MGA is easy, and when I tried to removed the temperature plug end from the engine block, it promptly broke. This meant I had to remove the thermostat, and tap the plug out from that side. From there, it was pretty straightforward to install, though threading the semi-flexible metal tube under the dash, through the firewall, and to the block was a little interesting. Plugged everything in, and presto, working temp gauge!
Since I had the radiator drained, I installed a radiator shroud, to hopefully control the airflow, and help the engine run cool as summer approaches. It’s one of the only plastic parts on my MGA, but it doesn’t look too out of place. Unfortunately, since the gauge didn’t work before, I don’t have a baseline to judge how much of an improvement it makes, but it was relatively simple to fit and doesn’t weigh much, and it certainly makes sense that it would help.
It was a good evening in the garage, and one that left me feeling accomplished, not frustrated…So that was good.
These days, it’s pretty rare that I attempt anything without reading up on the subject on the site http://www.mgaguru.com. He’s got pages and pages, literally hundreds of pages, and it can occasionally be tough to find the information you’re looking for, but odds are it’s there. Seriously an indispensable site, I’ve learned a ton from it. Here’s an article on the cooling system I learned a lot from
Linking the World of MG Cars Together
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