FYI: Dec 12 MythBusters: Airplane Hour

My father bought an MGB for the family (mostly me) off the show room floor.
It wasn't new, but it was completely redone inside and out. I had zero
knowledge about auto mechanics. I learned quicky. Within a month, it
wouldn't start. Turned out to be a problem with the ignition wires under
the metal and wrinkle-coated dash.

One of my favorite stories was when it broke down by a stop light. I
usually carried a tool box in the boot, but that day I had nothing with me.
I quickly saw that the wire from the coil had popped out of the top of the
distributor. I check the boot, and since I had just really cleaned out the
car, there wasn't a thing in trunk except the spare tire. The metal ferrule
had fallen off the wire, and there was enough spring to the wire that it
wouldn't stay in.

In the old days, people smoked alot. The emptied their ashtrays at stop
lights. I looked at the curb, and saw a pile of cigarette butts. I took
one and wedged in between the ignition wire and the terminal on the top of
the distributor. It worked, and I was on my way. I forgot about it for
weeks. My family was sitting around the dinner table one night and my
brother said that the MG was running rough. I asked him whether he had
checked the cigarette butt in the distributor. My father, who was a
stickler for doing things right, went ballistic when I told him how I had
"fixed" the car.

It served me well, though. We got 100,000 miles off it, rebuilding the
engine only once. It had 150,000 miles before I finally drove it to a
friend's farm. He said he was going to restore it. I don't know what
became of him or the car.

When I look at my Sundowner's starter, it sure looks like the one I took off
the MG years ago. Same thing with the starter solenoid (with the exception
of the rubber-coated switch you could use to bump the MG's engine to TDC).
I learned more about mechanics from that car than anything else.

The car had what was called a double-yellow line suspension. When you
passed (illegally), you should have felt each yellow line as a separate
"thump" crossing in each direction.



They were fine, really. Mine was pretty reliable. At least as reliable
as an old Ford would have been (OK, bad example) and easy to look after,
really. It was great fun to drive and actually handled well, but not as
well as the more primitive TC. The ride was abyssmal, though, and the
brakes diabolical.


Bertie

"LWG" wrote in
:

My father bought an MGB for the family (mostly me) off the show room
floor. It wasn't new, but it was completely redone inside and out. I
had zero knowledge about auto mechanics. I learned quicky.

Yep, they are good for that!


Within a
month, it wouldn't start. Turned out to be a problem with the
ignition wires under the metal and wrinkle-coated dash.

One of my favorite stories was when it broke down by a stop light. I
usually carried a tool box in the boot, but that day I had nothing
with me. I quickly saw that the wire from the coil had popped out of
the top of the distributor. I check the boot, and since I had just
really cleaned out the car, there wasn't a thing in trunk except the
spare tire. The metal ferrule had fallen off the wire, and there was
enough spring to the wire that it wouldn't stay in.

In the old days, people smoked alot. The emptied their ashtrays at
stop lights. I looked at the curb, and saw a pile of cigarette butts.
I took one and wedged in between the ignition wire and the terminal
on the top of the distributor. It worked, and I was on my way. I
forgot about it for weeks. My family was sitting around the dinner
table one night and my brother said that the MG was running rough. I
asked him whether he had checked the cigarette butt in the
distributor. My father, who was a stickler for doing things

Excellent. You must have made at least one journey with someone beating
the fuel pump to keep it going! Everyone has. I had to have my wife kick
the firewall of my Morris Minor Traveller in the middle of London in
rush hour traffic to keep us moving once... And I was in charge of
thumping the rear wheel well in an MAG for about 200 miles to keep it
going.
Turns out it was good training. They work almost exactly the same was as
a shower of sparks wxciter box in a jet's starter ignition.
Machines are machines.

Bertie

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:

Excellent. You must have made at least one journey with someone
beating the fuel pump to keep it going! Everyone has. I had to have
my wife kick the firewall of my Morris Minor Traveller in the middle
of London in rush hour traffic to keep us moving once... And I was in
charge of thumping the rear wheel well in an MAG for about 200 miles
to keep it going.
Turns out it was good training. They work almost exactly the same was
as a shower of sparks wxciter box in a jet's starter ignition.
Machines are machines.

Bertie

Good grief, and here I thought I had a unique experience when I drove half
way across New Mexico and Colorado in the wee hours (nothing open) in my 62
Austin Healy, the fuel pump hidden directly under the removable left rear
seat (for dwarfs) drifting in and out of consciousness, and being kept alive
by reaching around the seat with the handle of the brass knock off mallet to
give it the occassional wake up call. Finally was able to get a universal
electric pump in Colorado Springs when a garage finally opened up.

"ManhattanMan" wrote in
:

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:

Excellent. You must have made at least one journey with someone
beating the fuel pump to keep it going! Everyone has. I had to have
my wife kick the firewall of my Morris Minor Traveller in the middle
of London in rush hour traffic to keep us moving once... And I was in
charge of thumping the rear wheel well in an MAG for about 200 miles
to keep it going.
Turns out it was good training. They work almost exactly the same was
as a shower of sparks wxciter box in a jet's starter ignition.
Machines are machines.

Bertie

Good grief, and here I thought I had a unique experience when I drove
half way across New Mexico and Colorado in the wee hours (nothing
open) in my 62 Austin Healy, the fuel pump hidden directly under the
removable left rear seat (for dwarfs) drifting in and out of
consciousness, and being kept alive by reaching around the seat with
the handle of the brass knock off mallet to give it the occassional
wake up call. Finally was able to get a universal electric pump in
Colorado Springs when a garage finally opened up.




Nah they all did it when the points got pitted. I flew a twin Beech for
a couple of weeks that had some sticking wiper points for the gear motor
which would allow extension easily enough, but not retraction. The
points were mounted underneath the cockpit floor, so if you stomped on
the floor after you lifted the handle, it came up. the airplane was
acutally the best '18 I ever flew, but we had some difficulty tracking
this part down. Cleaning the points with emory paper worked for a while,
but the problem always came back.


And that should have been MGA, and not
MAG above!
But ever Lucas fuel pump ever made did that trick evenually! Don't even
get me started on voltage regulators!


Bertie