After receiving the new water pump, getting it and all of the surrounding pieces on her water problem was solved. That was good news and I was ready to fire her up for her first trip but remembered those clacking lifters and her running pretty poorly.

Taking off the valve cover and setting the gaps showed a front gap of about 1/4" vs. the .015mm called for in the book. Hmmm...no wonder. So, we reset the gaps and changed the plugs.

She started up wonderfully and everything was in order. I took her down the road once an then twice. The shocks feel like a roller coaster and suddenly she sounded terrible again. The #1 cylinder wasn't hitting.

After taking off the valve cover again we noted that the valve was stuck in the down position! We let her cool down and then pulled on that valve until it popped back up, started her up and sure enough she ran wonderfully again. Seems like maybe the valve guide is sticking when she gets hot. Bummer.

We have to pull the 'refurbished' head and have it worked on again. The good news is that is only about $125 and a bit of work so the saga continues and my MGA will continue to relax in the garage!