John S's Journal

The GT has been sitting idle all Winter and I finally got around to doing something about that. After the vacuum advance can (broken spring) debacle last Fall, It only went out once to test it once I got the repaired distributor back from Jeff Schlemmer.

Today's efforts were valve lash adjustments, cleaning and gapping the plugs, adjusting the timing, and a short shakedown cruise to make sure all was good. It ran great but rain was on imminent and the wipers need some TLC so I kept it short. I still need to change the oil and filter and have another look at the valve lash as the tappet noise seemed a bit excessive. Still a list of to-do's that I want to get done but aren't going to keep the car off the road.

After sitting idle in the garage for a few weeks due to a distributor malfunction, hot weather, trips away, and general laziness, I decided to tackle the swap back from the temporary 25D to the original rebuilt one.

I put the newly rebuilt vacuum can back on after sending it to Jeff S. to fix the broken spring and replace the diaphragm, gapped the points, and then went about bumping the engine over to TDC before removing the temp and dropping in the original. I had to adjust the timing a bit probably due to the vernier wheel not being positioned quite the same after reassembly. Got the dial back out and made some adjustments with the idle and distributor, locked things down and went out for a test drive around the block which then turned into a 30ish mile test out into the countryside. All good again.

Some projects still on the back burner. The Cooper’s cans were pulled during the breakdown and now that they are off, it might be a good time to acquire some hardware that didn’t come with the cold air induction piece that I bought off the BST forum quite awhile ago. Need some bolts and a filter still.

I also need to get some more rattle can paint and spray the new-in-box heritage valence and replace the original, battle-scarred one that currently adorns the car. I did my best to hammer and dolly the thing and if you cross your eyes it isn’t totally offensive but with no front bumper to hide the sins…
The new one was another BST find.

As long as I’m on the BST-find project items, there are a pair of fog lights that I picked up that would look good once the new valence is painted and installed. Trying to come up with a way to mount them without a bumper and not attaching them to the fishmouth.

Lastly for now anyways, but certainly not least. The original seats have lost the ability to keep my backside from sagging onto the floor so it’s time to pull those out and see about doing some foam work. Need to repair the passenger side as there is a seam that has started to pull loose. The vinyl is in great shape on both seats but (butt?) they need a lift.

…for awhile. But I prevailed without the ride of shame on a flat deck tow truck.

What started out as a morning of errand runs on a perfect day with the car running great to a car that failed to start after stopping for a fill up with some clear gas. With a little help from the gas station attendant and a customer, we got the car pushed away from the pumps and up in the shade of the convenience market where I could work on it without scalding on the asphalt in the sun.

I do carry a few tools, meter, ratchet, plug socket, screwdrivers, a couple of box end wrenches, etc. and I had a set of NGK’s on board.
Car would crank but not fire. Fuel filter was full, nothing obvious like loose wires, so I pulled the #1 plug and with another set of eyeballs, I cranked and he saw spark. Hmmm. Pulled the cap and it looked fine as did the rotor. Another customer in a service truck of sorts parked next to me and offered up the use of a spark tester which confirmed we had spark. Hmmm. Yanked the Coopers cans off because at this point, frustration was setting in and why not? Everything looked fine everywhere.

After every step, the car cranked but didn’t fire. Ran some Emory cloth over the points thanks to the dude in the service truck who generously offered up some and left me with a small roll. Points didn’t show any issue but why not? Not sure when in all of this spitballing the engine actually caught but it finally did so I made a beeline for home which was about 5-6 miles away. I made it about 4.5 miles when the car stumbled, the tach started bouncing and the car died as I was pulling over to the curb. My wife was on her way home from an errand and swung by to take me home to get some things and change into some clothes that were more appropriate for car work. Grabbed a spare coil because, why not? A few more tools, a cold drink and back to the car to swap coils.

That was a fail. Pulled the cap again because, why not? That’s when I found the smoking gun. Not really smoking or it would have been more obvious but the vacuum advance can spring was no longer attached to the breaker plate post. In fact, it was no anywhere to be seen. Hmmm.
The breaker plate was able to rotate freely and was moving enough to keep the car from starting.

Back to the house to search for the spare 25D with the Pertronix that I had acquired a few years ago for a spare. Ripped that junk out and put it back to a points dizzy and then back to the GT to swap it in. Fired right up and safely made it home the last half mile or so. Back to get the truck and celebrate with a cold beer. Performed an autopsy on the 25D the next day and could not find the broken half of the spring and surmised that it must have dropped out when I pulled the distributor out and was making sure the spare was lined up the same before inserting it into the car. The vacuum unit is in the mail winging its way to Jeff Schlemmer and he says he can fix the vacuum can in minutes.

I’m busy with a few weekend trips so the car will have to wait and by then the return trip from Jeff’s will hopefully happen and more adventures will ensue. Without the drama…

Not that it’s a bad thing as it means it’s easy to get in and take a worry free drive somewhere. Unfortunately in my case, it also means I haven’t even driven it a whole lot lately due to an ambitious project around the house which has taken most of my summer it seems.

Today though, I saw the poor GT with a layer of dust just sitting in the garage and decided to fire it up and give it a bath. That usually leads to taking it out for a rip out in the countryside to dry it off which is exactly what I did. It’s such a great time of year in the PNW as the days are warm and clear and the air is clean. Trees are on the beginning stages of turning to the vibrant Fall colors.

The car ran great and always puts a smile on my face. I’ve got a few things that I want to tackle in the off season but that’s still a ways off. I hope. The original seats need some new foam and possibly some webbing but I won’t know that until I strip them down. Probably start with the passenger side so I can still drive it. I also have a cold air intake that I bought from a forum member and an unused front valence that came from another forum member. That will need to be primed and painted first. Once that’s fitted, I have a pair of fog lights that I need to mount somehow. I’ve been driving without the front bumper and I kind of like the look so it may stay that way. For now, though, it’s going to see more road time as long as the rain stays away.

The new condensers arrived the other day so I decided to take care of some needed maintenance. I had filed the points a week ago and did so with the distributor out of the car. Re-gapped them and then reinstalled the distributor. The weather was nice then so I didn’t bother getting the timing light out. After a couple outings, it started to show signs of not being quite optimal so yesterday, I decided to take advantage of some non-driving weather and do it right.

Checked valve lash, fresh oil and filter, installed the new condenser, reinstalled the distributor, cleaned the plugs, and got the timing light out and hooked up. Unfortunately, the weather has been crummy so I haven’t road tested it yet but it fired right up and idled nicely. Looking forward to the next dry day to see how it responds.

…since I did anything with the GT. The last time I drove it, it stumbled badly a few miles from home and I wondered if it was going to make it. I promised myself that it wasn’t leaving the garage until I spent some time on it.

Today was the day to do so. Yesterday I made a push button remote switch to be able to bump the engine over and I used it to get to TDC on the compression stroke. Pulled #1 plug and bumped it until I felt the compression. The plug was a decent color but I cleaned it and the rest of them up and reinstalled. I pulled the distributor so that I could file the points and re-gap them. I thought about pulling the rocker cover and checking valve lash but the weather was so good, I decided to save that for another day. It fired right up and idled well in the garage so outside it went and got a bath before I went on a shakedown cruise.

I was only going to go for a short spin but 30 miles later I rolled back into the garage. I have a couple small things to do but it ran great so I can start enjoying it again now that the weather is coming around.

Oil and filter change is next up and a couple little cosmetic jobs as well.
Looking forward to several months of MGBGT driving.