Stephen Farrell's Journal

Last March the engine started spewing oil back through the side vent breather totally blowing off the little chrome filter clamped on top. My $6000 paint job was flaking and cracking already. I had her towed back to the body shop and he speculated that there was a flaw in the prep work. Perhaps the soda residue was not cleaned off with vinegar or some such theory. They took it back to bits again and sanded it to metal. This last week it has paint on it again. Only 9 months so far, it was 18 months the first go round. They were wet sanding and preparing to buff it last week. So far it looks amazing but it looked good before till it started cracking again. I still need to address the engine issue when it comes back. I don't want to miss another driving season although it's pretty much year round if you pick your days. This summer was incredibly wet and now it's very dry!
On another note the 2013 Honda Accord EXL V6 has been replaced with a 2017 Honda Ridgeline with AWD, white diamond pearl color., we have put a little over 4000 miles on it. Very happy with ride, handling and gas mileage., It consistently gets over 20 mpg in town and would get at least 25 highway. The GTI gets around 28-30 in town when I feed it 93 octane. It would easily get 34-35 highway if I don't drive like a hooligan.

The 67 B was soda blasted to bare metal prior to it being painted a cpouple of years ago. A few months later the paint started dimpling or worse. Pretty disheartening on a $6000 paint job. It's now back in the body shop since March and is back to bare metal including removing the body filler. Apparently they forgot to appropriately prepare the body after soda blasting. I am not sure what that entails but I know is wasn't done correctly. Someone told the bodyshop owner it should have been cleaned with vinegar water prior to any of the filler & primer.
It will need a new engine installed or rebuilding the present engine as it was experiencing excessive blowback the last time I drove it. I spent at least $12,000 two years ago and it's just about back where I started. It's still all new underneath plus the interior was renewed but all that will be deteriorating while I start over. I can't throw much more money at it either.

The B has been in rehab since July. What a summer. I missed my B but found another Mistress to occupy my attention whilst she was recovering from the bumbling attempt to repair by the previous wrench. First it was a 2015 VW GTI Coupe S 6 speed MT pre owned with 16K mikes. I then traded her back in for new 2016 VW GTI Autobahn 4 door with the 6 speed DSG, performance package, lighting, and Dynamic chassis control. It's a fantastic car. By far the most I ever spent on a vehicle.
Two weeks ago I got married! It was decided on a Saturday and we were married in front of my house overlooking the water the next Saturday.
She flew back to ND last Monday but will be here for Thanksgiving.
Yesterday I got the B back. It was a huge bill after over three months in the shop but she drove great. The new rear suspension works great. I run her up to 90 MPH on the way home and the gauge never got over 170. ( new radiator, fan, hoses, & coolant). My new SU HS4 carbs from Chester at Rocky Mountain Roadster are well tuned. The idle is perfect and she fires up with no choke at all so far. The mechanic did have to change the jets. The second set of carbs from Joe Curto need to go back as there is some issue with them or could be the mechanic just likes the HS4 better than The Hif's.
The new SS TT Exhaust sounds awesome. I had heard it was too loud but if anything it's too quiet (top up though). I just need the time and weather to drive her. The GTI wants her share too though!

My B started acting up and would run on two cylinders only. Of course it was 9:30 pm and I could not make it the 5 miles home. I called my mechanic and he brought his rollback and dropped me off at home. The next day he informed me I had carb trouble. I was sceptical but decided I had to trust the expert. I had a spare set of AUD-135 SU HS4 so elected to trade them in to Chester Gilliam at Rocky Mountain Roadsters. The newly built carbs will be here Wednesday. While waiting for carbs I decided to upgrade my rear suspension. A MGE member highly recommended the Superflex bushings. So Ordered the set from the UK. Pretty pricey at over 200 dollars. I got a set of straps from Strapping Lad, a spring kit from Brit-Tek, & shocks from World Wide Auto Parts. ( real nice folks all). Also I had a new TT polished stainless steel exhaust installed.
I was browsing EBay UK and OD 's were so cheap I splurged and bought one. It was only $447. Delivered to My front porch. I won't be installing it right away as the MG kitty is sadly depleted. I expect a $1K labor bill at least for all of the above work. I may need to update my Haggerty's coverage again. I just hope my new carbs solve my problem. The consensus on the forum was that it was a failure of one of the previous components recently installed. Whatever it is I'll just face it . I also sent the installed carbs to Joe Curto. It's takes him longer so I'll have another complete set as a spare. Once my car is doing well I may sell them once I am sure they are not needed.

So, Lulu got a new Dizzy, wires, choke cable, valve adjustment, oil change, and carbs tuned. I found a guy who appreciates the car and is not afraid of it like the local wrenches. He has owned many MG's and currently owns a Tr4A. He appraised Lulu at 12 K local sale and 16.5 overseas. She's not for sale anyway. She now starts up instantly and seems much smoother. No valve clatter either. He says I need to get ujoints for her soon and now that she's quieter I can hear a joint clunking a little. It was a beautiful cool morning yesterday so I drove Lulu to the gym at 5 am. When I came out she had a small crowd of admirers around her remarking how beautiful she is. A nice Vette was parked near her and was getting no love.
My new TT SS exhaust came in Wed after ordering it Monday. The 100 dollars off was too hard to resist. Then Thursday my eBay UK OD tranny arrived. I was only able to move it from my porch to the living room. That sucker is heavy. I'll get some help next week so I can unwrap it and see if my $ 477 was wasted. All in all it was a good week in MG world.
I need to let the MG kitty replenish itself but I next plan to rebuild / replace the rear suspension along with ujoints. I am intrigued by the Brit-tek kit. Might as well get PC to rebuild my shocks at the same time. The OD is a longer term project as there are so many might as wells when pulling my motor.

My Hood aka bonnet has been repaired. They will need to finish buffing it out and reenstall it next week. The new hoodprop came in and I just don't like it. After a MGE search Rick Ingram's dual struts come recommended so I ordered a pair. The new seat slide catching kits came in and Tim from Precision Sewing will pick up my seats Saturday and install them. My two new wheels from Moss came in and my spare General Altimax 175/70x14 from TireBuyer.com arrived on Monday after ordering them Saturday. I had Tire Trust in Pensacola mount and balance them so now I have 5 matching new Generals mounted. I will have to figure out my starting problem. I thought my choke was not getting full travel but that may not be the case. The speedo, tach, dash lights, and a few other issues will be attended to down the road.