Just in a holding pattern. Talked with Greg last week regarding the crank. He’s waiting on the billet, which he intends to “make a lot lighter”. I’d be concerned if it came off of the lathe heavier than when it was originally chucked up. Hope to see it late April, early May.
Rods – “Another couple of weeks”. Pistons – “Another couple of weeks”. Seems like anything having to do with a race car is “Another couple of weeks”.
eBay’s been good to me, though, along with Speedway Motors and The Home Despot.
The laundry list –
Left to right, top to bottom - a NOS set of Crane valve springs that will let me get my lift without bind. Came out of England from a stock reduction sale at a Mini shop. Cheaper to import them than to find them stateside. Since I bought the Longman head last year, it was never clear what I had for valve springs. This gets rid of the ambiguity.
A NOS water pump. I’ve seen them stamped “Unipart”, “MOWOG”, and unstamped, but I’ve never seen one with the Leyland logo before.
A Holley fuel pump – it’s just gotta be better than the Bendix – we KNOW it’s better than the SU. Speedway Motors – in stock and in my hands in 2 days, along with –
An SW fuel pressure gauge – This goes under the hood next to the regulator – I’m sick of guessing.
A very clean used oil filter head to replace the one I dropped a jack stand on, turning it into scrap.
A gear reduction starter – from my buddy Martin at British Performance Parts. I put one of his starters in my MGB six years ago, after going through three Lucas rebuilds in one season. Never a problem - top notch.
Bottom row, left. I wasn’t even looking for it. Punched “1275” into eBay Motors, and there it was – pressure control valve for the oil system. I’d read about them, checked the cost and said to myself, “Well, not critical, but if one falls in my lap”. And now it’s on my bench.
“So Chris – why do you have welding tips on your bench”, one might ask? Those aren’t welding tips – those are – well, ask Sparky - He’ll tell you what they’re there for. Thanks for the great chat the other night. I've still got to figure out the rest of the plumbing – stay tuned.
2 crank pins – eBay again.
And what would a race car be without stickers? Yeah, it can be overdone, and Stan, I intend to keep it very subtle. Actually, I’m trying to model it with a British club racer kind of a look. But these pieces I just couldn’t pass on.
Part of the MG advertising campaign in the early ‘70’s was the phrase, “You can do it in an MG”. Now I’m pretty flexible for a pentagenarian, and I can still do “it”, and maybe even in an MGB with the top down, but in a Midget with a 9 point cage and a factory hardtop? Still, I needed something of equal humor value to the Lucas Sport Coil I removed, so I got one for along the top edge of the windshield.
These, on the other hand, are priceless. The “Special Tuning” department was to BMC what Holman Moody was to Ford in the 1960’s. Limited production, race prepped parts, components, “works” cars. This is the sticker they would put on the valve cover, informing the mechanic about to perform a valve adjustment that this one is a bit different than what they’re used to.
And finally – This one made so damned little sense, and was so open to interpretation, that I just had to drop the extra buck-two-eighty. An “X”ed out hand holding a wrench (or torque wrench?), the British Leyland logo – it could mean anything, everything, or nothing.
