November 19th - another dry and sunny Saturday would normally mean a trip out in Bee but as she went last Saturday it was Vee's turn. Took the opportunity to recheck the ignition settings as I forgot to do dwell last time - timing at 10@1000 and 20@2000 as before and dwell at 57% which is a smidgen below the book value of 58-62%. As dwell on the V8 can be adjusted with the engine running via a hex adjuster on the outside of the distributor I reset it to 60%. Some slight wavering, and on the tach on the same meter, but not visible on the dash tach nor listening so either it is nothing to worry about or it is the meter itself.
November 12th - Talk on Eric 'Winkle' Brown at the Vulcan stores, Stratford-upon-Avon: Probably the most experienced pilot there has ever been or will be. A navy test-pilot he flew probably every WW2 combat aircraft from all sides getting-on for 500 in all including enemy experimental aircraft, plus almost 2500 carrier landings several of which were 'firsts' - twin-engine, tricycle under carriage, jet. I've read the book, seen the documentary, this was a talk and excerpts from another DVD produced by Nicholas Jones who knew him well for many years. He has been described as 'fearless' but his wife said it was because he had no imagination and the prospect of things going wrong after careful preparation never occurred to him. Nevertheless things did go wrong, and one AAB investigator estimated he had been involved in 11 incidents which would normally be considered to be fatal.
November: Investigating the change in timing I noticed one of the vacuum pipe connectors was splitting, an another always had a cable tie round it (when vacuum advance worked previously) so decided to get a full set i.e. including the extra straight and right-angle when I fitted my fuel trap. Changed all of them in the end as the other two were bit loose on the ports. Tested end-to-end the points plate is moving so the capsule is still good, and the timing now shows 10 @ 1000 and 20 @ 2000 so better than it was although 2000 is supposed to be 26-28. Rotor is twisting and springing back, so centrifugal advance should be OK as well. Slowed the idle to be about 850 when the fans are on, barely rises when they are off. Still taking longer than I would expect to switch off and bring the temp gauge down given the 10C ambient, more checks on rad inlet and outlet temps needed.
October: October has been pretty wet with neither Bee nor Vee out, but then in the last week it's mild and windy enough to dry up after overnight rain so Bee come out one day and Vee the next for about an hour each. Vee is still running so well, now on Tesco 99, and I'm going to have to turn the idle screws down as she's idling at 1200rpm and not much lower with the fans on. Idle speed should be 800-850 but I've always kept it at about 1000 so that with the fans on it's about 850 in order to keep some oil pressure! A mild day, didn't bother shutting the driver's window and was quite warm enough with the heating off in just a jumper. Haven't been in enough traffic for the fans to come on so parked up nearly home and left it idling. Fans eventually came on just after the needle had left N, then started to come down but oh so slowly. Drove the rest of the way home and they still hadn't switched off, now on the upper half of the N. Used to come down quicker than that even if they didn't switch off, which rather goes with them running virtually all the way from Birmingham to St Neots back in June when it was very warm. Wondering if the 1200rpm idle is partly to blame (for today's situation, not June's) hence the intention to turn it down, and have a look at the timing. Checked in September it was 10 degrees at 1000 when it should be 8, but in September it was 4 degrees. And a couple of years ago it had been 6 at 1000 and 16 at 2000 when it should be 26-30 so quite a lot of variation.
25th September 2022 - MGB 60th Anniversary at Gaydon ... and Bee's 50th Birthday:
I have read that the target was 2000 MGBs, I heard a figure of 2,500 mentioned on the PA system first then 1000 but don't know what they related to. Apart from the sheer number of MGBs in as many colours as you could imagine (and a couple that should have been left on the drawing board ...) there were some very rare examples such as three Jacques Coune Berlinettes, the O-series engined prototype (albeit with a V8 now), and a re-creation of the Aston Martin MGB proposal when BL decided to close down MG - this one with an O-series engine whereas the original used the standard B-series of the 'donor' MGB. First time viewing the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust collection with many interesting vehicles, and a revisit to the main British Motor Museum.
August Bank Holiday:
A warm start on Friday mid-day but Vee's cooling fans doing exactly what they are supposed to given what the temp gauge is showing, and only on briefly in traffic. What is noticeable both down and back is just how well she is running, effortless overtaking with just a squeeze of the throttle pedal, not even taking OD out - hope that's not a harbinger of problems! Also noticeable is just how little fuel I had used on the way down, and nearly half-way back on about 140 miles before the gauge was settled bang on half a tank on a straight stretch, 'not hanging about', as they say. Refuelling at the same pump gave 31mpg and that was with several stops and restarts over the three days. Then it struck me I'm running on Sainsbury's 97 octane now instead of 95. I'm amazed it's making that much difference when I've not made any changes to engine set-up, next tank I'll go for Tesco 99 and see what that delivers! Funnily enough I'd felt Bee wasn't quite so peppy on the current tankful of Sainsbury's 97 after decades of Shell 99, so that's also going to be Tesco 99 next time for another comparison.
August 1: Bee's MOT due and I like to do a service just before so I can have a good look round, under and in beforehand. But a weak disc in my back decided to rupture, then go again even worse a few days later when it had started to heal and I was having trouble just walking and getting out of a chair never mind crawling round the car! Left it about two weeks then had a go one Saturday. Not quite so mobile as usual but I did get everything done so booked the MOT for the following week. Passed as usual, with another advisory on the steering rack inner joints, so time to have a look.
July: An 80-miler to a family wedding on another very warm day albeit travelling up mid-morning so not the hottest part of the day. Offered the Navigator the option of the Golf air-con but she was happy with the V8. Had to park the car where it was in the sun all day, and a very warm afternoon, and on our return I noticed the front half of the under-bonnet insulation was becoming detached, so that needed attention.
June: - A very warm 100 miler one afternoon. Vee's fans cutting in in traffic as expected, and out again when back underway - so far so normal. But once on the M6 in free-flowing traffic they came on, and stayed on for the whole of the rest of the journey with the temp gauge below N even at slower speeds on two-lane roads with no traffic. Never done that before on even hotter occasions. Never been happy with this SU Burlen replacement for the Otter switch so start investigating alternatives ... and what a can of worms that turns out to be.
May 8th: - Charnwood Caper
A bit of a queue to leave took several minutes, possibly because immediately after the exit onto the public road there were roadworks with three-phase traffic lights so they couldn't let many out while our way was stopped. Instruction No.2 caused some confusion as it was about a mile before it should have been ... but then we realised they were ignoring mini-roundabouts if it was straight on, something we haven't encountered in 30 years (a bit different to the last New Forest run we did which documented as an instruction every single thing including cattle grids and towers in the far distance). Then an instruction said 'turn left at green triangle'. I couldn't see a green triangle, there were brown signs of various shapes on the post, but nothing green. In any case it was a 'bear left' off the main road, and eventually I realised they meant a grass triangle as from that direction it was a Y junction rather than a T junction. We had another one of those later on where this time we were coming up the leg of the Y, and again it was a 'bear left', but the next instruction said 'give way' at 0.0. Gotta be an incorrect mileage. But no it was a Give Way as part of the Y junction, but by the time the Navigator looked at that we were already past it of course. Then towards the end another 'turn left at green triangle', showing a bear left, but bowling down a straight road it rapidly became obvious something was wrong as the mileage was past, then three cars in front did a U turn. It turned out it was a straightforward left turn, the road coming out did have a green triangle, but we couldn't see it coming from our direction. In any case there was a sign for a falconry centre, so it would have made more sense to use that as the instruction. Finish at Stonehurst Farm which was very 'little children' orientated albeit with a small motor museum, but with all the vehicles kept roadworthy and regularly used. Clear skies and very warm for most of the run, and mostly lovely countryside. We had only stopped once for a wee and again for lunch in a garden centre car park, and didn't stay long at the finish, so were home for about 3pm.
Still no voice on the sat-nav but fortunately it routed us onto the A46 which was nearby then a straight run M1, M6, M42 to home. Glad we weren't heading the other way, the M1 north of Leicester was closed and all traffic being routed off onto the A46 then up onto a roundabout, so miles and miles of tailback. 180 miles for us, hood down all the way warm and sunny for the run and journey home, Bee running perfectly as usual, and no problems apart from the sat-nav!
Late February: After pondering a long time I finally get around to fitting adjustable damper valves to the rear lever-arm dampers of the V8 to see if I can soften the effect of the plethora of traffic calming measures that surround us.
February: It's a small world! Phil Winning writes as an MG owner browsing my pages, but visited Egypt in 1993 and had the same guide - Magdi Mardi - as we did in 1996, was at the German GP in 1992 two weeks after us being in France at the time of the French GP (but not at it) where Nigel Mansell won in his championship year and we bought an original water-colour of him in the race, and has also flown in the Grace Spitfire!
January 4th: Carpe Diem, or get them out when you can, you never know how long you might have to wait for the next opportunity. Dry for a couple of days and sunny today so both get a run of 20 minutes or so. A bit chilly in the roadster but top-down as always. New battery in Vee really whizzing the engine over.
A sunny afternoon so a good opportunity for a 40-mile round trip in Bee. At the outbreak of war Brown was in Germany having driven there in his MG Magnette, which he was allowed to drive out of the country as 'we have no spares for it'. He had been a great admirer of German technology particular regarding aircraft (hence the swastika on the radiator grille but the 'SS' registration is from Aberdeenshire, he was Scottish by birth), before the horrors of the Holocaust became apparent. At the Q&A at the end one of the attendees asked "Did he drive it the Germany?" And the person giving the talk said "Apparently, despite how unreliable they were"!! I intended to collar him afterwards but he was surrounded so I left it, but preparing to drive home a group of people came past and admired Bee, to which I said "They are not unreliable!" and someone else commented very favourably on her Black Tulip colour.
Keen to get a 60th anniversary pin badge for Bee to go with the 50th (and all the other places we have been to and things we have done), but no signs of one from a UK source. The only one I can find is from America, but I know postage can be ridiculous, so a pal there agreed to purchase and send me one. In the event his P&P was about the same as that quoted in the ad.
Bee was despatched from Abingdon on 25th September 1972, so rather fitting. Dry and bright but quite cool with a breeze so pretty good weather. Scheduled ('shed'-uled, not 'sked'-uled) to run from 10am to 4pm we got there about 10:30 and both car parks were full so we were overspilled, but onto a grass ridge overlooking the main car park and buildings which was a pretty good place to be (click image for more pictures):
Trip to son's place for Little Gransden air show so a 200-miler. Forgot camera so relying on phone. Good Spitfire and Hurricane displays, taking off from LG which was unusual. Five passes from the BBMF Lancaster which was good, in addition to one by a RCAF CP 140 Aurora during the service remembering those who lost their lives in WW2. 'Little and Large' (a 40% scale R/C model Extra with a full-size Extra 300c) gave another good display ... and 'Little' didn't burst into flames and crash like it did a couple of years ago. A remarkable display by two 1/3rd scale Hawks in Red Arrows livery (maybe they could be used to put the seven back up to nine ...) repeating several of the moves of the full-size team when both 'pilots' are on the ground. Static Merlin and Alvis Leonides radial engines making a thunderous noise when running together at high revs.
The 'green triangle' run! Forecast good, grey and pretty chilly heading there, but the clouds started to break up on arrival. A bit of a traumatic journey as just before the critical exit off the A42 my mobile with the sat-nav decided to reboot. Before that the power from the lighter socket plug was going on and off every few seconds, and the phone seemed to be making a noise like the alarm of an incoming call but nothing came up on the screen - maybe too much load for the 500mA power plug. I had to pull over and after rebooting reloaded the sat-nav only to get a whole load of pages I'd never seen before, asking me if I wanted to download a new voice! I said 'no', but then had to do the rest of the journey through A and B roads with just the map and no voice so focussing on that more than I would have liked. Anyway, we got there.