MGB Roadmaster

[Citron]

Latest is:  The car now sits down on the drivers side by 1 inch.  Just noticed it today.  It wasn't that way before.
Any ideas?

Steve

[BlownMGB-V8]

Rob, the formal name of the non-profit is:
British American Deviant Automotive Sports-car Society, N LLC
The new registration paperwork should be back this week sometime, is there something else you need?

Steve, I really don't know what to make of that. Have you been eating more than usual? I suppose the first thing would be to check tire pressures and then to keep an eye on it the next few times you drive it. Could be nothing more than those plastic bushings in the rear suspension sticking. If the problem persists we may have to go back to the timkens and needle bearings. That would be a hassle and cost us a few hundred dollars to fix so I'd rather avoid it if we can, so the car probably needs to be driven more to loosen them up.

JB

[BlownMGB-V8]

Hey Steve, another thought occurred to me. You can adjust that out without too much trouble with the coil overs, so that seems like the best approach. Possibly the small difference in control arm length is making itself known, or maybe the shocks are adjusted a little different, or maybe the installed length is a little different. Probably a combination. Anyway it's probably not a big deal at all and once we have it riding like we like, then sometime later we can check the corner weights to see how we are really loading the tires.

JB

[rficalora]

Don't know if they'll need any other info but can imagine it would have to be insured in the state of the LLC &/or registration.  Is that KY for both?

[BlownMGB-V8]

Yes, KY would be correct for any question such as that.

JB

[madmax]

Steve:

Air bag pressure still the same?   Any chance of a leak, that side only?

How about, now that it's being driven, the bag has "settled" into the holder and thus is actually fine, but is now trying to cover more distance?  (Course, wouldn't the pressure have equalized from side to side and balanced the ride for both?)

How about front shock is blown?  Lack of resistance there isn't helping the air bag keep that side up?   I'm not sure that would be it (should be independent), but it's just one more thing to check while you're poking around.  

Not sure how the rear would play into this, unless similar issue:  a coil over wasn't seated properly or something.   (You'd think we would have noticed!)  

$.02

JIm:  I'll make enquiries re: insurance.  

M

[madmax]

Jim:

What type of coverage are we looking for?   Just the value of the car, or liability with many users, or....?

My friend's wife is doing some checking.  Her company is affiliate with Keystone Insurer's Group, which may have offices in your area.  

She'll get back to me in a few days, probably.  (Her specialty is Life & Health, NOT Property & Casualty, so she'll have to get a coworker to work out a prospectus.)  

We'll see what she says.... I told her to assume "all possible" coverage, and then we can just drop options from there....?

Stated value of car is $30k, yes?

M

[BlownMGB-V8]

I'd say that's low Max, but for purposes of insurance coverage we can consider a wide range of options. I'm really only concerned about the liability side of it, but if some fool does wreck it, certainly it'd be nice to be able to repair it, and for those purposes something in that ballpark might be appropriate. We've discussed value before and added up what we've done to build the car, compared it to other high end builds, etc. I'd say it should value at something north of 60K everything considered, but that doesn't mean I think the policy should be that high. OTOH, if we insure it for less than we think it is worth then the policy certainly should contain a clause that allows us to keep the remains in the case of a total.

JB

[roverman]

"If" car has Urethane bushings, per "Energy Suspension, brand", they will need to be lubed. I'm assuming not used in torsion ? As a bushing, urethane is fairly high friction,(needs lube). Good Luck, roverman.

[rficalora]

I have a call into ANPAC.  Will let you know what the options are there.  We'd definitely want "agreed value" vs. "stated value". The former is what you and the insurance company agree[/i][/u] the car is worth.  In the event of a total loss, that's the amount they pay.  Stated value is the amount you say[/i] it's worth.  In the event of total loss they'll pay up to[/i] that amount based on what they determine the value to be at the time of the loss.[/i]

[BlownMGB-V8]

I agree. If we can get this squared away within the next week or two I can get the tags and mail them down to Steve before his brother heads back east. That would allow Steve to drive the car up here and have his brother give him a ride home. That would save us a bundle because Steve has already said if he can drive the car up he will pay for the gas. But if we have to trailer it that will cost us. My opinion is that we built the car to be driven and to do that we need insurance and tags. And the sooner the better.

JB

[Citron]

Fixed the diff leak today, all day.
To take the cover plate off, you need to remove the gas tank, and some rearend parts,and the right side exhaust.  The plate had been overtightened and was defromed.  Got that fixed and now it doesn't leak.  
The gas guage started woking again.  I had to pump the tank to remove it and I now think it must be the float sinks.
The car now only sits down by .5 in in stead of 1 in.
Put another 20 miles on it and it does run good, at least I think so.  I have not hit it hard and probably will not.  Too much for me.
Will go after the tach next.

steve

[Citron]

Forgot to say that the car has a 3.54 gear in it.
46over 13 teeth.

Steve

[Bill Young]

Steve, how about getting some photos of it on the road? That would contrast nicely with the shot I got of you "behind the wheel" when the car was in Port Washington. A great before and after.

[madmax]

3.54 makes more sense (and better than the reported 3.7!).   Much more common...

Steve:  IF the float is sinking, I can probably come up with another one.   Is it still the MGB sender?   Let me know anything else you might come across that I could scrounge for nothing.  

M

[Citron]

It is still a sock MG unit.
If you have one, please send it to me.
If not I will order from B hive.
I have pics at the various cruise ins I have gone to but through my lack of computer knowledge I can't share them.
steve

[Citron]

Here are pics from the Cruise In....at last


Steve

[rficalora]

got a call back from the agent ANPAC referred me to.  Not sure why, but they gave me an agent in NY licensed for NY, NH, and Conn.  Will have to call back and be sure I get a KY agent.

[Bill Young]

Photos look good Steve, had some interested spectators it looks like. Exactly what we wanted to do with the car, spread the word about performance modified British cars.

[djw090]

That looks great. The wheel arches have come out very well.

[rficalora]

Talked with the KY ANPAC/Chrome agent today.  He's doing some research but 1st question to sort out is whether we can use a "personal" policy or need commercial policy.  Latter is a good bit more expensive but has less restrictions on drivers.  Personal policy is much better price but requires drivers to be named on the policy and may be limited to 5.  Premium depends on driver records and vehicle value (likely will require an appraisal).  Idea would be to name the drivers & uduate that whenever the car is moved from one area of the country to another.  He's supposed to get back to me with more info tomorrow.

Oh, & the pics do look great!

[BlownMGB-V8]

Great work Rob. I suspect we should try for the personal policy if we can get it, as we can easily name who the drivers will be for any given 6 month period. See what you can get in that area and we'll work around it the best we can. 6 drivers would be great but 5 will work. I agree with Max that an agreed value of around 30K, possibly less, would satisfy any needs we might have for repairs in the case of an accident, but if we can I think we should stipulate that we get to keep the remains in the case of a total, as the driveline has significant value to us. That's all I can think of at the moment, the paperwork is back from the state by the way so we are clear to proceed. Do you have Steve's phone number?

JB

[rficalora]

Continuing to work with the agent to clarify details.  For now, I've answered as follows -- let me know if any of you think we need different answers...

Value -- $30k - happy to get appraisal if/as required for policy.
Racing - No.
Track time -- only for parade laps.
Driven or trailered to events -- typically driven.
Info about drivers -- no drivers under 25?  This is going to be the hard one.  Typically they want to know the drivers when deciding whether to write the policy & price it -- drivers records, etc.  Asked them to let us know what they can make work & what choices we'll have & we can go from there.

Note, in the mail he forwarded from the corporate office was this... "This [personal policy for variable drivers] is something we don't normally do but see if we can work with the client once more information is received."  Above were the questions they had & my answers.

Oh yeah -- a couple of other things...

I also included the recent pics from this thread --  Steve, if you could email me the full size images that'd probably be good -- I'm guessing they'll want bigger/higher resolution than the little ones I sent.  I'll PM you my email & if you could include your phone number when you send them that might make verifying info faster.

And, I told them the car is registered in KY -- pretty sure I confirmed that w/Jim but memory is fading!

[BlownMGB-V8]

That all sounds good Rob, and yes the car is titled and will be registered in KY as soon as we have insurance. The under 25 restriction is something we can probably work with. I'd have to check our contributor's list but off hand I don't remember anyone who would be under 25 so it may be a non-issue. If there is anyone maybe they'll be over 25 by the time the rotation comes around to them so again not an issue. If they need it we can provide the driver's names in advance, probably a year or two's worth or whatever they want. For that matter we can give them the whole list in advance. Some of the people on that list won't want to be in the rotation though and that's something we'll have to sort out over the winter.

It sounds like you have a real good handle on it though, so proceed as you had intended. Once you have a quote go ahead and post that here, we'll ask for discussion and approve it if we can afford it. Then Steve can pay the premium out of our remaining funds. The two of you can decide what to do with the policy papers, and I'll need a copy of the proof of insurance to get the tags.

JB

[Citron]

I got the other cooling fan working today.
Max was right about the MPG.  I had 99.7 miles on it when I tanked up this AM.  I managed to put in 12.9 gallons.
I thought they had a 12 gal tank.
The tach reads 8000 all the time, so adjusting the switch on the back will not help.
Haven't tried the speedo yet.
Car still sits high on passengers side by .5 in.  Will also adjust that.

Steve