Hope the plug threads are not too long & protruding into the combustion chamber.

You know, now that I've looked it up, we may be running plugs with too short of a reach. I'll have to look into that. The TA online catalog says the stage 2 SE heads use plugs with a 3/4" reach. These are 1/2" I'm pretty sure. Might be worth some mpg.

Jim

Thanks, Jim. I was wondering how things were progressing.

good work, much accomplished.

sorry I missed the weekend, hopefully I can participate next time

Rick, I took the old bendix to the local starter shop but they couldn't match it up. I don't recall where the last starter came from. I bought the one in it now online for about $65 though, do you think we should get another one of those to carry in the trunk?

Hopefully I'll have the plug situation sorted out today. Apparently the tapered seats crimped the top thread and that's what made them tight to remove. Because of the shorter reach the last few threads might be carboned up and need to be chased. But the heat range looks real good, so I think I can match up an iridium plug with that heat range and we would probably never need to change them again. There is a difference between OEM Buick plugs and those for TA heads, the TA heads use a longer thread. I have no idea how or when these plugs got installed and it doesn't do to try and find out, but we need to be careful about this. We put a lot of money in these heads and don't want to damage them.

Drove another 10 miles yesterday, mostly on surface streets. Exhaust was clear, oil was clear, saw some bubbles in the coolant. I'll add some leak sealant and see if that helps. Tracked the fuel gage failure back to the sender so that'll get changed once I've burned up enough gas. I have new spares I can use. I should be able to deal with all that in advance of the next work weekend. That's when we will tackle the remaining big job, completing the A/C install.

Incidentally, I picked up a Ford cruise module for my car a couple weeks ago from the junkyard for about $25, it'd probably be $30 with the cable. It's a pretty compact all electric unit that would require mounting, wiring, and push buttons wired with resistors for the controls, which I already had in my car. Seems to work correctly but I haven't tested it on the highway yet. Might be something to think about adding. I'm also wandering if we shouldn't try the big swaybar on it, now that it's just a matter of swapping them out.

Jim

I think I might know what happened with the plugs. Since we were running low compression and a cam that is warmer than stock the DCR was probably down some, plus other factors made the 5 heat range plugs a bit cold. I seem to recall maybe we had some early issues with plug fouling and had decided to go one step hotter. So my guess is whoever changed the plugs did that, and not knowing about TA heads just bought plugs for a BBB. Then went the extra mile and got platinum. Pretty logical you would think. Anyway I have a set on the way and they aren't platinum but the Buick guys agree that they are about the best choice.

Couldn't see any bubbling in the surge tank today but the level is down a bit. I'll get some distilled water tomorrow and add a bit of coolant and re-check. So far, so good. Another week or so and I start trying to schedule another work weekend.

Jim

The plugs came in finally. I had to go buy a special small diameter spark plug thread chaser and I have to chase all of the threads because they have a buildup at the bottom and the plugs won't go all the way in.
Thanks Obama.
I'm halfway done. the easy half.

Jim

guess this will fix the spark plug auto removal events ha ha

Or maybe it's a hex on ME.  I drive RM  and spark plugs like to remove themselves from the head!

sure is LOUD  when they pop out while motoring  just ask Kelly.

Yeah, I think having the right seat will make that problem go away. Got the rest of the plugs changed and went on a short drive. Seemed fine, I couldn't tell if it ran any better. Gas mileage could go up a little. Need to drive it about 30 more miles then put it on the lift and swap out the fuel tank sender. Easy job once the gas is used up.

Jim

It's always fun using up gain that car,  I remember filling it three time in WVA last summer.

Havefun.

HI JIM

HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO ENJOY ANY SPRING DRIVES IN RM

Not really any drives, though I have taken it on a few errands. Ran out a tank of gas and swapped out the fuel tank sender, the old one had the float filled up with gas. New one in there now.

It's running probably the best it ever has. No more work has been done on the A/C. I pulled a vacuum on it last time we worked on it but haven't checked if it's holding yet. Have given some thought to how to make the control panel, that should be simple enough. Dan tells me he won't be free for another work session until after his daughter's wedding the 9th of June. We need to install the wiring and whatever ductwork we are going to do and then charge the system.

It still attracts attention where ever it goes.

Waiting on dry weather now, I suppose we are *finally* done with winter.

Jim

Maybe after this weekend.  You be looking at snow Saturday.

Good News everyone!

The MG-Roadmaster now has a working air conditioner system. Steve and I went for about a 1/2hr+ test drive this morning and it blows out a good quantity of nice cold air. After awhile it began to ice up so we cracked the heater valve to de-ice the evaporator and restored operation. It left a large puddle on the floor when we parked it from condensate, it's been very humid here today (85%). It could use one more eyeball vent for the driver's side, right now both tubes just dump on your right leg, but I figure anyone can add that later. We do have an eyeball vent on the passenger's side, which can be directed towards the driver.

Do we have any plans to get it to Dayton?

Jim

Follow-up from the above post.

The Roadmaster made it to Dayton...shout out to our "Mule", PJ Lenihan for driving to Jim's house to pick it up.

I brought the car home with me (PJ caught a ride with one of the Blackwoods to retrieve his car in Florence).

The Roadmaster drove flawlessly throughout the 220 mile trek to Illinois.

The EPS is a definite plus.

The a/c is nice....but I agree with PJ in that we need a little more ducting to the driver's side of the cockpit.

I got about 18 mpg (based on the car's odometer, which I have not verified against a GPS).

Oil pressure, operating temp, and charging system was all good.

There is a bit of a shimmy in the wheel.

I will be campaigning the car at local Cars & Coffee, street rod shows, and will be driving it to East Peoria, IL to a........Fiero National....to let them see where all of their seats are going. If I still have the car in SEeptember, I would consider taking it up to Chicago to the all-Brit show and down to St.Louis to their all-Brit show.

Stay tuned.

Rick, also it might be worth taking in the GS Nationals in Bowling Green, KY this fall. It was quite a lot of fun when Matt and I took it down there, and they really did like it:

http://www.gsnationals.com/

I'm not saying take it on the dragstrip, but if you wanted to they'd be fine with it.

Jim

Don't take it down the dragstrip.   The timeslip will be embarrassingly slooow for a car that looks like that.  NO ONE will be impressed.

Took the Roadmaster to a local Cars & Coffee this morning....low turnout due to intermittent sprinkles....but still a good time.

The Roadmaster drew a crowd most of the morning. Also had several children sit behind the wheel.

Pics?

Look on my FB page. It's a pain in the arse to resize every pic prior to posting here.

I didn't take too many.

I put about 200 miles on the Roadmaster on Saturday.

Took it to Peoria, IL to.........a National Fiero Meet.

Got a lot of looks and answered a lot of questions.

Plan on taking it to Cars & Coffee in Champaign, IL on Saturday morning and to "Motor Muster" at Frasca Field in Urbana, IL later Saturday morning/afternoon.

The car is running well....and getting about 17mpg  combined mileage.

I found the  missing

a/c eyeball outlet vents and some left over hose, to do a little additional air flow to the drivers face for RM

It's all boxed up and ready to drop off for delivery to Rick

Are there any plans to bring RM yo MG 2019?

I'm unable to help with this as I'll be leading a group from NC along with Dick Lunney.

We'll do another one of our leisurely sightseeing road trips to and from Traverse City MI

Where is MG 2019?

Traverse City, MI

https://mg2019.regfox.com/mg-2019-traverse-city