…AND THE SAGA BEGINS…

[HappyJack]

Hi folks,

Here’s the latest on my saga of buying and then actually taking possession of my FiberFab II TD — It all started with a gentle nudge from my friend and neighbor (~ 5 miles away) Roy.  

As I reported on this site earlier, I purchased the TD from Arthur in Otis, MA about 2 weeks ago.  I took the advice of the car transport company that delivered the car to Arthur and arranged Fisher Shipping to pick up the car in MASS and deliver it to me in NC.  Well, a week and a half later, still no contracted transport company could be found by the broker.  So, armed with some loaner “stuff” from Roy (spare tire, tow bar, magnetic lights) and a bunch of my “stuff” (floor jack, fire extinguisher, tools, tools and more tools), I hopped in my 1997 Ford Ranger (4L V6) and drove up to Otis, MASS Monday AM to pick up the car — 711 miles up (took Hwy 13 up the coast into NJ and then the Turnpike and when traffic got yo be intolerable, crossed over to 195 and took the Garden State Parkway).  And lucky me, heavy rain from NJ all the way up into CT…

Well, I finally got up to Otis, MA (beautiful country — about 1500 ft elevation) on Tuesday at noon, met the seller, hooked up and drove off.  By the way, this was my first time flat towing a car and I was quite nervous about it, despite Roy telling me “not to worry — it’s easy…”

Took Hwy 8 out of MA into CT, then I-84 across CT into NY and then into PA.  Then picked up I-81 down to PA 15 at Harrisburg PA driving into MD, around Washington DC, and then finished the trip on I-5 south into NC, then over tom my town (New Bern) on the NC coast.  I got a taste of driving on a washboard (I-84 in PA) while it rained buckets around me and 18 wheelers sprinted past me doing a good 75 mph — what fun…

But all in all, it was a good trip with the truck and the tow feeling natural and controlled the whole trip.  As it turned out, the truck has overdrive and an overdrive override switch on the shifter, which I started out using often as I traveled over hill and dale, and then discovered that if I set the cruise control, the truck would selectively turn the overdrive on and off as needed on its own, thus making for a much more responsive shifting into and out of overdrive than I could do trying to either push the button or down shift with the gas pedal.

I decided to at least drive around Washington DC and Northern VA on Tuesday evening to avoid the typical morning DC traffic, so I drove all the way to Fredrick, VA exit 126 on I-95, found a motel with a large parking lot where  I could park with my truck’s nose and tow pointed forward, and called it a night  — it was around 10 PM ====LONG DAY!!!

Got up on Wednesday and finished the last 300 miles in the sunshine.  Al in all, a pretty uneventful, if tiring trip — but I now have a fine TD replica sitting in my garage next to my BugEye.

Pic’s later —  once I figure out how to down size the shots I took so that they are small enough to upload —

Now the fun starts — unhooked and drove the car to Roy’s house, where we discovered that there was no brake fluid in the Master Cylinder I guess I was lucky that there was enough residual brake fluid in the car to get me stopped when I needed to as I drove the 5 miles to Roy’s house —  good news since I sure can’t drive and reach the emergency brake at the same time — Is there a way to relocate the emergency brake handle (car has bucket seat bottoms and bench seat back) so that I can reach it in an emergency?????

The good news is that the tires are new, the engine sounds fine and the car shifts well — stay tuned and please provide any suggestions as to what I should start with as I go over this fine new project. 

 — Happy Jack (even happier now that the trip is over and I have the car sitting safely in the garage)  

[HappyJack]

Folks — I figured out what I was doing wrong on uploading pics from my mac — Here’s some shot of my recent journey to pick up my car —  Cheers!!  Happy Jack

[Paul Mossberg]

Good looking car!

Welcome to the owner family!

Yes, it’s possible to relocate the parking brake. But it’s tough to do in a completed car. This is a major over-simplification of the work required:

• disconnect the cable for the e-brake and the heater boxes
• cut the e-brake assembly loose from the tunnel
• cut new access /mounting hole in tunnel between seats
• shorten the cable tubes inside the tunnel
• fabricate mounts to hold the shortened cable tubes in place
• weld the assembly to the new location

An alternative is to notch the e-brake mount, on each side so you can bend it to a more vertical orientation, then weld in wedges of steel to hold it in the new position.

Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica Roadster

If you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)

[edward ericson]

Here is how I did it.

Love that Bugeye, by the way!

edsnova2013-06-13 10:23:42

[Paul Mossberg]

That’s a great how-to Ed.
Nicely done!

Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica Roadster

If you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)

[HappyJack]

Thanks folks — Ed, GREAT post on moving the e-brake.  This will be at the high water level in my bucket of things to do on this car –Jack

[Ed Service]

 Did you ever get the ebrake repositioned Happyjack?  That was the first thing I did to mine when I got it last fall! 

[Author]

Posts