Road Trip

Home Forums General Discussion Road Trip

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #233684
    Scott A Chynoweth
    Participant

    @1oldbuzz

    Ok here is the follow-up to finally titled;

    This little MG that my wife insisted I buy because its so cute,has sat in the garage for over 1 year waiting for title registration and plates.But there’s hope of this car becoming legal.Middle August,,(2011)WI ;DMV,contacts me tells me they are going to push everything through for me.

    So while I am anticipating the car being leagal,I decide to make some changes;

    Well we should have some tunes,so I put in a stereo and speakers,(this is when the domino effect sets in)build speaker boxes,cover said with some cheap outdoor carpet.Ok this looks good,do the floors,Yeh lookin better,do the kick panels,oh no carpet left,Ok buy more carpet,price went up,oh well this will work,Ended with cheap stuff on the floors and speaker boxes and better stuff on the rest,doing the interior wasn’t on my list,but now it’s too late.

    Now I put in the time and effort to do the interior can’t have all this work going bad(politeness)if we get caught in the rain.Well short version is 3 days and I got the 25+ year old top and curtains to fit/ work to keep 97% of the possible rain out.

    Now I never liked the spare tire arrangement I had,but did what I could at the time.Changed the spare over to a mount under the bonnet,and bolted a doughnut spare(no rim) to the engine cover,this gave me what I needed for engine clearance that protrudes through that big hole,and covers said hole,While still giving the apperance of a real spare hanging on the back,plus trimmed at least 30 pounds of iron and tire rim off the tail end.

    Well the road trip went very well 214 miles and no issues,325 miles and my hat blew off,435 total in the driveway and only lost a hat,(which I went back for)and the 25+mpg damn near priceless.

    I had great well deserved day,and looking forward to more.

    Sorry for the long post,but have been off the site for some time and I know,Some dedicated followers are interested.

    I have some new pics in my album,tried to show some of the changes.

     

    #246458
    edward ericson
    Participant

    @edsnova

    Good deal, brother!

    I have a hat with a chin strap. Highly recommend.

    Why is your car driving on the sidewalk in your pic?

    #246459
    Scott A Chynoweth
    Participant

    @1oldbuzz

    Now come-on,put your glasses back on,it is next to the sidewalk.

    I typically only wear a hat while fishing,or at shows.But with no top U have to keep the sun off the larger forehead somehow.

    #246460
    Mark
    Participant

    @mglondonroadste

    How fast were you going when you lost your hat?  I like wearing driving caps, but don’t trust them to stay on at highway speeds.

    #246461
    Scott A Chynoweth
    Participant

    @1oldbuzz

    Well;If my speedometer is correct I was goin around 60,but it was most likey my own fault as I looked over my left shoulder and there the hat went.

    I have come to realize if I stay right around 3000 rpm,I get good milage and the MG handles ok.

    Still need a vw tech that knows how to do an alignment.

    #246462
    edward ericson
    Participant

    @edsnova

    I took mine to an alignment shop. You shouldn’t need to though if you have two flat pieces of something–yard sticks, say–’cause setting the toe-in is possible just with those, and that’s most of what you need.

    Get the sticks and a pencil, drive the car straight and slow to where you’re going to work, then crawl under and position the end of each stick on the rim, just inside the tire as far back as you can go. Hold the sticks together and mark the spot where they overlap. Then do the same thing at the front of the tires. If the new mark is between an eighth inch and three-eighths inch outside the old one (indicating that the inside fronts of the wheels are slightly closer together than the inside backs of the wheels), your toe is good.

    If not, adjust by turning the tie rod adjusters–a little goes a long way.

    Caster is pretty much factory set, so no worries there.

    Camber is weird on these. Front camber specs appear to be zero or even a degree positive, according to factory specs. It’s controlled by the eccentric holding the lower ball joint. I messed mine up when I did the beam job and ended up eyeing them in with the aid of the level app on my iphone. If you had a 2-foot level it’d be better yet. I wanted about 1 degree of negative camber on mine and set it as such, the idea being to give the outside tire in a turn just a bit more bite and counteract the tendency of these cars to understeer. The alignment shop guy concurred with my theory, and when the crew checked it that only had to move them a couple of minutes.

    Rears on this are set elsewise, camber is wholly dependent on spring sag, and the toe is supposed to be just slightly out, not in.

    Here’s the specs:

    edsnova40797.8304398148

    #246463
    Scott A Chynoweth
    Participant

    @1oldbuzz

    I have it all real close,Just would like to have it set on an alignment rack.Also mine has the ecentric on the upper ball joint.

    #246464
    edward ericson
    Participant

    @edsnova

    Upper! right! Will correct in re-post.

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.