Good morning Washington,

@Island Time Jim, I see in your signature that you get to play with a Fire truck, is it a brush truck? I don't know what WASP stands for? I have never got to play with fire trucks but some of the brush trucks I have seen running around over on the dry side sure are cool looking.

 

WASP = Wildland Attack Structural Protection. It's really too big and with insufficient ground clearance to be a brush truck, but we do use them in some wildland situations. Mostly they're used as a small structural engine. It has a 1,250 gpm PTO driven fire pump, but only 300 gallons of water on board. Do the math and you'll see that the 3,000 gallon tender, which is usually not too far behind us, is our best friend.

 

Thanks for the info Jim. How is the Island today? So far so good over here in North Central Washington, clear blue sky so far.

 

Still alive at 78. I have two 79s that I am going to have to do something with soon. Wife passed after 50 yrs of putting up with me so I am going to sell the house and both of my trucks. I have a 3/4 long box 400 4x4 auto and 79 300 4x4 stick SHORTY in about a thousand pieces. You can PM me for a phone number if interested, love the site, Bill

 

@tubesaft probably best if this were posted in the marketplace or WAFTE for sale thread.

 

Hi Bill, Sorry to hear about your wife passing. Are you going to stick around Washington or move to a warmer climate? Good luck selling your trucks.

 

Like they say, "Better late than never"

 

Tied up with projects; some of them Ford related....

 

Since my last connect, I lost my ‘76 MGB to a crash in the Michigan Upper Peninsula. A jacked up,diesel, quad cab Chevy pickup pulled from a stop in the median right in front of me. No possible way to miss him. The pickup driver admitted fault and was ticketed, but Michigan is a ‘no fault’ state so the ‘hit’ for my car went entirely on my insurance company. They stood by me and paid the agreed value on the car. Not much at $8K, but I am wondering if that will affect my rates on our daily drivers. - Had just departed Traverse City, MI after attending MG 2019, the North American show of the NAMGBR organization.

My ‘56 Effy was welcomed and parked with the MG club cars at a show in DuPont (Patriots Point - Hot Rods for Hero’s). My Effy is no show truck and certainly not a hot rod, but it is presentable as a stock / original and it was well received in a show with many upscale vehicles.

Another MGB has been acquired. It was known to several club members as a very nice car, but it has turned out to have many troubles. Although it ran well, it went to a shop in Tacoma for a rear main seal oil leak fix. On opening the engine LOTS of problems appeared. I have sourced a buildable core and my crank, heads, carbs, etc. are being used to save some $$ on the rebuild. While at the machine shop and on the machine for grinding, the crank broke in two through a counter balance lobe. - Very strange!

Here are some pics of the past 6 - 8 months.



New wheels, tires, and complete transmission rebuild five hours driving time ahead of crash.

Chevy truck pulled from a stop in the median when I was <60 yards away and going 55 mph. For a brief moment, I thought I might greet St. Pete at the pearly gates.

Effy had an outing with the MG Club in DuPont, WA.

Here is the replacement MGB. Seemed to be a fine car, but it has been plagued by many problems. Trying to have it ready for MG - 2020 at Calgary, Alberta, Canada in late June.

Engine had been rebuilt and bored 0.090” over, converted back to dual carbs, stainless steel, exhaust, etc. It ran well, but on opening it up too many problems emerged to allow a rebuild. Core engine sourced and currently being machined for assembly.

How can this happen? Crank broke through counterbalance lobe while being ground at the machine shop. (Did someone drop it off an overpass bridge?) - Enough!! What else can go wrong?

 

Bummer about... Well about both MGBs. Your Effy was looking good in the line up.

 

I have seen one other crank break like that.
It was a 40 HP VW air cooled engine. It had a strange knock when running.
When I took it apart I found the crank broken between the #1 and #2 cylinders.
No clue on the cause. I think sense then I have done about 15~20 engines
and that was the only broken one.

 

Thank you, Tim. In the small logging town where I live, (MORTON) the Effy gets more thumbs up than my MG does. It still has stock suspension, steering, and drive train. I am getting older and weaker (probably from meds for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and stage IV cancer) and driving the Effy is becoming a bit much, but I still enjoy outings in her. Hope to do some parades this summer.

 

No one at the shop in Tacoma (Brooklands British Car) and no one on an MG forum had seem one break like this. On examination of a machined face near the break where thrust washers go, the face was very worn. We are wondering if on an earlier rebuild if the thrust washer clearances were correct and if that may have created heat / shock stress through the lobe of the crankshaft. The cylinders had been bored 0.090” taking displacement from 1798 cc to about 1950 cc. Compression was above 180 per cylinder and stock, at best, is only about 140 - 160. MGs were never powerful, muscle cars. A popular engine shop in Seattle has done this mod on many MG engines in the area. I am satisfied to go at moderate speeds and enjoy scenery with the top down. If I wanted muscle, I would buy a Vette, a Mustang, or a Hellcat. - My rebuild will return this MG to as close to factory specs as possible, but still with dual carbs that were used before “Bs” got rubber bumpers and were detuned for the US market.

Maybe I will see you ‘down-the-Road’ if the Washington Chapter of the FTE Club can put together an event.

Thanks for your response.

 

Your not that far from me at all. Also Ken is closer to you than I am with his current location.

EDIT : You should come on into the BS thread and say hi.

 

Slab and Piers are done for the new shop, YEAH!!!!

Unfortunately the sent me a new assignment, they want me to go back to Argentina to do the 4 new boilers they just installed converting from a simple cycle (gas Turbine) to Combined Cycle (Gas Turbine and Steam Turbine) doubling efficiency of the plant.

Only good thing is it's 5 months of steady work and closer to paying off the house and finishing work on the shop.

After that they want me to come back to Mexico and be site lead at another new construction job. That'll be about a year of slow steady work.