Despite a bone-chilling wind howling outside, four of us braved the cold to gather in our own little bubble in Joe's garage. Stymied by a recalcitrant MGTC engine that resisted all attempts to start, Joe had called that sleeping giant, FABACTRS&PC into action to help.
We came armed with compression meters, flashlights, enthusiasm and little else. Needing an....any excuse to get out also helped. Joe had been wrestling with Bryan Walker's car for some time and had so far freed the valves, installed a new fuel line, had the tank cleaned out repaired and painted, plus sorted a pile of sundry items important to the car's operation. It stubbornly refused to start. There wasn't even a spark. Something had to be done!
Together we hunted, checked and scratched our fuzzy chins. The 70 year old condenser was ripped out and a modern (and much smaller) one improvised to fit in it's place....still no spark..... hmmmm.....grasping at straws, some fine sandpaper was dragged through the points opening and voila! we got spark (and a nasty little shock). This provided much hilarity and encouragement leading to the spraying of fuel down the carburetor throats while cranking the engine. Joe, who was standing in the line of fire, was rewarded with a backfire that removed the fuzz from his sweatshirt.
It was decided that the carbs needed a good enema so we retired to Joe's kitchen where we ate all his cookies (thanks Pat).
Stay tuned for episode 2.
Rob E.
