Report on FABAC August meeting

 A whole bunch of folks braved thunderstorms to journey to one of our favourite haunts, the Moonlight Inn up near Dumfries. Most everybody took their boring DDs, so afraid of the rain were they. A few intrepid enthusiasts drove their LBCs, a couple with the tops down. One of us got wet but enjoyed the experience nonetheless. After all, isn't the reason we own convertible LBCs is to allow us to experience and become part of the environment we're traveling through rather than being insulated from it? (Having gotten that out of my system, I promise to now shut up).

Clearly, everyone was hungry as the business part didn't take place until folks had chowed down. Gary (somehow) got everyone's attention and the first order of business was a couple of reports on recent shows.

• Bob and Curry argued their respective views on the best way to travel to Windsor, but agreed that the weekend was fine no matter how one got there. 
• There was a report on the Rexton show which led to a brief discussion on show attendance in general. Most folks agree that we might want to discuss this at greater length at a later date. 
• Curry mentioned the imminent arrival of a pre-war car club touring our area this weekend and staying at the Silverwood Motel. 
• It was also mentioned that the PEI show is coming up and that a few folks would be attending. 
• Kelvin got on his knees and unabashedly begged, ( "Oh puh-leeeze help me!") for help this Saturday with moving his garage contents to his new house. A few folks reluctantly agreed to help move his stuff. But there better be food and beer! 
• The next meeting will be held at the Chinese restaurant in Oromocto. Details will follow.

- Bob E.

Rexton car show report

A gorgeous riverside location, a wine and finger-food reception and a goody bag full of info greeted the 17 participants to the “British Car Days in NB” in Rexton last weekend (Aug 10-12). Under cloudy but rainless skies, the event included a pre-show rally or tour of the Rexton area, a river cruise, several major show awards and an excellent awards dinner. For those FABACians who didn’t make the 2 1/4 hour trip to Rexton from Fredericton, you missed a real treat. Those that did go and didn’t mind a bit of rain en route included Dwight and Barb B., Terry and Karen J., Curry and Sherry A. and John and Shirley Ann B.
Karen J. and her Triumph TR3A won the “Kids Choice For The Coolest Car” award and the other awards all went to BATANS members with an MGA 1600 taking the top trophy.

The organizers of the event deserve great credit for their excellent effort to make a great British car day event. They couldn’t have been more well organized, helpful and enthusiastic. They and the participants cannot understand  why so few members from FABAC attended. There are moves afoot to find answers. Please post any thoughts or comments. They can then be forwarded to the organizers who are already thinking twice about doing it all again next year for only a handful of entries. The future of “British Car Days in NB” is in the hands of us LBC enthusiasts.
John B.

FABAC August Meeting on Wednesday, 15th

Our August monthly meeting is being held at the Moonlight Inn located in Dumfries on Wednesday August 15th. Meet and greet at 6:00 pm with meeting agenda and dinner following shortly there after. Members who wish to drive as a group should meet at the Valley Ridge Furniture business on old Woodstock Rd., Rte102, departing at 5:30 pm to Dumfries (Thanks JB). I will meet the group at the Mactaquac exit ramp.
See you all at the meeting.
Curry/Jim

Travelling to Rexton

 I'm planning to attend the Rexton Show on Saturday only. For those that want to join me please email me (gararsenault@gmail.com). My plan weather permitting would be to meet those interested at the Blue Canoe Restaurant for a prompt 7am departure. If it the weather does not accommodate us I'll send out a cancellation note to those interested by 6am Saturday.

 Our route will be to Moncton and then north to Rexton.
 Hope to hear from you.

 Thanks,
   Gary

Rexton British car show coming up this weekend!

Start those engines and get driving your LBC to Rexton this weekend for the British Cars of New Brunswick show. This is the show that the organizers came to our Christmas Party to promote. This is the show that deserves our support. There is plenty of overnight Friday and Saturday accommodation available or if you prefer, just come for the Saturday. It’s an easy two hour or so drive through great scenery and on good roads.
Join Curry and Sherry, Dwight and Barb, John and Shirley Ann and many, many other LBC enthusiasts. For more info go online: www.bonarlawcommon.com and click top of page for show details.
- John B.

It's coming along.

Click on photo for a larger view.

Looking for MGB steel wheels

This is Chris Spenceley from the BMAPEI.  I am looking for a set of four MGB steel wheels – the earlier type with hubcaps not the Rostyle type. I am looking for as low a price as I can get.  Is there any way you could pass this on to any of your members that might be able to help with this?  I could pick the wheels up at the BMAPEI show later in the month.

Thanks, Chris
spenceley@pei.eastlink.ca

An email from Ralph H. in Saint John

So the clock is ticking down to the PEI show on Aug 24th and 25th weekend  Just wondering if there are any plans from the FABAC south the  Fundy Area British Auto Club?

Once again we will have a small group of LBC owners from New England with us (Norm and Charlotte) on Thursday evening  and we will all be striking off from Homeport for PEI on Friday morning.  I would like to lead them thru some of our fab country side, cover bridges and ice cream stands on the way up and hopefully we can arrange to meet up with others from Freddybeach and Moncton along the way.    I expect we would run up past Cornhill and make a landfall at the Silver Fox if it is around lunch or push on to Shediac if we plan an early start.

Are there any plans set yet for the FABAC north group?  Could we figure a time and place to meet up and join forces? What route do you all have planned?  Where are you staying?

So many questions.
Ralph

Maybe a fix. Time will tell.

I was at the Windsor Show this past weekend lamenting a recurring sticky valve on my MGA 1600 when David N.  pipes up with the sure fire solution.  It is a product put out by Wynn’s called V.I.C.— Valve, Injectors and Combustion chamber cleaner.  Touted to be the cats meow for all that ails you.  A little bit hard to find as it is not over the shelf at Canadian Tire and is only sold to garages, dealers and the like.  With a little bit of stealth and prying I find a garage in town that will sell me a bottle with out all the extra bits that are used to attach the bottle to the fuel injector lines of the new fangled engines.  So I pay the $xx.xx  price* for a bottle and  when I explained to the “old school” mechanic  what I was doing and he confirmed the methodology  and added a couple tips on how to achieve the results I wanted.

Get the engine up to temperature and with the engine running  spray the VIC into the intake manifold and flood out the engine until it stalls.  Wait 10 minutes, start it up and rev the daylights out of it to blow all the carbon buildup out the tailpipe.  Repeat as needed.  So what could be easier??   All goes to plan on the first pass and wow, what a pile of black smoke and crap  came out.  I did it again and this time the tailpipe was pretty well normal.  I did the same thing on the front Intake manifold and same results.  A quick test run around the block and I could feel a significant difference in  power and performance.  I had acceleration in fourth gear up a hill.  I am totally impressed by this stuff.  Wynn’s V.I.C..  Time and a couple cold starts will tell if this has helped the sticking valve.

PS * The price is xxxx out in case Karen somehow sees this article.  There are some things not worth explaining.  And I have to add that  after I paid for the bottle the mechanic told me that pretty much the same results could be achieved by simply spraying cold water in the intake manifold until the engine stalls.  He explained that the cold water on the hot valves crystallizes the carbon and it flakes off.  That was the way they always did it in “the good old days”.

Ralph Holyoke
1961 MGA 1600
1966 Jaguar S Type street rod

Watch our Catharine next Saturday morning!

Our local world champion mountain bike racer Catharine Pendrel will be on CTV at 8:30 AM on Saturday Aug. 11th doing her Olympic best.
FABAC will be cheering you on Catharine!

Jim B.