How Low can you go?

It's been some time since my last post but what the hey, at least I still have this space for my innane driveling.

The MG has been running OK for the time being. I still have a minor (at the moment) head gasket issue as there is a little leakage from the drivers side of the head to block join. This I understand is quite common on rebuilt engines (of which mine is not) and I am not too bother by it at the moment as I still intend to change the engine at some point and it's not too bad a job to do the head gasket if it does go again. From what I have read I suspect the face of the block as one possible area of weakness along with the studs holding the head down may be weak. A guy in America had trouble sealing the head down even with the head and block skimmed. That was until he replaced the studs which finally cure his problems. I hope to keep the car going on a shoe string and do not intend spending out on what I already have and only want to spend with regard to the new engine install. Other than that the exhaust is still noisy although I have installed a base speaker in the boot floor (housed within the dish of the spare wheel) to help drown out the noise inside the cabin. I'm quite happy with it as from the outside there is no indication that it is there. All I need to do now is install two 6x9" speakers in the rear corners of the boot area. Then I will have quite a good chance of hearing the radio/cds above the noise of the car.

My other distractions have been interior diy (finally finished the stairs, and almost finished the bathroom) and progressing my Austin A40 for this years show season. Most of the welding is now complete. I only have the rear section of the sill on the drivers side to finish then its off to the MOT man to see what he thinks. Mechanically it is almost there. The car starts on the button and purs like a sewing machine. I'm sure I can soon mess that up once I start to play with it. Poor old thing (the car not me). The only area that needs attention is the brakes. These were overhauled about 7 years ago, maybe more. The pedal pressure is lost after a period of time so there must be a leak somewhere or a lot of air still in the system. There does not appear to be any leaks from any of the cylinders and no puddle in the foot well. So any leaks must be interal from a possible damaged seal in the master cylinder. I have won a replacement unit off ebay and as soon as I have the money I will pay him. Oops sorry for the delay mate. The reason for my delay was the expected sale of my latest bargain. I bought a Frontera off a friend and after MOTing it and using it for three months I put it up for sale on ebay. It sold but on the day the guy was supposed to collect it he came up with some story about a family problem. Blah Blah Blah. Sounds like one of my excusses. Anyway I now have one of the other bidders lined up to buy it. Lets see what happens with that then.

Back to the A40. I am doing all the work on the car round at a friends house (a very kind chap who is very patient with my slow progress) and was told that he could not allow me to take the car for its MOT until I lowered the front suspension.

The reason for this was that I have fitted a set of 15" miniltes to the car and the rear springs have sagged with age yet they look perfect and make the rear end look really cool in a modern low style. However the front springs had not sagged meaning that the car looked like a dog begging for it's supper. I relented and as a distraction from cutting out rust we attacked the front end. I took a grinder to the front springs cutting a complete coil out and then added 3/8" spacers under the spring pans to give some more lowering effect. The result. Wow. The car looked the nuts (even it I could not get the jack out from under the car). The height of the front wheel arch was exactly the same as that at the rear with the tyre just tucked under the lip. The only problem is that with even light pressure on the wing and with very little lock on the steering the tyres fouled. Bugger I knew this was a bad idea.

Anyway, I'm glad we put the spacers in as these were easier to refit than welding the springs back together (only joking I would have brazed them) After the spacers were removed the ride heght was increased by about an inch and the car still looked great. Here are some pictures before and after. The last picture is a little dark as the batteries were going on the camera and the flash would not work.