The Morris Gazette

BMC-NO is affiliated with:
North American MGB Register (NAMGBR)
and
Vintage Triumph Register (VTR)

If you are a member of these or any other national register or club, please let us know.

Inside this issue:

Calendar (click here)

Meeting Minutes

Officers (click here)

SABCC Show

MGB-V8 Conversion #5

E.E. Reynolds Rallye

For Sale

Membership (click here)

Club Regalia (click here)

President's Message

It has been a pleasure serving as President of BMCNO. It's also a lot of work. I've been particularly pleased with the turnout of members and their British cars for meetings and events I'm not going away though, I'll still be active on the board and at events. You can't get rid of me that easy.
Even though the new board doesn't take over until the Christmas party, we hit the ground running. Most of the activities and dates for the first half of 2004 are set so we can concentrate on the car show. We have some new ideas and surprises for this next show, but I'll leave it to the new president to make the announcements.
The classes at Delgado turned out to be a lot more work than we thought. We have finally got the first two cars painted and are moving on to the next. Surprises abound when you start removing old paint from these very old cars, but Sally's MGB had the biggest surprises. After Bill had put in a lot of time and effort sanding and filling, first it got sprayed with tranny fluid from another class project, and then got seriously damaged by a delivery truck. Hopefully I'll get my Spitfire in shortly. It will be good to see all these freshly painted cars at our show in March.
I'm looking forward to the club's Christmas party and turning the gavel over to Bill. See you all there.

Harold O'Reilly

The following officers were elected for the 2004 year at the October 28th meeting:

Rogers Schupp was nominated from the floor for Member at Large at the September 30 meeting . Roy Richardson has withdrawn from candidacy for Member at Large.
Nominations from the floor will be received before elections at the October 28 meeting. Additional nominations are encouraged.

October 28 Minutes

Harold O’Reilly called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm and introduced a guest speaker, Laury Lockwood. Ms. Lockwood takes pictures of cars and then creates a painting from them. She has been going to car shows, including ours in March and brought pictures of her work for us to see. Her company is called Images of Desire. A showing of her work was held at a Julia Street Gallery starting on Saturday, October 29th and running into November. A guest, Bob Thompson was introduced who had a ’69 Triumph TR6 years ago.

Upcoming Events: Joy Watts invited everyone to British Pub Night being held at the Hellenic Cultural Center on Saturday, November 1st. British food, beverages and entertainment will be provided from 6-10 PM. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Joy will be serving Shepard's Pie. November 2nd is the E.E. Reynolds Rally. Roy Richardson has planned this event (being the winner last year) and says it will start at Joe’s Crab Shack with the first car out at 12:30 PM and end on the North shore. The rally is the usual time, speed, distance type. Afterwards, food and beverages will be provided with the winners being announced at Pepe & Claudia Merrick’s home. November 8th is the South Alabama show in Fairhope. Friday’s convoy will leave Lake Forest Plaza at 10 AM and Saturday’s convoy will leave at 6:30 AM. The next board meeting will be at Harold’s house, November 11th. Floyd Friloux announced a Jaguar Club meeting at Lubriport Labs on November 15th. The Christmas Party will be at Bill & Sally Breithoff’s house on December 7th.

Past Events: The Vidalia EMC-MS car show was very eventful. Allen Bradley talked about the Friday group’s lunch in St. Francisville at the Magnolia Café on the way up. Rain caused problems for the group. George Barton almost hit a deer and was almost rear-ended by the Greensfelder’s when he stopped. His windshield wipers were not working because of blown fuse but Cathy Greensfelder had a spare. Sally Breithoff talked about the shopping spree the ladies went on. Our club won award for most cars present. Bill Breithoff won a T-shirt for knowing that the AC in AC Cobra stood for auto chassis. The Antique Car show at the Treasure Chest Casino was attended by Cassius Tillman. He reported that the trophies were license plates. Cars were not well spaced and the Treasure Chest only provided parking and not financial support. Susan Bradley reported on the “Jazz N the Vines” concert. Seven British cars and eight couples drove. The vineyard reserved a place up front for the cars to park. Bill Harris made it to the Houston Car Show -117 cars attended. Bill likes show because rare cars seen there. He brought home a trophy in the premier class. Frazier Rice attended the NAMGAR Nationals in Oregon. Met a man that was driving an unrestored MGA around the country. He started in NJ went to Oregon, then planned on Las Vegas, N.O., Bay St. Louis and back up to NJ. While in MS, Frazier took him to see Pete Fountain.

Members’ Projects: For the members of the club taking the course at Delgado, it has been a learning experience. No cars have been painted yet. Lots of bodywork is being done. Cliff Hughes related a story by Paul Hornsbey who currently owns a 1960 MGA. Paul had a 1956 MGA which he bought new from the dealership in Baton Rouge. He took his high school girlfriend for a ride, and it rained, and it leaked. She didn’t like it, so he swapped the MGA for a ’56 Chevy hardtop. Now the girlfriend is gone and the MGA is back.

Election of Officers: The floor was opened for nominations of officers. None were given. There was already one nominee for each office. Thus by unanimous decision of the members present our elected officers are: President Bill Breithoff, Vice President Cliff Hughes, Treasurer Allen Bradley, Secretary Cathy Greensfelder and Members at Large Harold O’Reilly, Bill Harris, Rogers Schupp and Charles Ake.

Drawings: The 50/50 pot of $27.00 went to Cathy Greensfelder. Jeannine Richardson won a t-shirt and license plate holders were won by Woody Dahl. §

SABCC Show in Fairhope

BMCNO Participants

BMCNO was represented at the South Alabama British Car Club show in Fairhope by 15 or so cars, and three members who attended without entries. The show was just beautiful—perfect weather with mild temperatures, sunny skies and plenty of shade. Our club did very well with only three entries coming home empty-handed. There was plenty of car talk with folks from other clubs and everyone had a wonderful time.

Five British cars, and a “designated Japanese chase car” drove up on Friday before the show. The Greensfelder’s Toyota got a work out Friday afternoon with a trip to Foley and the HUGE outlet mall there. Sally Breithoff won the shopping award, coming back with enough bags that she needed “bearers” to get it all back the car and had to rent trunk space in the Toyota for the trip home. However, Saturday afternoon Cindy Frutos came close to making up the difference in the antique stores in Farihope. Fortunately, the Frutos’ Jaguar has considerably more trunk space than the Breithoff’s TR8!

Friday convoy at the Waffle House, Exit 13 in Mississippi	The Baron’s Inn gang
Allen Bradley's MGB	Anne Friloux's GT6
David Russel's HRG	Roy Richardson's TR7 and Bill Breithoff's TR8

Check out Floyd Friloux’s pictures at:
http://public.fotki.com/lubeguy/british_cars/fairhope_2003

MGB-V8 Conversion Part 5 by Rick Huber

(Continued from October 2003)

Fuel system: You could successfully run the Rover V8 engine with the standard tank / pump / plumbing system. I put in a new gas tank as the old one had what used to be gasoline sitting In It for 13 years when I bought the car. I know many people have had years of trouble free service with the Lucas electric (or later, electronic) fuel pumps. However, I'm not one of you, and I decided to go with an electric Borg Warner EP-10 pump that puts out 5.5 psi at about 29-33 gph. The pump you need depends on what fuel system you use on your engine. I used a Carter 500 carburetor (with the air flow reduced for 400 cfm) mounted on an aluminum GM Intake manifold. There are several carburetor / intake manifold combinations, with the Holley 390 carburetor and Edelbrock manifolds very popular. However, make sure the combination you pick fits under the bonnet when closed. I initially wanted to avoid the “necked down” Carter 500 and bought a Holley 390. Due to the 3/4" spacer required between the Holley and the GM intake manifold, I couldn't close the bonnet, so I switched to the Carter 500 (the 500 is too big, but the 400 is hard to find, hence, the “necked down” 500). Fuel injection is also a popular attraction for feeding your bigger MG motor, but I didn't look into the options there.

Electrical System: The battery is pretty standard; I prefer the small 12-volt that fits in one side of the battery boxes between the seats. I forget the cold cranking amps requirement. Starter - I began with a GM starter, but then when the solenoid didn't work and I tried to remove it, I had to disassemble it in place to get it out between the engine and the frame rail. At that point, I switched to the smaller, high torque starter made in Japan and sold by MGB V8 parts suppliers, and have been very happy with it. Alternator - I began with a used Rover model that fit the bracket / pulley configurations I had set up, but when it went out during the first month of operation, I switched to a Delco 7127 model and changed the brackets and pulleys. It’s cheaper, more reliable, and much easier to fix and replace. The coil is a standard MGB coil. Ignition choices are many with both Rover and GM distributors and several types of electronic ignitions being used. I began with plans to use a GM distributor with points, but when I realized the drive gear shaft wasn't long enough, I bought a Mallory electronic ignition built into the distributor and have been pleased with the performance. I didn't replace my wiring harness, but I did have multiple unrelated electrical problems to troubleshoot (the car was sitting 13 years after all) as we were getting the car up and running. I had the tachometer converted to 8-cylinder operation at Palo Alto Speedo.

Oil Filter: With the Rover V8 engine, you have to remotely mount the oil filter, since it won't clear the steering rack. That's a custom made piece available from the conversion suppliers I've mentioned before. The oil cooler is said to not be necessary, and I didn't install one.
Cooling: The late model MGB radiator with modified nozzles works for the V8 installation. You can also buy new MGB V8 purpose built radiators. You have a choice of Rover or GM water pumps. The GM pump (I think) has a shorter nose if you want to run a mechanical fan, and I used it. I've got a mechanical puller fan inside the radiator and the late model MGB dual pusher fans outside the radiator. The engine compartment still gets pretty hot, and the coolant temperature creeps up above the normal reading on very hot days (remember, I started out In Louisiana) sitting in traffic, but otherwise works fine. You'll need an adapter to mount the MGB heater control valve. I relocated and reused the MGB overflow bottle.

Exhaust: Several types of headers are made for the Rover V8 engine, block huggers and through-the-wheel-well types in mild steel and stainless steel. I used mild steel block huggers mostly to avoid cutting the wheel wells. I debated getting them Jet Hot coated, but didn't. The cross over pipe for my set runs under the oil pan and pretty low to the ground. I went into a single exhaust pipe with a Flow Master muffler that makes lots of noise - so the car also sounds powerful. The low hanging piping is a nuisance, as it scrapes pretty regularly, but that's also because we lowered the suspension with a Moss kit. I'm told the mild steel headers won't last very long and are susceptible to heat stress cracks. I believe when they go out in the future, I'll switch to the MGB V8 headers that go through the wheel well and into a dual exhaust system exiting just in front of the rear wheels. Several reasons - ease of working in the engine compartment, reduced temperature under the bonnet, increased clearance under the car, and reduced backpressure.

Brakes: I figured the car was a bit lighter, and I wasn't going to go any faster than the 4 cylinder MGB, so I used the standard brakes. We rebuilt or replaced almost everything so it's like new, and used silicone fluid. Some people put on MGB V8 calipers / pads with more surface area and drilled discs to dissipate heat, but for my type of driving, I didn't need to do that.

There are a few other bits and pieces necessary to make the conversion work, but we're getting down to the details, and some of the remaining work is standard MGB - shocks, interior, trim, glass, rubber, bright work, wheels / tires and many of the choices here are personal preference.

The conversion is really a rewarding project, and even better when you get that beast of a B out on the road after it's finished. Our powerful MGB continues to be an absolute thrill to drive, and it’s even more exciting riding with Andrew, he stomps on it a bit more than I do.

I hope you've enjoyed reading as much as I've enjoyed writing about it - but better yet, I hope it's spurred some of you into action. Now that you’ve read about how to do it, now is the time to get going. You'll be glad you did.

Safety Faster…..with a V8 !!

PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4

NOTICE TO MGB OWNERS! Our club is affiliated with NAMGBR, the North American MGB Registry. This affiliation provides our liability insurance for events. BMCNO must maintain 8 registered NAMGBR members in our club to be affiliated. If you own (used to own, or would like to own) an MGB, please join NAGMBR, then tell the newsletter editor, Cathy Greensfelder. (She’s the keeper of the membership list.) NAMGBR dues are $25 and the newsletter MG Driver is worth it. Cathy will have NAMGBR membership applications at the next meeting.

ATTENTION TRIUMPH OWNERS! Our club is a Vintage Triumph Register (VTR) zone. We need 10 VTR members in our club to become an affiliated chapter. There are insurance and other benefits to becoming a chapter. If you own (used to own, or would like to own) any type of Triumph, please join VTR, then tell the newsletter editor, Cathy Greensfelder. (She’s the keeper of the membership list) or Harold O’Reilly, the VTR liaison. Cathy will have VTR membership applications at the next meeting.

EE Reynolds Rallye by Roy Richardson, Rallye Master

The Rallye began with the first car out at 12:30PM on 11/02/03. The weather cooperated with the participants, about 83 degrees and sunny. We had eleven cars registered. We had one casualty before the start: Cathy Greensfelder’s MGB gave up the ghost on the way to the lake front, therefore she did not have a chance to compete and challenge Jeannine Richardson’s navigational skills.

The route included a brief tour of part of the city before traveling the Causeway (America’s longest navigational aid). The other miles included scenic highways and byways. The total scheduled route was 122.9 miles long and was to take 2 hours 48 minutes and 9 seconds to the actual finish. Cars’ 5, 9, 10 and 11 did not find the first checkpoint. Cars’ 2, 9 and 11 did not find the second checkpoint. Cars’ 2, 10 and 11 did not find the actual finish line which was 13.6 miles from the anticipated finish line. Car number 7 was only 81 seconds off the scheduled time at checkpoint #2, which was 75.8 miles from the start.

Our winners this year were first time participants Joy Watts (driver) and Lyle Brown (navigator) touring in a MGB-LE. Joy and Lyle win the privilege of putting on next year’s rallye!! Second place, only ten seconds out of first, was taken by Butch Frutos (driver) and Cindy Frutos (navigator). Third place was captured by Dave Hayden (driver) and Fred Stokes (navigator).

After the rallye Claudia and Pepe Merrick hosted the club at their home where all took part in refreshments and a well-needed potty break.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the helpers at the checkpoints Pepe Merrick, Bill Coskrey and Mike Simeral. Thank you one and all for coming out and trying so hard to come in second! §

(Joy Watts and Lyle Brown stopped briefly on the way to the Rallye to commiserate with Cathy Greensfelder while she was waiting for the tow truck and watching a pool of coolant slowly spreading under her MGB. Since it was Joy and Lyle’s first E. E. Reynolds, Cathy explained to them that the objective was to come in second, since the winner has to put on the rallye the following year. So you can’t say they weren’t warned!! )

For Sale

80 MGB. Restored, great body, runs great, "No Rust", garage kept. 3 times first in class winner $6,500. Sidney Cousans, New Orleans
504 834-9580 (daytime) 504 282-5208 (evenings) gem@gemprinting.com (12/03)


94 Jaguar XJS: Flamenco Red, leather interior. 4.0 liter 6 cylinder. Rare car in excellent condition. 40,100 original miles. Leather and wood in perfect condition. Lattice sport wheels and new Michelin Pilot Series tires. New Alpine 6 Disc CD changer in trunk. Asking $13,250. Dan at (504) 391-3227 (evening), (504) 728-4812 (office) or e-mail DMKMMelesu@aol.com (10/03)

76 Austin Mini, Commission # N205-331130A. All hydraulics rebuilt using DOT 5, new front seats, fog/rally lights. tires like new. 1275 engine runs great, new belt, new oil, filter, and flushed the radiator. Looks and drives good. Schizophone@worldnet.att.net (10/03)

Wanted

60s TR4-A ...preferably red, model more important than color. David Block, Houston, TX
(713) 266-9200, ext: 115


Radio for Sprite/Midget/MGA etc. Must be positive ground or convertible polarity—prefer am /fm.
Fred Fabre (225) 356-5466 ffabre8@cs.com (11/03)

Dash plaque for 9th annual - 1999 - BRITISH CAR DAY. needed for wall display. Fred Fabre
(225)356-5466 ffabre8@cs.com (11/03)