Matt Drayer's Journal

Projects are amazing things. They (mostly) kick off full of optimism and vigor. You attack the problem with gusto, often moving too fast for your own good. You imagine the end state -- the perfect end state: Humming along that winding country road, wind whistling, sun shining -- won't it be absolutely grand?

The "low hanging fruit" is quickly picked, and the reality of the real project -- YOUR project -- becomes evident. You stop to consider the prospect for a day, or a week, or a decade, and hopefully decide to continue. You go deep, reducing the job to its component tasks, tearing it all down and building it back up. You set and reset dates, you procrastinate, you nitpick, you buy more tools, you clean the workspace, you read forum posts, and yes, you actually work on the project too.

Finally, you've done all the possible little ancillary things you can do, and you've done the big important things as well. Enough fretting. It's time for the Big Test. It's time to start the engine. Will it start? Will it run? Will it run smoothly? Will it shoot a piston through the hood? Will I look like a fool on YouTube? I guess there's only one way to find out...

<br/>Marblehead MG - Episode 40: First Start!

It's been crazy-time with this project, pushing to get to this point. Everything is coming together so quickly now. So close. So very close. Fuel, air, and spark systems are tested and ready. Intake, compression, combustion, and exhaust are ready. Mechanical is ready. Electrical is ready. We've made it onto the launchpad. Tomorrow is ignition day. But first, I must sleep...

<br/>Marblehead MG - Episode 39: Are We There Yet?

This summer has been more than a bit of a bust as far as the car goes. I crashed the boards in the Spring, trying to get everything done before the end of my daughter's school year -- we really wanted her to be able to drive it to school as the "piece de resistance" of her journalism project. Unfortunately we weren't able to finish things up in time -- the pictures of the car in its various stages of restoration would have to suffice.

Feeling quite burned out from the push, I left our little machine sitting in the garage for the month of July and came back to it this month when our "summer of rain" finally backed off a little. Telling myself that "most of the hard work has been done, so get out there and finish the job you wimp." helped to drag me out of my funk, and after a workshop cleanup and a few small confidence-building tasks it was time to tackle the cooling system. After all, we can't have that pretty little engine overheating on us!

<br/>Marblehead MG - Episode 38: Cooling System

The weather in July was absolutely atrocious here in New England. While the coastal towns didn't experience the severe flooding happening in the Connecticut River Valley, we still received a substantial amount of rain. And even when it wasn't raining, it seemed like we were living in a greenhouse -- oppressively hot and humid. I was dripping with sweat sitting still, let alone wrenching on the car. And the mere thought of applying an additional layer of oil and grease to my soggy body kept me from heading back out to the garage to finish those last remaining projects. "What's the point anyway?", my brain would say. "Can't drive a convertible around town when it's pouring outside."

Unfortunately I listened to my brain and goofed off for the month. Now August has rolled in with absolutely gorgeous convertible-driving weather, and of course I'm kicking myself that I didn't suck it up and finish those projects so I could be enjoying the breeze right now. I'm feeling motivated, however. It really is just a few more things and we can head to the local service station for an attempt at passing the car's first safety inspection since 2016!

As long as they don't put it in reverse! Maybe I'll drive it in/out of the inspection bay...

<br/>Marblehead MG - Episode 36: Rostyle Restoration

I kept coming up with excuses. Procrastination is a wonderful way to get lots of other things done. But at some point, you've gotten all those other things done, and the only thing remaining to do is the thing that you're anxious about doing. Well, there was no escape now -- the gearbox was attached and the chain was on -- it was time for the engine to go back into the car!

I think my main hangup was knowing that with the engine out it was easy to mess around with lots of things. Heck, if I could have set up a test run of the engine before installing it, I would have loved it. But that wasn't possible -- the only way to figure out if I got it right was to put it in and try it. The anxiety of potentially having to pull it back out of the car, and all the potential disappointment that would come along with that potentiality, needed to go on the backburner.

A buddy of mine was in the same predicament with his sailboat. We were talking about it at dinner -- lamenting about engines and cars and boats and projects in general. "Are you ready yet?" "No, you?" "Nope." "Well, at some point you just have to put it all back together, and fix things going forward. Otherwise it'll never happen".

He was right. Enough worrying. It was time to get excited and install that engine!

<br/>Marblehead MG - Episode 35: Engine Instalation!!!

It's always amazing how one decision leads to another, and another. The original bendix starter appeared to be dead -- or was it that weird looking remote solenoid contraption with all the wires sticking out of it? Either way, we extracted the unit from the engine like a bad tooth.

After learning more about the bendix starter design and considering our options of purchasing a replacement or going with a more modern design -- combined with the fact that regardless of what we decided this would never be a concours-level example of a 1979 MG Midget 1500 -- we decided to go with a gear reduction starter.

A quick tour of the internet brought us to ClassicCarPerformance.com / BritishStarters.com and before we could say "jumper cables" a new "fully adjustable" GRS was at our doorstep. Onto the shelf it went...and there it stayed...for months...while we stripped, cleaned, painted, and reassembled the rest of the car.

When the time finally came in late Spring to install the unit, we quickly discovered that yes, it would not play nicely with the mechanical fuel pump. Even the "fully adjustable" nature of the mounting plate would not solve the problem. We even ruined the mechanical fuel pump in the process of trying to make things work, thus forcing our decision to install a new electronic fuel pump. Which led to the additional decision to, yes, redo the fuel line, and redo the gas tank, and yes all of these were on the Should Do list, but not necessarily on the Must Do list.

Ah well, this is how projects go!

<br/>Marblehead MG - Episode 34: Gear Reduction Starter