Steve Lyle's Journal

Most of the shows I go to are specific to British cars, and you have to drive a bit to get to them. So when I heard about a local show, about 2 miles from the house, where most of the cars (and trucks) would be domestic, I thought it might be fun.

So on Saturday I cleaned the car up, including undoing my partial cruise control installation that I'm not done with, and headed to the show.

This show was sponsored by the local Chevy dealership and a local jeweler, and heavily supported by the Tulsa Corvette club (350 strong!). All proceeds go to the Little Light House - "a tuition free Christian developmental center providing educational and therapeutic services for children with special needs ages birth to six". Can't beat that. Entry was either $20, or an educational toy valued at $15 or more. So I had some fun shopping at Walmart before going to the show.

Some excitement on the way. I had warmed the car up in the garage prior to pulling out. I drove out of the sub, maybe about a mile, and turned on to the main road going to the show. Hit the gas - and nothing - the pedal went to the floor. Oops. I was lucky there wasn't any traffic around, so I coasted/idled off the road. I knew what I'd find before I popped the hood - in my haste to de-cruise the car, I had left off the throttle cable to linkage cotter key. After a mile or so, it backed out, so no more throttle. Fortunately, my emergency tool kit contains needle nose pliers and some wire, so I made up a temporary cotter key and got back on the road.

I drove to where the email said the show would be, but there was no show there. Hmm. So I pulled my phone out, Googled a string inluding "Tulsa car show corvette light house", and one of the links returned indicated that the Corvettes have a local drive-in every Tues. at the pizza parlor a few blocks from where the show was supposed to be. Aha - let's try that. And sure enough, that's where it was.

Car shows are not the most efficiently run operations in the world, my short experience has shown.

Anyway, the show itself was a lot of fun. Lots of Detroit iron, in various forms and levels of modification. Maybe 80-90 cars in total. Lots of Vettes - from C2's to C7's. Hot rods, muscle cars, custom trucks, you name it.

I was one of 2 furrin cars there - 3 if you count the obligatory Shelby Cobra. The other was a VW Karman Ghia.

But lots of people there had had an MG, or knew someone who had, so there was plenty of conversation and story telling. It's just like any of these kinds of things - walk up to somebody and say "Tell me about your car" - and you've made a friend.

There was supposed to be an Import class, per the email, but there wasn't - most of the classes were generic year ranges - in my case it was "Class 3 - 1960-1979", so a pretty broad category. Meanwhile, some of the classes they did have - e.g., "Best Jeep", and "Dirtiest Jeep", had no entries whatsoever.

The show management handled that with some creativity - using unused class trophies to recognize additional cars in the larger classes. About 10 cars in "Class 3" got a trophy, but not us. No big deal.

But wait - the judges then say that the Mustang class had been modified to include MGB's (which does start with an "M", so I guess it made sense...). Really, MGB, since I was the only one. And while one Mustang did show up (apparently there were other shows in the area that most of them went to), it only got 1 vote, so it got 2nd place, but the MGB (mine) got 2 votes, so it got first place in the Mustang class. Everyone had a laugh, except maybe the Mustang guy.

All in all, an enjoyable day. Beautiful weather, cool cars, nice people and interesting conversation, all while helping a good cause.

If you live in Tulsa, OK, and want to drive on curvy roads, maybe with elevation changes, your best bet is to head east to Arkansas. The perfect time to do that is either in the spring when wildflowers are in bloom, or in the fall when the leaves are changing. But since this past weekend was open, and we've got something scheduled most every other weekend between here and Thanksgiving, we decided to go then.

Our planned route was to go southwest from Tulsa to Talihina, OK, have lunch, then pick up the Talimena Scenic Drive (TSD), which runs along the west-east mountain ridge between Talihina and Mena, AR.

Then N on US71 to AR23 to Ozark, AR. Spend the night there, then continue on AR23 through the Ozark National Forest. That section is known as "The Pig Trail" - lots of switchbacks and curves and scenery. Then over to Fayetteville, AR, and return to Tulsa on US62/OK51, which is also a curvy, pretty road.

Everything went to plan - the weather certainly cooperated. Sunny, 70 degrees, and low humidity. Pretty perfect with a functional heater and wearing a fleece top or windbreaker.

We had lunch in Talihina at "Pam's Hateful Hussey Cafe" - a very popular stop for people taking this drive. Then onto the TSD. This is designated a "National Scenic Byway" - and rightfully so. It was built in the '60's, and there is no point to it other than scenery - there are good roads in the valleys on either side if you just want to get from pt A to B, and there's no civilization along the 50 mi route, other than the Queen Wilhemina State Park and the inn there.

From there it was on to Ozark. Another pretty drive, passing through farm country.

We stayed at the Oxford Inn in Ozark - "A Nice Place" - said the sign, and it wasn't bad. Dinner at a BBQ joint off the town square. Breakfast the next morning at the Southern Grill next to the square, and church at St. Mary's, atop St. Mary's Mountain in Altus, which overlooks the Arkansas River valley. Very pretty.

From there, on to the Pig Trail. Unfortunately, it was closed at Cass, AR, due to a mud slide, and they were only letting local traffic through. Bummer - not sure why Google didn't warn us.

So we drove 20 something miles west on I-40, and picked up US71 to go N to Fayetteville. It runs up and over the Boston Mountains, so plenty of curves and vistas. And hence to US62 to head back to Tulsa through Tahlequah and Wagoner.

A beautiful weekend. The car ran great. Lots of comments at every stop, as usual.

At last year's NAMGBR get-together in French Lick, we met Morell and Judy LaRue. They're from Oklahoma City (OKC), and have an early B for concours judging, and a Midget (with a Bugeye front end, and supercharging).

Morell felt that OKC needed a British car show, so he got with the local clubs and started one a few years ago. Soon they added other European marques, and it become the Morelli Grand European show. We felt like we had to be there.

Ordinarily this show is in the spring. However, the show is on a lawn, and OK had a very wet spring, so the show kept getting cancelled and rescheduled. Eventually, the ran out of spring, and moved it to the fall.

We had ballet and theater tickets for both Friday and Saturday nights, so this was another "get up early" drive on Sat morning. OKC is about 2 hours from Tulsa on I-44, and 3 hours using the old Rt 66. Normally we'd do 66, but I-44 gave us another hour of sleep, so that was the choice this time. We bombed along a 75 or so, pretty much keeping up with all the traffic heading from Tulsa to Norman for the Tulsa/Oklahoma football game.

The show is in a large, park-like backyard of one of the local collectors - a really nice venue. They finally lucked out on the weather - dry and warm but not hot. Lots of volunteers to help run things smoothly. A nice taco truck for lunch food. And lots of cool cars - which you can see here, thanks to Pam's photography: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=2C454FEC68F93BC4!1812&authkey=!AAvClXwckEMARpI&ithint=folder%2cJPG

They had a snafu with the vote counting, so we had to leave before the results were announced to get to our Sat night theater event. But Morell called the next day to let us know that our car was awarded 1st in it's class, and the "Don Peery MG Award" for the best MG in the field. Both very humbling honors.

One of the best shows in the area is the "Brits In The Ozarks" show in Fayetteville, AR.

For several reasons:
- They've done this 13 times before, so they're getting pretty good at it
- It's in a park, with a pavilion, and food
- They do a Fri night parking lot party, and a Sat night awards dinner
- They raise a lot of money or charity (ALS)

This year the show was on 9/12. We couldn't get away on Friday, so we got up bright and early on Sat morning and drove the quick/non-scenic route (US 412) - just a tad over 2 hours. The car ran great. The hilite of the drive was passing a C2 Corvette at about 80 mph.

There were about 170 cars in the show, including 9 chrome bumper B's. However, due to an error of unknown root cause (mine?) our car got put in the rubber bumper class. No worries - a few minutes into the voting this was brought to my attention, and I brought it to the attention of the people running the show. All taken care of.

The weather was perfect. Cool and crisp. Lots of neat cars - including a '35 Rolls, tons of Morgans, etc., etc..

The dinner is special. Barney Gaylord, the "MGA Guru" who helped with my car in Kansas City, was the feature speaker. And they have the Exec Director of the charity they support, ALS, give an update, which was very nice.

Then the awards. Our car got 2nd in the Rubber Bumper class. Oh well, I tried... I offered to give it back, or deliver it to whoever should have gotten 2nd (there were only 2 RB's there, so it shouldn't have been hard to figure out...). They said they'd take care of it.

Another hilite is hanging out in the hotel bar after the dinner - mostly with the Tulsa MG crew, which always shows up at this show in force.

After a nice breakfast Sun morning, we took the scenic route (mostly US 62) back to Tulsa. All in all a nice, if a bit off, weekend.

After getting back from Kansas City, and diagnosing the engine problem as valve recession, the focus shifted to getting the car back on the road.

Simply resetting the valve lash was the short term fix. A longer term fix would involve hardened valve seats.

My buddy Bill had a spare head, but after taking it to the machinist to evaluate, the verdict was that the work done to it previously was sub-par. So I pulled the head off my engine, and took it in. The verdict on it was that it had some cracks. So back to Bill's head - they delved in deeper and determined that it had cracks, too. Actually, more of them than mine did.

Scanning posts of the MG Experience indicated that Basil Adams was a good source for cylinder heads. So I called Basil, and he recommended a new iron head. That sounded good to me. They make various versions of new B-series heads. The one I got had the larger intake valves, hardened seats, and no exhaust air ports (so no need for plugs). That, along with a new Payen head gasket set, was all I needed.

Prep for the new head involved cleaning up the studs, nuts and washers, and block threads, so everything spun easily/cleanly. I polished the piston tops, so I could determine they were shallow dished and .020 oversized. And cleaned up the block deck.

A good might-as-well for me was to replace the side cover gaskets with new silicone versions. Hopefully that will reduce the oil leaks I've been getting in that area.

The new head went on with no excitement. I torqued it to 50 ft-lbs, and started it up. It idled about 400 rpm below the original head - I presume because the ports are more restricted, per Hap Waldrip. Otherwise, it ran fine, and I was back on the road.

This past weekend we returned to the GOBMC car show in Carthage, MO. A 150 mil drive up Rt 66 from Tulsa, to a very organized and complete show. A parking lot party on Friday night, seeing old friends and meeting new ones. The show on Saturday, then a bit of a break and a dinner on Saturday night.

This year the dinner was at the local high school, which is a real showplace. There was a prom theme, with some dressed up in their prom costumes. A live band that let us get some dances in. And a silent auction so I could add to my book collection. And awards - our B was fortunate to get 1st in it's class, and I got to accept Deb Johnson's award for her MG-TD, that got 2nd in hers.

Sunday morning was brunch at the Thorn's restored Victorian home, served by the GOBMC club. Fantastic as always. Then back on the road to Tulsa. We hit the road before the major heat of the day - believe me, high 80's is much more pleasant than the high 90's that we drove up in. But eventually the heat caught up with us. The AC at home was quite a relief.

We had a great time. The car ran great. Now it's time to retorque the head and check the valve lash.

Pam and I drove 260 miles north to the Kansas City area to attend the 26th annual Heartland MG show.

It was a bit tense on the drive up. About 100 miles in, we saw the temp gauge needle start to climb. We were cruising at 65 mph / 3000 RPM in OD. Nothing had changed - all the cooling system bits are new, the system had been flushed coolant replaced in the offseason. It just started to run hotter. So we slowed down a bit - eventually the needle stopped just short of the heavy bar underneath the "H".

In addition to the temp issue, the intermittent backfire issue became more prominent. From once every 10 miles or so, to maybe 2-3 times a mile. Fearing we were running lean, I did a quick carb adjustment at a gas station, with the resulting impact I'm sure of putting the carbs on the rich side. While that didn't bring the temp down, it did stop the backfiring.

There was a cookout/social event in the parking lot of the host hotel on Friday night, so I took the opportunity to ask the crowd to identify the best mechanic among them, and have him/her come see me. Barney Gaylord, the "MGA Guru" couldn't resist the challenge and took a look at the car. He didn't like the way it sounded, suspecting it was running on 3 cyls, but progressive starts with alternating plug wires pulled showed it was hitting on all 4. He checked out the carb mixture and announced it was running rich (shock!), and quickly adjusted them. We verified that while it was running hotter than normal, I hadn't lost any coolant, so it hadn't boiled over.

On Saturday morning we went to the show. The car ran a little rough on the 5 mi drive. The show was moved from English Landing park in Parkville, MO, to the farmer's market parking lot next door, due to some flooding in the park.

About 50 cars in total. As usual, our class was the largest - 6 '72-74 MGB roadsters. Some old friends from previous shows, and some new faces. Lots of car talk. Rain early on, but within a few minutes it cleared up, cars were dried and tops were dropped.

Lunch in Parkville at a coffee shop that could have been relocated from Berkely or Cambridge.

Pics of all the cars are at: https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=2c454fec68f93bc4&id=2c454fec68f93bc4%211392&ithint=folder,JPG&authkey=!AM8l_yzVXFaCC9Q

This was another "People's Choice" type show - you got a ballot with your registration packet, and go around and vote for your favorite in each class. Awards announced at 2:00 pm - our little red car got 1st in its class.

From there it was off to Harbor Freight to get an infrared thermometer. We could only set a baseline, because in the 40 miles we drove on Saturday on various errands, the needle stayed on the "N".

That night, dinner at Smokehouse Barbecue (KC style - not my cup of tea, apparently. I guess I'm a Tulsa or Memphis barbecue person.) Then a movie - Mad Max Fury Road. No MGs in it AT ALL!

Breakfast Sunday am at IHOP, then we hit the road. 40 miles in, the needle started to climb. So we slowed to 55, and while it got marginally hotter than on the way up, it never boiled over, and we made it home. Now to find out what the problem is...

All in all a nice weekend getaway / road trip. As usual, comments on the car at every stop - B's really are conversation pieces as much as cars!

Postscript: When I got home, I first tested compression. All cyls were ok but for #2, which had 40 psi. Then I checked the valve lash. All were good/close, but #2 exhaust had 0.000 lash. I reset it to .015, retested the compression, and got 130 psi. A test drive showed the symptoms to be gone. So the theory is exhaust valve recession is happening, next step will be to pull the head.