Abingdon Rough Rider Review September 2010 Vol. LII(52) no. 9 President - taterry@aol.com Terry Sanders 499 Embarcadero Post 1 Box 16 Oakland CA 95448 (510) 465 2771 cell (510) 469 6531 Vice President - cjstobbe@charter.net Jeff Stobbe 310 Park Ave. Capitola, CA 95010 (831)475-6233 cell (831) 247-7691 Activities Director Linda Chalmers lichalmers@yahoo.com Secty/Treas/Newsletter Editor- allanchalmers@yahoo.com Allan Chalmers 1231 12th Avenue San Francisco, CA 94122 (415) 566 9796 cell (415) 823 9796 Eminence Gris bill@clovermachine.com Bill Traill 2739 Woodmoor Dr. San Jose, CA 95127 (408) 258 4666 cell (408 )499 9923 Saturday September 11 The Bolinas Bash at The Barn Susan Frank will again welcome the Rough Riders for a cookout and general merriment. As usual there will be a gathering at the Spencer Ave. Turnoff from 101 at the top of the Waldo Grade for those from the south. We will meet at about 9:30 for departure about 10:00. There is a fine Phil Frank map elsewhere in this rag for those heading there from elsewhere. Dogs and burgers supplied and folks can bring drinks and ancillary foodstuffs. We need to let Susan know who is coming and bringing what so: please let me know by email, phone, etc. by Sunday September 4 at the latest. Next month Conclave time, November, a Marin run
Our web site: www.abingdonroughriders.org Coming Events (italics for non-arr events) Saturday September 11 Bolinas Susan Frank will welcome us at The Barn British Car Day Brisbane is cancelled for the foreseeable future Friday thru Sunday October 1/2/3 Conclave The Narrow Gauge Inn on Hwy 41 above Oakhurst and four miles from the Mariposa gate to Yosemite write-up attached and on the web site November? A tour of Sonoma with a stop at Dick & Rochelle Nyquist s barn of cars December? Holiday Party at the Swackhamer s in San Jose more to come Conclave Update Thus far we have 20 rooms taken for the Conclave. Don t forget to reserve you need to do so by calling the Inn. ( The cheaper rooms are all taken). Those signed up are: Sanders, shempp, Marcotte, Crandall, Storms, Chalmers, Pohle, Tuck, Traill, Swackhamer, Matlock, Carol Borgardt and new members Brian and Jane Sonner - and from the TCMG: Roth, Simon, Einhorn, Pedersen, Coleman, Wescott, Simmons We ll send out an email soon to organize the trip there from the Bay Area
Bradley s BBQ What a terrific gathering at Jack and Cathy Bradley s digs in Watsonville! Along with Rough Riders Bill Traill, Norman Tuck and friend Bud, Jim Hill, Kern and Betsy Matlock, Joe and Pat Marcotte, Ed and Patty Browder, Bill Webb and your kindly editor and activities director, were a selection of car enthusiast friends in MGBs, Jag XK120, TD, MGA. Also there was Regis Martin, the buyer of Bob Moore s TC. He is shipping it home to France to join a number of other MGs, Model Ts, etc. Note from Terry Horlick Ever see a pin striped TC? Jack had two together TCs and two sad guys awaiting the magic touch, Bob Kaiser s ex YA undergoing resto, a really nice 1938 LaSalle, Tbird, etc. We kicked tires for quite a while then fell to noshing in their really smashing home. A very pleasant day thanks Jack & Cathy and son Scott & friend Gabby. I just got back from trip in my TC... Penn Valley to Los Angeles, drive around there for a few days and then drive back home... ALONE. Breakdowns?... carburetor overflow tube came off of one carby... needed to bleed brakes. New Grunau Alfin drums performed great! This car seems to be very comfortable in the right lane at 55-60 MPH. Worst part is the TERRIBLE right hand lane on 5 over the Grapevine, it feels like the Air Force has been using that lane for bombing practice! Way to go Terry! Our Founding Father Here s a shot of Bob Winkelmann, co-founder of the ARR, in Britain with his pal s Spitfire If you d like to look at some of the pics from the event, a very nice bunch of old planes in a laid back, non-commercial setting:
New members Joe and Nancy Crisafulli 3384 Kenyon Drive Santa Clara, CA 95051 crisafullijoe@comcast.net Joe is going to restore a TC he has had for a number of years. He has restored TDs. He is in need of lots of stuff. Welcome to the Rough Riders! A request for Four Cylinder Club info I have undertaken the task of chronicling the history of the Four Cylinder Club of America. Some of the older members of this list may recall this club. Founded ca. 1949-1950, it was the largest non-racing sports car club in the United States at least in the 1950s and 1960s. To display and provide a forum for the documentation of its history, I have developed the following web site: www.fourcylinderclubhistory.com I have only scratched the surface of the materials I have and I continue to post new items every week. I think most of the folks on this list will enjoy this trip down memory lane. There are lots of photographs of Austin cars from the era. If anyone on the list has any historical materials related to the club, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you. Bill Wilkman Riverside, CA wilkmanracing@aol.com The Intrepid Douglas s are Away Again You may remember Bob and Lynne Douglas who drove their TC from the tip of South America to the north slope of Alaska. They also drove the east coast of the US, Europe, etc. Their latest ambition is documented here. And if you have any info for them, I ve included their email address: Yes, we may be at it again. We are still in the planning stage but at the moment it looks we leave home 1st June 2011, attend the MG European event of the year in Belgium first week of June, head east and north through Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, into Russia up to St Petersburg, south to Moscow, then directly east towards and through Siberia. Then into Mongolia for the Nadaam festival mid-july. Mongolia is the bit I am most excited about, everything I read about Mongolia makes me cry with laughing. Then south through the Gobi desert, into China and Beijing, south west to Xian for the terracotta warriors, then we don t know how we avoid the threat of monsoon flooding but we aim to make Kunming somehow and then cross into Laos, then Thailand, see if the roads allow us to cross into Cambodia to have a peak at Angkor Wat, back into Thailand and then Malaysia, ending up in Singapore. We then should be able to ship the car to Perth Australia and make the TC Owners Club 50 th anniversary event, which we think would be rather fitting and amazing if we get the car there in time. We will leave the TC in Perth and return later to repeat our 2002 around Australia tour. Only then will we ship the car back to NZ. On our European tour this summer we met a Russian family on holiday and he was so helpful and ended up giving us his Russian road atlas. We think we have the Baltic states and Russia sorted. We know people who have driven through Siberia and they tell us that it is stunning. They ve also done Mongolia (in the 2008 Peking to Paris rally). We know from a group of Australian MGs that northern China is fine but the south is still a mystery where road and weather conditions are concerned, which is why we are seeking info from people on the ground. Bob has been busy on the TC, starting at the front and working his way to the back. There is still a lot of work to do and only a month left before we go back to NZ. This year we are early going to NZ, we will also be early back to the UK to give us time to finish all preparations before takeoff 1 st June. Ta ta for now Bob and Lynne bobandlynne1950@googlemail.com
I received this letter from Gert Jensen s daughter Kimberley earlier this month. Gert was a great friend and a very active Rough Rider for years before returning to Europe years ago. Anne had just died months ago. Anne was as British as tea & crumpets, Gert was a Danish architect
The Airline coupe, Silverstone 1997, our last visit. Gert s cars at various times included a TC, PA, 18/80, Lagonda and Magnette saloon
(From the Monterey County Herald) Racing sports cars helps Pacific Grove inn owner beat stress By DENNIS TAYLOR Herald Staff Writer
The N and 18/80 in The Museum Racing at Laguna Seca in the Von Neumann TD
Solving the Gearbox Speedo Pinion Housing Oil Leak During the course of the 4 year restoration of TC7670, there was great care taken to eliminate any of the problematic oil leaks common to the TC. So, it was devastating to find oil on the garage floor shortly after the rebirth of the car. Now, where was the oil coming from? Rear axles, differential, engine, brakes, where.? What, the speedo cable! How can this be? Although this particular leak does not get the same widespread attention as the other common oil leaks, it remains one of the most persistent. And, it not just isolated to the TB/TC. It is also common to the TD & TF gearboxes as well. This is because of the common design between each of these gear boxes. But, why does it leak? The problem lies within the speedo housing. The housing was machined to a close tolerance to accept the speedo pinion shaft and retard any leakage. In order to preclude any further leakage, the housing was also machined with a reverse scroll inside to draw the oil back into the gearbox as the shaft turned. The speedo pinion housing was also made of brass. Because of this, it is softer than the steel pinion shaft and has a tendency to wear quicker. The reverse scroll was a common engineering method for our cars and was used in other applications for the same purpose. Examples include the rear axle shaft oil return bushings or the reverse scrolls in the differential pinion cap. As we have now discovered, after 60 years, all of these housings / bushings have worn and the result is continuous weepage. So can the speedo pinion housing be replaced? You may get lucky, but the housing is not a readily available replacement item. You might be able to salvage a better used housing from another model car as the housing itself is the same for all models. However, the pinion gears are different. The TC/TB pinion gear is distinguishable by having 9 teeth and is stamped AA on the end. The TD/TF pinion gear can be identified by having 13 teeth and are normally stamped T on the end of the gears. So check to make sure the gearing is correct for your car. But if the replacement housing still leaks what is left? After months of different attempts to solving this problem, a permanent solution has been found, which is to modify an original pinion housing core to accept a modern O-ring, deep inside the housing core. These modified housings are now available from FTFU on an exchange basis to help those that are experiencing this habitual problem. This converted housing will work for the TB/TC/TD&TF. Installation is simply to remove the cable end cap and then the 2 retainer screws and reverse install the new housing with a little sealant around the flange. So there is finally a solution and the days of the dripping speedo cable should now be over. As always, comments are welcome. Doug@FromTheFrameUp.com You can see the gear difference
Steve James, Bristol, UK Hello all, I'm excited to announce the launch of a new free T-Type technical publication that I'm sure you will all be interested in. "Totally T-Type 2" has been put together by the creator and original editor of the MGCC T Register publication, "Totally T-Type", which many of you will be familiar with. Like its predecessor, "Totally T-Type 2" focuses purely on technical matters, but best of all it is published entirely online by volunteers, and so can be offered to the T-Type community at absolutely no charge. your email address into the box in the top of the left-hand column and hitting "subscribe"; you will then be notified when the next issue of TTT 2 is launched (in approximately two months). The suppliers list is also viewable at http://ttypes.org/suppliers and will be added to constantly in the coming days and weeks. Please let me know if you have any difficulties with the site or downloading TTT 2; being a new site, there may be a few teething problems and I will be on-hand to fix them. Best Regards, Steve "Totally T-Type 2" (TTT 2) is available in two formats, depending on what you prefer. Firstly, there is a "traditional" PDF ebook download that you can view on screen or print off and read at your leisure. Secondly, the articles themselves are reproduced on a webpage as a sort of "e-zine" format. The point of this is that it enables a two-way process, allowing the reader to make comments or ask questions about the article which can then be responded to by the author. The website TTT 2 is hosted on is also home to a small but growing list of suppliers of T- Type spares. These will initially be UK-based, but will expand internationally in time. The idea of the "directory" that we will build is that it puts T-Type enthusiasts in touch directly with suppliers at source. Additionally, suppliers do not have to pay to be listed on our directory; it is put together as a service for the T-Type community, not for profit. I hope you enjoy the new website and reading the first issue of TTT 2! TTT 2 can be read or downloaded at the following address: http://ttypes.org/ttt2 Simply click on the front cover picture to download the.pdf, or read the publication directly on the website by working your way through the contents starting from "The Editor". Be sure and subscribe by popping This is terrific new on-line mag from John James, who used to do a T-type newsletter for the MG Car Club. Check it out by clicking over there Not above.
54 th Annual ARR / TCMG Conclave October 1-2-3 2010 At the Narrow Gauge Inn in Fish Camp, near the Mariposa Gate to Yosemite There are 20 rooms taken and 6 left at $166 per night inclusive of tax and breakfast. These are the fall rates. The meal is $60 per person. This is a served, not buffet dinner and the Inn is noted for their food. If the price is too rich, there are motels in Oakhurst that are less expensive, including the Yosemite Gateway Lodge where we stayed two years ago. Also indicate if you are interested in the Narrow Gauge train ride. If you wish to go now you should reserve through the Inn we have already paid for the twenty folks signed up Please check the narrow gauge inn web site www.narrowgaugeinn.com and the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad www.ymsprr.com We will work out the trip over there on Friday shortly with folks by email