Buying a Low-Budget British Sports Car. Part Four. Louis Shalako.

Louis Shalako

You got to have a plan, Stan.

How much you gonna pay, Ray.

It’s just another toy, Roy,

You better listen to me—

There’s fifty ways to empty your wallet.

Especially, with an MGB.

…

 

How did British Leyland lower the compression ratio on the MGB engine, from 8.8/1 to 8.0/1, circa 1973: deep-dish pistons. Ergo, therefore and thusly, the block and the head are the same as previous years...maybe. These are the deep-dish pistons, this cylinder head (below) has larger valves installed. The ad states that the last three owners all had intentions of restoring this vehicle. $1,000.00 in Collingwood, Ontario, an easy 200-miles from Sarnia.

And is true, that my crusty old minivan will pull a max of 3,800 lbs. and you can rent a utility or car-hauler type trailer by the day or the week or whatever.

Looking at the photos, I would say that my old ’71 roadster had the shallow-dish, in fact the little raised ring was perhaps a bit smaller, a little further out from the cylinder wall. The difference is unmistakable but only if you have seen the other type before. If you are totally a first-timer, you may not spot that without prior research or information. 

(Assuming you take the engine apart in the first place. - ed.)

All of those holes are for oiling, cooling, and the eight holes on the far side are for pushrods.

But this ’73 project car would definitely be an 8.0/1 compression ratio engine, with significantly less power than the ’71, which was rated at about 95bhp and 104 lb-ft. of torque—yet the vehicle would still have the dual carbs, it would still have air injection, which most folks simply remove, and it would not have a catalytic converter, for example. (And this would be a good time for a guy like me to go off, read up on it and either check or confirm my facts.)

This gentleman has an interesting blog post on the subject of rebuilds, oil pressure, and oil consumption and things like that.

The Locost mentioned in the text appears to be a one-off, home design.

Larger valves, the water control valve.

Ah, nice. You can see the water control valve for the cockpit heat and windshield defogging.

The link for the parts car is already dead...

How hard is it to take the rubber bumpers from a later model MGB and replace them with chromies. I had wondered, my instinct is that the turn signal castings, lenses and gasket are 'probably' simply re-used from previous iterations. Some guys simply rewire the N. American side marker lamps and that now becomes the turn signals. The frontal visibility would be somewhat reduced, but they’re prepared to live, or to die with it. (It probably does skirt the letter and intent of the law, so you might want to get the safety check first and do the mods later…) Otherwise, you have to cut a couple of rectangular holes in the fenders, not quite centred under, but below the headlights, bearing in mind the curve or conformity of the original castings. Or, you can buy period-correct fenders which will have provision for these lamps, which are stamped and the mounts do stick out from the curve of the fender. 

The actual 5-mph collision-safety bumpers also required additional structure. It was an add-on, which interferes with the simple bolt-on chrome bumper mounts. You can get those fenders new or used, one would think. All it takes is patience. And money. If a company modifies a vehicle, they may not have bothered to drill them holes, where the old bumpers attached. What looks simple at first glance will, inevitably spawn complications. The same could be said of modifying any vehicle. And quite frankly modern cars are not meant to be maintained or repaired by the owners. Fifty years ago, the more enthusiastic owners thought nothing of putting in new spark plugs, changing their own oil, air and fuel filters, burned-out bulbs, or doing brakes and things like that.

***

The rear bumper does not have lights in it, but the additional structure must be there, in order to sustain a 5-mph hit.

This guy has done away with the front signal lights, in the images. This is the classic position for turn signals in the early models.

This MGB is a ‘project car’ listed at $1,000.00, in Burlington, Ontario.

(Link will be dead at some point.)

…The Plan Spawns Endless Complications.

 

Let’s say you do buy that later model MGB, with the rubber bumpers, the ride height increased by one inch, and the engine detuned and pollution controlled, with the result that it is heavier, handles much less well than the previous models, and the horsepower is much reduced. What is the best thing to do with that car? Bear in mind, in a previous post, I concluded that a clean body-shell is ‘everything’ to quote myself, which is a bit like the guy who represents himself in court and has a fool for a client.

I’m a writer, quoting myself.

Why not try a low-ball offer. Why not see if you can get the machine for a little cheaper than the asking price. Why not see if we can get it through a safety check, why not register the thing in our own name, why not put insurance on it, the bare minimum of insurance, and why not just drive the thing as it is. Why try to pretend it’s something that it is not? Let’s not delude ourselves into thinking that it will fetch thirty thousand poonds at auction. We’re simply not playing at that level, but we are playing, and sometimes that alone is enough.

Knowing that you probably aren’t going to make bags of money on your new purchase, influences the decisions about how much to put into it. If you gave someone a completely disassembled MGB or other sports car, and they put it all together again, it’s really only going to be worth so much in the marketplace—and if you really have twenty or thirty grand laying around, you can just go buy a much better car…at a high-end auction. You can also probably afford brand-new parts and any modifications might be done by seasoned professionals. You might be looking for a car that’s original, matching numbers and all that sort of thing, rather than something cobbled together by someone who maybe shouldn’t be doing such things…

It’s a low-budget sports car, true, but that is only a relative concept. It’s not a race car, it’s not a show-car, it’s not a street racer, it’s not going to impress your friends, but then they all think you’re an idiot anyways—they may love you in spite of yourself, but they still think you’re an idiot.

Here is one example. You have the 1977 MGB roadster and you want to upgrade the power, go back to chrome bumpers from the classic era, and you want to lower the machine by one inch. The later model vehicles use the front sub-frame from an MGB V-8. The company welded one-inch steel plates, (probably), under the ends of the sub-frame, in order to mount the suspension…the front sub-frame is held in place by four big bolts, then there is the steering rod and the steering rack to consider, then there is the independent front suspension, and then there are the brake lines, an anti-roll bar, etc.

Assuming you can unbolt and disconnect, you have to lift the rest of the vehicle off of there, dismantle all of that, and then you have two choices. You can try and cut and remove the one-inch steel plates, or you can try and find a front sub-frame from an earlier model, or try and get a new one from some supplier somewhere. You can try to get adaptive bits and pieces (new or re-engineered aftermarket parts) in order to just bolt on and not go that far with the dismantling. You may or may not be able to use the original springs. The plates, in my interpretation, simply push the springs an inch further down, and the shocks are still bolted on top of the sub-frame. This would, in fact, change the geometry of the steering and suspension, which is one of several reasons why later models are not noted for handling. I would have to examine two different cars side-by-side, listen to an expert, or get the proper information somewhere. This is where those online forums are so useful. They’re riddled with expert mechanics, and more than happy to help a fellow enthusiast. They might even have a few things to sell, right? And we are sort of interested in buying.

Those pesky turn signals. 1972 U.K. version.

It’s not an easy job, and one would think having done all of this, it’s a good time to check that steering rack, replace the flexible brake lines at the very least. Naturally, when you take all that apart, you may consider new bushings, bearings, brake pads and rotors and all of that sort of thing…such a simple little plan, and yet it spawns complications.

The rear end may be a bit easier, it is unclear at this point if the rear leaf springs are simply jacked up by shackles, or whether the company found some other way of recycling old parts from the bin, bearing in mind the MGB was showing its age at this point, (1977) and clearly did not justify major expenditures in terms of re-design and re-tooling at the factory.

The importance of a clean body shell. There is simple cosmetic appearance. There is structural strength, and then there are the niggling and persistent little details. In a vehicle of some age, we might decide not only to replace the flexible brake lines, but also the steel brake lines. I have done steel brake lines, borrowing the flaring tool, purchasing the raw steel tubing; piecing all of that together. The problem comes when you go to hang that on the actual vehicle—you need screws, clips, rivets even, and the bottom of your vehicle is rotten. Where are you going to drill all them holes—you can’t drill a hole in air, and screwing or riveting or clipping something to some surface that is corroded or paper thin is a lose-lose proposition. The problem at this point, is that you are already committed.

The same goes for the fuel lines. Just substituting fuel-resistant rubber hosing on wire garbage-bag ties under the vehicle may be a low-cost option for the fuel lines, but it really isn’t going to work for the brakes, which operate at a higher pressure.

Interestingly, for many of the conversion-type jobs listed above, you can probably get some kind of estimate of parts and labour…from somebody, somewhere.

Our surprise pick for this post.

Before you even buy the car—helpful information, to be sure.

Here’s one of those terrible truths that aren’t all that much fun to confront. If I don’t have ten or twelve grand for some reasonably complete and driveable little sports car of any description at all, (option one), I probably don’t have ten or twelve grand to fix up a wreck, assuming I had the tools, the knowledge, the experience and the facilities, (option two). If I honestly thought I could find ten or twelve grand over the next year or two, then I could also, probably find ten or twelve grand to pay off a loan on a vehicle that was clean, whole, complete and driveable from the beginning. Five years ago, the rate was 8.99 %. I checked the other day, and it is now 14.5 % in this town, for a personal loan. So, cash would be decidedly better.

The first option is clearly the better one. I just want to have some fun, and the rest can wait.

 

END

 

 

A 1980 MGB, in red. You could do worse for the price. 

The MGB Experience.

The MGB Register Forum.

My Surprise Pick from the 22 Recent Entries from Auto Trader Ca.

Just listed; Right Around the Corner. Needs Fuel Tank, Not running. ($5.000.00. '73 MGB)

Looks like a trap.

Classics.On Buying an MGB.

On Buying an MGB. Part Two.

Buying an MGB (or other) Sports Car.

Uhaul. Rent a Trailer or Whatever.

Images. Mostly stolen. 

Check out Louis Shalako’s The Art of Murder, an audiobook available from Google Play.

See his works on ArtPal.

Thank you for reading, ladies and gentlemen.

 

 

 

A Foolproof Plan for Independent Publishing.

The secret to throwing a ball is simple: the harder you throw it, the further it goes.

By the Evil Dr. Emile Schmitt-Rottluff

Louis' little company, Shalako Publishing, can’t fail. It might get more complicated, and it has become rather more work than less over time. It’s still fun, and it’s not like I have anything better to do.

At this point he can still quit, or run it into the ground by neglect, or do something stupid and get sucked down by major liabilities. Even if he got sued for libel, or the computer blew up, if he had a heart attack, or simply couldn’t pay for the internet, the books are still out there and the various platforms do sell small numbers of books.

(Louis can't see me, and please never reveal this post to him, 'cause I want him to learn it on his own and maybe finally get a little self-confidence, but we'll let him tell it in his own words.)

Even then, the books I already have published would continue to sell occasionally, and continue to make money for whoever owns those intellectual properties, for example my estate or my heirs.

As long as I’m willing to continue writing, publishing, editing, all the stuff that’s needed to keep the costs down, all the marketing and promoting, the entity will continue to grow. Over time, revenues will increase and in fact I can even predict when they will come in for example, but only insofar as it’s at the ‘current rate of sales.’ Right?

(A note for accountants: the internet cost is set down as ‘entertainment’ of a personal nature. Even then, my ‘hobby’ pays me actual cash from time to time.)

The numbers will continue to grow.

In 2010, in four months of operation, I sold four books. I gave away about twenty. Yet even this small number showed that it is indeed possible for an unknown and not particularly skilled author (and even less skilled publishing-wise) to make money by writing and selling their own books online.

At some point I realized that the more titles you have published, the less and less importance that any one has in terms of sales. But each contributes to the overall sales—and now this is the important number.

In a game, there might be two players, and let’s say the house owns the table. For every completed game, they get a small percentage of the pot. Between the two guys, there is a winner and a loser. (No doubt about that. But we’re not playing that kind of game. That’s the important thing to remember. What we are doing is not gambling.)

That’s the house advantage—they never have to play a card and they still win on every game!

So what’s their real secret? Play as many games as possible in the shortest time possible.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, if you want to beat a system, and in my opinion, any system can be defeated by using its own rules against it, then the first thing to do is to understand how it works, and how the game is played. You want to know what cards you get, and what they are worth, and all the rules and stuff.

People keep saying and wondering about Amazon ‘changing their algorithms.’ They don’t have to change those algorithms, because the algorithms change themselves, organically almost, because the number of titles keep changing, the number of readers using the store changes moment by moment. Every day, the number of people with ereaders and Kindles goes up.

Yet the total number of ereaders in the world is still a variable in an algorithm. And that’s what we’re talking about, when we say ‘Amazon changed the algorithm.’ Someone is essentially saying they went in and skewed a couple of variables in a very long and complex equation. Ladies and gentlemen, I would submit that we changed the algorithm—and if we did it once we can do it again.

What we do now is to write faster—to write more often, and to publish more often, with better skills and better books and with better covers and better marketing. Because the numbers of authors, readers, books, dollars, ereaders, and other factors just keeps increasing every day.

That’s not to say that Amazon or any other online retailer doesn’t twiddle the buttons once in a while, maybe even just to keep it fair. It’s their house after all, their table and their game, and the choice is yours whether you want to sit in or not.

Or we can get up and walk away.

But here’s a funny thing. Now we have our own ‘house advantage.’ That’s because when we play a game now, it ain’t over when it’s over. The game stays on the table—or perhaps I should say that your new title stays in the store to maybe sell a book on another day.

Another thing we can do to change our own personal algorithm: we need to try and live as long as possible. 

Keep your cool and stay out of trouble. Right?

That’s how you game an algorithm—you just keep trying to push up the values on all of your own personal little variables.

We all have our own algorithm now. And the truth shall set you free.

END

Notes: Joe Konrath, A Newbies Guide to Publishing, says ‘it’s not a zero-sum game.’

This is real short, it’s from Wiki and it’s on the ‘zero-sum mentality.’ Cool, eh?

Here’s Wiki on Algorithms. The bit on formalization is particularly apropos.