V8 Newsletter
for August 2006 published in Safety Fast!, the award winning monthly magazine of the MG Car Club

WARM SILVBERSTONE 2006
V8 enthusiasts enjoyed warm weather again at the Club's annual International MG Meeting at Silverstone. The V8 Marquee was a popular place to meet up with old friends and provided a warm welcome for many new members attending for the first time. At the V8 BBQ on the Saturday evening, Clive Wheatley's team cooked over 85 suppers! The number of RV8 members was much greater reflecting the strong stream of new RV8 registrations over the last two years The V8 AGM held on the Sunday was very well attended and saw the election of a new V8 Committee of eight members with Al Barnett as the new V8 Chairman. Details of the committee members and their contacts are on the V8 Website.

REGENCY RUN 2006
Ian Quarrington (Woodcote Green 2150) from Cambridgeshire reports thirteen V8s and eleven RV8s were among 456 cars registered to make the annual pilgrimage from the Brooklands Museum near Weybridge to Madeira Drive on the seafront at Brighton. There were two tulip routes of approximately 68 miles - yes it is a lot less as the crow flies or even on the A23/M23. Some roads were single track, some were rather bumpy but all led through pretty villages and countryside where many locals were waving the MGs on. Those with soft tops braved the cold wind but as one MGB owner who followed Ian for most of the route said "it was wonderful to hear the exhaust note of the RV8" - in fact so much so that it has inspired him to get a V8 for his next MG.

One or two drivers missed a turn here or there but they all got to Brighton where the good organisation of thetwo car clubs allowed the entrants and the public to see MGs from 1920 to a recently registered 06 TF in the same place at the same time.


V8 GATHERING AT THE SHOULDER OF MUTTON
The next V8 Gathering at the Shoulder of Mutton on Hazeley Heath is on Sunday 20th August at noon. The delightful country pub is just north of Hook in Hampshire and east of Basingstoke - full directions and maps are available on the V8 Website. Bryan Ditchman lives locally and is recovering well from his recent operation and looks forward to seeing the many V8 enthusiasts who attend these gatherings.

V8 LINCOLNSHIRE TOUR
The V8 Lincolnshire Tour 2006 is being arranged by Mike Taylor over the long weekend from Friday 29th September through to Monday 2nd October. The annual V8 Tours are a popular event - full details of the hotel, cost and an outline itinerary are also on the V8 Website. Mike can be contacted on 01778 440785 for more information.

GEOFF ALLEN
Jean Allen was clearly comforted by the many friends from the MG world who attended the funeral for Geoff Allen in June. Jeff Ward's eloquent eulogy at the service captured the essence of an amusing and extraordinarily able and kind man. Jean feels privileged Geoff chose to share his life with her for over fifty years as he was such a special person to her.

THE JOURNEY IS THE REWARD
Theo Klick (Damask 1721) from Germany travelled to the North Cape in Norway in 2005 - this year he went to Cape Finsterre. Along with Gordon Hesketh-Jones, Theo is an enthusiast who really uses his V8 on quite extraordinary adventures.

"The journey is the reward" was the motto of our trip to Cape Finisterre in the north west of Spain with my MGBG V8. Rainer Pfeiffer, who looks after the car in his workshop, accompanied me. The car, purchased in Beaulieu three years ago, was showing 94,403 miles on the clock when I picked Rainer up from his home at 9am. The start took us through the Eifel, via Luxemburg and Verdun to the Loire. The only problem was the accelerator cable broke whilst trying to overtake some trucks. Luckily nothing happened and the repair was quickly dealt with. We followed the Loire to Tours with a small deviation to Chateau Chambord which lies idyllically in an enormous great forest. From there we went South via Poitiers, Limoges and Perigueux to Bergerac and the end of that day's driving.

Clear skies welcomed us over the Pyrenees. On the way we were "caught" by a Gendarme with a radar gun in his hand but, for some unexplained reason, he didn't stop us. Crossing the Pyrenees is an experience in its own right. The mountains are covered by forests and farmed, mainly sheep. We were reminded that this is the land of the Basques when Spanish police stopped and checked us as an anti-terrorism measure. Castro Urdiales was our next stop after Pamplona, San Sebastian and Bilbao. In Bilbao we met a red MGB Roadster. We had trouble keeping up but when we did manage it, we saw a pretty girl at the wheel. I'll never say anything about women drivers again!!

Friday 21st April 2006. This was the day on which we brought our beautifully running V8 into St. Jacob's city: Santiago de Compostela. The route had been well signposted after the Roncesva pass in the Pyrenees because Pilgrims from all over Europe use it. We arrived around 4pm. Although we are not strictly speaking pilgrims, we did visit the old town, various churches and St. Jacob's grave. Since the Hostal dos Reis Católicos, which is near the cathedral wanted €250 for the night, we drove out towards the coast. In Noia, about 50 km from Santiago, we found the Park Hotel in heavy rain which offered a luxurious room and a dry spot in the garage for our V8.

Saturday 22nd April 2006. Cape Finisterre, here we come! Up and out at 7am to a sunny morning with a beautiful view over the calm sea. I put on my "Oldtimer- und Veteranenfreunde Wormersdorf" sweatshirt, club jacket and cap. After a decent breakfast, we completed the last few miles in the old


Cape Finisterre Lighthouse - "The end of the world". (Photo: Theo Klick)

MG and arrive at 11.30am in the town of Finisterre after a quick stop at the fishing village of Muros. There, with the cape in sight, the engine started to play up. We had had a similar problem last year during our trip to the North Cape. After opening the bonnet and distributor, the fault was obvious: Condensator bracket broken. We replaced it and arrived happy and proud at our destination at noon after 1,558 miles.

Cape Finisterre is also the end of the Jacobs pilgrimage route. It is easy to see why this place with its waves pounding the coast was regarded by pilgrims in the Middle Ages as the edge of the plate containing the World. After adorning the telegraph pole with one of our OVWF stickers we set of for home at 3pm. We got as far as Camarinas, North of Finisterre that day. When we met an ox cart on the narrow road, we felt as if we had gone back to the Middle Ages. The two enormous oxen were pulling a load of freshly cut grass on a cart with solid wooden wheels. An old couple who obviously had a different dimension in time escorted it. Our 30 year old MG V8 must seem like a technological wonder in comparison.
The following day, a Sunday, took us to Burgos via Coruna, Lugo and Leon. Then it happened: Just before Burgos, Rainer was driving and I was studying the map, there was a blow and a bang. At first we didn't realize what had happened. Then we saw a white Nissan coming past at about 150 kph which had hit us and removed the outside mirror. Needless to say quite a shock. We chased the Nissan and got him to stop and when queried, his wife answered "well, he wanted to see the nice car from closer" The mind boggles! What could have happened! We arrived at Pamplona for the night and used the Somport pass to cross the Pyrenees at lunchtime.
We arrived at Montauban via Pau in Southwest France, Tarbes and Auch and spent the night in Hotel "du Commerce". The final day saw us clock up 748 miles before we got home. What a trip! 3,233 miles (5,203 km) in 8 days. V8 members planning a trip to Germany might like to visit Theo's club website as it contains some useful events information as well as interesting photos. See www.ovfw.de

ANOTHER 12V BATTERY CONVERSION!
Kai Knickmann (Damask 0945) from Germany looked at the options for replacing his old 6 volt batteries and an offer from a local trader produced another 12 volt battery conversion. This is V8NOTE357 released in June 2006.

Finally my good old 6V batteries died this winter despite being hooked to a trickle charger all through the winter months and some thorough power load tries last week. Maybe ten years were enough for those lead acid batteries. Initially I was inclined to leave the car as original as possible, but when a local motor trader offered replacement 6 volt batteries at something in the range of 140 € (each! - that is £) for new 6 volts, I reconsidered my options.

After browsing the V8 Register archives on the web, especially V8 Workshop Note 329, I declined to go for one "big" 12 volt battery like an "063" or "065" (although the idea of a spares box in the redundant battery box was tempting!) because I didn't like the idea of flattening the base stand with the big mallet.
Another V8BB thread started by Mike Price last October mentioned using a small 12 volt battery from a Japanese car which was a similar size to the 6 volts in the V8 and this route seemed interesting for me, although there seemed to be a potential clearance problem in height. In the meantime, V8 Workshop Note 330 goes quite a long way in showing the merits and feasibility of such a single 12 volt battery solution.

BOSCH offered a good choice for me with a battery called 4FN which is geometrically identical in footprint with the old standard 6 volt ones (they are just a fraction lower than the original 6 volts which are 175 mm high), using silver technology for a longer lifetime, being service free and sealed for life and as an additional plus, having a nice black case as well. Of course, the electrical values due to the reduced size are less impressive with 360 amp cold start and 40Ah capacity. But after the first test with just one unit (I was in quite a hurry!), the starter cranks the engine far better than ever in the last four years!

In the meantime, V8 Workshop Note 330 goes quite a long way in showing the merits and feasibility of a twin 12 volt battery solution. This leaves me with plenty of power under all circumstances, keeps the appearance nearly original and still saves me half the


Twin BOSCH 4FNs wired in parallel provide improved starting performance and a near original look. (Photo: Kai Knickman)

cost, as one of these small 12 volt batteries is just 70€ here in Germany. This all in all seems to mimic a setup that Anthony DeBella in the US uses on Damask 1317 with good results according to his latest information on the V8BB.

There are just minor modifications to change the electrical connections so the two 12 volt batteries are connected in "parallel". A second earth lead strap was fabricated for the second battery similar to the original one and attached to an earthing point already included by MG in the offside battery box side member. Then you need another cable to link the two positive points. You might think of using the original cable passing over the differential through the rubber hose, but it seemed to be pretty short to me, so I routed a new longer one the same way. At the right hand side, there are now two cables attached there to the positive terminal - the original hot wire from the car's wiring loom and the new link cable.
Finally I need to add that I turned the J pegs which clamp the batteries down from looking frontward to rearward as the new batteries have a stepped upper side being pretty low on the terminal side. As the threads on the J pegs are a little bit short now, I used 15 mm spacers to get the nuts "higher up". Alternatively, you could either shorten and rethread the old J pegs or use new shorter ones straightaway.
So all in all I'm quite happy with the new layout which you can see finished on the attached picture. You just need to be able to live with the fact that the batteries in the back were designed to fit a FIAT Panda!

CHANGING THE STARTER MOTOR SOLENOID
Richard Martin (Teal Blue 0704) from Hertfordshire had been experiencing slow cranking with his starter motor and finally had to sort out the problem! This is V8NOTE353 released in June 2006.

I have noted with interest the recent discussions on the V8BB and V8NOTES mentioned on the V8 Website on the starter motor and heat shield for the MGBGTV8. As I have replaced both of these items on my V8 in the last few months, I hope my experience

may be of some interest to members facing similar difficulties.

I own a largely original Factory MGBGTV8 which has covered 95,000 miles and is used mainly for summer motoring and garaged all year round. Over the last few years starting the engine has increasingly become more difficult. I found that unless I kept the batteries fully charged, then cranking speed of the engine would drop significantly in a few seconds until the inevitable "clicking" sound could be heard as the starter failed to engage to turn the engine over. In my case new batteries and a reconditioned alternator only improved the situation marginally. The last straw resulted in my only being able to start the engine by using additional power from a high amperage mains battery charger or jump-starting from another battery in another vehicle. At this point I decided to fit one of Clive Wheatley's reconditioned original Lucas starter motors and replace the heat shield which has virtually disintegrated. I had earlier purchased a remanufactured heat shield from the same source.

I was aware that lighter more powerful starter motors could be fitted to the V8 engine but wished to retain the original spec starter motor. I wished to keep the car original out of a sense of loyalty as a production engineer who had previously trained with a Lucas subsidiary. On investigation with a number of sources it then seemed unlikely that removal of the starter motor was possible without an engine removal unless some or all of the following were dismantled or removed - the steering rack and/or column, the offside exhaust manifold and down pipe and the offside engine mounting brackets.

In view of the amount of work involved in removing these items and the fact I still retained the original cast iron exhaust manifolds (which seem to strip their downpipe stud threads at the earliest opportunity), investigation of an alternative was called for. So I therefore decided to attempt a replacement of the solenoid which is carried "piggy-back" style on the body of the starter motor. This unit carried internal copper switch contacts which can burn and degrade with age and use. Removal of the solenoid would also allow corrosion to be cleaned from the brass terminal which is mounted on a Nylon moulding and steel bracket on the offside chassis leg near the clutch slave cylinder.

The terminal acts as a joint between the main positive battery feed and the power offtake to the starter and ignition. In order to unbolt the solenoid from the starter, I needed access to the small mounting bolts on the solenoid to permit the use of a small box spanner which would normally be obstructed by the heat shield. The decayed insulating material of the old heat shield was easily removed which then left the remains of the steel mounting bracket bolted to the side of the engine block. However even though I had soaked the mounting bolt over several days with release oil, it still failed to undo - even when a long ring spanner was used. As I did not want to wreck the head of the mounting bolt or shear the thread, another method was called for.

After a bit of lateral thinking I realised that probably the
bolt could be jammed due to corrosion or the pressure of the wide and thick washer under the bolt head which clamps the steel mounting bracket in place. After a few hours careful work with a Dremel type mini drill fitted with a small diameter milling cutter, I was able to cut through most of the washer. This then allowed another application of release oil to soak behind the bolt head and luckily this time the bolt was undone with some ease when a ring spanner was used.

The mounting bolt, spring washer and thick clamping washer were all replaced with stainless steel items bought or turned on a lathe to match the items I had removed. These were then loosely fitted to the engine block before the solenoid and heatshield. All this extra work meant the solenoid could finally be fitted together with its associated copper connections ands terminals. The heatshield was then finally twisted round and the slotted mounting bracket fitted under the previously placed stainless steel bolt and washers. Care needs to be taken on the final tightening of this bolt to ensure there is clearance between the starter/solenoid electrical terminals and the heatshield.

The final job was to clean the brass terminals and the connections to the chassis leg mounting bracket. Obviously all these operations need to be carried out with the batteries disconnected.

Since the completion of this work, starting has improved significantly and I have not needed to remove the engine. However if a future clutch or gearbox change is required, then I will fit the reconditioned Lucas starter motor which I have in stock.

IMPROVED BRASS NUTS FOR THE CAST IRON EXHAUST MANIFOLD STUDS
Richard Martin (Teal Blue 0704) from Hertfordshire has produced some nuts in high strength copper alloy for the exhaust down pipe flanges. This is V8NOTE354 released in June 2006.

In V8NOTE353 I mentioned I run my Factory MGBGTV8 with the original cast iron exhaust manifolds but they have always proved a problem when the brass nuts that hold the down pipe flanges against the manifolds need to be removed. These usually either strip their threads or seize on the steel stud such that it shears off as the nut is undone. I have manufactured a small batch of nuts from a high strength copper alloy which is similar to those used for marine fasteners which resist corrosion, usually from salt water. These have proved successful on my car although the steel studs will rust at the exposed ends in situ below the nut. A good lubricant, like copperslip, will help if applied on initial assembly. I can make surplus nuts from the batch I have had made available for sale to V8 Register members. Richard Martin can be contacted via the V8 Register.