West Chester Evening

Old Glory, West Chester City Hall

When Charlene got home from work last night we went out for a ride and dinner at West Chester.  We took the MG out and headed up Goshen towards Strasburg Rd and the West Chester Pike.  We left shortly after 18:15, the weather was still great but the temps had begun to drop below the 80s of the day.  Still nice enough to need nothing more than a t-shirt.

These damned hubcaps are going to drive me insane.  As we were headed up Goshen by the Liseter development my port-side front broke loose and rolled towards the walking path on the inbound side of the road.  We drove to the nearest turning point which happened to be Echo Valley Lane and turned around to pick it up.  Of course, it was nowhere to be seen.  I continued on to the Goshen Trail parking lot, almost at 252 to turn around because there was no other place and came back to the second entrance to Liseter development and parked there.  Charlene stayed with the car and I walked across to the trail to see if I would have better luck.

As I was scanning the side of the trail a jogger asked me if I was looking for a hubcap.  He said he had seen it face down on the trail but he couldn't remember where in relation to were we were at the time.  I still don't understand how that is possible but I fell in next to him because he thought it might be on the way he was going.  We ran for a little bit, maybe 100 yards, before he was wondering if it was behind us.  So I left him and turn around because I felt that we were already way past the point were the damned thing had come off.  I ran back to were I joined the jogger and continued on for another 50 yards or so and sure enough, there it was face down on the side of the trail.  I picked it up and ran back to the car.  I haven't run this much since I don't know when.

I put the hubcap back on and made extra sure that it was firmly seated before we drove off towards West Chester.  We followed the regular route straight up to downtown West Chester.  Once there we parked at the Wells Fargo parking lot, where they only charge $5.00 to park in the evenings, and went to the Side Bar for dinner.  We had brunch there last year on Father's Day and there was no wait to eat inside to it was a sure bet.  We both had salads which were really great so we can definitely put this place on the rotation.

After dinner we did the passeggiata through downtown which was full of people and very active.  We stopped for gelato, after all what is a passeggiata without gelato, at a place called Gemelli.  I was favorably impressed with the quality of their gelato.  We had gianduia and espresso which were really good mixed together.  After the passeggiata we cruised up Gay Street to New Street and came back down Market Street which eventually turns into the Pike.  On the way up Gay St we were stopped at a light when two young guys just came up to shake our hands and tell us how cool the car was.  I said it before, this thing is an attention magnet.  We came back home following the Pike all the way back to 252.

Other than the stupid mishap with the stupid hubcap it was a great ride.  It's nice to have headlights again and be able to go out after dark.  We want to make the Friday evening ride a thing for the summer so we are putting the West Chester downtown into that schedule because it is an easy ride, there are lots of restaurants, and it is conducive to the passeggiata.

West Chester

West Chester

 

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MG Replacement Hubcaps - Part III

The final product 

This afternoon the hubcaps from So Cal Imports got delivered, the MG emblems from Moss Motors had already arrived a couple of days ago so I had all the materials needed to assemble the new hubcaps.

I needed a drill bit to cut metal and some epoxy glue so I took a ride on the Bullet over to the True Value Hardware in Newtown Square and got that stuff there.  I got an 11/32 heavy duty bit which was a little smaller that the shank on the back of the emblem because I was afraid that the 3/8 bit might make a hole that was a little too big.  In reality the 11/32 was just a hair tight so I first drilled with that than and then reamed the hole with the 3/8.  It was just a question of measuring, drilling, and attaching with epoxy.  Over all the whole process of making the hubcaps probably took less than half an hour and I think they came out pretty good.

The car is still at Gene's. I asked Harold to replace the sending unit for the gas tank as well because the gauge fluctuates erratically and I figure since we were replacing the tank we might as well replace that.  The part did not get delivered until late today so when I called Harold said he would have it ready tomorrow.  It's going to be a pain because Charlene works late tomorrow and I'll have to leave the truck there and come back to get it later but that's the breaks.  So, if everything works out, I will install the new hubcaps when I get the car.

Shrink wrapped

In the box

Emblems from Moss Motors

Before drilling

Modified

 

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Follow On MG Ride

Random photo of Charlene on the Bullet in front of Bartram's Covered Bridge

On Tuesday afternoon, after I got back home from my ride on the Bullet, my wife and I went out for a ride on the MG.  I am trying to burn as much gas as I can because I got an appointment for next Tuesday at Gene's to install the new tank.

We wanted to go out to the Starbucks in Edgemont, on the West Chester Pike, but I did not want to drive out there on the Pike.  We headed out Goshen to Providence and took that to the Pike.  At the Pike I wasn't sure if the Edgemont was East or West of the Providence intersection so I chose West.  Wrong answer.  We followed the Pike all the way to 352 and made a right for Strasburg Rd.  We followed that down past Providence and then took the right at Boot Rd just past Bartram's Covered Bridge.  Once we reached the Pike again we stopped at the Starbucks and got some coffee.

From there we took the Pike to Providence and followed that all the way to Sugartown and then took the right to Spring/Jaffrey.  At the intersection of Spring and Warren we ran into a pelotón milling about, one of the guys was wearing an ONCE (the National Organization of the Spanish Blind - also the people that run the lottery in Spain) jersey which I found amusing, but they cleared the way and took off down Warren. I was glad for that because I did not want them in front of my on Jaffrey and I would have then taken Warren instead which is not as much fun on the twists and turns.  I followed Jaffrey to Grubb, mimicking my earlier ride, and took the right there.  However, at the link up with Davis and White Horse I took White Horse to Grubbs Mill and that to Goshen for the ride back fearing that we were losing light fast and keeping in mind that my head lights are still out.

Before we left I put on the original hubcaps to test them out.  They held up pretty well until we got less than a thousand yards from the house.  At that point on Earles Lane I lost the left front and the left rear within seconds of each other.  So much for my fix.

We saw a black Maserati on Goshen very near to 252 and a white Tesla on Earles Lane when I stopped to pick up the first runaway hubcap.  This may be the same white Tesla I've seen in the neighborhood before.  We also so a late 60s/early 70's Pontiac and a red GTO on Goshen on the way out.  I'll count the exotics but I don't think I'll count the other two in the classic tally.  Today on my commute home on the Bullet I saw a metallic blue Ferrari on Sproul Rd.

The ride on Spring/Jaffrey is almost as much fun on the MG as it is on the Bullet.  The roads back there are just the right amount of twist and hill to really make a fabulous ride.  I will miss that when we are gone.

That brings the exotic tally to 10 Ferraris, 8 Teslas, 2 Lambos, 6 Maseratis, 2 Cobras, 2 Bentleys, 2 Unknowns, 1 Rolls Royce, 1 DeLorean, and 1 Austin-Healey.

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MG Replacement Hubcaps - Part II

"New" hubcaps on Montse

Last Friday I got the hubcaps I bought from one of the guys at the TDr Forum.  They are in great shape, there is some surface rust on the backside but the fronts look great.  The surface rust on the back is nothing that a little Naval Jelly won't get rid off and with just a little work they will be perfect.

However, I still like the originals that came with the car better.  They have a painted black background, behind the wires, that makes them stand out quite a bit more than these "new" ones.  So keeping that in mind, I spend some time with the one that had fallen off.  I clamped it down to my work bench and took a screwdriver and rubber mallet to it until the clips were all forced back in place and it was usable again.  Not sure what I'm doing next.  The old hubcaps need some cleaning and polishing but I hadn't wanted to spend the time doing that if I was going to replace them.  Now I may not replace them at all.  I will keep the new ones but I may go back to the old ones once I clean them up or I may go the whole other route and get the smooth VW hubcaps and attach the MG emblem (part number 200-277) from Moss Motors to the middle.  What an embarrassment of riches!

"New" hubcap

Old hubcap

Old hubcap clip after "treatment"

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MG Replacement Hubcaps - Part I

This week I got the replacement hubcaps I ordered from MG Magic to replace the originals because of the one I lost.  They are ABS so I wasn't too thrilled with them but I could not find original replacement made of metal.  I ordered the hubcaps and the spacers I needed to mount them.  I got two sets of spacers just in case one got lost.

They went on easily enough, as could be expected, and they didn't look too bad despite not being metal.

The issue with the hubcaps arose yesterday when my wife and I took and afternoon ride on the MG.  Despite the fact that the hubcaps mounted on solidly enough, they made a dreadful racket going down the road.  The things are constructed in two pieces that are attached to each other via a rivet and, it seems, that the pressure from the center hub of the VW wheel causes the two sections to separate and rattle against each other when moving.  We had to cut our ride short and come home because I was afraid the things were going to come apart on the road.

I am pretty sure I'm not keeping these things but I need a replacement.  Not knowing what to do, I posted on the MG TD replica forum asking for help.  Some of the guys answered up right away with some pretty good solutions involving getting regular smooth VW hubcaps and attaching an MG emblem (part number 200-277) from Moss Motors to the middle.  I actually really liked this solution and I might do that in the future but I got an even better answer from one of the guys.  It seems that he has a car just like mine and when he bought it, last October, it had the same kind of hubcaps that I have.  He made a set with the MG emblem and he offered to sell me his original set of 5 for $100.  I sent him the money today and I hope to have the new (to me) hubcaps soon.  I definitely post some pics when I get them.

ABS Hubcap

Spacer

Spacer on rear wheel.  Only need to mount spacers on the rear.

On the car.

On the car.

VW hubcaps with MG emblems from Moss Motors

  

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