April 2007

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And here is my first MG video of some 4th gear putting coming down Angeles Crest... It is somewhat difficult to drive a manual transmission car while holding a camera on your dashboard with your left hand... I'll work out some sort of roll bar mount some day and get a better clip. But I think it turned out pretty good. Aside from the sound and the splattered bug on the lower right of the windscreen:
VIDEO:

JULY 2006
Hot day at Angeles Crest forest road...

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FEB 2006
Almost recovered from the accident

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NOV 2005
Fitting of post-accident hop-ups in the garage

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OCT 2003
Quick photo-op in Mountlake Terrace, WA

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*All fabrication, installation, restoration and bodywork was done by myself, with the exception of the engine build, and engine removal / installation, which was performed (very) professionally by Jon at Autosport Seattle. Eurotech Bodywerkes in Kirkland, Wa is responsible for some final body finishing, welding and smoothing of the top seams on the rear fenders, and the re-welding of the rolled inner lip on the rear fender... as well as some rust patching on the left rear outer fender. They also applied the colour coat of paint, which is damn near perfect. Both companies were a pleasure to deal with, and did exceptionally good work at a very reasonable price considering the results. I highly recommend both over their competition in the Seattle area.

Interior:

-Sparco "roadster" seat
-Sparco spun aluminum shiftknob with short shifter
-Custom Roll Bar with crosbar for mounting 4-point belts, and diagonal support bar
-Sparco Carbon fiber heel-toe friendly pedals
-Aluminum guage bezels
-Aluminum rear cockpit trim
-Polished stainless MG logo sill plates
-Black Alcantra dash & door cappings
-Sabelt clubman B 4-point seatbelts

Exterior:

-Sikkens Mallard Green paint applied by Eurotech Bodywerkes, Kirkland, Wa
-Sebring front valence, refabricated to fit flush with the grill and fenders, as well as have no visible fasteners, and a painted return across the top to fill the gap. easily removable
-Rear valance, not blended. great care taken to make this look like a stock body panel. also easily removable.
-15" x 5.5" front, 15" x 7" rear Panasport FS rims
-Hella 90mm HID projector headlights (custom made)
-Hella 90mm halogen reflector high-beams (custom mounted)
-One rear backup light made into red fog light
-Bullet style side veiw mirror

Engine Performance:

-Overbore - 1950cc
-Headers, exhaust
-Piper Cams
-Dual SU HIF4
-Balanced, Blueprinted
-Ported, polished
-Vinolla custom Reverse Combustion Pistons & custom matched head by Jon at Autosport Seattle
-Lightweight Flywheel + Damper
-Valves, Springs + Lifters
-Custom Headbolts
-K&N Filtercharge
-TORQUE!
*Thanks to Jon at Autosport Seattle for all the machining and final tuning work. This is a wretchedly nice engine, considering its origins.

Suspension Performance:

-550lb springs front, full race drop
-Re-valved front shocks with custom weight oil
-500lb springs rear, full race drop with additional lowering blocks for even ride height.
-3/4" front anti-roll
-1/2" rear andti-roll
-New custom Panhard bar... in the works
-Race camber spec. lower front control arms.
-Yokohama AVS ES100 @195/60/15 (best tire I've had on this car)

Stereo:

-Infinity Beta Digital 400w amp for subs
-Boston acoustics Ralley 4 1/4 in doors.
-Boston acoustics 5 1/4 ralley in rear bulkhead
-Rockford fosgate 400w 4 channel amp for front speakers.
-Kenwood Analogue EQ
-Sony MD head unit
-Sony 6 disc changer in glove (worlds smallest 6 disc)
-Monster cable wired

AND its all completly disconnected.... I did it while rebuilding the car, and realized i didnt really want to listen to music that wasnt created by the car.. perhaps im weird... but i have 0 motivation to hook up the power connections to any of it now.

Comments:

-Quick, but not fast... enough to push the car near its limits though. Handling is nice. Near neutral , with mild oversteer. very sharp and precise turn-in.

-Returned from Near-MG-Death-Experience... I went a little crazy with wrinkle paint on all the machanical parts, such as the rear hubs, the front suspension, the calipers, door latch hardware, interior windscreen vents, the front grease caps for the front wheels... I can't use the panasport center caps, because the rear axle stick out too far for the cap to fit. so I fixed it with wrinkle paint and stainless split pins. I also made a nice polished aluminum trim piece for the exhaust cut out, built up some glass on top of it, so its bolt-on. looks pretty good with the heat stained staintless exhaust.

Attention to detail to keep all modifications looking period, and congruent to the existing design of the car.

Car has now moved with me to sunny California.. No more rain and snow to beat it up half the year!

This car has had quite a life. Bought by my father in '82, used as a daily driver untill ~'87. It was stolen in Vancouver, BC in '87, and beat on pretty hard, then left for dead near the Lions Gate Bridge. It was towed home, and sat in our yard until 1991. In '91 we moved to Seattle, and the car was moved to my father's office parking lot, where it became a blackberry garden until '97. It was towed to our house in '97, and given to me to restore. I saw a picture of a Sebring Racer on the cover of a moss motors catalogue that year and decided that i wanted my car to look like that some day. I had it back on the road in 1999, where it continued to receive periodic modifications... But it my vision hadnt been realized yet. In November 2005, I lost control of the car in some sand on a freeway onramp, and glanced off the concrete barrier on the inside of the turn. This detroyed my right front suspension, brakes, front fender, right headlight, and did some minor frame damage. I spent the next 9 months rebuilding the car again, which gave me the opertunity to finish the Sebring-ization of it, and reconstruct my headlights. The car is now pretty much exactly as I envisioned it. And I'm very pround of it, and the work I put into it. Its also pretty neat to be driving a car that has been around for most of my life. I have many memories of this car from my childhood, and I'm always looking forward to having new adventures in it. Its been driven from Seattle to Monterey 3 times, and countless other pointless roadtrips. It currently has ~180,000 miles on it, about 75,000 of which I've put there. It has been my daily driver since 1999, and will continue to be until such time as I can afford to buy another more modern car... I just have to resist adding an Alfa GTV to my stable instead of a modern daily driver!

And thanks especially to my Dad for the help, support and motivation.

Older pictures of interior, old paint colour, and first round of modifications on the next two pages