The Webmaster Zone

This month I did a LOT of driving in the MGB. During a recent trip up to the cabin in the mountains, I had just rounded the last corner of the hour-long hillclimb through the mountain pass, when I heard a pop and suddenly the exhaust was very loud. I pulled over and took a look under the car, and the exhaust pipe had completely cracked in two just behind the center muffler. This is the exact location that I had someone do a little weld where the bracket had cracked - I think the heat of that welding weakened the area and after the long, hot drive when the exhaust cooled off it just couldn't take it. I wired up the pipe from my trusty emergency kit and had an uneventful (but rather loud) weekend. After I returned, and consulted the great people that frequent my BBS, I decided to have a straight pipe fabricated to replace the center muffler rather than putting in the original part. I went to a generic Speedy muffler shop and (after waiting a while) a nice fellow measured and made up a custom S-bent pipe, cut out the center muffler and broken pipe, and clamped it in place. As an added bonus the whole procedure including installation cost less than a new center muffler without installation. I'm pretty happy with the result - the exhaust note is quite a bit louder, but not ridiculously so. Its got sort of a "braaap" sound when the car is cold, but once the engine warms up it mellows into a nice rumble. Also, the car seems to have a little more power, which is probably a result of the reduction of backpressure combined with my free-flow K&N air filters. After getting the muffler fixed, I took the car to Green's Automotive in Richmond. They are one of only two shops in Vancouver that specialize in modification of rims (the other being Panther in Surrey). While I waited, they pulled off the rear rims, removed the tire, cleaned and polished the rims and shaved 4 mm off the back of the mounting flange. After a rebalancing job, they were back on the car with just over 1 mm of clearance between the bottom of the lug nuts and the back of the rear brake drum. The result is that the tires don't rub on the fender anymore!! What a relief. After all this work, I took the B on a 1200 mile journey all through the Southern interior of BC, visiting family and enjoying the scenery. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face for weeks after blasting around twisty 2-lane country roads with the top down...