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January/February 2010
The last few months have been quiet ones
as far as club activities are concerned, but in anticipation of the
fast approaching driving season, the club’s board members have been
busy putting together our Calendar of Events for 2010. There are a
number of factors that keep our club vibrant and our membership
happy to pay its dues each year, not least of which are this
newsletter, the web site and an event list that is sufficiently
varied in both subject and timing so that it has something for
everybody. While a few of the events are run by board members, for
the most part, we rely on the membership as a whole to give its time
in organizing or coordinating them. With no excuses for the long
list, I’d like to acknowledge, in alphabetical order, those who have
offered their time so far: Anne Astley, Matt Bade, Dale Brown, Lise
Brown, Steve Brown, Robert Coyle, Elvin Davis Jr., Donna Finch,
Steve Finch, Ed Fleming, Mike Harris, Fran Lewis, Harry Mac Lean,
Ralph Poupard, Bill Reeves, Dan Sokolowski, Rich Wagner and Philip
Wiltshire. Thank you all.
 In the last
issue of the newsletter I was musing over what I should do to raise
the gearing of my MGB-GT V8 conversion so as to be able to realize
the full benefit of its power by allowing it to cruise in the
overdrive 5th gear at relatively low engine speeds.
Changing the rear axle gearing seemed to be the best approach but I
was torn by conflicting advice and the availability of a reasonably
priced solution. Well, I’ve made the decision that I’ll use what MG
chose when it addressed the problem in designing the RV8.They
selected a 3.07:1 crown-wheel and pinion and I’ve found that I can
get a set from Clive Wheatley V8 & RV8 Parts of Shropshire, England
at a very reasonable price. In order to get it to fit in the
original housing, I will have to have 0.045” removed from the face
of the crown-wheel carrier, but my mentor on this subject, Harry Mac
Lean, who has put together hundreds of differential gears, tells me
there should be no problem finding a suitable machine-shop in this
area. After that, I’ll have to think about how to get the odometer
and speedometer recalibrated.
 Thoughts
of summer made me look over some of the photographs I took while in
England last year. One I’d almost forgotten about was of a Morris
Minor pick-up. It’s not quite the legendary multi-thousand $ car
hidden in a barn, but I thought the picture worth sharing. In fact
the car was outside of a barn on a farm adjacent to Anne’s sister’s
cottage in the folds of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire. I
could be wrong about this however, for all I know, Morris Minor
pick-ups might be so rare that this is an exotic gem with its many
facets waiting to be cut and polished. In case it is, I’m ready to
be bribed into disclosing its exact location.
Rick Astley
Club President
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Other stories, pictures and
features |
Here is some of what you will find in
the November/December issue of Can-Am Connection:
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Fall Colour Tour Oct. 10 - Top down
weather all the way ...
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Fall Colour Tour Oct 17 - A real treat
...
...Yes there were two colour tours this
year and each was very well attended !
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Chili Cook-off challenge hot and spicy
...
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Long road to recovery for Tom Burke's
...
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Milford car show
...
Plus all our regular features including:
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Club calendar
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Event details
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On the Borderline
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Classified ads
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...and more...
Newsletter Archive
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above for current and past editions of the Can-Am Connection.
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