British Briefs

British Car Club Midlands Centre

November 2009

www.bccmc.com
Editor (Briefs/Marque) Sonya S Stewart sssjag@sc.rr.com
Web Master Steve Ratcliffe BCCMC1@gmail.com

OFFICERS 2009
President – Fred DeShong 755-0368 fdeshong@sc.rr.com
Vice President - Todd Smith 397-5556 alpine1963@aol.com
Secretary – Betty DeShong 755-0368 bett090@sc.rr.com
Treasurer – Edith Hylton 796-0199 egablehylton@earthlink.net
Social Secretary – Mike Speer 419-4599 mspeer1624@aol.com
Marquis Secretaries:
Austin Healey – Tony Stakis 790-0393 astakis@sc.rr.com
Jaguar – Brad Wik 345-7071 bwik2@sc.rr.com
MG – Ron Jarosz 408-0870 RonJtheMGGuy@aol.com
Triumph – Bob Blundy 957-8566 ellenblundy@atlantic.net
Sunbeam – Todd Smith (above)
Other – Jocelyn Davis 699-8968 brandon1409@peoplepc.com

BREAKFAST 10/03/09
We had almost 50 members and guests attending: Dave and Jeni Behning, Walt and
Iris Brown,
Ray Burns and Susan Kaiser, Lonnie Caughman, Dave and Jo Davis, Steve and
Margaret De Groat and granddaughter Derrick Le Master, Fred and Betty DeShong,
Brad Fowler, Eric and Bonnie Gibeaut and Kristen Frosch and Gavin Rondeau, Rick and
Cookie Hallman, Forest and Cheryl Haynes, Heath Honeycutt, Ron and Jerri Jarosz, Jeff
and Pam Jones, Hal Kievlan and Gail Bragg, Ron Kuebler, George McKown, Cecil and
Connie Myers and son-in-law Tony Cox, Steve and Glenda Noble, Chris and Brenda
Powell, Lewis and Lois Rodgers, Pat Stakis, Sonya Stewart, Eric and Ross Szendrei,
Vance and Robin Young. There were three other guests: Rick Gunter with a 1974 Austin
Mini and his grandson Joshua Gantt and Clyde Frasier with an Austin Healey Sprite.

Regular members that were missing and accounted for were Tony Stakis (in Greece),
Wally Stewart (in Chattanooga), Mike and Marcie Speer (on a cruise) and Charley and
Edith Hylton (on a bus in Colorado). Steve Ratcliffe (in Washington DC) and Madell
Dobrushin (in Pittsburgh, Pa.).

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 Parade of Cars

IGNITION TIMING IN OUR CARS

After a piston in the TR7 Spider disintegrated, an event that was likely the result of detonation, I decided that
it might be prudent to do some homework on the issue of ignition timing before the engine ran again. After
some initial reading and talking around the subject of ignition timing, the best advice came from Jim
Honeycutt of Honeycutt Machine, who repaired the head and the block - “There’s a lot of b.s. out there about
timing.” And was he right. So I decided to dig deeper, and here is a synopsis of what I found out.
Most of us already know this stuff, but anyway first with some basics. The combustion process in the
cylinders of an internal combustion engine takes place at a fairly constant rate. However as engine rpms
increase, the ignition spark has to occur earlier and earlier in the combustion stroke so that the pressure wave
generated by the combustion process can keep up with the piston as it travels down the bore. This is known
as ignition advance and is controlled by the distributor. If the spark doesn’t occur at the optimum time, the
result can be loss of power along with poor idling, misfiring at higher rpms and other maladies. If the spark
occurs seriously too early, then the result is detonation or ‘pinking’ which destroyed my piston rings. The
basic problem in older cars is that the formulation of gasoline has changed drastically since many of our cars
were built. The tetra ethyl lead in the old leaded gasoline did a number of things, but also acted as a flame
retardant, which slowed the rate of combustion. Modern unleaded gas contains additives that increase flame
speed to improve emissions. The net result is that less ignition advance is required with modern gas than
with the original leaded gas.

In our engines, the spark is initiated by the distributor which also controls the rate of spark advance over the
rpm range. Ignition advance is controlled by the distributor in two ways. There is a certain amount of initial,
or static, ignition advance which is set at an idle speed typically around 800 rpm and is usually around 10o
before top dead center (BTDC) on the combustion stroke of a four cycle engine. This is easily adjustable by
manually rotating the distributor. Then there is the centrifugal advance mechanism inside the distributor
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which gradually advances the spark advance by an additional 20o or 30o BTDC as the rpms increase by a
mechanical mechanism that consists of springs and weights. The amount of mechanical advance was
originally determined by the manufacturer by trial-and-error to give the optimum performance for the
gasoline that was available at the time, and is not easily adjustable. In addition, there is usually a vacuum
canister on most distributors which advances the spark an additional 10o or so, and is purely an economy
device for highway cruising conditions. The distributors in our cars can therefore have too much mechanical
ignition advance for modern gasoline which can cause pinking. There is also the age factor, where after 30
or 40 years of abuse, the springs have become tired and stretch out prematurely as the engine revs up and
compound the excessive ignition advance problem.

Now for reality. The problem is not as bad as it sounds and only certain engines may be susceptible. The
distributor manufacturers typically set a very conservative advance rate to avoid possible damage under any
possible operating conditions. Also in the 1970's, the car manufacturers battled emission regulations by a
multitude of techniques including lowering compression ratios and reducing timing advance curves which
alleviates the situation. To summarize then, if you have a standard 1970s medium performance car that was
designed for unleaded gas, such as an MGB or a TR6, it’s almost certainly OK, unless you are experiencing
pinking problems in the middle rpm range. However if you have a 1960s or earlier high performance engine
e.g. MGA twin cam or Lotus twin cam, that was intended for unleaded gas, or a tweaked later engine with a
high lift cam, raised compression ratio, exhaust headers etc, then you might want to look into having the
distributor re-curved to suit modern gas. There are a number of shops out there that will do this.

To get back to the TR7 Spider timing, the Sprint engine was an early 1970s engine designed for leaded gas,
then in use in Europe, so clearly some distributor mods were in order. At the same time Brad Wik was
experiencing some intransigent issues with his MGC (poor idle, high speed misfires and mid range pinking,
even on 93 octane gas). Some research indicated that the MGC had been sold by the factory with an
incorrect distributor which had been the subject of a recall in England, but the notice had probably not made
it out to the Colonies. Both distributors were modified to reduce the total mechanical ignition advance and
the advance rate curve. The Spider’s total mechanical advance was reduced by about 20% and the MGCs by
a staggering 35%. The result has made a large contribution to improving the drivability both cars.

Bob Blundy

SONIC
October 8th was a beautiful evening for British Cars and friends: Hal & Barb Ewing and
grandson Layton, Chris & Brenda Powell, Steve & Margaret DeGroat, Charley & Edith
Hylton, Walt & Iris Brown, Tom & Diane Caine, Tony & Pat Stakis, Ray Burns & Susan
Kaiser, Sonya Stewart and Fred & Betty DeShong

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 Sonic October 8, 2009
MEMBER UPDATES
Jim Smith has suffered a heart attack and is in CCU at Baptist hospital. Let's keep Jim
and his family in our thoughts and prayers. Also, Charley Hylton has experienced some
vision problems. Let's add him to our list and hope it is nothing serious. 10/19 – Jim is
doing better.

WELCOME AND CHEERIO

Welcome to Gary and Tecey Johnson and their new 1970 MGB. They live in West
Columbia.

AUTUMN IN THE MOUNTAINS

Yes, we knew it was going to be a real rainy day, but we had already preregistered. It
started drizzling when we got close to Spartanburg. Then, when we got to Jackson
Park, it was raining pretty hard, ours was the only rubber bumper MG and altogether
there were only 33 cars, one of them being a Sunbeam Tiger, British Racing Green.
There was also a great looking silver Jensen. 44 cars had preregistered. Just as the
show came to an early finish, it poured cats and dogs before they could give the
awards out, so they will send them in the mail. Yes, we got a little wet but it's all in the
day of being a diehard car enthusiast. Then to finish off the day we met up with Eric
and Bonnie and kids for a nice meal at a German and Italian restaurant.
Jocelyn and Dave Davis.
(Eric and Bonnie were there too.)

THE SAME WEEKEND

The Hiawassee Car Show in northern Georgia was the same weekend as
Hendersonville. Chris and Brenda and Steve and Margaret attended. They reported
that the rain stopped just before show time and it was a beautiful afternoon.

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OCTOBER CAR SHOWS
There were three major shows in October.

The first one was EURO 2009, October 17. It’s at the BMW plant in Greer. Most of us
do this as a day trip. See the article under “Activities” on the BCCMC web site.

The weekend after that was British Car Day in Charleston, October 24. This is one of
our favorite shows. We usually win the best club representation award.
Wish you were here! Had a beautiful day for a car show and lots of "lookers", but the show wasn't well
attended and had about 107 cars. A lot of folks stayed home -- 7 cars from our club alone.

But, BCCMC won best turnout anyway. We had Tom Crane win 1st in the GTs, Walter & Iris Brown won 4th
in Chrome bumpers and that's it! Steve Ratcliffe

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 BCCMC Cars at the Charleston Show 2009

The last October show was Halloween at the Battleship North Carolina in
Wilmington. This is another good show and weekend away. This one isn’t a day trip.

A FEW OTHER CBC III SHOW THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS

The responses were positive. It only cost us $60 ($30 for each shelter) to use the park
area.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

We will meet at the Flight Deck in Lexington (where US 378 and US 1 meet) on
November 21 for the Annual General Meeting (AGM). The time is 7:00. Be there! New
officers will be elected. Fred needs to know if you want to become an officer or
nominate someone else (with that person’s permission).
Ballots will be ready before the meeting.

SLATE OF CANDIDATES
Vice President is open. Fred, Betty and Edith will serve another term. Nominations from
the floor are accepted for all offices. Marque Secretaries are appointed. Mike Speer is

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retiring as Social Secretary. This position is also appointed.

CHRISTMAS PARTY
Mark your calendar for December 5. The location is Rawls Creek Country Club
(formerly Coldstream) in Irmo. All catering will be done by folks at the Club. There will
be a cash bar, with happy hour prices. Fred wasn’t sure about desserts. There may be
a minimum charge to attend.

MGB REMINDER
Ron Jarosz, current MG Marque Secretary, reminded us to join the NAMGBR registry to
ensure that we have our $1,000,000 insurance policy. This insurance enables us to
have car shows.

FOR SALE
Hal Kievlan has shelving for sale. It is 2’ x 3’ x 70” high. It’s great for garage or storage
room.

2009 CAR SHOWS AND EVENTS

November 7 – Gather at about 8:30 - 9:00 breakfast at Ryan’s on Two Notch
November 10 – 6:30 Board Meeting
November21 – 7:00 AGM (new officers elected), Flight Deck in Lexington
December 5 – Christmas Party - Rawls Creek Country Club in Irmo
December 8 – 6:30 Board Meeting
2010
January 2 – 9:00 Breakfast Bower Pkwy
January 12 – 6:30 Board meeting
January – Quarterly dinner
February 6 – 9:00 Breakfast Bower Pkwy
February 9 - 6:30 Board meeting
March 6 – 9:00 Breakfast Bower Pkwy
March 9 - 6:30 Board meeting