MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MGA - Clean Garage Hints II, or the Angle of the Dangle

A couple of weeks ago, I started a thread looking for clean garage hints, in an effort to keep the garage floor in my new house clean. Thanks for your thoughtful responses. Well, I have since moved the A into its new garage and, temporarily, put a spare piece of carpet under the front end. Lo and behold, I have not had a single spot on that carpet in two weeks. This garage floor happens to have a very noticeable slope angle while my previous garage floor was pretty level. I wonder whether the slope is helping to keep the fluids where they belong by taking pressure off of the front seals. Anyone else experience this? It doesn't seem British if it doesn't leak!

Regards,
M.D.
'57 Coupe
M. D.

I have a mushroom coloured carpet under my MGA and it is also clean. Maybe we should advocate putting carpets under all As as a leak cure!!

Steve
Steve Gyles

Good and fresh gaskets and seals, as well as modern sealants prove that no car was BORN to leak.
Bob Muenchausen

All these years people have been restoring British cars and lining the cockpit with new carpeting. Now we find out they should've been putting the carpets in the engine bay. 8^)
Andy Bounsall

There's an old saying about British motorcycles, if it doesn't leak oil, its ran out! Check your oil!
Terry Drinkwater

Reminds me of a V*lksw*g*n that I owned many, many years ago. If I parked it with its backside uphill, then the fuel tank would drain into the sump. Took me ages to figure out why the oil level was increasing.

Matthew.
Matthew Magilton

Terry

I checked the oils, they are all tickerdy boo.

Am I just lucky that my car does not drop any fluids or is it something to do with the 1800 5-bearing engine with an excellent rear oil seal, the Sierra gear-box and the fully pressurised water system?!

Steve
Steve Gyles

TICKERDY BOO ?!?
mike parker

Mike

Slight spelling mistake. Should have read 'tickety-boo' or 'tickettyboo'. It means fine, satisfactory. And it's actually in the dictionary (Brit versions!).

Steve
Steve Gyles

Steve,
Not on this side of the pond. Checked my Oxford's(1972) and "Universal Dictionary of the English Language"(another Oxford). My luck, it's not in there.
Thanks, I will try to use it and see if I don't get in trouble.
mike parker

Mike

Concise Oxford English Dictionary 2002.

Tickety-Boo: Brit. informal. - in good order.

ORIGIN 1930s: from Hindi 'thik hai' - all right.


It would have been from the time of the British Empire - long gone. You guys run it now so it should be okay to use!

Steve
Steve Gyles

What's all this about MGA's not leaking? I am proud to say mine has leaked perfectly since I got it in '97. Front main's not too bad, but the rear main leaks like a goodun. Carpet? No! I use a couple of stainless steel trays to catch the lot. Every six months, say, I pour the contents into my 'old' engine oil can and wipe dry with a dirty old rag, which goes straight in the bin. Previously I used several old metal tea trays over-lapping each other. As the car is always pretty well in the same place this idea works OK for me. Carpet.....? Some cars do have all the luck!
Peter
Pete Tipping

Steve,
Mine is a compact Oxford English Dictionary. I don't think that it is abridged as there are about 4000 pages per book, 2 vol. and you need a magnifying glass to read the pages, each page having 4 pages of text. I guess Oxford just put the word in recently. I did find it on the Internet.
Thanks.
mike parker

Steve - didn't Tickety-Boo win the Eurovision song contest back in the seventies ? can't remember the song
Terry Drinkwater

I know that it does not take much of a leak to make a BIG spot on the floor. Perhaps your carpet is catching and holding the one or two drips that are falling off of it after being run. With a good thick carpet a couple of drips would be hard to see, especially if the oil is clean, or you have a dark brown carpet.
Chuck Asbury

Chuck:

Carpet is tan colored, and my oil is never very clean. Still, I inspected the carpet quite closely yesterday before exercising the Coupe, and the carpet was spotless. However, I did see a quarter-sized spot of oil on the uncovered part of the floor just beneath the cockpit. This good luck couldn't last forever.

Regards,
M.D.
'57 coupe
M. D.

I bought a Parksmart Clean Park mat...It's a vinyl mat that the whole car sits on, has raised plastic edges to catch anything that leaks out or gets tracked in. Originally designed for folks that live through sloppy northern winters. Cost around $100, but it's well worth it. It can remain in place with the car on jackstands, for oil changes and such. About once a month or two, I pull it out into the yard, hose it off with a bit of detergent, and I'm good to go again.
R. L Carleen

This thread was discussed between 18/10/2004 and 02/11/2004

MG MGA index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.