[Leica] Re: LUG Digest, Vol 34, Issue 395

[bampolsk at mac.com (Brian Ampolsk)]

Well,  Lucas was certainly part of the problem... but NOT the whole  
problem.  I  bought a new MGB in 1977.  It was the first model with  
catalytic  converter.  What a disaster!!!  the so-called engineers  
had apparently cut 8 or 10 inches out of the exhaust and stuck in a  
catalytic converter.  Well,  that screwed  up the balance of the  
exhaust system so that it pulled against the manifold creating space,  
and then cracking the exhaust manifold. In three miserable years, I  
went through three exhaust manifolds and four complete exhaust  
systems.  When I finally traded  the  beast in 1980 for a volvo, it  
needed exhaust system number 5.  Now, there had been a recall on  
this.  What MG did was to insert a piece of asbestos between the  
exhaust system and the manifold.  of  course,  that also came loose.   
And, this  was only one  problem...  imagine my surprise when on the  
Schuykill  Expy stuck in traffic, my car started to overheat...  well  
(and this may indeed have been Lucas),  it turns out that the  
radiator fans (there were two) were electrically driven and  
thermostatically controlled.  Anyway, the fuses had the wonderful  
attribute of blowing in traffic.  There was a vast  array of other  
problems with this car.  It was my last  british car.

brian