seeberg.com Blog

Boo Hiss to SCCA/NER.

The club has made a change to attending race events. Events will now be pre-pay and pre-register only closing registration 4 days ahead of the event.  If you register and pay, and can not make it, you will lose your $35 registration fee, and earn a blackmark. Earn enough black marks you will be asked to not come back, never mind be out a boatload of money.

There are many drivers, like myself, that are fair weather drivers. Also having the burden of being on call 7×24 and having a sick relative. Not to mention if the weather turns bad, I won’t be attending. Since I only do this a couple times a season, I want to make my race time enjoyable.

With club membership on the decline, NER wants to now institute this policy, which I feel will make the events better, run more smoothly, have most amount of runs. Of course, since there will be fewer drivers coming because they can’t commit 4 days in advance. They will now only have the die-hard racers. Fewer fair weather/casual/novice drivers showing up due to this new requirement.  I think this will impact the club more than they think. I could be wrong. But I feel making an event more stringent to attend will eliminate some people, and make it less enticing for new drivers to enter the sport.

I am not against preregistration, just prepaying. I made some suggestions on a compromise (have a ‘deposit’ along with your preregistration or charging more for on site registrations as well as other ideas) that were shot down before they were even considered.

 I fully understand what they are trying to do. I do think it is a bit drastic and inflexible to the casual driver. Die-hard racers will not be affected, as they will show up no matter what. But people like me who have to choose when to come, and can not commit 4 days in advance will be affected.

I will reserve judgement (as much as possible) til the club comes up with their final plans. What is on the table so far, to me at least, is not the most optimal solution.

The races will be more filled with the diehard fans of racing. New blood will slow coming into the sport. Registrations will suffer, club membership will suffer.

 I could be wrong. We will see what happens.

But for 2008, I think my race tires will be hung up for the season.

Had a fun day. Replacing a clutch on a car generally doesn’t rise to the top of the list on fun things for most people.. but as most people know I am not overly normal!!

The clutch on my MGB GT needed to be replaced. It has been slipping for a while. Went to Brittanic Motors early to start. We pulled the motor in about an hour, them replaced the clutch and reinstalled the motor in record time! In the process, degreased the motor as well.

We ran into a huge problem with the exhaust pipe, the previous owner appled some sort of exhaust ‘goop’ to seal the exhaust manifold to exhaust pipe. This had to be removed in order to get the exhaust sealing ‘donut’ on properly.

 After the motor was installed. The next issue to be tackled was the carbruators. The SU HIF carbs on the car, while operating perfectly, just had issues in the cool/cold weather with running lean and backfiring through the carbs. I had a weber carb on my shelf from my other MG, so I decided to use that instead. Installed the carb and it worked flawlessly. 

Most people would think this was a dirty, frustrating, and just plain not fun! I would disagree. But then again I do not do this on a regular basis. I am sure if I were doing this on a daily basis, I may have a different point of view.

But to someone with a strong enjoyment of cars, and the restoration of them, having days like this is wonderful to indulge in a passion that normally would elude me. In addition to working on the car, learning from a mechanic who has been working on these cars for over 35 years is priceless. To learn proper technique and process and diagnosis is something you can not learn from a book. 

So that was todays adventure 

After a few weeks off, the local high school, Southeastern Voc Tech school started up the autobody class again!

Been working on my MGB GT for a while at previous class..tonight I worked on the drivers side rocker panel outer panel. I also put more rustproofing paint (por15) on some of the inside panels to reduce future rust.

I cut the panel to fit onto the car..ground down the edges for a fit-like-a-glove fit. The spot welder at school was not charged up, so I was not able to weld it into the car. So I did some other maintenance that I had queued up. I installed a headlight so I don’t get pulled over while driving at night. I also cleaned up a repair panel for the passenger side wheelwell that needs repair. 

So a productive day!

After I get the rocker panel welded in, I have to install the dogleg to cover the rocker in the back, I need to seamseal the dogleg as well. After that I need to install the fender..and be good to go!

Thats all today!

Spent some time Sunday at the ‘China Store’ (locally known as LL Bean) looking for a pair of hiking boots not made overseas. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a major issue with products made in China…as long as they are priced accordingly. There is NO WAY I am going to pay $130 for a pair of ‘Made in China’ hiking boots. Just no way! If they were $39.99 fine. But they were unreasonably priced way too high for overseas shoes. Closest I could find as a good value, and was happy to find, a pair made in Italy. Fine.. Let’s try the puppies on. No luck, it is like Grand Central Station there! What are they giving away that causes SO many people to want to shop..never mind having like one person on in shoes. Waited like 10-15 minutes and figured I had a couple hours to wait to get someone’s attention..bought a few things we went to the store for …and left.

 Of course.. now I am on a mission. I would like to get a pair of boots, as my workboots are too big and heavy for daily use in the winter, and sneakers are not up to the task. I wanted something in the middle.  I settle on a mid/low hiking boot.  Now the task is to find a decent quality, reasonably priced, Made in the USA (or some reasonable industrialized nation known for shoes like Italy!).  Harder task than you might think. Even going online, most stores do not disclose the country of origin of the shoes…

After some more searching, I find ‘Red Wing’ Shoes. Go on their site, many of their products are still made in the USA. Apparently they have some other branches with products made overseas. I look at their ’store locator’ and find a store within a few miles of home! Score!  I search a few styles online. I can’t tell what  I like from online pictures..After work, I stop by the store, small place. Half of the store was ‘clearance’ shoes like $150 down to like $40. I look at the shoes - made in China. Fine..price is appropriate. I found the Made in the USA section..find a pair - looks good. fit and finish is stunning. The salesman fitted me with a fancy computerized machine…he gets  the size. I try them on. Fit like the proverbail glove. NOW this is how buying shoes should be! I bought them..then I realized I never even looked at the price! I didn’t care. They fit right. quality was there. I was just elated that I FINALLY found something made to a higher standard.

Today’s rant is im just tired of buying crap parts.

 Case and point. I needed a replacement hitch pin for the snowplow on my truck. The one I am replacing is the original one, maybe 6-7 years old. It bent beyond repair, so I went to the store to replace it.

At lowes, I found a look-alike - exact same size.. perfect..so I thought..

Used the plow twice - the securing wire on the pin came out of the pin. The wire is a bit thinner than the original and twisted and came out. So now the pin is the truck, I can’t get the plow off because the pin is in… A smart blow with a hammer dislodged the pin..whew..got it out. Now if this were inthe middle of a snowstorm..I would have been in trouble! Pin was made in Taiwan.

 Another case in point. I got a welder from Northern Tools. It was their own brand. Good specifications. Good reviews. First unit was delived - box was next to destroyed. Unit was dented. Soldered connectord fell off (bad solder job), the lenses on the minimally made regulator were off the unit. The second unit they sent was a bit better…but still lacked in many respects. The orings on the gun/hose were crappy quality (dried, soft, spongy) and ripped the moment the hose was inserted into the machine.. Also the set screw holding the hose in was not very firm/secure..Needed a tool to secure the gun tight enough.but not firm as I would like. The wires to cross to change from MIG to flux were BARELY long enough to cross when switching welding methods. The hoses were barely heavy enough to do the job.  

I called Northern again,said the gun was backordered 2 MONTHS…months…to get a replacement part! They were kind enough to issue a full refund INCLUDING shipping to me..Kudos to Northern!

The replacement I bought, a MADE IN THE USA Hobart. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! Box was sturdier - barely a blemish on it.. heavy cardboard.. plastered on the top in HUGE numbers - a phone number to Hobart - with a note to call them if there is any question - something lacking in the made in China Northern brand unit. Unpacking, it is clear that it is packed better. Far better quality hose, cables, fittings. Assembly was flawless - gun fit with a nice positive fit. set screw holding it in was very firm and secure.  Regulator was a SMITHS brand top quality brand and quality. Case quality was better. Switches were better quality, had better feel. Fit and finish was second to none!

The price of the Hobart was $120 more but free shipping, so maybe $60-80 more than the made in China Northern brand unit.

I could go on..but these are just a couple of the lateste things that have been pissign me off!

I am the webmaster of the North East Trailer Sailors website.

Spent most of the day updating the site, doing some maintenance.

 The club will be at the Boston Boat Show next week. I spent some time doing a flyer handout for the club as well.

Later, I started one of the long overdue sewing projects for our boat. I made covers for the seat back cushions..at least started to. Made 1 out of 4. First one takes longer anyway.

Thats about it.. not sure what is for dinner.. but that is next on the adgenda

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