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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - Smoke test

The smoke test came out successful. I applied battery power, lights came on, fuel pumps started running, radio and equalizer powered up, got turn signals, and wipers. No smoke managed to get out anywhere, so unless it had gotten out before I had some of the parts it looks like I did a good job of making sure it stays in. No blown fuses either, and I now have about 25 of them. Sounded like at least a few of the relays were also working. Should be ready to look at hard codes soon. Still don't entirely understand how those things run on smoke, but they sure don't run if you let it get out. The immediate objective has been achieved. After christmas I'll take a closer look, track down a couple of ground loops or improperly connected wires, siphon the bad gas out of the tank and replace it, but barring any catastrophe should be ready to crank it over by New Years. That will be the real Christmas party.

Jim
Jim Blackwood

Nosmoke?.. hmm... Siphon out the gas first!! Glad to hear of your appearent health and obvious vigour. It's all based on magic/logic. Keep the kids far back when it's All hooked up!
Angus

This is a new one to me so i need more info.Where do you get the smoke from,does it need to be pressurised,which type is best/worst, white, black or blue? I've only been a petrol head for 35 years so this stuff is really new to me.
KEVIN GILLESPIE

You mean you didn't know about that? Sure, all of that electrical stuff runs on smoke. Some of the mechanical stuff does too. Easy enough to prove it too, since any time you let all the smoke out it'll quit working. Engines are like that too, although they will break from other causes also. It seems to be the most critical with the electrics though since sometimes they don't have much smoke in them to begin with. I guess maybe it has something to do with size cause it seems that in general the bigger the thing is the more smoke you can let out before it quits. Some of them you can let just part of the smoke out and it'll still work. I've had engines that just had a phenomenal amount of smoke in them. The stuff must be really compressible. Why just over the Christmas vacation I sprung a leak and let nearly all of the smoke out of the transmission on the Lincoln, but it took miles and miles to do it. Turned the freeway into a regular blue haze. The stuff is really volitile too and sometimes it will even start a fire. When I stopped the Lincoln and there wasn't any wind blowing the smoke away it got so thick that it just sort of spontaneously caught fire and I had to get a fire extinguisher. I guess it was a good thing there wasn't any more in there than there was or it might have burned up the car. Luckily just enough stayed inside the transmission that I could get it up on the trailer, but you could tell it was getting pretty thin because I had to floor it to get it to move. Usually you don't get by with that with electrics though. Evidently with most of them once you spring a leak the smoke all comes out. Except sometimes for drills, they seem to be sort of self sealing to some degree but the more smoke that gets out the worse they work. I've had lot's of experience with this stuff let me tell you. I've let the smoke out of all sorts of things, sometimes on purpose. I've even set up experiments to try and find out how it's stored in there, but there seems to be some sort of black art involved in it. Usually you can't see it until it gets out, and even though I've never intentionally put any smoke in an engine when I've built it, it's clear that it's in there somewhere. I suspect that it's a secret ingredient in most of the parts the manufacturers make, because if you look at the parts after the smoke gets out they're almost always changed in some way. Sometimes they're black, sometimes they're melted, and sometimes they have decreased in volume or weight. Still, even though I've studied and learned about nearly all the aspects of manufacturing, such as metalurgy for instance, this seems to be one secret nobody is telling. Well, here's fair notice: I'm on to you! It's only a matter of time.
Jim Blackwood

This thread was discussed between 21/12/2001 and 29/12/2001

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