By Corky Guenther

It happened by accident.  Or at least that’s how it started.  It was just a minor crease in the left front fender of the TC.  Not a big deal, take out the crease, straighten the camber (discovered by the adjuster), repaint the fender and back on the road.  Then, “Let’s think about this” occurred.  The “let’s think about this” raised the thought that the original late 1980’s lacquer paint job was showing its age – badly.  So the “Let’s think about this” went by the wayside – especially the “Think” part, replaced by a severe case of the “might as wells”.  Stripping the paint revealed some rust through of the body panels which required removal of the sheet metal from the ash frame to repair which in turn revealed a rotted timber below the passenger door.  We stopped there or rather started from there. First, replacing the rotted timber section, treating the entire wooden body frame with penetrating epoxy, patching the rusted body panels and treating them all with POR15 before reinstalling them on the wooden frame.

At this point we changed body shops due to slow progress.  At the new shop, the “might as wells” continued.  The left rear fender and the dumb iron cover (in front between the fenders) were replaced as it was deemed that repair of the existing ones would be more costly.  The front fender braces too.  The body work and painting were completed on schedule and we couldn’t have been more pleased.

Now it was time for reassembly starting with the doors.  Of course, they required more than just bolting in place.  With Dean Sprague’s and David Ahrendt’s assistance (the “we” referred to throughout usually refers to them – David Poe too sometimes), the doors were aligned and installed at the upholstery shop and work on installing the new interior (the old one having self-destructed during removal because of rotted and disintegrated plywood) began.  By the time all of this was completed plus a return to the paint shop for touch up of the dings, we’d missed our original deadline for back on the road.

The “might as wells” set in again.  The engine was tired and starting to consume oil.  Not at an alarming rate but a considerable rate none the less.  So, we pulled it, disassembled it, sent it off to the machine shop and I ordered parts.  Meanwhile, reassembly of the rest of the car continued.  The balance of the interior, new floorboards, new seat belts & anchors, the fenders, fuel tank and on & on.

Engine assembly was not without drama either.  The new oil pump drive gear was machined incorrectly, requiring time to establish the fact that it was the oil pump gear (could have been the new cam) and obtain a correct one.  After about 700 miles, I thought the valves were pretty noisy and pulled the valve cover to check.  Turns out that is possible to install the rocker shaft backwards on an XPAG thus insuring that no oil is presented to the rockers & valve stems.  More parts & machine work.  We did get it back together in time to attend MG2016 in Louisville, KY.

During the rest of the year, the engine though completely rebuilt continued to consume oil at an excessive rate.  The presumption was that the rings had not seated.  So we pulled it apart again with the intention of installing new rings and honing the bore if necessary.   Wrong again.  According to the machinist, the engine had “detonated the crap out of it”.  New pistons and rings with another rebore resulting in sleeving back to Standard.  

In the meantime, a drip was noticed coming from the fuel tank.  We had spent significant time and effort replacing the end panels of the tank and had it sealed.  All obviously futile.  So a new tank, stainless this time, was ordered, painted and installed.  The engine was reassembled and installed and break-in started again.  We ran for most of the summer culminating with a trip to Chattanooga.  On the way home, the distributor seized twisting the plug wires into a knot and fracturing the drive gear.  While checking the distributor drive gear on the cam for damage, we discovered that the cam lobes were pitted and breaking down.

So now with a replacement cam and rebuilt distributor installed we’re trying again.  And, it all started by accident.