By Corky Guenther

Twas the day before deadline and all through my brain,

Not a story was brewing, they all had abstained.

The page?  It was empty and so was my head,

I must think of something before off to bed.

Isolation’s enforced because of pandemic,

and we only go out to avoid mental panic.

The MGs in the garage are all nice and quiet,

The B on the lift, TC right beside it.

Then what should occur to my wandering mind

but a meaningless poem which I now leave behind.

Such is the measure of my desperation.  I have been pecking away (sometimes one step forward two steps back) at the B’s significant refresh project.  The lift is getting a workout as I bounce from top to bottom.  I’m adding air conditioning (mostly mocked up in the cockpit but awaiting the return, assembly and installation of the engine to do the compressor etc.) and power steering (physically installed but not wired) and planning cruise control.  Now, I’m installing relays to relieve some switches of their current load.  The object is to not cut up the existing (new) wiring harness.  This is the cause of the latest redo.  I spent some time figuring out what relays I wanted to install at the front of the car, one each for the Low Beams, High beams (each set with separately fused power), Fog Lights and Driving Lights with separate fused power and a relay for the Horn (providing the ground).  I made up a bracket to hold the relays using the horn mounting bolts and made up a wiring harness for the extra power and control wires.  I got everything installed and the wiring all hooked up.  OK then, time to mock up the AC.  I picked up the condenser and held it approximately in place.  Close enough to determine that it and my bank of relays were going to attempt to occupy the same space. Rats! Or words to that effect.  Two steps, at least, back.

Since I didn’t want to repeat this dance (the two step) again, I decided to mock up the AC condenser installation completely starting with the radiator and the condenser and then reconfigure the relay mounting.  After installing the radiator, I found after mounting the condenser, that the condenser to dryer line fouled the inner fender.  I tried several configurations of the mounting brackets and eventually it turns out after communicating with the AC supplier that the problem was mine (go figure).  I’ve managed to reconfigure the relay mounting to accommodate the condenser installation though at this writing the relays aren’t completely mounted or wired so there’s probably still time for a dance.  Any bets?

Back to mind wandering.  Stand by.