Chalky

Might be worth contacting local cycling clubs. If they have an off road section they might cycle the tow paths as a club run. At this time of year a run is about 100 miles, so they'd cover a lot of ground.

Sign writing could have been prepared in advance using vinyl. It would be easier to 're-name' a non sign written boat than one that had been named...

There was a thread a few years ago on here about lock bumping - which is a method used by Theves to open Yale locks. Apparently needs a newish lock and a special key. Opens it as fast as the correct key apparently. We're on the South Oxford - we'll keep an eye out in case.

Unless the owner kept paint and a brush/ roller on board just in case.

How much fuel was in the tank and how fast do you usually get through it? Would give some idea about how far it could cruise before having to pick up diesel. It would then allow you to contact the fuel vendors in the area it was last sighted and warn them to keep a look out. Do you have a lock on the tank...?

We have a large number of Chinese students at our local University. The first month of the academic year is "interesting" as they discover that UK road traffic responds differently from what they're used to.

Probably because most pedestrians seem to be using personal stereos or are on the phone and can't hear you from any further away. I've followed pedestrians on my bike for considerable distances politely ringing the bell. It's only when you pass them that they realise you're there. There are dangerous/dopey pedestrians out there as well as dangerous cyclists...

Something simple to check. On the end of the prop shaft where it joins the gear box there is a coupling that clamps on to the shaft. Are all of the bolts tight? (Guess how I know...)

I have 2 fuse boxes, 1 for each battery. The engine battery powers the tunnel light and the horn. Both are relay switched and are isolated when the ignition's off. A 5W solar panel also connects to this fuse box via a a charge controller. The second fuse box is connected to the domestic batteries and powers everything else. I carry a spare jump lead so I can start off the domestics if necessary - I might change this to a contactor if I decide to bridge the alternators. The bilge pump is connected to both fuse boxes via a home built controller. This draws power from the domestics and will run the pump from them till they're flat. It will then draw power from the engine battery. Potentially this could leave me with no ability to start the engine but I decided keeping the boat afloat was more important. (I might modify it to pulse the horn if it switched to the engine battery as an emergency warning)

Is there any debris / foreign matter in the tank that could be blocking the pick up? As the pump starts drawing fuel it will create a gentle flow that could draw debris to the pick up. Once the engine is off it can float away and it could appear that there's nothing wrong - till the next time. A colleague of mine had this on a brand new car about 20 years ago. It drove fine for a few hundred miles then would start cutting out. The dealers diagnosed fuel starvation, pulled the pump assembly out of the tank and found a large plastic bung. These were used to protect the tank from debris during assembly and someone had pushed it in instead of removing it. He rang up the appropriate cell manager on the Longbridge line to complain and was heard to utter the words "This bungs a stopper". We never heard the end of the call, the office had collapsed in fits of laughter. Also how old / worn is the engine and how full is oil level - is it above / near the top of the dip stick?

I played around with some high field strengths a few years ago as part of a research project and you can get some very "interesting" effects... A colleague of mine had an MRI scan which used a 4 Tesla static field. He said that as he was moved into the field his perception was affected, which is hardly surprising since nerves are akin to cables and moving them through the field will induce currents. If you really want to get anoracky about it google ICNIRP guidelines.

On the MG forums the Americans talk about something called a speedy sleeve that you put over a worn shaft to get it to seal. I've never used one but they swear by them.

Timing chain and tensioner are a quick and easy job once the cover is off. On my car I changed the sprockets as well. On the petrol (I don't know the diesel) there's a simplex and duplex chain depending on year, both are easily available. The kit for 2 sprockets, chain, tensioner, seal, gasket and lock washer cost about £40. If you do buy a car kit check that the timings are compatible - the key way positions do change for different engines. The tensioner is hydraulically operated and it requires setting when it's installed but auto adjusts after that. There have been mixed reports about the quality of some of the replacements. If the petrol and diesel parts are common check on the MG forums for where the better parts come from. The crank shaft nut is 1 1/8". I loosen it by removing the king lead so it won't fire (petrol), putting the socket and a T bar on a chassis rail and cranking the engine. This loosens it! Diesel will require a different method to make sure that the engine doesn't run afterwards. Fit the new seal into the cover and fit it on the front of the engine with the bolts loose. Lightly lubricate the seal then fit the pulley. This will centre the whole lot before you tighten the bolts up and reduce the chance of a leak. A twin pulley version of the front pulley is available. It's used by MG owners in the US to add aircon to the car. there's also a ribbed belt version used to attach a super charger.

The oil pressure relief valve sticking / not sealing and fluctuating gauge readings is a regular discussion topic of owners for the 1.8 petrol engine and is regularly discussed on the MG forums. Some of the engine is common between petrol and diesel, some isn't, however I'd assume that at least the problems will be generic. The link below should pull up lots of the recent discussion threads. If not then go to mgexp.com, select the MGB forum and type relief valve into the search box. http://www.mgexp.com/phorum/search.php?1,search=relief+valve,author=,page=1,match_type=ALL,match_dates=365,match_forum=1,match_threads=1

Get hold of some citric acid (lemon juice) and soak the parts in it for a few hours. It's strong enough to dissolve the rust but not the iron / steel.

I've repainted the roof 3 times. First time I used Rylard navy blue. Looked good and wore well however the cabin baked on sunny days. I repainted in cream / white. It kept the temperature down however it was always dirty and on sunny days the glare meant I couldn't see where we were going unless I wore sunglasses. I eventually repainted it using Leyland red oxide gloss. This is more of a silk than a gloss and has been great. It been easy to clean, cooler than the blue and can be repaired easily.

The thing you're starting to discover is how inaccurate state of charge calculations are for lead acid batteries. The units work by counting the charge into and out of the battery and displaying the "level" of the battery as the charge. The problem is that batteries are not like buckets of water that you measure fluid into and out of. When you charge the battery not all of the power you put into the battery will go into charging it. The amount of charge the battery can take depends on lots of things including temperature and how old the battery is (Charge acceptance). The voltage the battery shows when its charging is an inaccurate measure of its condition. There's an effect called surface charge that can be thought of like the froth on a pint of beer - it shows far more available than's actually there. Leaving the battery for a while before measuring it gets a more accurate indication. When discharging the battery the speed at which you pull power from it affects the capacity of the battery (pukert). Take the power slowly and you'll have more power available. Take it quickly and you'll have a lot less. Leave it a while and there'll be a bit more, but not as much as if you drew the power slowly. As the battery ages the amount of power available and how fast you can draw it changes (not in a good way). This is a really complex subject - I've tried to describe it simply and add a few technical terms if you want to dig deeper. I've worked with a team who have spent years developing accurate charge estimation models for industrial battery applications. It can be done and very accurate results can be obtained but its a non trivial exercise. I tend to use the battery monitor on my boat as an indication only. I rely on the volt meter and the ammeter to give me an indication of the battery condition along with an understanding of how I'd expect the system to perform - I'm an electronics engineer / roboticist by profession so I do this as the day job. What you need to do is get used to the boat and get a feel for what's going on. Most boaters seem get through a set of batteries whilst they're working this out. You're doing the right thing by asking questions on the forum.

Both the items you're after are on eBay listed as MGB parts. I'd also try searching the specialist car breakers - they're uncommon but not rare.

Being round means that you'll get fewer out of a sheet of material. It could allow you to reuse an old tax disk holder which means they wouldn't need to be sticky. If they were square they could fit the cart licence holders...

Why not put the name of the forum, logo and then have a QR code. You need to be close enough to scan it - but you'd have to be close to read the text anyway. Using a QR code would let you remove a lot of stuff away from the sticker and you could make the rest bigger so it could be seen from a distance (or closer, depending on current glasses!)

Possibly relevant discussion on another forum about someone who has a leak in the same place. Caveat - it's the petrol version not diesel. http://www.mgexp.com/phorum/read.php?1,3284524