Oops. It ran rough, real rough. I got my compression guage and oil can out of
the car (which car I disremember) and set the guy up for a misdirection: compression
test showed three goods and a poor; squirt of oil through the sparkplug hole,
and a compression test showed no difference. I slapped my forehead and told the
guy it seemed there was a bad cylinder, probably a broken ring. It would cost
me a whole bunch to fix it. He knocked the price down part of a bunch, then almost
a whole bunch, and we agreed to terms. Sold. Five hundred bucks.
Then
the valve job, under $30 including springs. Then I went to Fords and Foreigns
and traded most of my leftover MG TD SUs for a pair and a manifold from a 998cc
Sprite. They installed clean on the Morris, but didn't do much for the hauling-around
and up the hill. Raised the top speed after a long run-up, but was not a solution
to the skinny torque profile. I suppose the big-diameter exhaust pipe exiting
in front of the rear wheel wasn't a good step, either.
So, on with the
Judson supercharger. They had improved/simplified the drive since the TD version:
no longer required two belts on the pulleys. The carburetor was a Holley downdraft,
and the drip-feed for Marvel Mystery Oil was easier to adjust. See photos
of just such a kit as the one I installed, courtesy of a gentleman who sold
one on eBay For multiples of what I paid.
There was a useful improvement
as measured by actual accelleration up the 395 hill. I don't remember what effect
it had on mileage. All that testing and trying made me hear a knock in the engine,
so I replaced the rod bearings. Did the job in record time, lying on my back in
the street outside the apartment. It was no longer a knocker, and after some careful
run-in time, ran just as I had hoped it would.
There were a number of
neat-os about these little wagons. A twin-size mattress fit nicely between the
rear wheel-wells, and could be persuaded to double up over the folded back seat
for travel. A sheet of plywood stored between the mattress and the rear floor
and slid out supported the extended end. That back seat was easy to flatten for
more room. Used as a seat, with a booster it suited Geneva to a tee. And it was
storage for countless bottles of Kahlua, Dos Equis, and Mexican Kent cigarette
knock-offs . . .