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To get there, I had to make a trip to Lititz. The radiator cap I ordered on Monday was promised for Tuesday but had not arrived by Thursday, so I asked the manager at Autozone to check area stores. The Lititz store had one, so he called that store and had the cap held for me. I went right away, got the cap, and brought it to the Grant St. Garage and tested it. All was well.
Today, I used my Mityvac vacuum brake bleeder to bleed the clutch, which was the main concern, and also to bleed the rear brakes.
Both the clutch and rear brakes were no problem. The front brakes, however, were not interested. On the passenger side, the bleeder valve was very tight, and I was unwilling to force it. It's amazing how working on a car with no local parts source makes one very cautious! On the driver's side, the bleeder valve was... missing in action. It had been replaced with a bolt. Since the brake fluid was actually quite clear, I decided to exercise discretion on those brakes. If I were to keep the car, I would probably spend the dollars to buy rebuilt front calipers anyway.
I keep saying I AM NOT KEEPING THIS CAR, and John Zimmerman keeps saying, "You should buy it and enjoy it for the summer." That boy is an enabler... I seem to remember his giving "encouragement" to buy the Z3 Coupe that was the inception of this blog also.
The fluid bleeding was easily done, and then all that stood between us and a test drive was reinstalling the wheels and tires and washing the windshield. John had dropped by again - I think he's more invested in this car than I am! - and helped with both tasks. He also took the video at the beginning. I'm so glad to see I'm not the only one who gets his finger in the frame with my phone.
Before reinstalling the wheels and tires, I carefully aired them to exactly 32 PSI. I will check them in a few days with the same gauge, to see if one or more has a slow leak. Here's a photo, showing the good tread on those tires. The fronts (top of each stack) are classic-specific Veredesteins, in size 175R14. The rears are Jetzons, in 185/75R14.
John has "invested" 7 or 8 hours in this little MG, so it was appropriate for him to get a test drive also. Here's video evidence, also at https://youtu.be/pASaJVI75pw . By that time, the car was warmed up a bit, so it was actually running better for him.
Next week, I'll take it to Lancaster Mitsubishi for rust evaluation. The "colonoscopy" video of the sills in Part 4 eased my mind somewhat. The issue is whether the rust at the doglegs has compromised the integrity of the sills too much. Stay tuned!
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