How to get to 54.5 MPG

My MGB responded well to reasonable, non-heroic application of time and small parts (such as wiring and connectors).

It went more quickly with balanced rebuild, moderate porting and a new cam. It handled better with Pirelli radials. I found the basic MG shop manual more than adequate for your average guy. With no extreme effort it was enjoyable and quite dependable for many years.

That's the same experience I had with the 3 Fiat 124 Sports Coupe that I had. All you had to know is the idiosyncrasies of the car and you'd be fine. Most people didn't so I got them pretty cheap for such an advanced sports car.

So you're well skilled at rebuilding manual transmissions then!

"weak synchromesh" AKA Italian cars!

I never had any problem with the second gear clashing. Just lucky I guess or maybe I have selective memory. OK, it clashed a little but I just learned to live with it. That's what most everybody else did.

The main idiosyncrasy of the car was that people kept hitting it with their cars. Except for the third one in which I hit a bump a little too hard which pulled the lower A arm off the mounting plate. This was the last of my Fiats. So I got an Alfa Romeo - that's when my real troubles started. :-)

Back around 1971 when I was in Hotlanta, I was doing some sight seeing.I was walking along and I saw an early 1960s Jaguar coupe parked on a street in front of some apartments.Just for the heck of it I stopped an asked the guy if that Jaguar was for sale.Either himself or somebody else had intalled a Chevrolet straight six cylinder engine with the Chevrolet manual shift transmission in that old Jaguar car. A heck of an Improvement it was, I say. cuhulin

In 1975 or so, I saw a Toyota 2000GT coupe whose proportions mimic that of the Jaguar XKE, in the SF bay area. I think that was the first and last time I ever saw one on the street. It was like seeing the holy grail parked on the sidewalk. Hopefully, nobody ever installed a Chevy drivetrain in one of those. :-)

I remember back in the 1960s when Honda first started importing cars into America.Little 36 cubic inches air cooled 2 cylinder engine, it only did about 33 - 34 miles per gallon.

Was that a type E coupe? I never liked the coupes too much but the roadster was such a beautiful car that even Enzo Ferrari praised it, I understand. It also drove beautifully....but, it was an English made Jaguar, and it had its problems. Supposedly they kept that 6 cylinder engine for 25 years with few or no changes.