From the Editor: Dan Masters (Volume X, Issue 3 - September 2002)

This may be the last issue of the newsletter to be made available on-line. I'm sure there are a few hundred people who read this newsletter off the Internet, but only about a dozen or so have made a contribution to keep it available. With no more supporters than that, it would be just as easy for me to put the newsletter on CDs and mail them to the individual contributors. Time will tell. Just a dollar an issue - three dollars a year - from each of you will keep it available.

As I write this, it has been just a few days since I returned from the British V8 conversion convention in Grand Rapids, Michigan. What a great get-together! Kudos to Steve, Ted, and Andy for a job well done (if I left anyone out, please forgive me). Planning is under way now for next years conventions. Did I say conventions? Yep, there is talk about having one on the West coast as well as one here in beautiful East Tennessee.

The East Tennessee convention is tentatively scheduled for either the first or the second weekend in May. East Tennessee is beautiful that time of year, and you'll be hard pressed to find better roads for driving V8 powered British Sports cars on. The convention will be held in Townsend, in the foothills of the most visited national park in the country - the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. With Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg just a few miles away, there is plenty to do for the whole family. Pigeon Forge is paradise for those who like to "shop-til-you-drop," and offers enough fun things to do to keep kids - of all ages - busy for weeks. Gatlinburg is a little quieter, but has lots of Art and Crafts shops, and some great places to eat.

And if all that isn't enough to get you here, consider an opportunity to ride the "Dragon." Known world-wide to motorcyclists, who come here from all over the world just to drive this piece of highway, the Dragon is 318 curves in only 11 miles of road. Located a pleasant and scenic one hour drive from Townsend, the Dragon won't be part of the official event for insurance and liability reasons, but there is nothing to stop you from popping on over and giving it a go.

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The West Coast event is a bit more tentative at this time, but if you are interested, please let your voice be heard. Write to me, send me an e-mail, phone me, or send an e-mail to Larry Embry if a west Coast event is to your liking. Better yet, volunteer to help Larry.

There's a disease going around, and I'm afraid I have it. No, it's not the West Nile Virus, it's the "I-don't-know-when-to-quit" syndrome. I'm sure many of you have the same disease. I was perfectly happy to use a narrowed Ford rear end with a 4-bar suspension setup on my BGT conversion, but then I stopped by Nick Smallwood's website (www.mgbv8.co.uk) and checked out his Jag IRS installation. I went out into the garage and eyeballed the Jag IRS setting in the store room. Back onto the web and Nick's site, back to the garage, and.....well, suffice it to say I am now in the process of shortening and rebuilding the Jag unit for the GT. I thought "why not, I already have the unit, so it's basically free. Yeah, right! Still, by doing the rebuild myself and shopping around for parts, it should come in at around the same price as the narrowed Ford I originally planned (discounting the original purchase price of the unit, of course, but that's history, as I bought it a long time ago).