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The English have a word for the suspension as you have found it, Don May........"cobbled"! Cap'n. Bob (Ret'd) '60 Frog PilotRob@... 19950... MORE
Hi, Willy 1..... If the car and ancilliaries are in good shape, the price sounds reasonable. It's all a matter of what shape it's in, in terms of what YOU want to use it and what you think you will have to put into it to make it roadworthy, or if you just want to use it for parts, or what. Round Wheel Arch Spridgets are harder to come by than the 1/2 arch cars. They are arguably better looking than the 1/2 arch cars (flame suit "on"!) It definitely has the 1275 along with front disc brakes and... MORE
On short 60 mph exit to exit run on the freeway and the 74 rwa went onto the blocks. Rodeos are for cowboys not midget drivers. Once I started dismantling the front suspension I felt lucky to be alive. The right side was in fairly good shape, in fact, painted on the suspension arm in bright yellow was "1995" I guess when it was last worked on . . . just the right side. The left side was a disaster waiting to happen. The shock arm was flopping about, its spine hole mounting it to the shock having worn... MORE
25+ years ago, I "blueprinted" a Bugeye and on my test run, got 44 MPG. Today, with a 1275 and 1 1/2" Carbs, 3.90 rear end, (still a Bugeye) I'm down to 35 MPG (at 700 miles since rebuild). But we have improved "safety?" since then. Bob, Portland, OR "Robert Webb" 19935... MORE
Jim C. ..... You are correct then, in both cases!! :) No, gasoline is not evil per se. The human beings involved in it's production and marketing (read: artificial pricing) are another story!! :) Of course we all need gas and are all in the same boat subject to the foregoing. Evian I can do without! Speaking as an LBC "gearhead"... we "need" it AND we "want" it. I completely perceive in all cases and understand the "value" of time spent in the LBC...could not agree more, especially in the case of "obligatory" driving....in that as long as you... MORE
Mine did this until i replaced the rear springs. "stanley hill" 19905... MORE
Many thanks to everyone who responded about the front suspension. Lessons learned: 1. Sell the cat and buy a major front suspension kit. Actually I sold the cross trainer I fooled myself I would use when I spent far too much money for it, I will have to find another clothes rack but I will have the money for a suspension kit. 2. Make a device and use the mounting bolt holes for the steering wheel to pull the frozen steering off. Thanks for that tip. 3. Don't be cheap and bust my knuckles with a non-MagnaFluxed flea market... MORE
David Yeah sorry, may have confused you there - the first pic that looks like a mini-steering wheel is in fact the plastic cowl that forms part of the horn push which I've screwed in position onto the three lugs. You can see those three lugs in pic 2. So thats not an OE steering wheel then? Nigel "amukdigiphoto" 19885... MORE
David It was three, I'm out there working on it today and looked. I can take a pic of it and the steering wheel and post them later. Nigel "amukdigiphoto" 19880... MORE
David Yes it did, they seemed to screw through to 4 flanges on the steering column, or was it 3? hmm I'll have to check on that. Nigel "amukdigiphoto" 19878... MORE
Don This may not apply to you as I'm not sure if my steering wheel was OE or not, but I'll tell you what happened. As I was working on it, a neighbour popped round and we got chatting - and I explained I couldnt shift that steering wheel no matter what (the nut was off). He looked at it and said - do you have to remove those 4 screws? I replied, I don't think so - I think they're part of the steering wheel. I did remove them, just to see - and off popped the steering... MORE
Don, if your steering wheel is an original one on the '74 RWA, it's fairly easy to improvise a puller which uses the spoke-to-hub bolts. In fact this is probably better than using a traditional two or three legged claw type as I found out when I used one and managed to bend the spokes. Luckily I didn't want that wheel, it only came off to replace it with the correct type for the year. Regards David "David Jacobs" 19869... MORE
Don No problems on the terminology, I understood ya! To be honest, it really does sound like you need to rebuild the front suspension. My front suspension sounds like its in better condition to yours and I'm rebuilding mine as a matter of course. On the bright side - if you do rebuild the front suspension - the handling will be back to 'as new' or pretty close. As for that castellated nut in the wheel hub - I'm there too, got the split pin out - now how to get this nut out! Anyone know what size this... MORE
Sorry, it all makes sense now. Because the fulcrum pin cotter was misssing, it allowed movement of the fulcrum in the king pin eye at the bottom, thus wearing it oversize. Not a problem that I have seen before. I agree with Nigel, a new kingpin/swivel pin is required, complete with cotter to prevent further problems. Now we all know what that wretched cotter pin is for ........ R "Roger Stinson" 19856... MORE
An adaptor would be nice but they go from big to small not small to big. Looks like I should invest in a 1/2 in drive handle as a spare the knuckle day tool. Also need a puller for the steering wheel which is frozen on solid. The steering wheel nut was easy to remove but all attempts to slide the wheel off have failed. Don "Don May" 19865... MORE
Nigel, you need a 15/16 inch socket. Just yesterday I had to made two trips to the auto store because at first I thought it was 1" only to get home and find out was 15/16" . Happy to say they took back the 1" socket. One problem I had was when the sockets went above 7/8 " they only had 1/2" drives. I only have 3/8" drives so I took some thin sheet metal and wrapped it tightly around the end of my 3/8 inch socket drive to increase its size to 1/2" Had to do that with... MORE
Hi... I just joined your group.... just bought a '77 midget and need to replace the rear axle seals. Can anyone tell me should I be able to just pull (with a little umph) the axles out of the rear housing after I have removed the 4 backing plate bolts ? The rear has lug bolts/nuts (not spinners). 4 nuts behind the backing plate inboard of the rear end. Does anything else hold the axles in ? "nstanko" 19847... MORE
Don Im a bit confused here as to exactly which part is worn, possibly due to your teminology being different to mine. First off, I assume the 'swivel pin' you refer to is the Kingpin, and are you saying the bottom of kingpin hole is worn? or the threaded bush part of the Wishbone (the A bracket)? Also the 'swivel pin and bushings are very good with no play in the swivel axel assembly' are you referring to the fact theres no play in the Kingpin/stub axle ? If I understand you correctly - you're saying the hole at... MORE
Don, if, as you say, the kingpin/swivelpin bushes are still ok, why not just replace the kingpin itself? surely the cost can't be more than having it machined out/rebushed, and it'll be safer into the bargain. Regards David "David Jacobs" 19834... MORE
Yep, it is the kingpin. My first time dealing with front end suspension so I used the terminology from the British factory manual as I am not that familiar with any of the terminology for the front suspension components yet. It's the hole at the bottom of the Kingpin that is worn. Looks like the wise thing to do now is wait until I can afford a major rebuild kit I keep finding more worn components. I have been unsuccessful breaking loose the nut at the end of the wheel bearing spindle inside the hub .... Of course the... MORE
Don There are probably others out there who are more expert than I, but if the fulcrum pin (which should be threaded) is worn, or more importantly the female threads which it screws into are worn, then you really need to use a re-conditioned wishbone (lower link?), or perhaps better, a new one. I don't know what the supply of these components is like stateside. My experience has been that if the swivelpin/kingpin is well greased it will last for a very long time. The problem is that the Fulcrum pin is greased from one end as supplied from... MORE
The outer fulcrum pin hole at the bottom of the swivel pin is worn a bit large and out of round otherwise the swivel pin and bushings are very good with no play in the swivel axel assembly. Is it possible/safe to ream out the fulcrum pin hole and use a shim bushing to bring the diameter back down to the fulcrum pin diameter rather than go to the expense of a new swivel pin set? The screwed end plug and lubricator nipple was missing as was the fulcrum cotter pin along with the two spacer rings/grease seals. I... MORE
I am going to convert my 65 Sprite to an alternator and have a question. There are two types of alternators that I've seen used, two or three mounting lug types. A person that used the three lug type said that was preferable. The loads were less on the water pump attach point. Has anyone using the two lug type experienced any problems such as broken water pump arms? Thanks. Martyn "Martyn Eastwood" 19823... MORE
Sounds to me like something is not in line. Have you compared the old springs to the new springs and measured the distance of the axle location in the old vs. the new? Try that. It seems to me like the rear end is closer or even possibly farther away from the transmission that it was previously. If the noise seems to come from the area where your shifter is My guess is that has something to do with the drive shaft how are the U joints on the drive shaft? You should have not been able to stress... MORE
Help! I am brand new to this group and find myself in a bit of a fix. I have a 1963 right hand drive Sprite in which I just replaced the front and rear springs. I took all precautions when lifting the car on stands such as supporting the axle with a jack etc. When I let her down and drove away, I heard this loud clatter coming from the transmission/bellhousing area. It is as if there is a large bit of metal or a bolt rattling around in there. It stops when I push in on the clutch... MORE
