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Q. If I put rear mounted spots on the Sprite, how do they Earth? The grill is aluminium. Are the lamps self-earthing? Cheers Max "MG_Max" 26154... MORE
I have a 60 Sprite and the side curtains to prove it! My question is, is there anyone or anyplace that re-conditions them. The pair I have is aftermarket. The frames are aluminum and the sliding windows are plexiglass. The windows need to be replaced and the weatherseal that fits against the door needs replacing as well. The car hasn't been driven in bad weather in decades but would like to get the side curtains fixed. Thanks, Jim "Jim" 26152... MORE
Can anyone tell me roughly what the distance is between the cylinder head and the bonnet on a 1960 healey frogeye? Thanks. "robblola" 26146... MORE
Reguarding the SU's on your 1275/1380, you can get the manifold from an MGB, cut the center and then run a pair of HS4's. :) Gives lots of power and fits under the Bugeye bonnet. Bob, Troutdale, OR "Robert Webb" 26144... MORE
Cap'n: Thanks for your help. The canister vent lines are clean and you can blow thru them. (I assume you mean the lines that run from secondary canister to behind inner fender.) I do wonder about the vent pipe to seperator hook up in trunk. I renewed these rubber lines, would it make a difference if the were possibly crossed? I will switch them and see. As you mentioned this model should have a tight fitting cap with rubber gasket... which it does not have at this moment. In the meantime I have dropped the tank again, removed sending... MORE
Can you stop shouting! (turn your caps lock off) Yes there are minis with twin SU carbs, but they are Mini Coopers (real mini coopers not the overgrown lump of lard built by BMW). There other cars with twin SU's on A-Series engines , but by far the most common are spridgets. The correct brass top carbs that a frogeye would have however are frogeye only IIRC and very hard to source. IIRC the 1300GT, Riley elf, Riley kestrel, Mini Cooper, AH sprite and MG midget were the only BMC cars to have the twin SU's on an a-series... MORE
Hmmm.... Had this sort of problem on initial acquisition of my BE with 1098. Turns out the fuel cap was of the "unvented" type...being used in an "open" system. This resulted in vacuum within the tank under extended "load"...went to a vented fuel cap...solved the problem. Your system is "vented" to a charcoal cannister by way of an expansion tank located in the right trunk "wall". I am not sure exactly how this works, having disabled all this stuff immediately upon acquisition of my PO'd '74 Midget, while going over to a vented fuel cap in it's case, among... MORE
Well....Big Bob.... I cannot source this engine number but... "ass-u-me" ing a high compression 948, the U standing for remote change gearbox "over here". A standard set of Spridget 1.25 SU's with AN needles and blue springs should work very well, I would think. Thing is, you would want this on the better flowing Cooper twin intake manifold if at all possible instead of the stock Spridget (worse flowing) type. And then, the carb mounting angle might be just different enough that use of the Cooper intake manifold might require a little fetteling under there to get proper clearance... MORE
HI GUYS! I HAVE BEGUN TO RESTORE AN 1960 MK1 FROGEYE. THE ENGINE IN THE CAR SEEMS TO BE AN AUSTIN A40 OR A50 WITH A SINGLE ZENITH CARB. THE CARB IS TOO HIGH TO CLOSE THE BONNET SO I WAS WONDERING IF I COULD SWAP TO TWIN SU CARBS. I GOT MY HANDS ON A SINGLE MINI SU CARB WITH MANIFOLD WHICH FITTED PERFECTLY BUT IT WAS STILL A LITTLE TOO HIGH. ARE THERE MINIS WITH TWIN SU CARBS AT AN ANGLE OR EVEN A SINGLE SU OFF A MORRIS MINOR THAT WOULD SUIT MY CAR? REGARDS, ROBERT... MORE
Hi Guys Just bought a 77 Rubber Bumper Midget to restore, have done other cars before, but this is the first MG, could anyone tell me of a good supplier of spares and repair panels in the UK. Thanks Graham. ps I am going to join the MG owners club. "x192000" 26099... MORE
I've started to install the carpet in the Sprite and found that the heel pad on the driver side might be in the wrong place, to keep it in the right place the end of the carpet on the firewall does not come up to the right level. This is indicated by the location of the carpet snaps. Does anyone have an image of the drivers side carpet installation that they could send me? Thanks. Martyn meastwood1@ cfl.rr.com "Martyn Eastwood" 26097... MORE
I also think Minis had the carbs at a slightly different angle to Spridgets, so they could squeeze in betweent he engine and bulhead. The Mini manifold I got for a pair of 1" SUs definitely has too steep an angle to fit my 1275 Midget, so the front carb would have rubbed against the bonnet. I'm not sure about the other fwd cars, as they had more room to fit stuff in. Stewart, is the fibreglass of your bonnet thicker than a steel one would be? This is often the case. Regards David "David Jacobs" 26116... MORE
True The worst things are letters not straight and irregular body panel gaps. Eyes and the brain are incredibly good at spotting the smallest errors. It spoils all the effort in eliminating the tin worm. Terry "terry.isherwood" 26102... MORE
I do have one but on a sill that is on the car I am worried about using it in case it dents too much of the sill and causes paint damage. Should have done this before they were welded to the car, I know! I know! I KNOW! Terry "terry.isherwood" 26101... MORE
Rather than use a centre punch and hammer, try a 'push punch' or automatic centre punch, with a large slightly curved dolly behind the panel. It can also work quite well it you use a lump of lead - or similar - behind the panel. When punched, use a small diameter drill at high speed to provide space for the web of the larger drill for the holes. This method has worked well for me on curved and shaped panels before. If you have a good automatic punch you can set the force. Try it out on a bit... MORE
Come on Kevin get into the real world dude! There's a world of difference between structurally repairing a 30-40 year old steel monocoque car which draws 100% of its rigidity from its integral chassis/bodywork and cutting edge technology in building aluminium bodied cars, which undoubtedly have some form of alloy/steel backbone chassis to give the car rigidity. I don't mean to be rude, but if you can't tell the difference between these two things, please don't consider doing any structural work on your Spridget! Nigel "amukdigiphoto" 26078... MORE
A fellow lister, Steve is kindly sending me a template. I take your point and will try it on a bit of scrap first. Getting that drill to go in dead right is not easy. Did you use a small sharp drill first? A battery drill will allow slow speed to start with, that is what I will use first. Also I have some centre drills from a lathe so I will experiment with them and let you know. A centre punch will distort the sill and damage the paint. A straight edge will show if I managed to... MORE
I actually don't think that using a centre punch is the problem. The distortion is minimal, and will be covered up by the letters anyway. The problem is ensuring that the centre punch goes into the correct position. The reason it's so easy to get this wrong is theres so little margin for error, 0.5 of a mm out will show, and using a template and centre punching directly onto the sill is a recipe for disaster in my mind - remember this is a 'one-hit-deal' you only get once chance to get it right, and almost impossible to... MORE
Terry Marking out the holes is the easy bit, getting the drill to drill dead centre of those marked holes is the hard bit! Especially if you're not using a centre punch. I'll tell you what I intend to do, and it does seem an awful lot of work just to put the sill letters on, but I'm anal about this kind of thing (comes from being a Graphic Designer *g*) and unless they're 'absolutely right' I'll never be happy. It's interesting actually if you look in Grahame Bristow's excellent book - 'Restoring Midgets and Sprites, an enthusiasts guide'... MORE
I just finished putting the tranny and engine together, and will be putting it into the car presently. I know many times that a common electrical problem is the ground strap from the engine to the body. I have not had that problem, but then I still have the original bracket that bolts at the bottom of the tranny bell housing and fixes to the "frame" rail. Would anyone like photos of my setup, for future reference, or to try and manufacture a bracket on their own? I have one on the bench for my Bugeye, that I can... MORE
Bob I don't know of any, and I think you're unlikely to find any. Having said that, it can be done. There was a company in England making Frogeye bodyshells from new heritage bodyshells, so it is possible. The only other company I know doing anything like this is - http://banmoco.co.uk/sprint/ But this is based on a mini, and uses fibreglass panels. Nigel "amukdigiphoto" 26059... MORE
"M I D G E T" sill lettering" Wow!! (Can anyone imagine being Nigel's wife??? Omigod!) This having been said, I wouldn't want anyone else doing bodywork on my car!! You ARE a perfectionist, Nigel! :) And you are absolutely right...the job would look pretty crumby if those letters weren't perfectly straight...stuff like this inordinately stands out...and ruins the entire appearance of a job otherwise well done......true, true. Cap'n. Bob '60 :{) PilotRob@... 26071... MORE
Terry What's the problem with coming up with your own template for the M I D G E T holes? That's what I'm going to do. Someone very kindly let me have the dimensions of where the letters actually sit on the sill, it's fairly easy then to make up a template to drill them. I say fairly easy, it's far from easy, I think I've tried about 3 or 4 time so far in scrap pieces of steel and I'm still not happy with the way the letters look. It's actually very hard indeed to get it so... MORE
After fitting a pair of new outer sills to the 1972 midget the plan was to use the old sills as a template for the M I D G E T letters since the new sills did not have these holes. I would then scan it in, tidy it up and print it off. I would email it to anyone else who wanted it. I was going to stick it on with wall paper paste so I could soak it off when finished. It turns out that a previous 'restorer' welded an outer sill repair section over the old... MORE
I've considered using rivets & high strength automotive epoxy for body repair but have been told there's no substitute for welding. Now Jaguar is doing just that with the new aluminum XJ. Here's a white paper: http://www.dynamore.de/event/eu03/papers/A-II/LS-DYNA_ULM_A-II-19.pdf Thoughts anyone? Kevin Milwaukee, WI "kari_kevin" 26040... MORE
