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Hi All, Got a car in with an A+ engine in it and a coolant leak out the dizzy side. Nothing unusual there. It had a head gasket that's a very hard type of material, blackish dark grey, something I've never seen before, It also was installed upside down and backwards!!!!!!! But the question is: Is this a preferred head gasket material over the nice Payen copper gasket? That one I've learned to put on so it doesn't leak coolant. Head is at the machine shop being trued. Later, Paul A "Paul Asgeirsson" 30960... MORE
Nigel... Had painted wire wheels on both my MGA's back in my younger days. Service life includes a lot of factors... depends totally on the shape of the wheels when you first got them, how much driving one does in contaminated conditions (salt, snow, etc.) along with how "hard" one drives, the "softness" of tire compound along with tire pressures (some guys use 30psi, manufacturer's recommendations notwithstanding) utilized, how often the tires come off the wheels so they may be serviced with respect to proper spoke tension, cleaning and repainting, etc. Of course, we have better paints today, but... MORE
Hi Guys, Well, I went back and rechecked my fuel filter, a new one installed only a month or two back....it was full of rust. Took the filler tube off and saw my gas tank was full of rust. Local radiator shop was going to charge $130 to clean and coat my old tank, decided to spend a few more bucks and got a new tank (and another filter). Test drive went fine, wife is happy and so am I! Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and advice Mark "MARK" 30877... MORE
I put one in my Bugeye, aftermarket, plastic with two screw mounts, on the passenger side of the heater box, above the panel, out of sight because of the dash. You have to know it is there to find it. There is a brown, always hot wire, that comes through the firewall and goes to the ignition switch. There is a "Lucas" conector right after it comes through the firewall. I changed that to a dual plug and plug the "non usable for heat" cig. lighter into that and grounded it through one of the mounting screws. Bob, Troutdale,... MORE
Bob, Guilty as charged. On my BE, all of the slots on the screws that hold the aluminum tub trim have to be dead on horizontal. In places where nobody can ever see, I might use an odd fastener that doesn't match the others... but it will bother me when I do. Places that can be seen - I've written down on my shopping list to get one more stainless 1/4-28 bolt so that they all will match. Cable tie tails on wire bundles have to point in the same direction - even though they're cut off anyways. Hose... MORE
Thank you for your responses By Modern driving I am assuming that they are talking about fast road and motorway driving 60-80 mph. I'm not sure exactly what rpm she'd be doing at that speed but I would imagine that it would be around the 4000+ mark. Given what has been said then in 90F summer heat an oil cooler would be very beneficial for fast use. However I wouldn't take the Midget onto the motorway for the same reasons that I wouldn't take the Cooper onto the motorway 1. It is too small and vulnerable 2. It is... MORE
Listers - My current project Midget (75) has no motor or trans, I'm searching for alternate powertrains to transplant into it, does anyone have photos, info or web sites they have run across on hot rodded Midgets they could pass along to me? Currently have a Ford 2.0 litre 4 cylinder with matching 4 speed, but looking at other options, plan on looking around for a 2.3L Ford 4 cyl with a five speed, which could be transplanted without too much hassle. Ford 2.3L turbo motor would be nice too, but don't want to spend a ton of cash,... MORE
How can you test and see if the PCV diaphragm is good? I have two, one I KNOW will allow the car to smoke, when I gently blow on the tube that connects to the oil separator, it passes air out of the hole on the top plate. Another one that I just got, when I gently blow in the same orifice, it makes a sound like a quacking duck. Does either one of these sound like they are ok? I finally have the correct intake for the 68, as well as all the smog stuff. Call me paranoid,... MORE
Pre-rubber bumper UK spridgets (and US ones up to...?) had the same pressure switch - I've replaced it on mine after about ten years, so they're not totally reliable! One trick I someone told me was to pour boiling water then ice-water over the switch to free it up in case something had got stuck inside. This worked to some extent, but I thought it was safer to have the brake lights coming on before the car was standing on it's nose! David "David Jacobs" 30780... MORE
Hi all I have just received an excellent Spridget catalogue from MOSS that not only lists all of their parts but is also a tuning guide as well. In there they recommend that for modern driving a 1500 would really benefit from a thermostatically controlled oil cooler, uprated relief spring and a supplementary rocker oil feed kit. This is apparently due to the Spitfire engine being mated to the "wrong gearbox" and subsequent over revving leading to the oil thinning and thus pressure dropping. As I am not flogging mine down the motorway at 80mph all day is this... MORE
I do not know the definitive answer to these questions for a frogeye, but - on my midget, which is pretty much the same as far as engine compartment painting is concerned, 1. left unpainted.2 ditto. 3 Painted. 4 Painted, except for starter nose inside clutch bell. 5. unpainted 6. unpainted 7. painted 8. Painted. water pump, painted. Cooling blades? (Cooling fan? if so, yellow) Hopefully this answer will stir the relevant persons into action to correct any misconceptions, but I think that these are correct from memory. R. "Roger Stinson" 30761... MORE
Hi Kevin Welcome to the group. This group is for all 'Spridgets' and many here are Frog owners, but you may like to try the other group specifically for Frogs - http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/bugeye/ Yeah I don't know why those nutty Americans call them Bugeye's either ;) You may also want to check out Terry Horler's excellent book - Original Sprite and Midget, published by Bay View Books, ISBN 1-870979-45-1 This book has an excellent restorers section on Frogeyes and many of your answers will be found there. I'm not an expert on Frog's - there's many here you know a... MORE
Hi there, Just signed up to this site. Last year got myself a '59 frogeye for a groundup restoration (definately not a runner!!). I think it spent its initial life in sunny Houston Texas before being repatriated to uk. It then apparently stood sometime before I got my hands on it. Anyway thats the history lesson. Taking it steady with the bodywork last year but getting there slowly (taught myself to TIG weld - a very neat way to weld!). I am spending time on indoor work because UK garages in the winter aren't fun - and I'm getting... MORE
Hi there, Just signed up to this site. Last year got myself a '59 frogeye for a groundup restoration (definately not a runner!!). I think it spent its initial life in sunny Houston Texas before being repatriated to uk. It then apparently stood sometime before I got my hands on it. Anyway thats the history lesson. Taking it steady with the bodywork last year but getting there slowly (taught myself to TIG weld - a very neat way to weld!). I am spending time on indoor work because UK garages in the winter aren't fun - and I'm getting... MORE
Cap'n Hmm, I'm beginning to lose patience - I just want it finished now, it's consuming far too much of my time - I want it back on the road for the summer - finished! I'm going to have to make some compromises I think, cut a few corners because I really do want it finished. If necessary I'll have to go back and finish some of the items later. Nigel "amukdigiphoto" 30657... MORE
I wish to UNSUBSCRIBE Alan - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are... MORE
Many thanks for your reply Nigel. I have had good dealings with Moss in the past and I would tend to agree that they only deal with good quality components. You are quite right that the Moss hoods are around =A3140, the price that I was originally looking at was for the hood and header rail......... That would certainly explain why i thought that they were expensive compared to the competition! Job for the summer though. Fitting a vinyl hood in cold conditions is never a good idea, as I have found out before! Although having never had much... MORE
Din standard fittings are simply the German equivalent of B.S. (British Sta ndards) or American S.A.E standards. Allegedly there to make life simple for (production, mainly) engineers. Being German you will find that the 7" x 2" is probably 180 mm x 50mm. Alan - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -... MORE
Loopy Chris says .Not quite sure if I can get the ariel lead underneath the car as I think( could be totally wrong though and I've got the wrong end of the stick!) to be legal in this country, it has to be a certain distance ( im talking a fair space here , not a couple of inches) from any fuel tank or line , in case it causes a spark or something. Chris, Put some old jeans on and look under you car at the back. Look just in fron t of the fuel tank and you... MORE
Nigel... Copper, nickel, whatever! All good stuff but in any case, there is always a little water present within to one extent or the other? So, like the exhaust system, the "piping" can "wear" to one extent or another from either side? :) Cap'n. Bob '60 :{) PilotRob@... 30584... MORE
David... One other advantage of "burning it out" is a nice (steam) cleaning of the combustion chamber. Of course, if it really runs badly a draining procedure (per David) is definitely in the cards. I steam the combustion chambers out ea. spring via the carbs and an old Windex bottle filled with distilled water. Cap'n. Bob '60 :{) PilotRob@... 30564... MORE
Dave... Head down to your local automotive store and pick up a couple of bottles of "dry gas" (isopropyl alchohol or whatever it really is!:) and dump 'em in. Then, fill it up. This should do the trick but the real question is..where did all the water come from? :( Cap'n. Bob '60 :{) PilotRob@... 30551... MORE
Nigel If you can make the trip to Romsey, Hampshire, http://welcome.to/solent_wheels are the dog's gonads. Will be taking my first-generation Rostyles there for the full treatment in the summer. They will also CAREFULLY mount your tyres for you. Steve Clark Southampton, UK 1971 Midget "Steve and Sue Clark" 30526... MORE
Hello, Is Spridgetless even a word? Well, I guess it is now! A long time ago I left this list, but now I'm back. I used to have a '69 Midget, but since then I've moved all over the country, and have finally settled in Western Washington, USA. The Midget kind of had to go along the way, which I regret to this day, but sometimes we have no choice in these matters. So, now I'm looking for another little rusty British demon to tinker with. I'm hoping that this time the cars will be in better shape, since... MORE
Rick, Congrats on the new project. sounds great. One way to do the DMV thing (assuming you know the car has had no DMV activity in some years) is to go to the DMV and say that this guy brought his car to you for you to do some work on it for him 4 or 5 years ago. You did the work to the tune of XXX number of dollars (perhaps 4 or 500 dollars) and the guy never came back, never paid you and you don't remember his name. You can file a mechanics lein on the... MORE
