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During my restoration of my shell, I had to take this off to repair it, but on the 1500 there are 4 spot-weld holding it onto the inner wheelarch, the rest is bolted onto the radiator mountings and the front chassis members just like any other midget in that respect. Given these spot-weld are already undone is there anything to be gained by welding them back on or can I just drill 4 holes and put bolts in their place? and will this make putting in and taking the engine out any easier? Stewart "Ford Prefect" 29221... MORE

Cap'n It's coming on! I've been seriously hampered by the weather here lately, which hasn't been very conducive to spraying! We had snow here a week or so ago, since then its been milder but with that comes rain and wind; very windy here again today. But I've pushed on doing what I can, and the bodyshell with front panel assembly and both wings in position is now about 90% finished in gloss. I'm just doing the black sills now and finishing both doors. I had a friend come round midweek, who hadn't seen the car since it was... MORE

Tim I am not that familiar with the 1500 cars but I expect the engine will have to come out to replace the clutch and so this is going to cost 300 in most garages, however if money is tight and the engine was running OK before the gasket blew why not just get that fixed (maybe 150 or so). The problem with second hand engines is that they may be no better than the one you have and you are not going to know without removing the head and checking the bores, so it will still cost you... MORE

Tim, I take it that you don't wish to do the work yourself? Repairs to a 1500 engine are really quite straightforward and its a really great way to learn about all aspects of the engine. An expert like Frank will take an engine and gearbox out in about an hour, I take a little longer, more like 1hour 15 minutes. If your engine was running OK before the head gasket blew then there is no need to take the engine out although obviously the clutch will. If you feel that these things are better left to the garage,... MORE

Oh, yeah.. that's right. 1098's didn't come with an oil cooler. Right, right, right...I had to transfer mine over from my wrecked PO'd '67 I was working on, when acquiring my 1098 equipped BE to take it's place. I am a little surprised you are only getting 65psi "cold" out of a "new" motor, Brad. Not that this is "bad" or anything like that, but most newly rebuilt motors built to street tolerances (IMHO) put out 70+. I'm leaving my present motor out of this as it was built by plan to the tight side and actually required a... MORE

Hmmm....sorry, Alan! Well, I obviously I missed this (must have read it before jumbo Mickey D's "kicked in":) but it's nice to hear another of your experiene agrees, and most especially in that it was a "tuned" unit at that. Too bad to lose the 1098's silky exhaust note for the superior power/revvability of the larger motor. But I do tend to forget about this when I put my foot into the 1293! :) Cap'n. Bob '60 :{) PilotRob@... 29230... MORE

Dave... I could not agree more with you in your opinion of the running "sweetness" of the 1098 motor. My BE came with a 10cc. My prior experience having been limited mainly to street "tuned" (including balancing) 1275's and too a far lesser degree stock 948's, I was immediately struck by the stock 1098's silky smooth running/exhaust note. Not very strong top end but otherwise, performed just fine, most especially in terms of low end for normal street use. I mentioned the apparent smoother running of the 1098 as compared to the 948/1275 several times over the last couple... MORE

Further to my query regarding the water leak, I think it has been answered finally by the fact that on it's way to the garage this morning to be inspected, the head gasket blew. As usual this happened about 400 yards from the garage in question, leading me to wonder why as these things couldn't have waited for a few minuites longer until I was actually AT the garage and saved me a recovery fee. Anyway, its now in Jentree garage in Pevensey where they will have a good look as to what exactly needs doing on it. As... MORE

Hello troupe,..I'm looking for a set of Cornercraft Ace Mercury wheel disks (read hubcaps) for my 62 Midget. They were an option on the MG B and the Midget in the early sixties...anybody have any leads?..i'm also looking for a hardtop as well. Tomorrow i'm off to dear Don Mays house to bolt the rebuilt head on and visit his very cute Spridet coversion. if all goes well i'll be driving him home that eve (may car,..not Don.). wish us luck. Samuel. p.s. here's a link for the hubcap history http://www.mgcars.org.uk/namgbr/article3.htm "modernlmi2000" 29177... MORE

-Many thanks rob and cp bob,have spent most of the day looking at this wheel prob,my sprite has square arches that dont help me in this wheel problem,look like l am going to have fit 5" rims along with 155x70 tyres,165x70 wil fit but theres still a chance of rubbing when used hard or loaded up etc,so not wanting to mess around with the new body work now that its painted, l will stick to 155x70 x13,on nice wheels.The next restro car l get, l will realy mod and then have some rubber, again many many thanks for your... MORE

Mine is red, rocker cover to oil pan which was black. U.S. export? Mine is not the only red 1500 motor I've seen. Rob C Webfoot Leisure.com rob@... 630-841-6077 robbiesg@... 29147... MORE

8G 180 N is listed in the Spridget parts book as 'Engine Unit - Stripped - HC' and is basically the UK or early US spec 1275 standard engine. I'm not sure what difference the 'ER'suffix makes, though. Regards David "David Jacobs" 29142... MORE

Stewart All RB 1500 engines were painted black. Nigel "amukdigiphoto" 29123... MORE

All this talk of T.Horlers book on Spridgets made me get my copy out, And I noticed the 1500 RB engines shown in it appear to be painted black with a silver rocker cover, mine isn't, it's a pinkish red metallic colour, not a million miles away from then engine that was in my old 1300 FWD triumph. If it was gold or silver I could understand it, these were recon units. My engine does have remnants of silver paint on the rocker cover though. Stewart General Reality Failure : Reboot Universe "Ford Prefect" 29117... MORE

Gerard Chateauvieux Royal Motor Sales Audi - VW - Mazda - Volvo Direct line 415-241-8137 Check out my new and used inventory at: http://www.royalmotorsales.com/en_US/ gerard 29137... MORE

Hi Curtis It depends (don't you hate answers that start like that) on the model of 66 Midget you're referring to. There were two Midgets made in 66, the MkII 1098 version and the MkIII 1275 version. The later MkIII version would accept the hood mechanism you mention no problem as it remained the same from that point to the end of production (as far as I'm aware). However, if you're talking about the earlier MkII version with the 1098 engine, then no it won't fit, as the cockpit was extended to allow for the new folding hood to... MORE

Will a hinged hood (top) off of a 1975 Midget fit on a 1966 Midget? What is required to use the later folding top? The interior three bolt mounting points just front of the wheel wells and? Do the latches on the windscreen line up? What about the the canvass itself? Thank you. Curtis in Sacramento "riley_datsun" 29105... MORE

Likewise, I have a "8G18 - RS57133" 1275 unit which I had also gathered was a gold-seal one, but I never worked out any more info from the rest of the number... "Colonel Mustard" 29097... MORE

I have got what as far as I can make out is a gold seal 1275 unit but I can not find any info on the engine number and was hoping some one can help me it starts 8G which I know to be the gold seal code not and 848 unit but the rest of it is 180ER which apparently means something but can not find any info on. The number also ends in DA "kdb550" 29049... MORE

Hi guys And please don't think I'm now restoring a Mini because I'm not ok ! It's about time I updated you folks on how the Midget restoration's coming on. The bodyshell is now about 90% complete in gloss coat, there's a couple of area's I need to deal with and a couple of panels to finish with 90/10 paint/thinners mix, to bring up the gloss. The bootlid has had 5 or 6 coats of 50/50 and now needs some 70/30, and 90/10 coats. Likewise the passenger door. The drivers door, is in primer now awaiting its first gloss... MORE

I was thinking in terms of the dyno for correct needle selection, and correct setting of the distributor. Although not totally ignorant, I do not have the experience to set up either properly myself. (there goes the perfectionist again!) I also liked the sound of those rimflo valves, which, together with a few simple head mods, can bring even more of the 'fun factor'. Reading that book has suddenly given me a far greater understanding of why what I discovered over the years was working, actually works. Not only that, I can see how to improve on it. The... MORE

I'll leet Nigel answer this one Cap'n but .... If you are talking about the plate I think you are, then according to what I have seen, and backed up by Horler, the plate was rectangular on all cars up to the 1275, at which point it became oval. I am sure that I will now be corrected as I am probably wrong! On another subject, I took the Cap'n's advice and bought the book on engines by Vizard. A fascinating read. I will be undertaking some of those mods. My aim is to look original on the outside... MORE

Roger... Over here, the self-contained (within the distributor) electronic ignition is called "PerTronix". Over there, it is known by another name and dammit, I cannot think of it but I am sure a UK lister will help me out here (hopefully). Like most new things, the PerTronix (a Hall Effect Device) had it's share of teething problems when new in terms of failure's. Since I have been using one for the last 3 years or so, I've had no problems. There is an upgraded version out now for most applications called (surprise!), the PerTronix II...which compensates for reduced dwell... MORE

Hi, Roger.. We do have a lister who has done the Vizard carb (and I believe intake manifold) mods to the stock 1.25SU's. I hope we hear from him. Supposedly with these street mods, the 1.25 set-up will match the flow rate of a stock pair of 1.5's. The foregoing notwithstanding, Vizard improvements are flow bench tested/verified. Today, David is semi- retired working on "improving" American V-8's!! (and did objective testing as well on Oil Extreme...like Grassroots, good results!:). Following Vizard's engine building advice (though substituting a 45DCOE with 38mm throats) I spec'd. a "fast road" 1340 for my... MORE

I suggested the thermostat, unchanged in 140,000 miles might be stuck open...but would it get more open (opener?) as the engine warmed up? Quiet normal if its engine speed related. more water going through the rad, (water pump speeded up) and more air being foced though the rad (more air taing the heat way fron the water). This is why being stuck in traffice will make a car run hot, no real volume of air cooling the rad and slower water circulation! Stewart "Ford Prefect" 28900... MORE