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All, Recently I acquired a 12G295 head that I want to refurbish, Vizardise, and install on my 948. One pleasant surprise was that it has rimflow valves installed and they are clean and the guides are tight! Anyway, my question: How can I tell if the head has or has not been shaved/milled? I'm might be making an 'assumption' that since it has already been upgrade with the rimflow valves that it might have been already shaved/milled. But I don't know what it was installed on before my purchase. If it was on a 1100cc it might not have... MORE
Good news, my baby is sitting on the drive looking rather nice. I was goin g to replace the outer sills my self until I was quoted =A3100 a side, incl uding painting by a local garage. Since I am at work full time I said do i t. That was at the begining of the year. It was done as a fill in when th e guy was not busy, or on holiday. Then it grew to repairs to the inner si lls, footwell side panels, a new wing, repairs to the A posts and rear wing s,... MORE
Rob Thank you for your kind words of encouragement. I think you are suffering a little from the 'grass is always greener' syndrome though : ) If it's any consolation, I think you did the right thing as well ! I can't tell you how many times I've muttered under my breath the well known phrase 'never again' never again' it's almost like a mantra to me now. Of course it's nice to be able to fully strip the car, rebuild/repaint and reassemble it, that has to be the ideal, but let me tell you it is by far... 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
I thought the cover had a tongue which was pinched by the U bolt. This part has been NLA for over a decade, have you managed to buy some new ones? We are talking about AHA6418 aren't we? "Jeremy Cogman" 26141... MORE
A bit of advice please. Reference the cover which is fitted over the spring box after the springs are inserted: Does this cover have to be welded in place or do the fixing bolts provide sufficient clamping force to disperse the forces encountered in this area? The old cover was welded, however so was anything else that could & should have moved! Thanks in anticipation. Phil Nicholl '59 Frog. Rugby, England. "Philip R Nicholl" 26138... 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
Hi Seem to be having trouble getting enough fuel from tank to engine. I get excellent fuel pressure from end of line (at the tank) to carb. Once it's hooked to tank I get drastic pressure drop. The car will idle and rev fine, even drive ok but when I punch it out it dies out. No fuel at carb. I have had tank off a couple times and it is clean. Air blows through pickup tube nice and strong. This is a '79 1500 Midget with the tank with vent tube that goes into emissions system. I have... 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
Ah but Robert, I dont need the 850, now if I had thought to do this before I bought and rebuilt the new 1098 head I wouldnt have to sell the 850 but since I didnt, I do. Maybe it I could blame it on the fumes:) Bob MTGBRKR1@... 26122... 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
Hello, I have a refinished 850 head for a mini, however, it came on the 1098 engine in my bugeye. Confused,... me too. Seems that when I bought the car I didnt check out the head casting number to make sure that it was in fact a 1098 head. Compression was good, Nor did I check out the casting number before I had the head resurfaced, put in ALL new 1098 valves, springs and guides. Now I have a new 1098 head( checked the casting number this time) but need to sell the modified 850 (compression when it was... 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
Right, so make a template first - by measurement, using a scriber, the centre punch will almost 'fall' into the correct spot then. [It helps if you have a surface plate and scribing block, but it is not impossible without, just more difficult. :-) ] I would also use the template to try a practice piece first, that almost goes without saying in my book! It is amazing how accurately metal can be drilled and shaped by hand methods with a littel care. I too demand high standards from myself. [My Wife tells me that there is only one... 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
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
Mr. Houston. I'll have you know that there will be no scoring done unless he can get my engine purring smoothly. "Virginia" 26032... MORE
Hmmm, could be several things. With these plastic filters, as I recall, the fuel flows into the centre of the filter element and outwards so you don't see when it's full of clag. T hat said, you can drive on long cruising stretches fine. IT could therefore be the fuel pump. This is (if it is as standard) mounte d under the 'rear seat' and has a crude (but effective electro-mechanical m echanism akin to a doorbell. IT contains a set of electrical points which detoriarate over time which can lead to the pump 'sticking'. Often a bang on... MORE
Julien... Well, could be an old or weak fuel pump, lack of a heat shield between carbs and engine (it gets hot under there when not moving at speed) causing fuel to percolate or "vapour lock", or lack of a vented fuel cap (though the latter is usually a case of fuel starvation which shows up under load..as in climbing a long hill with the foot well down). So, number one, check for the heat shield (basically a metal plate upon which the throttle return springs are mounted in the stock set-up). If it's "there"....go to... ...number two; at... MORE
Thanks for your help. I think I'll try and make some brackets out of aluminium and mount them on the bumper-chassis bolts. :) Max "MG_Max" 25998... MORE
Ok...I've checked the fluid and the resevoir is not full. There's no dipstick or anything so do I just fill it up? And is the fluid supposed to be clear? I'm used to it having a reddish tint in my Comanche. Virginia 65 Midget "Virginia" 25995... MORE
Good evening all ... I was a bit concerned that my 'Sprite' had acquired a 'Midget' shell in later life in the shape of a heritage shell ... but it does look good ... Bodywork is white on the new shell... have no idea what the original colour was...the only 2 numbers I have are :chassis AAN10 86855G and engine 12CEPAH15596 but hey Colin it looks like you may have something quite unique ...and it looks very good ... I must admit to finding all these snipets of information very moreish ... I met an old gentleman at the... MORE
G'day Linda, Nigel et al My Austin Sprite is AAN10/87699G, body number 105002, engine 12CEDAH17223, built 2 June 1971. Midnight Blue. The most interesting thing about the car, however, is that it is a RWA - round wheel arch. According to all the texts, RWA cars were only ever badged as MG Midgets. But this car is definitely a Sprite (AAN10 prefix) and it has not been modified at the rear. All panels, welds, seams etc are original. Since the factory were building RWA shells in June 1971, it seems quite possible that one of them escaped with Sprite... MORE
