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Although I have owned my 66 since new, I have been told several times that it has the wrong seats in it. The Mk2 originally came fitted with the bucket type seats, but my car, one of the last hundred or so, had the same seats as the early full length chrome bumpered Mk3 with the 1275 engine - that is the seat with the flatter back. I used a tight seatbelt to stop me sliding about in corners. The vertical profile of this later seat is better for me though, the earlier seats used to give me back-ache.... MORE
Ok...I know why the seats didn't fit. Apparently they changed the Midget midyear in '65. The vin number off the left front fender is GAN3L/36873 which means my car was made in the first half of '65. MEANS.....I force fit the wrong seats in my car. What I don't get, is how they could have changed the car that much that a later 65 seat wouldn't fit right. Man.....it's just always something. I'm looking for the front grille and side pieces. Is Moss motors reasonably priced or is there a better source? "Virginia" 22970... MORE
I don't know how others feel, but to me it comes down to building your own personal confidence in the car. Some will drive a car for years and still go out expecting something to go wrong, whilst others assume there is nothing wrong until the engine has actually blown up on them! I find with any car purchase, new or old, I need to drive for a few miles until it begins to give me confidence that it is ok! I guess I would arrange to collect the car and maybe spend a day with it, checking it... MORE
Just for the record, not saying who is right or wrong, I grew up with the small lamps called "parking lights" at that time, in the fifties and sixties you could turn them on during dusk hours while driving instead of the full headlights (that is not legal anymore) or while parked alongside the road so other cars could see you. Flashers have since taken over that function. On a bugeye/frogeye the small round lenses below the stop lights would have been called parking lights, with the dual function of use as turn signals. I had never heard "wind... MORE
midgetSpriter's, I've been trawling the lists for an answer to what seems to be an eternal struggle of getting my Standard Block 1275cc Midget (1970) to run in a reasonable fashion. I've read with interest a number of suggestions and am even more confused as to what the right thing to do in regard to getting this car to run with todays fuels. I've tried the full complement of fuels and am currently running with Premium Unleaded. The engine has been recently rebuilt with the addition of hardened valve seats so I guess I should at least have some... MORE
The things you call "Vent windows", we would call "quarterlights" in the UK. Wind wings are rarely used in the UK, but I would recognise them by that name, although more often called wind deflectors Guy "Guy Weller" 22897... MORE
I checked and have found the relevant mounting points. The wheel well attachment consisted of two studs with chrome dome nuts. Can anyone suggest a US source for the proper 3-point belts? I don't believe that they would have been retractable. Thanks, Herman "hermanfarrer" 22891... MORE
Ginger You've obviously never taken an A series engine out without a hoist then *smile* Now thats frustrating! Nigel "amukdigiphoto" 22883... MORE
"Are wind wings...." "Windows 101" ! :) No, Dave. Quarter lights are "windows" located between side and rear windows on a convertible/roadster soft or hard-top. They can be soft or hard "plastic" or glass. They can be openable and are a permanent part of the part in which they appear, this part not necessarily a permanent part on the car. Like removeable soft or hard tops. "Vent windows" are a permanent part of the structure, normally glass and mounted within their own frame, set in the forward part of the door adjacent to the windshield side posts, forward of... MORE
Hi, The bulb for the flasher unit, according to my Brown & Gammons catalogue covering Midget 1275 & 1500 and Sprite Mk 4 is part no. 57H382, but I'm sure that any bulb of the right rating with the same fixing method would suffice. As for the green cover on the dash, I can't find it in any of the catalogues or manuals I have. Perhaps you could use a piece of green perspex and glue it in place? Not original I know, but needs must!! Margaret South Lincolnshire UK mmbrock88@... 22873... MORE
Well, the carpet and seats are in. Everyone can relax. I used nuts and bolts for the seats and made up cuss words as I went along. That's got to be THE most frustrating job EVER. My knees hurt. My back hurts. And two of my knuckles hurt. Jeeeez LOUISE. "Virginia" 22849... MORE
DON'T. Use nuts and bolts. MUCH more secure! Thats my four peneth - for what its worth. (about half a peneth perhaps! :-) R. "Roger Stinson" 22844... MORE
I wouldn't. All that will be holding the seats would be the little metal on the threads where they go through the sheet metal. You may not have room for a washer but at least put a not on the ends of the bolts to give you a little more surface area. Bob, Troutdale, OR "Robert Webb" 22838... MORE
When I restored my 67 Sprite I used a Kit from Moss Motors It fit perfectly and came with all the correct snaps and instructions. however now I am selling my sprite and , my MGB to buy a BMW Z-3 . check it out at http://www.namgbr.org/namgbr/classified.htm Craig 67 AH SPRITE OLD ENGLISH WHITE 74 MGB TAHITTI BLUE 89 AUDI QUATRO SILVER crfkingfish@... 22842... MORE
I'm going to have to drill holes in the floor pan. No way around it because I'm putting in bigger seats. Anyway, can I use self-tapping metal screws to mount the runners for the seats? Sure would make things easier. Virginia 65 midget (that's what I drive, not what I am.....Bob :) ) "Virginia" 22836... MORE
Actually, Bob... Number of carbs notwithstanding, it's probably the same system they used on the single carbed '75, slightly modified for the different engine and/or single carb. set-up and/or closed loop fuel system. However, your input gives us the reason for the compression fitting in the first place...I was not at all sure how it figured into the system, as you may have guessed! And while I do not recall it being a part of the emissions stuff I pulled off my previously owned '74, most likely it was there, in the same place as Don May finds it... MORE
Hi, Don... Well, I have to admit I am doing most of this from memory of what I had on my po'd '74.....this was like 20+ years ago!! Naturally, when I looked at all that stuff cluttering up the engine compartment, I barfed! Then I took it all off, cut the restrictors on the carbs, got a ventilated/ filtered oil filler cap and set up a "ventilated" rather than "evacuated" system. But as Gerard and many others have correctly pointed out, a properly working PCV system is a "good thing" in more than one respect. Yes...the engine breathes in... MORE
Hi Bob, The restrictor inserted in the hose from the oil separator is a modification and not a stock part rather a jerry rig piece of a standard plumbing compression fitting he used to restrict the line, so it was not an official California set up. All I know to do is return it to the direct hose and see how it runs. Although curiosity leads me to wonder why he did it. If I recall correctly in 74 model year the pancake looking PVC valve on top the intake manifold was deleted and the Y connector to the... MORE
Hi, Don May... 1. The missing hose from the carb. to the charcoal cannister MAY be for the fuel bowls with respect to an "anti- runon" valve feature. This is a guess on my part. What this did was create a vacuum at the fuel bowls when oil pressure fell to zero through a solenoid switch when the ignition was switched off. The fuel bowls were vented to the charcoal cannister as part of the closed loop fuel system. The solenoid switch was wired "hot" which is why the PO MAY have disconnected this. 2. The line off your... MORE
I very much doubt if twin HIF 1 carbs were ever fitted to a production car as the philosophy of extra performance using twin carbs had been replaced by using a big single one, by the time HIFs were being used on performance A series engines.This being so, you'd need to find left and right handed individual carbs to make up a set. (was the HIF carb even made in this size?!) You'd do better swapping to twin 1s and modifying the backplate of your filter case to suit, if you're desperate to keep it. David "David Jacobs" 22773... MORE
Once again faced with mystery PO modifications. These have to do with the emission controls. First, particularly on California cars, one must find a proper diagram of the system, something the weak of heart should not attempt from a Haynes Manual. The car in question is a 74 Midget I assume with a stock 1275 First discrepancy . . . The manual, if correct, shows a hose from the valve cover to one of three hose connections on top of the evaporation canister, check . . . that is there. Another hose goes to the gas tank vapor collection... MORE
"Waxstat" devici. I guess they came up with a better way of fuel temperature compensation in the HIF series....like they've got some sort of a fuel temperature sensitive "disc" in there which basically does the same thing? Even so, Vizard states the carb. has a tendency to intially run "lean" when you put your foot in it, after engine compartment temps. have gotten really hot....as in slow travel in heavy traffic, etc. Cap'n. Bob '60 :{) PilotRob@... 22772... MORE
Nelson... Easier job basically but.... the new Unipart and K&N spin-on filters (and I am sure, others as well) also have an anti-drainback feature which makes cold starts less "oil-less" for those very important initial few seconds after the engine fires....IOW, more immediate lubrication to the parts. Since it is advertised that 50% of engine wear over time ocurrs during the intial few seconds after a cold star...this alone makes the conversion worth consideration. As a matter of fact, this factor is normally one of the priorities for those who decide to convert to synthetic oils, as well.... Cap'n.... MORE
I'm considering getting a spin on oil filter adapter for my 948 Sprite engine. My question is - Is this simply a matter of making the future filter changes less messy and inconvenient or do the cartridge filters do a more efficient job of cleaning the oil than the felt or paper filters? Nelson '62 Mk 2 "witstock7" 22767... MORE
Hi all: I have a really nice 1964 Beach F Vee Mk 5, serial number V-16 that is monoposto legal (fan, generator, new Dunlops with z-bar rear suspension) and with two races on a fresh motor that I would like to swap for a Spridget Vintage racer (anything from spec sprite on up to an H, G or F Prod car). I have been asking $5800 for the Beach, but would consider an offer in the mid to low $5K range or preferably a Spridget trade. If you have ever wanted to run an open wheel car here is... MORE
